Recommended Clock Speed for Core 2 Duo

[bradcin]

The FAQ lists the recommended processor as an Intel Core 2 Duo but does not say which clock speed . What is the recommended and minimum clock speed needed?

I am considering buying a new Mac to run Trainz under Windows via BootCamp. THe clock speeds offered for the core 2 duos range from 2 to 3 GHz. Which clock speed will I need in order to run Trainz smoothly?

 

[johnwhelan]

The FAQ lists the recommended processor as an Intel Core 2 Duo but does not say which clock speed . What is the recommended and minimum clock speed needed?

I am considering buying a new Mac to run Trainz under Windows via BootCamp. THe clock speeds offered for the core 2 duos range from 2 to 3 GHz. Which clock speed will I need in order to run Trainz smoothly?

It depends which version of Trainz, TS2009 in native mode doesn't really matter. TRS2004 under emulation, I'd go for liquid nitrogen cooling and overclock. TRS2004 is not able to make use of more than one core.

Traditionally the problem with Macs has been the video cards, have a look at Tomshardware.com

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2362-6.html

Look at the video card in the MAC and compare it to it's place in the list here.

The big problem will be drivers, you want mainstream products such as ASUS or Intel motherboards with ATI or nVidia running 64 bit Windows 7 for performance, I'd say XP but security wise its getting a bit dated. Trainz pushes drivers and needs solid ones which usually come from lots of people having the same hardware to find the bugs and solid companies to write them in the first place.

Price performance the faster cpus do not give you twice the performance for double the price. So the slowest one that meets the requirements is fine. Trainz is open ended so a simple layout will run fine but a more complex one needs more cpu and video card. It also depends on the monitor, I think the assumption is 1024 x 768 or 786,432 pixels a 24 inch 1920 x 1200 works out at 2,304,000 pixels which will need three times the memory, and roughly three times the cpu and video card power to give the same number of frames per second on the same layout. Your machine should have 2.5 gigs of memory available to the operating system and Trainz by the way. Trainz can actually only use 2 gigs of memory so on the larger screen it will probably become the performance bottleneck.

Unless you have a specific reason that forces you to buy a Mac I'd go a Windows machine. You may find that buying a Mac configured to run whatever it is you wish to run plus a Windows machine to run Trainz maybe cheaper than a top of the line Mac.

Cheerio John

 

[StorkNest]

You might get better performance with better clock speed, don't know but I use a E2200 with a 2.2 clock speed and it works.

 

[julian97]

The FAQ lists the recommended processor as an Intel Core 2 Duo but does not say which clock speed . What is the recommended and minimum clock speed needed?
I am considering buying a new Mac to run Trainz under Windows via BootCamp. THe clock speeds offered for the core 2 duos range from 2 to 3 GHz. Which clock speed will I need in order to run Trainz smoothly?

Get the fastest machine you can afford with your budget regardless it's a portable, an all-in-one or a desktop. Same for the video card: in portables get at least a 15" so you can benefit from the 9600GT with dedicated VRAM.
Avoid the 20" iMac as it has only an integrated 9400M (nice card for my needings also if running Trainz via Parallels) and get a 24": any of the has diedicated V. Card.

 

[Rougespear7mm]

I noticed a big difference when I overclocked my Core2Duo from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz. Get the fastest clock speed you can afford. Remember also, from what I've been told, that laptop hardware runs slower than equivalent desktop hardware...

 

[julian97]

I noticed a big difference when I overclocked my Core2Duo from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz. Get the fastest clock speed you can afford. Remember also, from what I've been told, that laptop hardware runs slower than equivalent desktop hardware...

It's true, but just for the video card: in order to keep low consuption and heat production, GPU's are often downclocked on portables of all brands (250Mhz vs. 400Mhz, for example, on MacBooks vs macMinis).
One more thing: get a machine with Core 2 Duo with 6 MByte L2 cache rather than C2 Duo's with 3 Mbyte L2 cache.