GPU?

I recently purchased a refurbished Dell Optiplex 990SFF with and i7-2600 and 32GB RAM. I get the Renderer Initialization Has Failed message when I try to play T:ANE. So something must be the matter with my graphics card? I have an Intel HD Graphics--that's all the info I can find on it. Any suggestions?

-cbeck

Intel HD Graphics isn't a real GPU, it's built into the processor, and shares system RAM to do its job. It's a very low power "card", especially by today's standards if it's in a 2nd gen CPU. It's fine for web browsing and productivity stuff, but for gaming it's worthless. For Trainz you will need a real graphics card.

Matt

cbeck said:

I recently purchased a refurbished Dell Optiplex 990SFF with and i7-2600 and 32GB RAM. I get the Renderer Initialization Has Failed message when I try to play T:ANE. So something must be the matter with my graphics card? I have an Intel HD Graphics--that's all the info I can find on it. Any suggestions?

-cbeck

Click to expand...

You need to know the case size and power supply to be able to work out if you can add a GPU to this machine.

It has an intel hd graphics 2000 and you need a minimum of HD 4000 and that is marginal.

Cheerio John

Those machines usually have a very small PSU and since the case is so small, there usually isn't room for much of a graphics card. Lastly, again because of the size of the case, cooling is likely to be an issue.

Okay. What would be a good graphics card for under perhaps $100 USD I could use in a small computer like this one?

-cbeck

cbeck said:

Okay. What would be a good graphics card for under perhaps $100 USD I could use in a small computer like this one?

-cbeck

Click to expand...

The easy answer is there isn't one that in guaranteed to work.

The Dell Optiplex 990SFF was sold in a variety of cases with a variety of power supplies and you need to know which you have. You might just be lucky.

A GT 1030 would just about run Trainz with the sliders set back. However it does depend how how much power you have available from the power supply as to whether on not you can run this also the size available to plug it in.

Above that a GTX 1050 would be nice but if you have 75 watts available from the power supply and you have room I'd go GTX 1050 TI or rather GTX 1650. The GT 1030 draws around 35 watts tdp but that can rise to 72 watts.

So check the tdp, check your power supply and the size of your case. Realistically based on what you'd said so far I don't think it can be done but check the forum on tomshardware they might have some ideas.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php you want about 10,000 for a reasonable experience, a 1650 ti will give you around 7,000 a GT 1030 around 2,500. So if you can squeeze it in the case and your budget look for the cheapest 1650 on newegg.com. For comparison intel integrated graphics series 4000 will just about run trainz if you select the assets very carefully. ie Middleton for laptops. It has a score of 325. An alternative would be buy a copy of TS12 that does not need directx 11 which TANE does.


Cheerio John

I play T:ANE on a Mac (yes, I did just say that), and it has an Intel i5, 8GB of memory, an Intel Iris Plus 640 "graphics card", and 121.02 GB of storage. While that isn't optimal for T:ANE (especially not the storage), T:ANE runs on my Mac just fine. Though it would be better to get a dedicated graphics card, Intel HD Graphics should be fine. Possibly.

Now that I think about it, unless you're using a Mac, which you aren't, you are actually gonna need a good dedicated graphics card. I have an old Windows laptop with an older Intel i3 (dunno which gen it is), and I think it has a graphics card built into the processor. I remember trying to install T:ANE on it back in 2017, and it said it didn't work. Now I understand that the CPU and GPU were simply not powerful enough. So... maybe get a cheap yet good graphics card.

SRKing783 said:

I play T:ANE on a Mac (yes, I did just say that), and it has an Intel i5, 8GB of memory, an Intel Iris Plus 640 "graphics card", and 121.02 GB of storage. While that isn't optimal for T:ANE (especially not the storage), T:ANE runs on my Mac just fine. Though it would be better to get a dedicated graphics card, Intel HD Graphics should be fine. Possibly.

Now that I think about it, unless you're using a Mac, which you aren't, you are actually gonna need a good dedicated graphics card. I have an old Windows laptop with an older Intel i3 (dunno which gen it is), and I think it has a graphics card built into the processor. I remember trying to install T:ANE on it back in 2017, and it said it didn't work. Now I understand that the CPU and GPU were simply not powerful enough. So... maybe get a cheap yet good graphics card.

Click to expand...

HD 2000 supports up to DX 10.1 so won't run TANE without a standalone GPU. TS12 works with directx 9.

Cheerio John

A GTX 1060 would do the trick, for a much refined gameplay. No stutters, just pure framerate sweetness.

By the way, just in case anyone here owns a truck, my brother Elm is offering up a few truck wheel and tire packages from 4WheelOnline. You might want to check it out.