Hi guys, I am looking to build/buy a new PC to replace my ridiculously underpowered laptop I use for Trainz (build 3.0, mind you). My budget is around $600 and I’d be willing to trade looks for performance (I don’t mind an ugly computer as long as it can perform well). My preferred settings would be TANE on medium sliders. What are the best and most cost effective parts I can use and where could I get them? Thanks, ns2616
TANE Budget Build
- Thread starter ns2616
- Start date
Trainz_12_fan_100
yes thats my name
There isnt a pc out there, from my own prior knowledge, of a good pc for $600 that can run TANE that good. I suggest increasing budget to about 8 or $900
TrainzPlayer14
zzz
On high settings, most likely not. The OP has said he wishes to run T:ANE on more moderate settings however, and a $600 PC I think would be sufficient.
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johnwhelan
Well-known member
Your location is the USSR most of us are not familiar with what is available there.
Start here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html but sub a GTX1050 preferably the ti for the video card. You'll need a copy of windows as well say $120 with the downloaded version from newegg.com.
The really insane budget solution would be a refurbished Dell mini tower [h=2]Dell OptiPlex 9020[/h] (i5-4570) for $249
It comes with an AMD card that has directx 11. Realistically you may want to switch the video card to a GTX 1050 which might require upgrading the power supply. Look up tomsdardware on how to do this, you need a power cable adapter. Win 7 can still be upgrdaded for free to win 10, just google it or PM me.
They also have monitors such as the
[h=2]Dell E Series 19" (E1913) for $49.[/h][h=2];[/h]
Note the AMD card draws 35 watts the GTX 1050 75 watts.
An alternative would be one of their workstations Dell Precision T3610 is floating around for $460 this evening, again that would need a new video card but the power supply is sufficient, a low profile GTX 1050 should work. the xeon processor is roughly an i7 and it comes with 8 gigs of memory which is always nice to have.
Cheerio John
Start here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html but sub a GTX1050 preferably the ti for the video card. You'll need a copy of windows as well say $120 with the downloaded version from newegg.com.
The really insane budget solution would be a refurbished Dell mini tower [h=2]Dell OptiPlex 9020[/h] (i5-4570) for $249
It comes with an AMD card that has directx 11. Realistically you may want to switch the video card to a GTX 1050 which might require upgrading the power supply. Look up tomsdardware on how to do this, you need a power cable adapter. Win 7 can still be upgrdaded for free to win 10, just google it or PM me.
They also have monitors such as the
[h=2]Dell E Series 19" (E1913) for $49.[/h][h=2];[/h]
Note the AMD card draws 35 watts the GTX 1050 75 watts.
An alternative would be one of their workstations Dell Precision T3610 is floating around for $460 this evening, again that would need a new video card but the power supply is sufficient, a low profile GTX 1050 should work. the xeon processor is roughly an i7 and it comes with 8 gigs of memory which is always nice to have.
Cheerio John
I have the Trainz Driver app on my iPod touch but from what I see the two biggest issues with it is the lack of good content (and content in general that is freeware), and the limited storage sizes of mobile devices vs computers. My laptop has a 500GB HB and 165 GB of that is Trainz, which would obviously not fit on a mobile device.
cheers, ns2616
cheers, ns2616
johnwhelan
Well-known member
If you haven't assembled a PC before I won't try and roll your own with the toms hardware build. $600 is very tight, you might do better being very selective on the assets and running something like middleton for lap tops.
Cheerio John
Cheerio John
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Thinking about it you could drop back to a GT 1030 low profile GPU, that should fit in just about anything and at 30 watts TDP could be a straight swap on the Dell PC. Look up the reviews but that would give you the Dell refurbished PC with a GT1030 for about $350 which would give you room for an IPS monitor. I haven't tested the GPUs in different machines and sometimes the connectors don't quite fit space wise so have google upgrading the video cards on the machine of interest.
Note the T3610 has been upgraded with a video card so there should be room. That would give you $465 for the machine, $70 for a GT1030, a few dollars for the monitor and a couple of dollars for the antistatic strap.
"I had the exact same problem when I got my T3610 (with the Dell 685w 80 Plus Gold PSU) and tried to swap out the AMD W5000 card that came with it. I put an AMD 7950 in and had the exact same issue. The good news is that it's a BIOS setting as you suspected. I think the setting is "Secure Boot Enable" and you just change that to disable. After that, I had no issues. I've also since upgraded to a GTX970 with no issues."
Cheerio John
Note the T3610 has been upgraded with a video card so there should be room. That would give you $465 for the machine, $70 for a GT1030, a few dollars for the monitor and a couple of dollars for the antistatic strap.
"I had the exact same problem when I got my T3610 (with the Dell 685w 80 Plus Gold PSU) and tried to swap out the AMD W5000 card that came with it. I put an AMD 7950 in and had the exact same issue. The good news is that it's a BIOS setting as you suspected. I think the setting is "Secure Boot Enable" and you just change that to disable. After that, I had no issues. I've also since upgraded to a GTX970 with no issues."
Cheerio John
If you purchase top end gpu, it will be there for the next 6 years.
Every time I purchased on a budget, I never went wrong by going top tier videocard with system that cannot properly push it. (a 1080 paired with a cheap i3)
(i3, with slower ram, but big-16gig ram)
Middle to low price motherboard, even cheap ones do really well these days.
I'd have a ssd for sure for os and tane, but it can be small, regular hdd are cheap and u can use that for all else and tane database.
I always found that i could overclock the cheap components pretty well too to get much more out of the video card, or my next system still used my video card, i always love purchasing some parts top tier so i can use it in the next system also.
Every time I purchased on a budget, I never went wrong by going top tier videocard with system that cannot properly push it. (a 1080 paired with a cheap i3)
(i3, with slower ram, but big-16gig ram)
Middle to low price motherboard, even cheap ones do really well these days.
I'd have a ssd for sure for os and tane, but it can be small, regular hdd are cheap and u can use that for all else and tane database.
I always found that i could overclock the cheap components pretty well too to get much more out of the video card, or my next system still used my video card, i always love purchasing some parts top tier so i can use it in the next system also.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
So $520 on the video card plus $120 for a copy of windows and you've blown the budget and that's without a cheap motherboard case and i3.
I don't think it works.
Cheerio John
What do you mean, thats not top tier, this is top tier... https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=gtx-_-14-487-385-_-Product
If you wanna go the literal route.
So considering the thread subject, of budget, top tier implies to not skimp on gpu, get the best one you can, skimp on all other components...
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Reread the first post, the budget is $600 it's difficult to fit anything more than an Intel integrated graphics card in besides things like a monitor, keyboard, copy of Windows, CPU, motherboard, memory in for that amount of cash. Perhaps you can suggest a way to buy an $900 GPU and still have cash left over for the rest of the PC?
Thanks John
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Dell have two grades of machines A and B. Other vendors you're buying on price. I've picked up three refurbished machines from Dell direct and been happy with them. I picked up two Dells from ebay, they work but the screen on one is scratched, the other has something that doesn't quite slot back into place. For what I wanted them for they're fine but neither are 100% functional. I picked up a refurbished tablet from Newegg but there were problems with it and it took a lot of effort on my part to get them to replace it and that involved more than an hour on the phone with microsoft who eventually said return to Newegg as the license number supplied simply was not valid.
If you buy from Dell you need to keep an eye on the site for a few days. The cheapest machines are in March / April May timeframe. When the students go back to university prices are much higher. I picked up an E6430 1600 by 900 for $300 can. grade A on clearance. However that was quite rare. The E6 series is much nicer than the E5 series but the difference is price on the refurbished side is minimal.
The problems are power supply and can you upgrade them. The Dell mini towers just about work for a GT1030 card. So since an i5 is about the same price as an i3 then go i5. They did have a Xeon workstation on clearance from $900 to $465 but that one has gone now. The equivalent of an i7 with 8 gigs of memory and an 865 watt power supply.
You need to look at each system very carefully to understand what it offers. The Dell's come with win 7 or win 8.1 so need upgrading to win 10 but there is still away to do this for free with Microsoft at least it worked quite recently.
Something that you could drop a GTX 1050 into would be ideal but at the bottom of the market a GT1030 doesn't need a power supply upgrade and will just about run TANE. Well if I can run TANE on a series 4000 integrated graphics card by choosing the content carefully (Middleton for laptops) the GT 1030 is a lot more powerful so should run a much wider range of content.
Cheerio John
[h=2][/h]
Sounds like you got it all under control. :Y:
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