Computer advice

[VernonDozier]

I would assume that the recommended settings 9as per the updated manual) would allow the user to experience the game maxed with decent frame rates. Turn out the recommended requirements are way off. Other games I have been able to run totally maxed with machines that were actually less that required.

[TransportSteve]

I'd personally suggest you have a look at the companies on t'internet in Britain who custom make specific kinds of PC's, for gamers, etc. All of my 3 desktop computers over the last 5 years, or, so, came from PC Specialist, you have the option of adding and deleting specific utilities, such as CPU speed, RAM, power supply, processor cooling, etc, etc. It's always worth shopping around for computers that conform to what budget you have in mind and how much for the little extras you're prepared to spend.
Something else I've just thought of, but, what else do you use your computer for, do you play other simulator games on it, such as Flight Simulator, Truck Sim, or, other PC games like Call of Duty, Battlefield 3, GTA, etc, etc. If you're going to have a computer for the next 4-5 years, all games in the future will be at least 3.0 - 3.4 Ghz CPU, I daresay that DX11 will rise up to a DX13 in a few years time, so, having a graphics card to match, and a suitable motherboard will all come into the equation, and if you have a hand built PC, it may be easier to swap over items, rather than if you get something off the shelf, which I personally find most unsuitable for playing PC games on.

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[gptech]

This question surely implies that the user will want stutter free flawless gameplay as well? This requires that the in game frame rate never drops below 30 because the human eye can only see flicker at rates less than 30fps as I understand it?

Yes and no, each individual will perceive flickering at a different FPS value, you'll find values ranging from 24 to 40 if you waste hours searching
The human eye and brain adjust nicely to make lower frame rates seem flicker free, the problems start when the frame rates fluctuate wildly---you'll be happily watching a smooth 50fps scene but you'd notice if it suddenly drops to your *presumed* flicker free rate of 30, and then back up to 50.

[Retro]

Hi all,
Another question:-
On my present 1TB C Drive I have only used 314 Gigs and that includes all my music in the best Studio Quality at 36 Gigs plus all my other Programs.
Am I better to go for a High Speed C Drive with less space say 600 Gigs or less or possibly an SSD Drive? I have one Game that will only run on the C Drive so a High Speed drive might be better for this. Railworks runs on any Drive so again would it be better to get a 2nd drive just for Railworks?
Any advice appreciated.
Kind regards James.

[SquidvT]

I wouldnt of thought there is much advantage having RW3 on a dedicated drive, apart from perhaps being easier to keep defragmented. An SSD on the other hand would probably increase your loading times. Depending on your spec (mainly RAM) it might help with the stutters that you get when driving a long route at high speed when the program loads up the next set of tiles.

To be fair though would it be worth the cost?

[Kromaatikse]

Among mechanical drives, higher capacity drives are usually faster in practice than smaller ones. This can even outweigh the benefits of a high spindle speed.

On the other hand, an SSD to hold all your current stuff and allow reasonable room for further growth would be rather pricy: http://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/ ... t-kovalevy

A good alternative is to use a smaller SSD as a cache for your existing mechanical drive. You can only do this reliably with a Z68 based m/board at present. That's the solution I use on my new PC, which I built only a couple of weeks ago.

[smarty2]

Seems a bit pricey there krom! http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalo ... CHkQ8wIwAw

[Kromaatikse]

I bet that £588 doesn't include VAT. Also, none of the 44 detailed quotes that Google show beside it actually match that price.

[theokus]

Hi all,
Another question:-
On my present 1TB C Drive I have only used 314 Gigs and that includes all my music in the best Studio Quality at 36 Gigs plus all my other Programs.
Am I better to go for a High Speed C Drive with less space say 600 Gigs or less or possibly an SSD Drive? I have one Game that will only run on the C Drive so a High Speed drive might be better for this. Railworks runs on any Drive so again would it be better to get a 2nd drive just for Railworks?
Any advice appreciated.
Kind regards James.

James, I know the WD Raptor > noisy ones....
(Caviar Black is fast too)

Harddrives are more or less "over and out"
Good voor data you know > as a second drive in your pc.
C-drive > SSD and I'll never go back I tell you
========================================================
Laptop-people?
The same. And buy one with 2 drives in like Asus has.

[USRailFan]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-RAMPAGE-II ... 3662101517 - would this be a good basis to build a TS2012-capable computer from?

[theokus]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-RAMPAGE-II ... 3662101517 - would this be a good basis to build a TS2012-capable computer from?

The motherboard = ok.
e-bay? No thank you.

[gptech]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-RAMPAGE-II ... 3662101517 - would this be a good basis to build a TS2012-capable computer from?

Placing the emphasis on the word basis...........

No...choose your CPU first, then look for a compatible motherboard.

If you decided to go 1st generation i7, then it's a grand board---but would you need or want all of its features?
Given that a Sandybridge i5 ranks favorably against an 'old' i7 would you want to go the socket 1366 route?

[Retro]

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. Much appreciated. I am still a little confused as to how a larger Drive with a spindle speed of 7, 200 rpm can be better in terms of speed of access than say a smaller 10,000 rpm Drive.
Kind regards James.

[Kromaatikse]

The higher capacity drive simply has the data packed closer together, meaning that the head has less far to move to seek across any given volume of data. The shorter the physical seek distance, the less time it takes for the head to settle on the new track - and since Railworks is made of of a very large number of small files, this is the factor that matters. In general if there is at least a 50% capacity advantage, a 7200rpm drive can outperform a 10000rpm drive for that reason alone.

You can assist this advantage by using MyDefrag (or similar) to put all of the Railworks files together. Indeed if you have MyDefrag sort files by name, Railworks can read all the files for a given piece of stock without any physical seeks at all, since they are all on the same track. Again, the higher capacity drive will have more data per track...

[theokus]

The higher capacity drive simply has the data packed closer together, meaning that the head has less far to move to seek across any given volume of data. The shorter the physical seek distance, the less time it takes for the head to settle on the new track - and since Railworks is made of of a very large number of small files, this is the factor that matters. In general if there is at least a 50% capacity advantage, a 7200rpm drive can outperform a 10000rpm drive for that reason alone.

You can assist this advantage by using MyDefrag (or similar) to put all of the Railworks files together. Indeed if you have MyDefrag sort files by name, Railworks can read all the files for a given piece of stock without any physical seeks at all, since they are all on the same track. Again, the higher capacity drive will have more data per track...

Nice to learn here
Thank you!