Ryzen 5 5600X vs Ryzen 7 5800X: How important are the two extra cores in Trainz?

So I'm playing with the idea of a new PC build. Well, I have been for a while, but the whole Windows 11 fiasco has kinda rekindled that interest.

The hardest decision I've had to make was the CPU. I'm currently looking for an AMD Ryzen CPU, and I was certain I wanted a Ryzen 7 5800X. But then, I had brought to my attention the Ryzen 5 5600X.

The R7 5800X (MSRP US$449) is an 8 core, 16 thread CPU. It does not include a cooler in the box, so add the price of a good cooler.

The R5 5600X (MSRP US$299) is a 6 core, 12 thread CPU. It's currently $149 less than the R7 at MSRP and includes the AMD Wraith Stealth cooler in the box, which I understand is pretty good for an in-box cooler, as long as I don't intend on doing any overclocking (and I don't). The savings from the CPU and not having to buy a separate cooler would basically buy the motherboard.

For a GPU, I would reuse my existing overclocked GTX 1070 8GB, but explore RTX 3070's or 3080's when prices get closer to normal.

All benchmarks and side-by-side comparisons that I can find show that gaming performance between the two CPU's is 100% identical. Rendering is another story but I don't really plan on doing any of that. But there's one game that I can't find a comparison for; this little game called Trainz Railroad Simulator 2019. Maybe you've heard of it?

Now I'm not entirely sure how different Trainz is from, say, Red Dead Redemption 2, or Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but I would imagine Trainz would perform just as well on a 6-core CPU than an 8-core, right? I mean, multiple reviewers are calling the 5600X "the best CPU for gaming".

This raises the question that I'm sure has been asked many times here - I'm pretty sure I've even asked it here myself a time or two - would those two extra cores of the R7 have any benefit in Trainz over the R5?

And a bonus question: Is the included cooler with the R5 worth my time, or should I still investigate a different cooler?

Matt

So after I wrote this post, I opened up Trainz '19 and did a little bit of testing with my current 4-core 8-thread Intel Core i7-7700K with a base clock of 4.20 GHz.

The route I tested this on is rather small but also rather detailed.

I had three trains on the route, two with two locomotives and 50 cars each (these used the same locomotive asset as well as the same car, so this may have been "too easy") both navigating towards each other, as well as a stationary 2-locomotive, 9-car train at the approximate meeting point.

With both of the moving trains moving and the stationary train stationary, I found that CPU usage wandered between 15% and 30%, coming to a rest around 25%. The load was evenly distributed among the CPU's 8 threads. When moving about the route, usage spiked to around 40-45% and settled back down to around 25% once everything was loaded.

Of my 16 GB of RAM, usage stayed consistent at 7.9 GB, or 49%, according to task manager, but with a rather concerning 75% SWAP usage. Idle, my system sits at 55% SWAP usage.

So during this test, I came up with two different conclusions:

- Upgrading to a 6- or even 8-core CPU will give Trainz more resources to load assets faster but still use around 45% at the highest, or...

- Upgrading to a 6- or even 8-core CPU will give Trainz more overhead, but won't really load stuff much faster, resulting in lower CPU usage.

It is important to note that while Trainz is installed on an NVMe SSD, all my content is still stored on an old fashioned hard disk. I know for a fact that would've had an effect on this test.

Matt

I think you're into diminishing returns. You might get a 1% improvement but there is additional overhead in keeping track of the cores.

On my system I'm seeing 70% GPU with an RTX 2070 and 6% CPU that's with 16 cores and 32 logical processors. Don't ask how I happen to have 16 cores.

Cheerio John

AMD 7 2700, 16 gig RAM, RTX 2070. Latest build is 150+ bases with 11 consists moving and several more stationary. No AI used. GPU usage often hits 100% and CPU (on 16 cores) is averaging about 55%. As Tim Allen would say, "More power!". If ya got the money, I would go for the better one.

hi Matt, good info


2 years ago I build my PC, actually to play F1 2019
but works good for Trainz (5k baseboards 43 trains driving)


Processor AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processor, 3700 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32,0 GB
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti


For storage I do the opposite to what you do
Have Trainz on a standard drive (10k rpm), but only the local folder on a m2.SSD
this way it loads your content/routes faster.
Not sure how much cores matter and if they all get used,
think Trainz benefits most from a good graphic card.
greetings GM

Well......

I7 6700K on Asus Prime 180-P fails the Win11 requirements both on processor age and no TPM, curiously the socket is missing although the space where it should be is marked and the holes are there! Odd as the 180-A boards which have an identical layout have the socket and the 180-P wont take anything over a seventh generation anyway. Looking at major upgrade on that one, so it can stay as it is.

OK looking at my Ryzen 5-1600 on Asus Prime B350-Plus with Wraith Spire Cooler, bought as a bundle 3 years ago from the Maplins Bankruptcy sale at a ridiculously low price but I did by an after market cooler in the same sale for it as never trusted stock coolers (based on Intels useless ones) but decided that as the wraith was already installed in the bundle and keeping the CPU at very low temperatures and was silent, I'd leave it as it was, more on the Spires in a bit though!
Rig failed on age of processor and initially on TPM.
Turns out the fTPM option only appears if you enable secure boot save exit the bios and re-enter, then the fTPM option magically appears, OK processor fails under the current MS list.
This rig amazingly beats the i7 on Multicore and equals it on single core and runs stone cold while doing it! but will the motherboard accept a generation 2 Ryzen, off to visit Asus.
Even better result! With a Bios update it will accept third Generation Ryzens, not the 5000 series though.

Bios duly updated, using the Asus flash on-line method from the bios, never tried that before but so much easier than faffing around with usb drives and renaming things.

Last Saturday did some trawling around the net to see what Ryzens were available at a reasonable price, was looking at around 3600 or 3600x, then I found a Ryzen 7 3800X on Scan on a daily offer that was cheaper than the 3600X and anywhere else so ordered it, arrived Sunday morning! and fitted.

Came with one of the Wraith Prism coolers, they are supposedly pretty efficient but very noisy, also need the AM4 Fan bracket socket, missing from my motherboard as the Wraiths screw directly to the base plate. Hmm OK use my existing Wraith Spire for the moment as I'm not overclocking it, Works reasonably well although temperatures a little on the high side. Ordered the missing brackets which should arrive on Monday then I can use my decent cooler on it.
I stuck the Prism on my old AMD Phenom rig to see if it was noisy, it is! and makes clicking noises, I've left it there as the existing cooler needed cleaning and I can't see the annoying colours swirling around no glass side on that one as an aside it kept the Phenom at 35°C when I ran a few benchmarks on it!

The 7 3800X Ryzen is trashing the i7 on all benchmarks. The extra cores are useful for other stuff I do so won't get wasted! I have swapped the 980TI that was in it for the 1080TI in the i7 which is where it was originally also got some 3000Mhz ram arriving shortly to replace the 2133 that was originally in the Ryzen.

Currently TRS19 is running on my somewhat performance sucking route at just under 60FPS, Using HWMonitor, CPU is consuming 65watts and seems steady at 70°C and is using all cores! GPU is at a max of 70 °C that's without messing with fan curves.

TRS19 running nicely with increased Frame rates, seems the 1080TI prefers the Ryzen.


Right comments on newer Wraith Spires after doing some research on Spires, initially to see if I could get away with using it for the moment which apparently I can if not over stressing things!

The original ones were very quiet and had a copper vapour chamber inside the aluminium heat sink the newer ones do not have the vapour chamber and are all aluminium with a faster fan and are apparently noisy according to several reviews, they do however still provide the same level of cooling. Original fans were made by coolermaster, new ones are not I forget who but they are not renowned for quality fans, which is probably why they are noisy.

So if you get a Spire with the Copper Vapour chamber then use it, if the aluminium version unless you are lucky and get a quiet one or are not bothered by noisy fans get an after market cooler.

So I took the plunge and bought the Ryzen 5 5600X, as well as a new MSI motherboard. I'm Windows 11 ready now.

After getting it installed and everything situated, I ran the same test session I did earlier. Obviously the results were different...

CPU usage wandered between 8-19%, and game performance didn't seem to change too much. Something I did notice, however, was how the workload was distributed.

On the 4-core 8-thread Intel CPU, the workload was evenly distributed among the 8 threads of the CPU. Each graph in Task Manager looked exactly the same. \

On the 6-core 12-thread AMD CPU, the workload was much less evenly spread. Looking at 12 separate graphs in Task Manager, some threads were barely breaking a sweat while others were really high in usage. From the 3.7 GHz base clock, the CPU ramped up to about 4.3 GHz. This is with the stock cooler included with the CPU. It never did seem to throttle, although my tower is now a space heater.

Hmmm...

Matt