Want to change PC case, have questions.

[Importz2k1]

Do you think it's a better card than what I have Chris? Or is it similar?

[arizonachris]

You mean the GTX670? It's equivalent to the HD7870 (and it's an older card, still goes for almost $400!) Nvidia cards are different from ATI, in that they can run a program called "Folding @ Home" which I run 24/7 on both my PC's. Plus they run games very well (but not with Folding running). Folding is about the only thing, other than a benchmark maybe, that will push a video card to 100% core usage.

You'll be happy with two of those 7870's in CrossFire.

[Importz2k1]

Thank you for always helping me Chris, I decided to go with another 6950 to match mine instead of purchasing 2 more cards. I hope I won't regret it but I went with this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004O6FKVA/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Hopefully I will get some nice FPS with crossfire with this one.

[arizonachris]

You must have bought the last one, bro, that link now says "unavailable". But that's still a nice card, high end for the 6xxx series for sure. should work well in CrossFire.

[Importz2k1]

XFX discontinued my model card according to Newegg, I had found an exact model on Amazon but the guy wanted 439.00 for it. When I purchased it new from Newegg 2 yrs ago, I only paid 249, so I was not about to get robbed. I found the Power Color, still a bit more than I paid but they are almost identical. Figured it would be cheaper to get this one than to replace with 2 new cards. Leaves me a little extra for something else.

[arizonachris]

Running two different maker's video cards is usually not as problematic as mixing RAM chips can be. It's best both cards are same model and have same amount of VRAM. These days 1Gb of VRAM is minimum, 2Gb is better.

[Thecat793d]

And i have a question about this also. I was going to change my case and I thought about changing my Motherboard also but if i have all my parts just a new motherboard would i have to install the OS again? Thanks for the help.

[peterhayes]

The Cat
I did this recently with a win 7 install - I changed the mobo, ram, video card and case. Windows 7 didn't care it was on the same HDD - I just had to re-register it online with Microsoft. All software worked perfectly including TS 2014. Mind you if you have an "old" install of Windows a fresh start may be called for.
PeterH

[Thecat793d]

Thank you for the information and help Peter!!

[Importz2k1]

Well Chris.......it came, I installed it, switched the settings to crossfre and not impressed. Went up on ati website and found a "radeon pro" download to configure the cards and it works great for that but I'm still not impressed with the performance of both cards. On highest settings: Railworks is giving me 30-45FPS, on Euro Truck Sim2 i'm getting 50-60FPS, Splinter Cell Blacklist 35-50FPS. My FPS stops at 60 so i'm thinking a new monitor is in order http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B2HH7G0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=7OGNH460HIHS&coliid=I2XZPUHGY8NX4G to really see if the extra 6950 was worth it or not. (or are my expectations a little high for these cards?)

Maybe a new cpu? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009O7YUF6/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=7OGNH460HIHS&coliid=I18YMG5FMEGNZA Or is this overkill?

And finally a SSD maybe? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NB8WR0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=7OGNH460HIHS&coliid=IVUTMC1HPQOV9

Do you think any of these will help?

[arizonachris]

Your FPS is locked at 60Hz because you probably have "V Sync" enabled in the Catalyst Control Center. A new monitor won't make any difference in that respect. What route in TS are you getting 30 to 45 frames on? for example, in Stevens Pass I'm getting between 20 to maybe 35 frames, sometimes less than 20. All routes will be different, it all depends on how much graphics "stuff" the video card has to draw in as your train progresses. More assets and more AI means slower frames. My graphics is an EVGA GTX670 2Gb. Also, if you are using the built in frames counter, try using "FRAPS" instead.

Faster CPU won't really help all that much either. I can go from 3.5Ghz to 4.2Ghz easily on my Phenom II 970 Black Edition and the performance of TS doesn't really change at all. CPU does get a bit hot, tho. The SSD will make boot times blazing fast, but a lot have said that in game performance increase isn't worth the price of admission. My experience is the same, too. I had a 256Gb SDD, Win 7 loaded in about 25 seconds, but overall gaming was the same. I went back to my good old Western Digital Black 500Gb SATA drive. Still get the stuttering when tiles are loaded. I have 8Gb of DDR3 RAM, guess I could try 16Gb, but I still think most performance issues are from the antique RailSim graphics engine. It's the same old same old from way back when with just a few tweaks in the last few years.

Wish I knew more about CrossFire, but I just read about it in Maximum PC mags and such. I've not even tried SLI, can't afford another GTX670 (for an old card, it's still $400!).

[Importz2k1]

Thanks for the info Chris, I got those readings on Cajon pass, did a quick test. I know about the performance issues with RW so I'm not basing anything by this game. I'm going by others and trying to tweak the best performance out of them. Guess what I'm looking for is stutter free gameplay in ultra settings.

[arizonachris]

Cajon I'm usually about the same as your video card setup. I hate messing with settings in the Control Panel myself, I make as few as necessary.

[Importz2k1]

Maybe I just need to get 2 of these and call it a day huh? lol
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GFZMI3G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=7OGNH460HIHS&coliid=I2BERNGDJ5CZ6D

[Ericmopar]

I thought this sim doesn't use Cross Fire or SLI.