FPS with 32 mb, 450mhz machine

[NZ]

hi, at moment i am running a 450mhz machine with 4mb intergrated graphics card :( gettin not many FPS

but found a 200 dollar nz, nVIDIA GeForce MX200, 32mb graphics card, that slots in a PCI slot, and am wondering what sort of FPS i would get ( or direct me to a past thread ) with what sort of trains and sliders settings

thanks

NZ

[FozzyBear]

>hi, at moment i am running
>a 450mhz machine with 4mb
>intergrated graphics card :( gettin
>not many FPS
>
>but found a 200 dollar nz,
>nVIDIA GeForce MX200, 32mb graphics
>card, that slots in a
>PCI slot, and am
>wondering what sort of FPS
>i would get ( or
>direct me to a past
>thread ) with what sort
>of trains and sliders settings

I don't think it's going to help you very much... Your processor just hasn't got the oomf to push the data to it fast enough. On top of that, that's a bit steep in price for an MX200 which is the bottom of the pile as far as the NVidia chips are concerned.... By now that one should be in the bargain bucket at about 50 dollars nz.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[carlylet]

Trust what Julian says. He helped me with the drivers for my nvidia Gforce2 MX 400 with 64 meg. I paid $75 for it in March!

Besides getting a better video card, there is the misery of finding which drivers will work with your system. The latest and greatest do not always work.

I am running an AMD XP 1600 (1.4 mhtz) on an MSI K7A 266 mbd with 512 ddr. I average about 30 FPS.


Remember this address for drivers: www.3dguru.com!

Carlyle Thompson
Chesapeake, Va

[GT46PAC]

I've got a similar question to NZ. I too run a P3-450Mhz with a Nvidia 16MB AGP card. Will my fps improve if I upgrade to either a GeForce 2 64MB or GeForce 3 AGP cards or is it necessary to upgrade the processor?
GT46PAC

[OTTODAD]

The Graphics Card is doing most of the work, depending on the speed of it's on-board chip and the amount of Memory on it.

Slow downs are also caused by insufficient MoBo Ram, the program having to SWAP a lot to and from the disk !

According to MS you are within their MINIMUM reqirements as far as the Processor is concerned.

[LordTauk]

Microsoft really strecthed the line of the minimum requirements real far out, because I had a system that was almost exact to their minimum requirment - 366mhz AMDk6-2, 64megs of SDRAM, Onboard Sound Card, Onboard video but I used a 8 meg Voodoo2, 4 gig 5400RPM hard drive with other older components on my system and MSTS hardly ever ran above 8 FPS in anything, I mean I liked to play it but having real good frame rates with the sliders all the way up makes you enjoy the game a lot better.

[FozzyBear]

>I've got a similar question to
>NZ. I too run a
>P3-450Mhz with a Nvidia 16MB
>AGP card. Will my fps
>improve if I upgrade to
>either a GeForce 2 64MB
>or GeForce 3 AGP cards
>or is it necessary to
>upgrade the processor?
>GT46PAC

A P-3 450 just isn't up to powering a GeForce3 you'd be wasting your money. If your processor can't feed the data to it fast enough then it's a waste of time and money running a faster video card than it can feed.

As for it being within the minimum spec that Microsoft Kuju expect to see.... Ignore those specs!!! they're there to sell software not to tell you the truth about what you really need to run it.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[rrlyon]

In a way they are telling you the truth, they just don't state that the minimum only lets you see base level graphics with no detail and a slow FPS rate. As all of us have seen if you want the detail and higher frame rates then a high end system with lots of RAM, drive space, fast processor and a high end video board is a requirement. As you said their goal was to get you to buy it, not to have you aware of the impact the hardware has on the SIM.

Richard
Bellevue, WA

http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3ccb690c00ab10c5.jpg

[carlylet]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-17-02 AT 04:12PM (EDT)[p]It's enough to make one wonder if the hardware manufacturers are in cahoots with the software developers to develope programs that require more of everything to run properly. That's a real novel idea! LOL

I was a sucker! TS cost me $30.00 at Target and caused me to build a new machine ($400.00) right after I installed it on my old one in March!! Then I sprang for a larger HD at the Memorial Day sale at Office Max!! Is there no end to the madness! LOL

Carlyle Thompson
Chesapeake, Va

[FozzyBear]

>It's enough to make one wonder
>if the hardware manufacturers are
>in cahoots with the software
>developers to develope programs that
>require more of everything to
>run properly. That's a real
>novel idea! LOL

LOL Nahh I don't think it's that at all I think it's the demands of the software that forces the hardware to improve. Software designers always want more reality in their games, as do us poor games players. In the end it's us ourselves that drive the hardware advances.

> I was a sucker!
>TS cost me $30.00 at
>Target and caused me to
>build a new machine ($400.00)
>right after I installed it
>on my old one in
>March!! Then I sprang
>for a larger HD at
>the Memorial Day sale at
>Office Max!!

ROFL.... Let me guess! you weren't really a big games player before MSTS.

>Is there
>no end to the madness!
>LOL

NOPE!! No End Ever!! Processor power doubles roughly every 18 months, so I think you'll find when MSTS 2 does finally show itself, it's going to require a mimimum spec that is the equivalent of the power of top end machines that we have now.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[patm41]

I use a 500 mzh P-II for route development with 512 ram and a Nvida 32 mx and i get fair Frame rates...

http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3d0e7e0c1565444c.jpg
this is 18 fps

http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3d0e7e4d166bb470.jpg
this is 27 fps

not to bad for a old machine....

http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3cf0f5f54234a5f7.jpg
patm41

[HerbsPirate]

Uh, what route and cab is this????

Very cool!

[patm41]

it from the soon to be avalable Maglev 2005 CasinoExpress
a payware route project im involved with

http://www.trainsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3cf0f5f54234a5f7.jpg
patm41

[Polare]

Just to let you know what the game is capable of, I'm getting an average of 22-46 fps in even the most dense of scenarios. The highest I've consistently seen my fps is at 60 through the tunnels in Baltimore. And this is with ALL the settings cranked up in the highest 1024x768x32 resolution!!!

1.5 Ghz Pentium 4
256 mb DDR ram (aggressive settings)
GeForce 4 Ti4600 (overclocked & 4x anti-aliasing turned on to eliminate jaggies)

PolareBear

[carlylet]

Julian,

ROFL... You are correct. I tried Janes' F15 and FS 2000 but all I could do was crash and burn!! Other than that it was Mahjon and Solitare. I tried Redneck Rampage but it was too redundant. When I saw TS, it was a match made in heaven. I have been an avid rail fan since I was 4 years old and now I am approaching 53!! TS combines two favorite past times: computers and railroading. The best of both worlds or having my cake and eating it, too. (smile of great satisfaction)

Thanks again for your help with the video drivers back in April.

Carlyle

p.s. I may try Janes F15 on my new machine. But on the other hand, the F15 does not have steel wheels on steel rails!

[FozzyBear]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-18-02 AT 09:54AM (EDT)[p]
That's a bona system Polare Bear just don't let the bears with a noncy attitude, varda your eek and rag you about it. it's almost Varda lu even... LOL

I get about the same on this machine.... Athlon 1.2 with 256Megs DDR and GeForce2, although I do have to turn off anti alaising to get it. The other system I have with MSTS on it is about the same spec as yours, but with an Athlon XP 1900+ in it.... Doesn't improve frame rates very much and it's still toping out at 60Fps.

It doesn't seem to improve much beyound that and I think the game engine actually has a top end limit near the 60fps mark.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[railwaysoftware1]

You could be right about that, I have a 1 gig amd machine with 512 mb. Until yesterday 32 fps was the most I got with a cheapo Geforce2 mx 200 (32mb).
Yesterday I installed a new video card, an Abit Geforce2 MX400 with 64mb memory and just now I got 59 fps at Marias pass in snowy weather...
It seems it cannot get any higher than that...

Ron
www.railwaysoftware.com

Fight against terrorism, corruption and the Route Editor !

[OTTODAD]

GeForce2 again, Ron !

Do you have the Newark & New Jersey Add-On ? If so, have a look at my message: "FRAME RATES - Display Settings" and run it using the same Starting Point.

Would be interesting to see what you get so that I can compare it with mine and Julian's !

[railwaysoftware1]

No, I don't have that one..., I'll download it one of these days and try it. I'll post my findings here again...

Ron
www.railwaysoftware.com

Fight against terrorism, corruption and the Route Editor !

[henry3]

>>Is there no end to the madness! LOL
>
>NOPE!! No End Ever!! Processor Power doubles roughly every 18
>months, so I think you'll find when MSTS 2 does
>finally show itself, it's going to require a mimimum spec
>that is the equivalent of the power of top end
>machines that we have now.

And even then, that will probably be a generous underestimation of what will actually be needed to run the sim properly. :)

Henry

[NZ]

well bought it, its in, GeForce nVidia 32mb PCI graphics card, piss easy to install, has its + and -

+ = better quality scenery and can run the sim at diff. screen sizes :D

- = only 3-5 fps better, which is what was to be expected,

NZ

[OTTODAD]

I should leave it at that now. No point wasting more money trying to improve it !

Wait for the next fundamental release of MSTS !