Gaming Build

Draupnir

Hi guys,

Usually I am a Dell buyer for my Windows PCs but have decided now to build finally after a few years of procrastination. Machine is primarily for gaming and in particular for playing Trainz (http://www.ts2009.com/, a heavy duty train simulation game that seems to chew up RAM as you add content).

Below are the components I'm looking at getting, I don't intend on overclocking. Could someone take a scan through and let me know if there are any I should obviously be improving on?



Also, one other thing, I've noticed people putting 12GB of RAM on these boards, how are they doing that with 3 Memory Slots. They are putting 6x2GB sticks on them.

Thanks a lot, also budget isn't a huge issue here so unless something is a complete rip off I'm happy to get the best and would stretch to the 12GB RAM if it's doable on that board.

Effluo

Trainz is not as demanding a game as you might think!

And the build that you've speced is complete overkill.

If you want to run trainz at it's maximum settings then a much cheaper build is possible, but if you just want a top of the range system.(will offer no benefit to you unless there is something more taxing than trainz running on it)

Well then go ahead.
But you have a decision to make

It's the difference of around €800+ IMO

Draupnir

I appreciate what you are saying re: Trainz, however the performance of the game seems to grind once you begin adding custom content compared to the out of the box requirements.

It's running on an XPS 600 at the moment and it's like a dog at times, thats with a GTX280 and 4GB of RAM on Windows XP Pro with a Core 2 Duo.

I'm baffled at times by the poor performance and am trying to find a solution in hardware improvements.

Effluo

That does sound odd.
You really should not need an upgrade!

It is more likely to be an issue with Vista or just a bad install of the game.
How does the pc run other than when it'd running trainz? ie is start up/shutdown slow? Opening other programs not as quick as you think it should be/used to be?

I suppose you have lots of saved campaigns/tracks that you would like to keep? Go to the trainz forums and ask for advice on how to save these if you were to format your pc.

Maybe you could ask in the trainz forum about their experiences with what you're trying to run too?
Then come back here and tell us what their saying(we find that interesting for some reason)

Cheers

Draupnir

No hassle, the computer runs fine other than within the game. I work in IT so am confident the machine is more than capable of running the game, I am a bit unclear on why the excess content is grinding it to a halt however.

Deano12345

Draupnir wrote: »

No hassle, the computer runs fine other than within the game. I work in IT so am confident the machine is more than capable of running the game, I am a bit unclear on why the excess content is grinding it to a halt however.

What hardrive (s) are you running in that XPS

Where is the extra content saved ?

Personally,I'd take out that Gigabyte board and drop in a Asus P6T or an EVGA X58,save yourself a few quid.

Go with 2 Samsungs in RAID0 for your drives.That 12GB of ram is being achived with 3x4GB sticks.Those kits run about €300 IIRC

If your not overclocking,dont bother with a TRUE,the standard Intel HSF is fine for stock use

HX1000 is overkill.HX850 will easily do SLI even on GTX295's (Corsiar high end PSU's are underrated by Corsair themselves)

Personally I feel that the problem is your Hard Drives

jonny72

You shouldn't need to change your current machine.

As other posters have pointed out, you should scour the trainz forums for similar issues. Driver issues? graphics card issues? XP issues? can be any one of a million things.

The system you have specced is a little crazy to say the least. If you are intent on a new machine anyway (you won't see a huge difference in performance) then you can get much better value than that.

Samsung F3 harddrives (faster, more powerful than the eco drives)
Latest generation SSD drives
ATI 5850 or 5870, directx11 graphics cards
i5 processors
lower watt PSU's

Draupnir

I would tend to agree that the issue is possibly to do with reading the additional content from the hard drives, what would you guys think of a suggestion to install an SSD purely for the installation of Trainz and it's additional content?

Being from the software side of things, I'm not sure are SSD's prone to compatibility issues with older motherboards etc or do they plug into standard IDE/SATA connections?

swirlser

I wouldnt touch an eco drive if you are going to build a new machine while specifically seeking performance gains :O

And tbh, if your game is grinding to a near halt under your current spec and it is down to hardware, you will need to throw a lot more wedge on ur new rig to see the game run smoothly.

Before you do any of that I would suggest you try research the games forums to see if any info is out there with regards this issue. Also, you should go over ur current machine to see if there is anything you can do there - can u increase ur current ram and change to/add an SSD?

After typing all that, I just googled the spec for the 2010 EE version (never heard of this game and ty btw coz my bf is a train nut so im gonna get it for him) and this was link #2 on the serach... from reading that, theres no way you should be having the problems you are o.O (Maybe your PC needs a cleaning - in every way XD)

Draupnir

The computer itself is in very good trim and is literally used ONLY for running this game. I personally don't play the game, it's my father, but he has a second computer he uses for his everyday PC usage.

I'm starting to think that the issue is in the Hard Drives, will have to start digging around the Trainz forums to investigate if there is some known issue here.

RE: the game itself, for anyone who is very into trains and locomotives, from what I have seen it is excellent.

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

Certainly seems like a Hard drive issue from what you have said. Before you go down the route of buying some new hardware check out the forums like mentioned above. Also, chave you tried a fresh re-install of the game? Any difference there? Also is the custom content fully stored on the drive, and none of it online which is downloaded every time the game is played?

Leman_Russ

Make sure the disk is properly defragmented too

Draupnir

Thanks for all the input guys, will do a bit more investigation this evening and come back tomorrow with any updates I come up with.