The answer will depend on so many variables - the hardware that each user has is just one, the number of times a frame-killing asset is used in a scene is another - that you will get different answers from different people.
What I found that works best for my setup is to use the performance analysis feature that is built into TRS19 and TANE CMs.
Basically:-
- Start CM
- Select an asset, such as a building, tree or railcar, that you want to test its effect on frame rates, etc
- Right Mouse Click on the asset and select Open from the popup menu
- Select Preview Asset from the second popup menu
This will display the asset rotating in a smallish window and supply some statistics.
Look for the
Triangle Count figure, the bigger the number the worse it will perform but that by itself is not a complete guide, the textures in the asset can also play a big part.
Take a note of how smoothly the asset rotates
- Look for the Mode drop down box - it will initially be showing Inspect
- Click the drop down arrow in the box and select Performance Analysis. This will fill the small display window with hundreds (or more) of this asset and will attempt to rotate them all.
Take a note of how smoothly (or not) the assets are now rotating. Again this is only a guide to what your frame rate would be like if you had that many copies of the asset in a scene of your layout, unlikely but not impossible.
When I tested this prior to making this post I selected an old Auran asset, a coal mine, with an asset size of over
30MB. It rotated quite well when it was by itself but it completely choked my system (with an i7 7700HQ and a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti) when I switched to Performance Analysis. Luckily, you are unlikely to have a layout scene containing hundreds of this particular coal mine asset.
My thoughts.