Besides a graphics card...

[cedric]

besides a graphics card, what can i buy to speed up my game a little more? I have a graphics card at the moment. Is RAM the next best thing?

[derekmorton]

The number one item for MSTS is CPU speed.

[bnsf1959]

besides a graphics card, what can i buy to speed up my game a little more? I have a graphics card at the moment. Is RAM the next best thing?

Yes and what Derek said above, also.

[cedric]

Ok. So if i buy RAM that should speed it up a bit right?

[bnsf1959]

Ok. So if i buy RAM that should speed it up right?

It will speed up loading in game and help your graphic card some, yes.

[cedric]

Ok. Thanks:D

[HEP_ON]

The faster RPM and bitrate your Hard drive has too helps alot.

[GaryG]

Hi

When you see actual pauses, it's file accesses usually holding you up.

When frame rates are just slow, it's CPU or video rendering holding you up.

File loading help...
... You can help improve file loading times a bit if the drive is kept defragmented.
... If your computer supports SATA2 at 3GB/second rates, a SATA2 drive with NCQ(?) can help.
... As already mentioned, a 100,000 RPM drive can help.
... Confirm that your hard drive isn't running in PIO mode, should be DMA mode.
... Rewriting MSTS (and Windoze) so it doesn't pause while loading files could help ;-)

Slow frame rates...
... Faster video card
... Video card with 256MB or more of Video RAM
... More system RAM (if you have less than 1GB)
... Faster CPU
... Lower the quality of the MSTS graphics settings.
... Lower the quality of your video card settings but probably not as important as lowering the MSTS graphics settings. Most of the MSTS graphics settings are CPU intensive, the graphics card settings use the GPU on the video card.

That's about it.

GaryG

[cedric]

Thanks. I just got home with my new RAM and it doesnt fit:mad:. I gotta take it back.



About the defragment part, what does it do?

[derekmorton]

100,000 RPM drive

Where can I get one of these? :-)

[plainsman]

Hi Cedric,
Lets look at the defrag part. I will try to keep this easy to understand.
Analogy:
You go to the grocery store and it has all been rearranged. Each brand of milk is on a different isle. The Folgers coffee is next to the aspirin, the Maxwell House coffee is over by the eggs. Each cold cereal is on a different isle, mixed among cleaners and cheese. The meat is all randomly arranged with beef pork and chicken shuffled together. Oranges are with crackers, apples are with toilet paper. How much longer do you think it would take you to do your shopping?
Now when your computer stores data, it will try to fill the drive in a pretty random fashion. As more data gets saved and some deleted, the process is sort of like shuffling a deck of cards. Now when you defragment the drive, you try to move the file data around so that files are not scattered in random fragments around the drive, but resorted so they reside together such that they can more easily and quickly be retreived. Restore order, get the data to the program faster.

[GaryG]

Hi


Cderic,

"About the defragment part, what does it do?", you ask.

Find the answer yourself. Use Google and search for windows defragment.


Derek,

What's an extra zero among friends? ;-) Even if I found one of those mythical beasts, MSTS would still pause wouldn't it!


GaryG

[plainsman]

Hi Gary,
Isn't that one of those new Eastern Digital metaphysical drives?:D

[bnsf1959]

Thanks. I just got home with my new RAM and it doesnt fit:mad:. I gotta take it back.



You gotta get the same Ram as what you got in your Dell PC ( you did say it is a Dell). That means you have to get it from Dell. Go to Dell website and look up "Parts for your Dell" and go from there. Or you can get the specs for you PC and go to Best Buy, I understand Best Buy does carry Dell PC, now. The documents for your PC should be in your PC or on CD's that came with your Dell unless you threw them away. You cannot use different ram from different machine, it just won't work.

[Kristian]

Processing power in 3D intensive computing is a combination of CPU and graphics card (and when is SLI/Crossfire useful?). If the CPU is too fast for the graphics card or vice versa you get no overall improvement in performance, the question is how does one determine this?

[cedric]

You gotta get the same Ram as what you got in your Dell PC ( you did say it is a Dell). That means you have to get it from Dell. Go to Dell website and look up "Parts for your Dell" and go from there. Or you can get the specs for you PC and go to Best Buy, I understand Best Buy does carry Dell PC, now. The documents for your PC should be in your PC or on CD's that came with your Dell unless you threw them away. You cannot use different ram from different machine, it just won't work.


Thanks. Now I know. I just thought that all ram went to all computers. I brought a 512MB for about $30.00.


Plainsman,

Thats a good analogy. I understand it better now. I did a defragment last night and let it go on threw the night, since i never did it before and Ive had my computer for about 3 years.:p

[dirkjesje]

I liked very much the analogy of Plainsman.
Defrag just rearrange your files on the hard disk.
A file - depending on the size and depending on the size of the hard disk ( tracks/sectors/cluster size ) - is cut into fragments.
The FAT ( File Allocation Table ) points to the beginning of the file. Then the first part will point to the second part, the second to the third...
Now defrag will set all those fragments one behind the other as much possible, so a little speed up at loading time.
But if you have enough RAM ( + 1GB ) not remarkable.
Why ? Well XP and VISTA will do a defrag automatically and better.
XP will rearrange the files that you use often on the fastest tracks of your disk - mostly during idling time - that s why your LED of your hard disk flickers when you are doing nothing at all.
Therefor since XP a defrag is mostly only hurting the disk - as it an old utility of WIN95 and never optimalized for modern hard disks.

Information is just like sex, when it's bad, you better had none, or ...

Frndl Grtngs.

[AlanCh]

Save yourself the trouble and buy your memory from here http://www.crucial.com/ - you can fill in your make and model and it will find the memory you need.

[Busdriver]

I have gotten RAM for my Dell from Fry's Electronics if you have one of those near you. You do not have to get it from Dell as far as I know.

Bryce

[NSL Fan]

I've got 2.80 GHz of CPU. Is that good?

NSl Fan

[OTTODAD]

I've got 2.80 GHz of CPU. Is that good?

Depends on the specs of what other hardware is installed on your computer, RAM, graphics card, driver for, version of DirectX, sound card and hard drive/s.

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

Depends on the specs of what other hardware is installed on your computer, RAM, graphics card, driver for, version of DirectX, sound card and hard drive/s.

O t t o

Well,

Ram-1 GB

graphics Card- Intel 845 G

Driver for- 6.14.10.4342, 2005, latest driver available

Direct X- 9.0c

Sound Card- Realtek AC97

hard Drive- maxtor 2F040L0, 38.2 GB memory, 17 GB free

What do you mean by specs of other hardware?

Is this everything needed?

NSl Fan

[OTTODAD]

What do you mean by specs of other hardware?

What you just told us about.

That appears to be a laptop and on the MOBO graphics and sound chips do games and simulators running on them no favors ! :(

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

Its a gateway desktop from 2004, a 310 s series.

NSL Fan

[mttcrlsn]

Its a gateway desktop from 2004, a 310 s series.

NSL Fan

The 845G chipset was very common for the time especially in business as there is was not much use for DirectX at the time. That being said of course the 845 is ancient by computer standards (4-5 year lifespan) and for games that just speeds up the ageing. So it comes down to how much cash available and how much longer you will be keeping the computer (as in what new things/programs/games will you be doing). In all honesty MSTS-X will not run well on it nor would something like KRS.

If the computer is a 845G then it should have an AGP slot (the 845GL does not hence the L meaning low-cost). In that case you could get a new graphics card. Might also look at bumping up the memory to 2GB and possibly replacing the hard drive (they do slow down in time and defrag just does not help.) In any case I would not use Vista on this computer.

Best option is if it is working ok for you now don't do anything upgrade wise and save up for a new computer next winter/spring.

[OTTODAD]

Its a gateway desktop from 2004, a 310 s series.

You need more RAM, that's for sure ! ;)

It depends on how much RAM this rather outdated computer can use on it's motherboard and whether you can still get compatible memory sticks to increase the amount of RAM it can cope with.

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

Ok, so what would be reccomended for specs for a new graphics card to run Games like MSTS-X?

NSL Fan

[bnsf1959]

Ok, so what would be reccomended for specs for a new graphics card to run Games like MSTS-X?

NSL Fan

Anything with a 256 MB of ram or higher for graphic cards.

[OTTODAD]

As has been mentioned by others before, MSTS is very CPU intensive, it's graphics being processed by it.

A faster CPU is definitely producing better frames rates, as I have found out after building a WIN-XP computer with a INTEL Core 2 Duo E6700 CPU !

The graphics card then uses it's capabilities to draw the display and it's quality depends on the model and it's driver used.

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

I have done some reading, and came to the conclusion that I would need to replace the chipset to replace the graphis card. Is that True?

NSL Fan

PS- I would like to thank everyone for their assistance. It has been so helpful.

[OTTODAD]

I have done some reading, and came to the conclusion that I would need to replace the chipset to replace the graphics card. Is that True?

When you install a graphics card into your computer's motherboard AGP or PCI-Express slot then it will make the on-board Intel Graphics chip redundant and can't remember whether the BIOS has to be told to use the graphics card instead.

O t t o

[mttcrlsn]

I have done some reading, and came to the conclusion that I would need to replace the chipset to replace the graphis card. Is that True?

NSL Fan

PS- I would like to thank everyone for their assistance. It has been so helpful.

Technically no you might be able to find a card that works on AGP (if your computer has it), PCI cards are for the most part gone. In both cases AGP/PCI would be nowhere near current technology. Best bet for MSTS-X right now is to save for a new computer.

[OTTODAD]

PCI cards are for the most part gone.

I think I mentioned PCI-Express cards, only the more recent motherboards have slots for !

O t t o

[mttcrlsn]

I think I mentioned PCI-Express cards, only the more recent motherboards have slots for !

O t t o

PCI as in the cards before the AGP era (after the ISA-VL) :D. I think the highest Nvidia went with PCI was the 6800GT series. The PCI-Express is not an option on the 845G chipset.

[BNSF4723]

I think I mentioned PCI-Express cards, only the more recent motherboards have slots for !

O t t o

Not quite that rare. The majority of motherboards released in the last 2 years feature PCI-Express.

The best option for squeezing some extra speed out of an old Dell is RAM and video card upgrade. Even still that can be difficult as you may need a stronger power supply for the video card. A part which can sometimes be impossible to replace in a Dell (especially the older ones).

If you're stuck to PCI-only graphics, I wouldn't bother with any of this. PCI graphics cards haven't been manufactured in the last 2-3 years, the best one you could get really won't make much of a difference. You're best just looking at an entirely new computer in that case.

[OTTODAD]

The motherboard in this case is an Intel 845G chipset one which has an AGP 4x 1.5V slot on board there are still good graphics cards for, like the 512Mb Radeon X1950.

But as I have said before, the MSTS graphics data crunching is done by the CPU and nothing else running in the background using it at the same time as MSTS will improve frame rates as will a faster CPU !

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

Here's a photo of the ports in my computer.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/skarloeyrailway8/HPIM0696.jpg

Are These AGP, PCI, or PCI Express slots?

NSL Fan

[OTTODAD]

Hi Zach !

They are PCI slots.

An AGP slot is darker in color, shorter and slightly offset to the right and above the PCI slots.

I am surprised that this motherboard does not have one. Must be a real cheap version !

O t t o

[djt1]

But as I have said before, the MSTS graphics data crunching is done by the CPU and nothing else running in the background using it at the same time as MSTS will improve frame rates as will a faster CPU !
O t t o

As you have said before? More like how others have told you before. It only took you seven years to finally realize that MSTS is CPU bound.

[zbobg]

Those 4 rows of soldered-up holes in the middle of your motherboard is where the APG slot would be if you had one. You do not have an AGP slot so you can't put an AGP videocard in that machine.

I would not recommend ANY PCI videocard either.

So your only remaining option is to replace the motherboard and CPU. Today the best price per features can be (arguably) gotten with a G31 or G33 chipset motherboard. Those will support any of the recent Core 2 Duo/Quad CPUs.

My recommendation is a G33 motherboard with a C2D e6750 or the (expensive) C2D e8200 or the (now cheap) C2Quad Q6700 or the (expensive) C2Quad Q9300. The G33 can use either DDR2 or (expensive) 50% faster DDR3 main memory. The advantage of the G33 chipset is that it supports DDR3 has a (very very important to CPU throughput) faster CPU bus and has a much more competent Northbridge/Southbridge chipset (important for system throughput).

The cheapest best most compatible videocard available today is the nVidia 9600 GS/GT (Don't be yelling, just my opinion!). This is a good choice because it is relatively cheap now, is current technology unlike the 8800 series (with the exception of the two G92 chipset nV8800s which are too expensive) and can be upgraded in the near future when some newer cards become available and the prices drop. While the nV9600 is not the fastest card available it is a very good performer and supports DX 10.1 which will give it a somewhat extended useful lifespan.

Any SATA II 300 harddrive will do just fine.

Most of the G31/G33 motherboards come supplied with quite a good sound chipset. The RealTek ALC883 is typical and works wonderfully well with XP and (surprise) Vista, any of the ALC88X chipsets are equally good. By choice a genuine X-Fi Xtreme is best though, that excludes the X-Fi 'Audio' and vanilla X-Fi 'XtremeGamer' which are not true X-Fi cards.

[OTTODAD]

As you have said before? More like how others have told you before.

That refers to this:

As has been mentioned by others before, MSTS is very CPU intensive, it's graphics being processed by it.

posted in my earlier message in this thread !

I hope that you are you having fun nitpicking ?

O t t o