Computer advice

[Retro]

Thanks Theo. Much appreciated.
Kind regards James.

[Retro]

Have ordered everything except the Monitor so far.
I would like to expressed my thanks and gratitude to all who have contributed to this Topic. I have discovered a load of stuff that I didn't understand and hopefully will have a much better machine from the one at PC World I was looking at when I started this Topic for roughly the same price
Thanks again.
Kind regards James.

[Kromaatikse]

Wth any luck you won't have to spend six hours clearing the crudware off it, either!

[Retro]

Exactly
I am now having difficulty with Monitors. What is VESA to start with ??
The 2 I had chosen don't seem to have very good reviews.

24" Iiyama Prolite E2473HDS-B1 Black LED LCD, 1920x1080, 2ms Monitor (£155)

IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
No idea what the B1 or Prolite means, otherwise they both seem the same.

I now need advice on 24 inch Monitors.
It is just so confusing
Kind regards James.

[theokus]

Exactly
I am now having difficulty with Monitors. What is VESA to start with ??
The 2 I had chosen don't seem to have very good reviews.

24" Iiyama Prolite E2473HDS-B1 Black LED LCD, 1920x1080, 2ms Monitor (£155)

IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
No idea what the B1 or Prolite means, otherwise they both seem the same.

I now need advice on 24 inch Monitors.
It is just so confusing
Kind regards James.

Dear James,
Have a look here:
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/products ... catId=2105

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-22-inch-lcd-monitors/
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-24-inch-lcd-monitors/

VESA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA

[jarmstro]

It always has been CPU Intensive from the start. But this latest version does seem to require a much better Graphics Card also.
Just out of interest has anyone got a Creative Soundcard running with RW 3. I keep seeing things about alchemy and EAX problems.
I am not sure just how good the built in sound will be or if it will run 24 bit Music Files.
Kind regards James.

Just catching up on the thread.

I now use a Creative X-Fi card (bought off eBay for 15 quid) rather than the horrible on board VIA AC97 sound chip which comes with my motherboard. I found it made a HUGE difference to RW3 in both sound and less jerky graphics. This may be because the X-Fi is handling the sound rather than the CPU? In fact any problems I had with the performance of RW3 have been solved with the installation of this card.

[theokus]

It always has been CPU Intensive from the start. But this latest version does seem to require a much better Graphics Card also.
Just out of interest has anyone got a Creative Soundcard running with RW 3. I keep seeing things about alchemy and EAX problems.
I am not sure just how good the built in sound will be or if it will run 24 bit Music Files.
Kind regards James.

Just catching up on the thread.

I now use a Creative X-Fi card (bought off eBay for 15 quid) rather than the horrible on board VIA AC97 sound chip which comes with my motherboard. I found it made a HUGE difference to RW3 in both sound and less jerky graphics. This may be because the X-Fi is handling the sound rather than the CPU? In fact any problems I had with the performance of RW3 have been solved with the installation of this card.

And your CPU is?

Rather good news jarmstro

[Retro]

Thanks Theo for the links. Much appreciated. Thanks jarmstro for your post also. I have had a quick look in my local PC world to see if any particular Monitor looked decent. They seem to have deserted 24 Inch in favour of 23 Inch. OAC and Acer seemed to look the best and have more realistic colours.
Any other recommendations would be much appreciated.
Kind regards James.

[Retro]

I have started another Topic on Monitors now. To Mods. If you think this Topic is no longer functional could you lock it please unless you think it should be kept open for Specific Computer Advice for other users to post and ask questions.
Kind regards James.

[mervyn61]

Still getting confused about backlite LED and LCD Monitors. 8ms 2ms. What does all that mean. Some of the more expensive ones are 8 or 5 ms and some Cheaper ones are 2 ms.
1920 1080 resolution is Full HD I think and the format seems to be 16:9 now as opposed to my current one which is 16:10.
I do not need speakers but I want to be able to adjust the height and most seem to only offer Tilt.
Really need some help here to find a good monitor that does not break the Bank. Just floundering when I look at pages of monitors on Scan and have no idea which is any good. I suppose the more it costs the better it will be. 24 inch would be nice but are the 23 Inch ones better. If you have a Monitor you are really happy with. Personal recommendation is a good way of sorting out what will work nicely with Railworks 3 in TSX Mode
Thanks and kind regards James.

Mods. Would it be better to start another Topic or leave this as it is.

I'll try and sort out your confusion about monitors first, although as you get into the different technologies, there is a chance you could end up more confused!

All flatscreen monitors for computers are LCD monitors (I don't think there are any plasma ones, but I am happy to be proved wrong). An LCD monitor needs to be backlit for it to work as the liquid crystals do not produce any light themselves. The traditional (old-fashioned) method of backlighting is to use cold-cathode fluorescent tubes, and this is why the screens on this type of monitor are deeper, as they need to accommodate the tubes behind the panel. The newer technology is to use LEDs (Light-emitting diodes) to provide the backlighting. The advantages of these is that they use less energy, the panels can be thinner, and in theory, they can be switched quickly to increase the apparent brightness ratio (e.g turning them off when a black image is shown so that it appears blacker). Monitor manufacturers usually quote a Brightness Ratio, and in theory the higher the number the better.

The further complication now becomes is that there are different types of Liquid Crystal panels (e,g. TN - Twisted Nematic, IPS - In-plane switching). Rather than try and go into lots of detail here, best to read an article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display

TN panels are cheaper and more common, IPS panels are more expensive but have a much wider acceptable viewing angle. Again, I am happy to be proved wrong, but as you sit face on to a computer monitor when using it, a wider viewing angle is of little practical benefit.

The other key figure usually quoted for monitors is the response time (in milliseconds). This is the time taken for a pixel to switch from black to white (not strictly true but will do for here). The smaller the figure, in theory, the better as a slow response time can result in blurring of the picture if there is a lot of fast movement. In practice, a response time of 5ms or less should be fine.

As with a lot for things, you can't judge a monitor just from its specification (just as you can't tell the sound quality of a hi-fi system form its specification), especially as different manufacturers measure things in different ways.

If I haven't got you totally confused by now, ignore all the above and go and read some good reviews from impartial sources (there are plenty on the internet, or read some computer magazines) and use that to help make your choice. If you ask 100 people you will get 100 different opinions about which monitors are good and bad. I believe nearly all the panels themselves are only made by a couple of manufacturers and these are then bought and packaged by the monitor manufacturers themselves.

Most monitors are now widescreen in 16:9, or 16:10 format, and most 23" or 24" monitors will have a native resolution of 1920x1080 ("Full HD") or 1920x1200. In practical use, you won't find much difference between a 23" or a 24" monitor.

A height adjustable stand is a luxury you don't really need. In practice, if your eyes are level with the top of the screen when in your normal, comfortable sitting position then that is correct, and no further adjustment should be needed. I have found the stand on the monitors I have used have given me this correct position without adjustment. (Computer ergonomics is a whole new subject!)

I hope all of this has not confused you even more. If it has, please feel free to ignore it. Similarly, if someone strongly disagrees with anything I have written here, I am happy to be corrected (I don't profess for a moment to be an expert).

The bottom line for me is that I recently bought an IIyama Prolite E2473HDS 24" monitor which I am completely satisfied with, and before that I used a Viewsonic monitor for quite a few years that I was also completely satisfied with.

Mervyn

[Retro]

Thanks for all that information it is much appreciated.
I think I must have started the new Topic while you where writing this.
I am quite a bit clearer now on the basics behind Monitors. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.
Kind regards James.

Topic on Monitors now here http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... &sk=t&sd=a

[jarmstro]

It always has been CPU Intensive from the start. But this latest version does seem to require a much better Graphics Card also.
Just out of interest has anyone got a Creative Soundcard running with RW 3. I keep seeing things about alchemy and EAX problems.
I am not sure just how good the built in sound will be or if it will run 24 bit Music Files.
Kind regards James.

Just catching up on the thread.

I now use a Creative X-Fi card (bought off eBay for 15 quid) rather than the horrible on board VIA AC97 sound chip which comes with my motherboard. I found it made a HUGE difference to RW3 in both sound and less jerky graphics. This may be because the X-Fi is handling the sound rather than the CPU? In fact any problems I had with the performance of RW3 have been solved with the installation of this card.

And your CPU is?

Rather good news jarmstro

An old Quad Core 2 @ 2.83Ghz. Really, using this X-Fi sound card rather than the desperately chronic on board sound (Asus P5QL with AC97 chip) has transformed the Sim for me. Foolproof sound and no graphics glitching. I do wonder if a lot of other peoples problems would be solved if they did not use the cheap and cheerful resource hogging sound chip that came with their motherboard which basically makes the CPU do the work?

[theokus]

An old Quad Core 2 @ 2.83Ghz. Really, using this X-Fi sound card rather than the desperately chronic on board sound (Asus P5QL with AC97 chip) has transformed the Sim for me. Foolproof sound and no graphics glitching. I do wonder if a lot of other peoples problems would be solved if they did not use the cheap and cheerful resource hogging sound chip that came with their motherboard which basically makes the CPU do the work?

I told you: good news
I can't use a soundcard anymore...
Gets to hot near the graphics card.
An option could be an external sound thing.
But I don't know if this could help.

[Retro]

New Computer and Railworks.
Settings:-
TSX on
Anti-Aliasing on the 4th Notch.
Resolution at 1920 x 1080 full HD.
Texture filtering Anisotropic x 8.
FPS set to 60fps.

In game options:-
Everything on High except Shadows at Medium
Low detail Shadows and Procedural Flora on.
Not sure what the other 2 do yet.

Autumn Leaves, Rush Hour and High asset areas on The Central Route give 59 fps steady. No Jolts, no Juddering or Freezing.
Overhead Wires are a little shimmery and some Two Track Catenaries flash. They do this in the Class 390 when looking through the Windscreen worse.
Two pictures below showing holes in Default Bridges and some weird effect which moves with the Train from Dark Trees near to distant Lighter Trees in the distance.





Any comments on the possible cause of the above pictures appreciated. Is this normal.
Graphics Card running at 60 Degrees C
No screaming Fans.
30 second loading time on Scenarios.
I am more that happy with this result.
Still getting the first time loading every time I press play however.
So my thanks to all participators in this Topic for helping me get a Machine I can run Railworks 3 on well.
Kind regards James.

[FoggyMorning]

Re: holes in bridges - this seems to have been caused by something in the update, I'm seeing it in legacy mode too. It is only visible from above.