Next year I am hoping the finances stretch to a new self build system with should Nvidia follow previous series of GPU's perhaps a 2070 Ti in mind, I don't think I'd ever get as far as the 2080's. However such failures beg the question for how long GPU's can be made more powerful yet be kept in the same package and still dissipate the associated heat etc. With CPU and bangs for bucks as a major consideration I don't ever recall going for the most powerful when building but stuck with proven last years technology hence would likely choose an i7 8700K over an i9 which in reality is still overkill for Trainz. Trainz as we all appreciate is however graphic hungry but as someone who prefers building routes in preference to driving them and where fps is less important, from the above comments and the fact that here in the UK they have dropped considerably in price perhaps the 1080 Ti would be a much wiser buy. Peter
That's a wise decision. Whenever I've upgraded, I have always gone with the best hardware I can afford at the time, within reason of course, and always with the tried and true hardware rather than the absolutely latest and greatest. The reason for this is to ensure I have a decent return on my hardware investment for at least three to five years out of my purchase.
I avoid those absolutely latest and greatest hardware purchases because of two reasons. First of all the hardware being at the beginning of the curve hasn't been perfected yet. There are going to be various internal bugs within the chips as well as overall quality leading low yields and the highest prices. As the manufacturer continues to produce the chips, each and every stepping version usually becomes better quality and therefore more stable. For CPUs and GPUs this means they are more tolerant of over-clocking for those that do that, and for us that don't it means better stability and lower prices. Getting a later model rather than the earlier release of any chip will mean that your system overall will be more stable and less prone to weird problems such as those experienced by the current RT series.
And finally, yes, the price. As the manufacturers come out with their next latest and greatest product, their older ones drop in price in part due to the better chip manufacturing processes. This for us is the best because we get the best, most stable versions, of their hardware while those that want to go for that truly bleeding edge and pay for that both in higher prices and lower stability.
Choosing what I can afford at the time means I will spec out not the fastest most expensive processor and video card, but I will base one on both future needs as well as overall use. I never base my system on a single program, but on what I will use the system for. My Intel 5930K maybe an overkill for Trainz along with my 64 GB of RAM, but I also use my machine for some audio and video editing, database management, and 3d-modeling. The Extreme series works internally similar to a Xeon, but at a much lower price within the budget I set at the time.
This decision also goes into play when I'm specifying a system for someone else. I wouldn't recommend an RT2xxxx and an i9 along with 64 GB of RAM for someone who only plays on the internet. Some people, however, will buy such a machine for that because they can. This isn't unlike those that will buy a Steinway Model D concert grand because they've had 6 months of piano lessons. If they've got the $125K to spend on a piano like that so be it, and these are the same people who also buy the super fast computers to play Solitaire and Bubble Witch online.