Train Simulator 2021 Upgrades?

[bilirubin]

Good morning,

I would like to upgrade the specs of my desktop PC to improve the visuals when running Train Simulator 2021. They are not bad and at the moment and don't spoil my enjoyment but I feel I could do a lot better.

My rig is 4 years old and has been used for Train Simulator as well as household items, however we have just bought a laptop so I have removed everything household from the desktop making it exclusive for Train Simulator 2021.

My thinking is I may need a bigger/better CPU for a bit more grunt and a better graphics card however maybe just a graphics card will do hence this post.

My PC specs are:

Hard Drive: 250gb SSD with 200gb usable space (This is new and less than 10 months old)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-HD2, 10 complete cores, 4C + 6G, 3.1GHz
CPU: AMD A8-7600 Radeon R7
Graphics Card: GT730 (Looking in the PC this is tiny compared to the latest cards?)
RAM: 8gb, 6.95gb usable
PSU: Corsair 600watt (This is new and less than 10 months old)
Operating System: Windows 10

As you can see the SSD & PSU are less than 10 months old plus the case is good so I would like to keep these and look at other areas to improve.

My main questions are:

1/ Will my existing Mother Board accept a new and more powerful CPU?

2/ Will my existing Mother Board accept and be able to run a new Graphics Card?

3/ Do I need more RAM i.e. 16gb?

Any thoughts and or suggestions would be welcome.

Thank You

 

[Craig_d1]

1) Mobo is socket FM2+. The Ryzen 3 are on AM4 architecture, so if you want to get a new cpu then you'll need to change your mobo too.
2) A new GPU will run at pcie3 as that's whats supported. Modern mobo pcie4. So gpu will run, will loose a little performance but from vids on youtube, not a massive performance drop
3)16gb will be better (2x8gb). If you do upgrade to a later, choose a ddr4 3600c16 like crucial ballistix. The corsair is slightly slower 3600C18 but if you search can be had for cheaper

If looking to upgrade, worth waiting a month or so. Intel bringing out 12th gen with new architecture which will compete and actually beat the current ryzen in some leaked benchmarks. AMD may drop prices to compete, and also talk of them releasing some new chips with 3D V cache if I remember terminology correctly, that will give a 15% gaming performance boost

 

[GreatAuk]

Depends a lot on budget really - could spend a lot or a little!

Graphics cards are very pricey atm, meaning even 'budget' options are quite expensive. However, even something like a 1030 will be significantly faster than your 730, so might be worth getting one, which may let you up the resolution / settings. This would work fine with your current motherboard.

Waiting for a cpu upgrade may be a good option, but then it's always hard to know which way the market will go. If you wanted to upgrade now rather than later then a 10400f might be a good option (normally £140ish but ocuk have a clearance / b grade one for £95 atm).

My suggestion for an upgrade would be:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B560M DS3H (Socket LGA 1200) Micro ATX Motherboard= £84.95
• 1 x **B Grade** Intel Core i5-10400F 2.90GHz (Comet Lake) Socket LGA1200 Processor - Retail= £95.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports White CPU Cooler - 120mm= £29.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce GT 1030 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £89.99

Total: £370.42 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​

NB. Not sure what case you have but make sure it has 160mm clearance for the cpu cooler. Added as not sure if the B grade cpu comes with one or not - if it does could just use the stock cooler and save the money (at the expense of much louder fan under load).

Dropping down to an i3 (eg https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1200-processor-retail-cp-69g-in.html) would save £25 (or more without the cooler) and would still be a big upgrade on your current cpu.

If you had a bit more to spend then an Nvidia 1050Ti would be a good step up in performance over a 1030. Ocuk have them for £220, or looks like you could get a used one for £150ish. Lots more options to spend more than that on faster cards too depending on what you can justify!

 

[dfour]

Same price cooler but 10mm shorter if the arctic is to tall

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Alpenfohn Brocken ECO Advanced CPU Cooler - 120 mm= £29.99

Total: £32.73 (includes shipping: £2.74)
​

 

[bilirubin]

Thanks for all your comments, mush appreciated.

GreatAuk: That looks a decent basket you have put together, the game itself does not require top end specs but those parts look like it will give me the extra grunt I need to get the frame rates up whilst not spending too much on kit I don't really need.

Thank you.

 

[jigger]

Seems like the CPU is ok~ish for the game but the graphics is long way off the minimum recommended spec.

 

[GreatAuk]

The 1030 will still need resolution and detail to be turned down, but I suggested that as it should be about twice as fast as the 730 currently being used (which is providing not bad visuals for OP at the moment) while still being relatively affordable. OP would certainly benefit from a faster gpu, but just comes down to budget.

New card prices climb pretty steeply from the 1030 - over 2x the price for a 1050Ti, about 2.5x for a 1650, and then nothing that makes sense available until you get to £450 for a 6600XT or £500 for an RTX 3060 (unless you manage to bag a 3060Ti FE for £369).

Used cards offer a bit more at each price point and tbf I've not looked in much detail at what older cards are going for these days. I guess something like a 770 or 960, (or higher from each series) would offer much better performance than a 1030 for a similar or moderately increased price). I guess I'm personally not so keen on the idea of cards like that because of the normal lottery of will there be a hidden problem with it, or will it die from old age after only a year or so etc, but I might be overplaying that risk. Maybe a 6GB 1060 would have lower risk of problems (as it's newer, and not a red hot power monster like the top of the range models tend to be), and at £200 - £250 makes more sense price-wise than higher models.

Tbf maybe I've unfairly discounted some older models of used cards, so might be worth having a look at them again.

 

[bilirubin]

Seems like the CPU is ok~ish for the game but the graphics is long way off the minimum recommended spec.

What are you thinking then Jigger?

As I said in my original post what I have at the moment does the job when playing Train Sim however when I look at You Tube clips my game is not as crisp.

I have just looked at what Dovetail Games/Steam recommend and they are saying:

• VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 480 with 4 GB Dedicated VRAM or Better

 

[bilirubin]

Whilst at it may as well post the complete recommended specs:

• CPU: Intel Core-i5 4690 3.50 GHz Quad Core or AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.80 GHz Quad Core or Better
• RAM: 4 GB
• OS: 32- or 64-bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 8.1 or 10 Required (Other OS versions and types are not supported)
• VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 480 with 4 GB Dedicated VRAM or Better
• PIXEL SHADER: 5.1
• VERTEX SHADER: 5.1
• SOUND CARD: DirectX Compatible Audio Device
• FREE DISK SPACE: 40 GB
• DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 4096 MB

 

[jigger]

What are you thinking then Jigger?

As I said in my original post what I have at the moment does the job when playing Train Sim however when I look at You Tube clips my game is not as crisp.

I have just looked at what Dovetail Games/Steam recommend and they are saying:

• VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 480 with 4 GB Dedicated VRAM or Better

Its a real tough one when it comes to picking graphics card as everything is so horrendously overpriced right now. The 6600XT looks the best of the worst currently, but still probably £100 more than it’s worth.

How are you with buying used?

 

[bilirubin]

Its a real tough one when it comes to picking graphics card as everything is so horrendously overpriced right now. The 6600XT looks the best of the worst currently, but still probably £100 more than it’s worth.

How are you with buying used?

Not totally against buying used. I have been watching a couple on ebay and they went for a better price than I was expecting. My problem is I do not have enough knowledge to buy a new Mother Board as suggested above to then go and buy a new or used Graphics card for the fear of it not being compatible.

 

[jigger]

Not totally against buying used. I have been watching a couple on ebay and they went for a better price than I was expecting. My problem is I do not have enough knowledge to buy a new Mother Board as suggested above to then go and buy a new or used Graphics card for the fear of it not being compatible.

You should be OK with any graphics card upgrade. You’ll have to usually connect an additional power cable and get the right drivers but everything should compatible.

The R9 380X and non X 4gb cards usually slip under the radar as not many people are aware of those, they also support freeSync monitors which is useful. The GTX960 4gb is another good card that seems to get overlooked. Both of those cards are from a similar era as your system and should be compatible.

 

[bilirubin]

You should be OK with any graphics card upgrade. You’ll have to usually connect an additional power cable and get the right drivers but everything should compatible.

The R9 380X and non X 4gb cards usually slip under the radar as not many people are aware of those, they also support freeSync monitors which is useful. The GTX960 4gb is another good card that seems to get overlooked. Both of those cards are from a similar era as your system and should be compatible.

When you say "from a similar era as your system and should be compatible" are you suggesting getting a new graphics card to fit my existing mother board or am I still in need of a new MB due to upgrading the CPU. Sorry for all the questions but this is another level to my PC experience.

 

[jigger]

When you say "from a similar era as your system and should be compatible" are you suggesting getting a new graphics card to fit my existing mother board or am I still in need of a new MB due to upgrading the CPU. Sorry for all the questions but this is another level to my PC experience.

All cards should be fine. You shouldn’t have any compatibility issues as PCI-E is a standardised protocol. You can run into the odd quirk but it’s rare and usually a driver or Windows issue.

 

[mickyflinn]

You can pick up a gtx 970 for £150 with a 24 month warranty.

 

[jigger]

Buy the gtx970.

 

[bilirubin]

• So if I went for something along the lines that GreatAuk is suggesting above but swapped out his suggested graphics card for a GTX970 I would be in good shape i.e. the 970 would fit and run on the Gigabyte MB he has listed, and the Intel Core i5 would be man enough to power it.

 

[bilirubin]

You can pick up a gtx 970 for £150 with a 24 month warranty.

Out of interest Mick where have you seen this, is it reconditioned with the warranty or new?

 

[Dkentflyer]

Train Sim runs pretty well with a 970 I had one in my previous rig, the thing with Train Sim is that its built pretty much for single core and loves high clock speeds

 

[jigger]

• So if I went for something along the lines that GreatAuk is suggesting above but swapped out his suggested graphics card for a GTX970 I would be in good shape i.e. the 970 would fit and run on the Gigabyte MB he has listed, and the Intel Core i5 would be man enough to power it.

Id be tempted to try just the video card as that would improve the image quality massively and that seems to be the issue. The CPU and graphics card would improve the image quality and frame rate, but it’s currently the GT730 that is holding everything back.