A little advice

[lunarchamp]

Hi, i'm new here and hope someone could help me with a few queeries i have.
I am thinking of getting a Vortex 111 but need advice on a few options.
Thinking of,

i7 3820QM CPU
8GB Kingston Memory
GTX680 Graphics
500GB seagate HD 7200
240GB SSD

1, I only use my laptop to browse and play one game Railworks, would i be better with an i7 3520M 2.90GHz dual core or i7 3820QM 2.70GHz quad core, RW says i need 2.8GHz
minmum to play the game, yet i can play it on my sony with 2.4GHz, i have all settings maxed out except with shadows off, shadows on is a no no. I want a laptop that will play the sim as it should be played.
2, Can i put Windows on the 500GB HD and only my game on the SSD.
3, Or would i be better with 2 500GB HDs, i do'nt understand RAID is it a yes or a no.
4, What does a mSATA cache drive do, or what is it for.

I think thats it for now, sorry if i've not made myself very clear i'm not very clever when it comes to computor specs, to me the dearer it is the better it is if you know what i mean.
Hope you can help.
Thanks for reading.

John

 

[Teaz]

Welcome to the forum

1. Both i7 or processors will be capable of handling RW. Not sure where your budget stands but I would recommend the i7 3720 which is an all rounder cpu for its price.

2. You can if you wish to but the usual point of having the ssd is to have the OS on the ssd for fast boot ups and loading with other programs. The rest like music, docs, pics, etc will go into the secondary hd as storage. having the games on the HD still loads quick especially if you have well balanced spec like the considered spec you posted.

3. In simple words, Raid 0 makes things a little faster by syncing two of the same hd together and Raid 1 is making a duplicate so it is a continuous backup. A better explaining explained here by PCS

4. It is to give performance boost to a hdd to obtain similar performance speed as an ssd. Not needed if you plan on purchasing an ssd.

Overall, the spec considered is more than capable for your needs.

 

[lunarchamp]

Thanks for replying Teaz.
I understand what you've said and will give it some thought while i'm away on holiday in a few weeks.
The reason i wanted to use the SSD for RW was that sometimes it can take up to four minutes for RW to load up.
Anyway lots to think about.
I now know what the cache drive is for.
Thanks again

 

[lunarchamp]

Would i get a better performance with a 500gb HD and using an OCZ 120gb cache drive to speed up the main HD, rather than 500gb HD and a 246gb HD.
Sorry for being a pain i'm just trying different options.
Thanks

 

[brukin]

"1, I only use my laptop to browse and play one game Railworks, would i be better with an i7 3520M 2.90GHz dual core or i7 3820QM 2.70GHz quad core, RW says i need 2.8GHz"

The speeds listed with the processors are non turbo mode speeds. Railworks requirements might be referring to older processors (single or dual core)

For instance the 3610QM processor:
http://ark.intel.com/products/64899

Clock Speed 2.3 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 3.3 GHz

The turbo frequency depends on how many cores of the processor are being utilised. 3.3GHz will most likely be the max for 1 core under heavy utilisation. Whereas I believe it's probably 3GHz or lower for multiple cores being used.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i7-3610QM-Notebook-Processor.72681.0.html

The Intel Core i7-3610QM is a fast quad-core processor for laptops based on the Ivy Bridge architecture. Due to Hyperthreading, the four cores can handle up to eight threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 2.3 GHz but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz (for 4 active cores), 3.2 GHz (for 2 active cores) and 3.3 GHz (for 1 active core).

Looking at the other requirements for Railworks 3 2012 I think the processor is more than enough.

OS: Windows XP / Vista/ Windows 7
Processor: 2.8 GHz or faster
Memory: 2.0 GB RAM
Graphics: Video 256 MB with Pixel Shader 3.0*
DirectX®: Version 9.0c (Included)
Hard Drive: 6 GB of free space + 3 GB for DLC
Sound: Direct X 9.0c compatible

 

[lunarchamp]

Thanks Brukin for your input.
I'm thinking of going with quad core as RW is developing all the time, a new update every year since they took over Rail Simulator.
As i said i'm using a sony 2.40 ghz and it runs RW okay but without the shadows on and some flickering graphics, thats why i'm thinking of upgrading.
Just do'nt know which way to go with HDDs.
I do'nt really need a big storage drive having addons and backups on an external drive.
Thanks for replying

 

[tom6561]

I have Railworks running on my Skyfire II - i7-3610QM and GTX670M. It runs perfectly on the default "high" setting (or whichever the highest default is anyway). The SSD I recently put in has been a vast improvement on load times as well, takes maybe 20 seconds to load now at a rough estimate.

 

[lunarchamp]

Good to hear from someone who is running RW, can you run with shadows on AA on.
I see you are using SSD for your main drive. that's what i'm uncertain about weather to have SSD as my main drive or use it solely as a second drive exclisively for RW and have a 500HD for running windows.
Thanks for your views tom6561

 

[Teaz]

You may dedicate the ssd to RW if you wish to, nothing wrong with that. Whichever you feel comfortable with. I'm not sure how updates and addons for the game works or how big these updates are when they come. My thought was just to have the game on the hdd for better freedom. You can do the usual way which is to have the OS and the game on the ssd like what Tom is doing. There isnt any wrong to it

 

[lunarchamp]

Thanks Teaz.
I think you are right using the SSD for OS and RW is the way to go, and use the other HD for other things.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply youve all been very helpful.

PS. The updates for RW come through Steam and can be directed to whichever drive you use.