help with buying new graphic card

My gt610 2gb card does not perform well after installing sp2.
Looking to upgrade the 970 Gb card costs R14000 to R19000.00 {Price in South African Rands)
The Gtx 1050 costs a lot less but it is 4 Gb or 2Gb.
please advise how many GB are needed to upgrade the graphics card allowing for the forthcoming version of Trainz.

My computer specs are
Intelcore I5 2320 @ 3 GHZ
Windows 10 64 bit
Gt610 graphic card
8 GB memory

Hi zuluking - T:ANE needs 2Gb or more GDDR5 (video RAM) to run well, but will get by on just 1Gb of VRAM.
The GTX 970 is a fine card and a proven performer with T:ANE, in both the 2Gb and 4Gb guises.
The GTX 1050 is a more modern card and has many worthwhile features, but the GTX 1050Ti would be preferred, though it probably won't perform nearly as well as the GTX 970.

Here's a comparison chart for the GTX 970 vs the GTX 1050 FYI...

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=3596&cmp[]=2954

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+1050&id=3596

My advice would be to go for the most powerful graphics processing unit (GPU) you can afford rather than a card with a greater amount of VRAM. For example, in terms of T:ANE performance, a GTX 1060 with only 3Gb of VRAM will likely outperform a GTX 970 with 4Gb of VRAM if you're going to be driving a 1080p monitor.

It's actually a bad time to be buying gaming cards due to the pricing distortion and supply scarcity caused by bitcoin miners.
Most worthwhile cards are inflated in price at the moment for that reason.

Good luck in your quest!

If your Power Supply only as 300Watts, you can only install a video card that is below that wattage ... If you over buy a higher wattage video card, than our power supply, you will damage your PC

zuluking said:

My gt610 2gb card does not perform well after installing sp2.
Looking to upgrade the 970 Gb card costs R14000 to R19000.00 {Price in South African Rands)
The Gtx 1050 costs a lot less but it is 4 Gb or 2Gb.
please advise how many GB are needed to upgrade the graphics card allowing for the forthcoming version of Trainz.

My computer specs are
Intelcore I5 2320 @ 3 GHZ
Windows 10 64 bit
Gt610 graphic card
8 GB memory

Click to expand...

I'll share my GPU.

I have a GTX 1060 3GB card, and it performs well on TANE with a mixture of high and medium settings, and it gets 60 FPS (depending on the route loaded).
I had upgrade from an Alienware computer that only had a GTX 745 4GB :hehe:, but MB went out on it so I built my own computer (who is going to spend $300-$500 on a replacement?). Just make sure you have a PSU that can handle a higher end GPU tho.

A 3 GB 1060 benchmarks above a 4 GB 970, is a lot cheaper and is only 120 Watts compared to the 970 at 145 Watts
Will need a decent PSU for either of them, 970 requires a 500Watt PSU the 1060 a 400 watt PSU.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2954&cmp[]=3566

I realize there are a few variables (settings, etc.) But I will say that I have a 1050 Ti card. If I run Railhead's Pioneer eXpanded, which has a lot of scenery, the display stutters a bit even though FRAPS shows 30 fps. I can remedy that by turning the draw distance to minimum (probably ok with a model RR layout anyway), and cut back scenery detail a bit. You may want to consider a 1060 if the prices drop a bit. Seems like they have held for a long time, however. Yes, get a large power supply, or else you will be plagued with intermittent issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JAjRJjvq-Q

Basically a GTX 1050ti is thought reasonable by many, a GTX 1060 is sort of the accepted reasonable card, a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 can handle the more demanding routes.

Check your power supply to see if it needs to be upgraded. Some of the more powerful cards are long, so check the size and how much room you have in the case. The GTX 1050TI will be ok without an external power supply, its TDP of 75 watts should be fine through the PCI slot.

Cheerio John

Thanks to you all for replies.

One thing I would add is to think about driver support, drivers for the 10xx-series cards will be better optimized for current and future DX11 and DX12-based games, and the games themselves will be designed to leverage specific advantages of newer hardware. Just my thoughts.
-Adam