What componet should I upgrade first?

[donjgatlin]

Hello, I'm a fairly new member here. I've been playing RW since it was RailSimulator(1st version) and have came back to the game after the RW3 Launch. My computer runs pretty well on medium settings, but I'd like to see it do better. The list at the bottom will be my computer specs. I'm wondering what will be the most beneficial to upgrade first since its 1 year old and is starting to slow down performance wise. If you have any recommendations on what to upgrade to, please feel free to make them. I'm thinking there is a bottle neck somewhere in my system, but I can't pinpoint it, someone maybe can help?

Intel Core i3-540 Clarkdale 3.07GHz Processor (Dual Core [4 Virtual Cores])
Graphics Card: ATI Firepro 3D 1GB DDR5 V4800 (Workstation GPU)
RAM: 6GB Corsair 1333MHz (Not planning to upgrade for a while)
HDD: 300GB 7200RPM (Not planning to upgrade for a while)
350W Power Supply (May need upgrading if other parts are upgraded)

Thanks!

[steve_the_slim]

I can already tell you're power supply is going to need an upgrade. 350w is way below what you want in a gaming machine. I'm not too familiar with your graphics card, but it looks decent, although it appears to be designed more for animating and 3d modelling rather than gaming. I'm not sure what difference that might make; I'll leave that judgement to someone with a bit more knowledge than me. CPU-wise, i3s are pretty good processors but I don't think they're as good for gaming as an i5 of i7.

[arizonachris]

Steve is right, the graphics card is not meant for gaming. A nice GTX550Ti is a good card at a reasonable price. I'm not up on ATI cards so not sure what to suggest there. The dual core CPU should be fine for now.

[Toripony]

I think TS'12 benefits most from CPU cycles and clock speed. It looks like your clock speeds are good; can you put an i5 or i7 in that mainboard? Even better, can you overclock a K model (unlocked) CPU in that board? And don't forget, RSC is still working on employing multi-core processing; a quad-core might soon be more beneficial than we anticipate. I've been comparing specs and performance of other machines not performing so well to my laptop and the one difference that seems most prominent is this i7 270 CPU. From clock speed specs, your desktop should outrun this laptop, but I'm running the HSC route at 30fps with settings/details on High and Highest.

ASUS G73J Laptop/Notebook; i7-720QM 1.6-2.4GHz (Turbo On), Mobility Radeon HD 5870, Catalyst set Standard-Balanced; AA set to Use Application; 1GB VRAM, 8GB RAM, Win7x64; TSX on; 1920x1080 set High; MLAA+MSAAx8; graphic details: Highest, Bloom On, DOF off.

[donjgatlin]

My computer was bought for Graphic/Video editing. Once I dropped that, I decided to game, so this computer is meant for workstation uses, really. Its a Dell Precision. As for the motherboard, it uses an Intel H55 board. If anyone has any recommendations for a power supply, please help me. I've not had much experience with that part of the computer. Should a 600 Watt supply do well? or should I go higher? (price may be a concern here). Also, I think the graphics card will be first to update considering the above responses. I'm wanting something under $200, but with >1GB GDDR5 and DVI outputs preferably ATI since that's what I'm more accustomed to, but Nvidia could work.

[steve_the_slim]

What you pick for a power supply is going to depend on how much power the specific components need, but I've heard that 600W is a good benchmark for a gaming machine, and it's certainly a lot better than what you've currently got.

[donjgatlin]

What you pick for a power supply is going to depend on how much power the specific components need, but I've heard that 600W is a good benchmark for a gaming machine, and it's certainly a lot better than what you've currently got.

Thanks for the help. Do these larger power supplies usually stay at a constant usage of energy, or do they change usage as needed? I don't want it to be full juice at all times, unless that's the only option.

[GaryG]

Power Supplies are rated at how much they can deliver.

It is best to look at 80+ (%) efficiency supplies to minimize the amount of lost power (usually disipated as heat).

GaryG

[donjgatlin]

Power Supplies are rated at how much they can deliver.

It is best to look at 80+ (%) efficiency supplies to minimize the amount of lost power (usually disipated as heat).

GaryG

Thanks so much! I'll be back in later with a possible one I'll be buying. I think my current power supply isn't 80 (%) efficent, so this should help with heat and energy consumption as well.

[arizonachris]

I took a quick look at New Egg in the $100~$200 range and found a lot of ATI cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... 1&name=AMD

That Gigabyte HD6850 looks like a good deal and a pretty solid card.

[Toonces]

600 ought to be more than enough. The starting point is to look at the specs for the video card you want to get - usually they specify a minimum wattage there. I vaguely recall the *minimum* runs something like 400 for the 550Ti.

Ultimately the question of a power supply upgrade is going to be constrained to a degree by what is available that will not only fit into your case, but also have the power plug and power switch, fan, and screw holes in the same location so you don't have to punch new holes in the back of the case.

Some Dell models tend to be quite modular, and it can be easy to upgrade components. Others (typically lower-end consumer models) are harder). I think the reason for this is that higher end models are oftentimes under service contract, and they want to make it possible for the tech to swap out parts quickly if something goes wrong.

I suspect a good starting point would be to start with google and the exact model number for your PC. You might even try going directly to Dell to see what your options are (here you can type in the service tag number, and it will identify exactly what you do have). If you are more adventurous you can try eBay.

[donjgatlin]

My Computer uses PCI 2.0 x16...My graphics card I buy has to fit that as well, or can it use PCI 2.1? Also, Above I stated that my motherboardi s an Intel H55, I checked online, its actually Intel H57 Chipset...

[arizonachris]

A 2.1 x16 card will run fine in a 2.0 x16 slot. If your board had a 1.0 slot, I would be worried a high end card might not work.

[SMMDigital]

I'm currently testing and tweaking a new rig and will soon be releasing a full report on the findings. I will tell you straight up though don't run out and buy an i7 processor hoping to get better graphics performance from RW3. There was ABSOLUTELY NO performance increase in the game between a q6600 at 2.4ghz and an i5 2500k at 3.7ghz. Core utilization is the same for both procs. The graphics card however, is a different story. Tests so far are telling that the game is heavily GPU dependent. And that 550ti people are foaming over? Forget about it, unless you are going to run two in SLI as i'm doing with them. You need to get a 560TI or higher, which is only $70 more than the 550ti, but is twice as powerful.

Im also running a Rocket-Fish 900W power suppli for the SLI setup. If you arent sure about your requirements, Asus has a page where you can plug in your system specs and find out what size PSU you need. Google it.

[johnmckenzie]

I find that with my setup the component I always need to upgrade first is the user.