Windows Experience Ratings & Trainz

[schweitzerdude]

I have a 8-month old fairly low-end desktop that runs Trainz adequately with sliders around midpoint for highly urban routes, runs rural routes quite well with sliders more to the right:
HP Slimline, model s3720Y
CPU: Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.50 GHz
RAM: 4GB
OS: Vista Home Prem 64-bit
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 7100/Nvidia nForce 630I (integrated)
Windows Experience Rating for Gaming: 3.0

Last week I bought a moderately high-end laptop:
Sony Vaio Laptop VPCCW21FX 14"
CPU: Intel core i3-330M 2.13 GHz
RAM: 4GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Prem 64-bit
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 310M (dedicated)
Windows Experience Rating for Gaming: 6.1
Based on the Windows experience gaming ratings, I figured the new Sony laptop would run Trainz much better than the HP desktop, yet it doesn't. I ran the same built-in route/session (Trainz Classics/Modula City) on both PCs side by side, with the Nvidia control panel settings identical and all Trainz performance settings set the same on each PC, yet the HP desktop ran smoothly while the Sony laptop ran jerkily. Looking at the much better gaming rating (6.1 for the Sony vs 3.0 for the HP), I am stumped. Any explanation as to what is going on?

 

[stovepipe]

What is your HDD speed on your laptop?

5400rpm HDD are commonly supplied with laptops, whereas your desktop will be 7200rpm or higher. Depending on the route, Trainz needs to pull a lot of files off the HDD.

There may be some other reasons too.

 

[clam1952]

I have a 8-month old fairly low-end desktop that runs Trainz adequately with sliders around midpoint for highly urban routes, runs rural routes quite well with sliders more to the right:
HP Slimline, model s3720Y
CPU: Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.50 GHz
RAM: 4GB
OS: Vista Home Prem 64-bit
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 7100/Nvidia nForce 630I (integrated)
Windows Experience Rating for Gaming: 3.0

Last week I bought a moderately high-end laptop:
Sony Vaio Laptop VPCCW21FX 14"
CPU: Intel core i3-330M 2.13 GHz
RAM: 4GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Prem 64-bit
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 310M (dedicated)
Windows Experience Rating for Gaming: 6.1
Based on the Windows experience gaming ratings, I figured the new Sony laptop would run Trainz much better than the HP desktop, yet it doesn't. I ran the same built-in route/session (Trainz Classics/Modula City) on both PCs side by side, with the Nvidia control panel settings identical and all Trainz performance settings set the same on each PC, yet the HP desktop ran smoothly while the Sony laptop ran jerkily. Looking at the much better gaming rating (6.1 for the Sony vs 3.0 for the HP), I am stumped. Any explanation as to what is going on?

I would ignore the Windows experience ratings, MS changed the values between Vista and Win7 so, as stated by Microsoft they are not comparable.
I also have serious doubts that MS's idea of gaming performance has any validity in the real world.
As said laptops are inferior to Desktops, slower drives and built with power saving in mind, probably the processor is being throttled back, try knocking off all the power saving settings but only if running on the Power supply otherwise you will drain the battery fairly quickly, it may improve things slightly as will maybe turning off the desktop eyecandy and running on a basic no frills desktop, right click on the launcher icon > Compatibility > Disable Desktop Composition. It reverts to normal on exiting Trainz.

 

[SuperFudd]

Was the (Whats it called? where HD is used as RAM) settings the same?

 

[RRSignal]

Was the (Whats it called? where HD is used as RAM) settings the same?

Virtual memory. Playing with VM settings is tricky though.

A poster's point about laptops being optimized for energy-efficiency, as opposed to performance, is a valid one.

Another factor to consider is what your laptop is running. Most pre-built machines come loaded with all sorts of unnecessary services and background processes, advertising-ware, and crappy (read: Nortons or McAfees) AV. Try researching and terminating all but necessary processes - that means the 5 or 10 instances of HP products that mostly do nothing, webcam monitors you don't need, etc.

One of the many reasons I've stuck with Windows XP is because it's pretty well established what is necessary for a fully-functional system, and what is extraneous. I only run about 20 services in the background, about 50% less than a basic install of XP and less than 1/2 of what many major manufacturer installations come with. My bare-minimum machine runs Trainz and most other things very well.

Also replace Nortons or McAfee. Anti-virus software is very resource-intensive, because it has to scan every sector read or written from disk. Better yet, if you run an offline machine, you don't even need anti-virus software!

 

[RRSignal]

Was the (Whats it called? where HD is used as RAM) settings the same?

Virtual memory. Playing with VM settings is tricky though.

The poster's point about laptops being optimized for energy-efficiency, as opposed to performance, is a valid one.

Another factor to consider is what your laptop is running. Most pre-built machines come loaded with all sorts of unnecessary services and background processes, advertising-ware, and crappy (read: Nortons or McAfees) AV. Try researching and terminating all but necessary processes - that means the 5 or 10 instances of HP products that mostly do nothing, webcam monitors you don't need, etc.

One of the many reasons I've stuck with Windows XP is because it's pretty well established what is necessary for a fully-functional system, and what is extraneous. I only run about 20 services in the background, about 50% less than a basic install of XP and less than 1/2 of what many major manufacturer installations come with.

Also replace Nortons or McAfee. Anti-virus software is very resource-intensive, because it has to scan every sector read or written from disk. Better yet, if you run an offline machine, you don't even need anti-virus software!

 

[Gandalf0444]

Well playing with VM on windows XP is very simple. You set a maximum of like 4 gigs. Which if you have a 32 bit version will be the max. Then as you install more physical RAM the amount of VM will automatically decrease. I know this first hand because I had 1 gig or RAM and increased my VM to 4 gigs(a total of 5 gigs I know,however the 32 bit systems actually can use 4.xx of RAM). Then when I added another gig making it 2 gigs it automatically reduced the amount of VM available, and will not allow it any higher then it is now.

 

[JCitron]

Another thing to consider too is laptop video hardware is not as robust as it is on a desktop system. In most cases, desktop systems use a seperate GPU, which takes the burden off of the system. On a laptop computer, the video shares the RAM with the cpu and competes for system resources. This can really affect the performance of a computer.

John

 

[schweitzerdude]

Thanks for the helpfull ideas

Both PCs have had the freeware/crapware/startup junk removed, and both are running Microsoft Security Essentials for antivirus. Disabling MSE on the Sony laptop did not help Trainz performance.

Stovepipe's hard drive speed idea might just be the answer - The HP desktop has a speed of 7200 vs 5400 for the Sony laptop.

I spent probably $200 more for this laptop than I might have otherwise if it were not for the expectation of getting a better gaming machine than my HPdesktop. All I can say to anyone is to not put too much faith in the windows experience gaming ratings.

But on the bright side the Sony Vaio is an attractive and capable laptop which has received consistently good reviews and I had no problems in getting it set up or installing software. So I'm still glad I bought it.