What are the CPU requirements for TANE ie does it really need a quad core CPU?

[nicky9499]

Which is interesting, my i7 laptop is only dual core. So does that mean it will run on two cores?

Mainstream i7s are quad cores with hyper threading (8 threads). The only dual cores you'll find these days are lowend i3s or Pentiums.

If cost is a concern for OP then he shouldn't be looking at laptops. A used Haswell chip and 4gb GTX770/780 would be enough graphics grunt for TANE yet still less than the price of a brand new 1070. Plenty left over for a new power supply or more RAM.

 

[ccowan2126]

I have an i3 duo core cpu (see my specs below) and am able to run TANE just fine with: Shadow quality-high
Main shadow resolution-2048
Texture detail-Normal
Post processing-Low
Water quality-high
Antialiasing-2x
...whatever all that means.

I operate Reading and Northern; American Intermodal; C&O Hinton; Kickstarter County;Cold Creek Logistics; Midwest Grain and my own Yadkin Valley RR with pretty smooth frame rates.

Just my $0.02

 

[steamboateng]

Like Nicky9499 I thought all i7's were quad core; the i5's dual and quad core.
The simplest solution is to add a decent video card to the system. An Nvidea X780, which is a great card (I'm running just one on my system, with great graphics) can be had for under $250.00 US (I paid over $500 several years ago). Add the card now, and later when it's time to build a new system, switch it out to the new machine. One caveat here; I believe the existing system should have at least a 500W power supply to run that thing.

 

[pdkoester]

I do believe dual-core i7s only exist in Apple products, and maybe a couple of other laptop manufacturers.

 

[johnwhelan]

I do believe dual-core i7s only exist in Apple products, and maybe a couple of other laptop manufacturers.

I have a couple of elderly Dell laptops that have dual core i7 processors.

Cheerio John

 

[nicky9499]

Like Nicky9499 I thought all i7's were quad core; the i5's dual and quad core.
The simplest solution is to add a decent video card to the system. An Nvidea X780, which is a great card (I'm running just one on my system, with great graphics) can be had for under $250.00 US (I paid over $500 several years ago). Add the card now, and later when it's time to build a new system, switch it out to the new machine. One caveat here; I believe the existing system should have at least a 500W power supply to run that thing.

I did a bit of research. Desktop i7s never had less than 4 cores, but ultra-low-voltage mobile chips do come in 2 core variety although the competency of these against a regular i7 is questionable.

Did a graphics card upgrade for a friend recently and he didn't want to throw out his 80+ Platinum unit, turns out a GTX770 will run off a good 450W power supply just fine.

 

[billgatesthethird]

So what about cores? Any thoughts in assignment of cores to Trainz? Nothing worse than the system taking time out to check for viruses whilst a Trainz run is taking place. Win10 is supposed to be good at assigning resources, but users might want to try assign particular cores to e.g. anti-virus application, video rendering, Trainz,... Any thoughts?

 

[Mick_Berg]

If you guys are trying to save money why concentrate on Intel CPUs that cost several times more than their AMD equivalents?
Mick

 

[LNERlover5]

If you guys are trying to save money why concentrate on Intel CPUs that cost several times more than their AMD equivalents?
Mick

Because in terms of IPC, a factor most important for running games, AMD products do not compete, and haven't since the Sandybridge period of 2011. Current AMD high end parts in the form of the FX series are several years behind.

An i3 6100 or I5 6400 will represent greater IPC performance with significantly greater power efficiency and lower thermal output, without breaking the bank.

AMD need Zen to be a successful architecture, and current indicators are positive. We'll have to wait until Q4 or early 2017 to find out though.

 

[BuilderBob]

The user (a content creator) has a dual core and directx 10 and feels its not worth upgrading the GPU to run TANE as he only has a dual core CPU.

The only critical factor for the CPU is a 64-bit OS and enough memory.

The GPU is more important in determining performance.

You can make pretty much any 64-bit CPU work with T:ANE sufficiently well for testing if you have a fast disk, sufficient RAM and a good GPU. However, you might have issues matching a modern GPU and SSD to an older system. But if you can physically insert a decent GPU, find enough power from the PS to feed it, add an SSD and upgrade the RAM, whether you are running two or four cores doesn't matter all that much. Note that the GPU and SSD (and perhaps the PS) will move to the new machine eventually.

 

[Mick_Berg]

Because in terms of IPC, a factor most important for running games, AMD products do not compete, and haven't since the Sandybridge period of 2011. Current AMD high end parts in the form of the FX series are several years behind.

An i3 6100 or I5 6400 will represent greater IPC performance with significantly greater power efficiency and lower thermal output, without breaking the bank.

AMD need Zen to be a successful architecture, and current indicators are positive. We'll have to wait until Q4 or early 2017 to find out though.

I'll take your word for it, I'm no expert. But at Newegg an I5 6400 is $189 and a AMD FX 4350 is $79, at least that's what I paid. $189 is breaking the bank in my gaming budget.

Mick

 

[cascaderailroad]

I saw this HP 15.6" laptop on the Home Shopping Network ... will it overheat and melt ?

https://www.hsn.com/todays-special

HP 15.6" ... Touch LED ... Intel Quad-Core ... 8GB RAM ... 1TB HDD Laptop

Intel HD Graphics 405

$399.95 ends today
You save $150.00 today !
or 6 FlexPays of $66.66
FREE SHIPPING

2-Year Laptop Repair Plan - $89.95
3-Year Laptop Repair Plan - $134.95

 

[johnwhelan]

I saw this HP 15.6" laptop on the Home Shopping Network ... will it overheat and melt ?

https://www.hsn.com/todays-special

HP 15.6" ... Touch LED ... Intel Quad-Core ... 8GB RAM ... 1TB HDD Laptop

Intel HD Graphics 405

$399.95 ends today
You save $150.00 today !
or 6 FlexPays of $66.66
FREE SHIPPING

2-Year Laptop Repair Plan - $89.95
3-Year Laptop Repair Plan - $134.95

You really want an i3, i5 or i7. I suspect this is a pentium especially as it doesn't give any details. At this price point you can get HD5500 so something like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834132085R

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9JJ3ZG2761

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6R441G8885

I'm not saying they'll run TANE at max settings but the performance will be better than the one you've picked out on special and the price is lower as well. I'd go i5. If you stray from these check the CPU number to see if it supports directx 11, and check which integrated graphics it has.

Cheerio John

 

[johnwhelan]

On the AMD side the AMD A10-series and 12-series are in this sort of price range and run directx 11.

Cheerio John

 

[cascaderailroad]

It's probably a low end laptop anyway, with low end graphics, that HSN touts as a great gaming laptop, and it unknown whether it is even 64bit ... I don't think that anyting on Home Shopping Network, nor QVC, is quality PC's ... they sell it touting that it comes in pretty colors ... Big Deal

 

[blueodessey]

Need to see what kind of GPU is under the Hood,

I went to Costco yesterday, and noticed some Laptops had AMD, others had NVidia GPU's, which I think is the better of the two, it might have been one of the 970 or 980 Models card, I didn't write it down it had 4MEGs on-board for GPU Nvidia,,,,,that is primary concern for me if I was using a Laptop, and I do here with T:ANE.

Since I have T:ANE I removed TS-12 my old Trainz program because even with T:ANE'S idiosyncrasies, normal for new Software, I like it much better in all respects.

T:ANE is better on Graphics and Speed, but my video still suffers to an extent, even though I'm running SSD and 16 Gig of RAM, but you can't get past so so Video Performance, it's and Intel Builtin on Mother Board, that's the bottom line no fooling the eyesight, I'm in my mid 60's so every bit of Getty Up in the Video Department Performance is a big plus on my Older eyes, which I have Stigmatizm in both.....

I'm not plugging for Costco, just using it as example, and hope this helps you out?

 

[nicky9499]

Because in terms of IPC, a factor most important for running games, AMD products do not compete, and haven't since the Sandybridge period of 2011.

How time flies. The first budget gaming setup I built for myself used a Phenom X3. Ran fast, ran cool and very cheap to boot.

@Mick: Look for a used i5-4670 or 4670K. Doesn't make sense buying the latest gen chips brand new if you're on a budget. Not only are they the priciest option you're also going to need pricey DDR4 memory to go with those. Unlike parts like hard drives or graphic cards which have a higher failure rate, CPUs will run for many years if not abused and a used chip will serve you as good as a new one. I'm assuming you already have a 1150 motherboard. Haswell is as far back as your socket supports. If you have an older 1155 board, Ivy Bridge is even cheaper. Get a decent heatsink and overclock it.

@cascade: Haven't you always been on a crusade against cheap laptops, castigating their limitations when it comes to high workloads such as Trainz? You're not wrong at all, just slightly puzzling why you'd ask if such a low spec notebook will handle TANE.