Visuals upgrade (graphics card)

[Trev123]

If the op is just going to use the graphics card just for TS then I think he is wasting his money. My old 560TI runs TS just marvously.

[deltic009]

If the op is just going to use the graphics card just for TS then I think he is wasting his money. My old 560TI runs TS just marvously.

That's fine if you run the sim at 1080p and downscaling it from a higher resolution with everything absolutely maxed out in game and in the graphics card settings. But I would be surprised if that's the case.

[ihavenonamenoreallyidont]

One of the good things about upgrading to a 970 is it'll come into play much more should the anticipated switch to the Unreal 4 engine come to pass.

Another benefit of the 970 is that it's virtually silent so far as graphics cards go (I tried one before opting for a 980). This matters to some people more than others but for me it was a huge selling point and boy, does it impress.

[ttjph]

As has been posted, balance is required... My Pentium Anniversary CPU barely breaks a sweat with all the major CPU options on at 30 fps*. My GTX260, however, bumps along at 90-100% running 1x2 (or 2x1?) SSAA and no shadows.

On a related note, if anyone is running a GTX 750 Ti, would they mind posting what fps, resolution, shadows and AA they're achieving? I'm interested to know whether one would be a useful step up for my system as it's definitely GPU-bound.

* I run BOINC distributed computing, set to stop if CPU usage gets above 40%. Most of the time I can cruise along the WCML at 30 fps whilst still searching for a cure for cancer in the background!

[gptech]

Solely for running TS2015 a 970 is overkill, but given that the rest of the system we're discussing has 32Gb of RAM and an i7 why has nobody mentioned that at least 24 of those GBs of RAM were a waste of money, and that the benefit of an i7 over an i5 isn't really cost-effective?

Nothing wrong with equipping a system featuring a 'top 10 most powerful CPUs' listed processor and a shed full of memory with a GPU to match; and let's be realistic, it was going to be bought anyway, this thread was just to 'rubber stamp' the decision.

[johnrossetti]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the- ... k-tested/8
Was quiet informative
Cheers

[3digitdriver]

Thanks all for comments and advise, Im going to try one so il let you know how i get on. As i said before, not really looking for an improvment in performance as far as FPS, i did find a nice balance. I just want to be able to turn some settings up so the sim will look better, with my current card it will struggle if i try and up it. Also pointed out, yes i do play other games/sims so im sure they will benefit too. Cheers all

[gptech]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the- ... k-tested/8
Was quiet informative
Cheers

Yes, very informative...but what does it have to do with a discussion about a 970 GPU?

[johnrossetti]

>>>> but what does it have to do with a discussion about a 970 GPU?
Nothing, actually but as others have pointed out the game is CPU not GPU hungry and as the OP posted the specs as windows 8 64bit >>> intel core i7-377OK <<<

I noticed that that article put that CPU at the bottom of the frame rates and thought it might be an idea to observe if the CPU spec could be raised instead of spending everything on the 970

Savi ?

[gptech]

I noticed that that article put that CPU at the bottom of the frame rates

Yes, frame rates when encoding a video using Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr/) not frame rates when playing a game.

Savvy now?

[gptech]

On a related note, if anyone is running a GTX 750 Ti, would they mind posting what fps, resolution, shadows and AA they're achieving? I'm interested to know whether one would be a useful step up for my system as it's definitely GPU-bound.

The 750 range is certainly worth looking at, everything I've read indicates that they 'punch above their weight' (particularly the Ti version) so at around the £120 mark they can be viewed as a perfect entry/mid level card, certainly if you're on a tightish budget.
There are a few threads dotted about with a few posts giving details of the settings used, but the general consensus is along the lines of:

When I was running with the Asus HD7750 card the best FPS I could get out of my Swiss SBB route was 21/22. Without changing any of the settings the new card gave an FPS figure of 61/62, so a big improvement.

(http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 1#p1697101

As always, what you're upgrading from determines what kind of improvement you'll see, but the HD7750 and your GTX 260 are pretty close performers on paper.

[ttjph]

Thanks Gary!

I'm a little unsure because the 750 has a lower memory bandwidth than my 260 (although much more processing power), and I'm not quite clear how this affects anti-aliasing - do the extra AA pixels count in bandwidth, or only in processing? What about shadows - do they effectively need handling twice, and again do they use up memory bandwidth?

[gptech]

I'm a little unsure because the 750 has a lower memory bandwidth than my 260

Yes, the newer cards have rewritten the rules a little; effectively doing more with less due to the more efficient architecture. Going back to the original 970 card in question in this thread, this has a bandwidth of around 220GB/S which is much less than the 780 it very nearly matches in reviews. A huge L2 cache coupled with lossless compression leads nVidia to claim that it needs an average of 25% less bandwidth to match earlier GPUs.

(The techie explanation of how this works in the 750 can be found at http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphi ... i-review/2)


EDIT:
Still can't find any real figures or settings from TS users, but this comment was received from a member who moved up to a 750 from a 610 (OK, a 610 is very weak for gaming so any mid range card would give a big improvement)

I am seeing Train Simulator like I have never ever before! It really is like a different game. I have never moved around the game so quickly and frame rates in the 60's with shadows on!?! Its unbelievable. I really never knew the game could be like this.

[peterfhayes]

Gary

Yes, the newer cards have rewritten the rules a little; effectively doing more with less due to the more efficient architecture. Going back to the original 970 card in question in this thread, this has a bandwidth of around 220GB/S which is much less than the 780 it very nearly matches in reviews. A huge L2 cache coupled with lossless compression leads nVidia to claim that it needs an average of 25% less bandwidth to match earlier GPUs.

This is not quite a good comparison the GTX 670 which is a comparable number wise has a bandwidth of 192 GB/sec so the GTX 970 gives quite an improvement bandwidth wise. Shouldn't we compare the 780 to the GTX 980?

IMO the Maxwell series of cards are a step forward , ie GTX750, 969, 970, 980. The beauty of the 750 is that it draws its power from the mobo it doesn't need extra power from the psu unit. With the GTX 970, empirically I get around 25% better performance than a GTX 670 on a similar type rig.

The question to ask wrt TS2015 is - does a $500 card perform significantly better than a $100 card? If it doesn't buy the latter! What is needed is balance between the OS, cpu, RAM, mobo, psu and video card.

Nobody seems to take into account the monitor size and resolution these days, its as though it doesn't matter. The bigger the monitor, or more than one monitor, and the massive increase in resolution (4K) means that we need more bandwidth and more VRAM to give decent smooth frame rates . I'm amazed that TS2015 runs smoothly on any mid to large monitor with only 1GB VRAM on board.
Regards
pH

[gptech]

This is not quite a good comparison the GTX 670 which is a comparable number wise has a bandwidth of 192 GB/sec so the GTX 970 gives quite an improvement bandwidth wise.

Peter, the comparison was to further illustrate how the enhancements to the architecture and more efficient routines have enabled todays x7 cards to very nearly equal the *old fashioned* x8 series. Given that the comparison between the 970 and 780 reinforces nVidia's claim that 25% less bandwidth is necessary it suggests that the extra that the 970 has over the 670 would push the performance up quite a fair bit.