Does Watkins Glen use more resources than other tracks ?

[bsmooth]

The track is fantastic, but I noticed with my older PC where I can normally run about 15 cars on other tracks this one has quite a few hesitations that I don't usually see.
Nothing against the track, I'm just trying to see If its my PC or the track thats using more resources now.
Great work on the track its fantastic !

 

[AccAkut]

better ask the creator @LilSki himself

 

[garyjpaterson]

Whilst far from a comprehensive test, a quick look shows I get better FPS at Watkin Glen with 23 AI cars than I do at Barcelona with the same 23 AI (60 vs 56 fps, so pretty close).

Again, not at all a comprehensive test, just a quick snapshot at the back of the grid on each respective circuit.

 

[LilSki]

How old is this aging computer? I'm doing a few things that might require more RAM in the video card but that is about it. Other than that I have not had any reports of performance issues at all so you would be the first.

 

[bsmooth]

PC as of 4/19/2011

MB ASROCK|P67 EXTREME4 (B3) P67


VGA ASUS|ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2D


CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M


MEM 4Gx2|KST KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX


ASUS XONAR DG 5.1 CHANNELS PCI INTERFACE SOUND CARD


HD 500G|SEAGATE ST3500514NS


CPU COOLER CM| RR-B10-212P-G1


WIN 7 HOME PREM SP1 64BIT
Its an oldie, but it runs everything pretty well for it age. Right now its all I have, so it will have to do.

 

[LilSki]

PC as of 4/19/2011

MB ASROCK|P67 EXTREME4 (B3) P67


VGA ASUS|ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2D


CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M


MEM 4Gx2|KST KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX


ASUS XONAR DG 5.1 CHANNELS PCI INTERFACE SOUND CARD


HD 500G|SEAGATE ST3500514NS


CPU COOLER CM| RR-B10-212P-G1


WIN 7 HOME PREM SP1 64BIT
Its an oldie, but it runs everything pretty well for it age. Right now its all I have, so it will have to do.

Yeah that thing only had 1GB of video memory. I'm willing to bet that is the issue. I could send you some lower resolution textures to see if it helps. But in reality that is some seriously old hardware.

 

[RasmusP]

Yeah sounds like that's the problem...
Little quick & dirty advice: Overclock that i5 2500k to 4.2 GHz or higher (there are great guides) and buy a used GTX 670/760/960/1050ti or similar with 4GB VRAM and you're good for another few years! You can always lower settings to make most things run but 1GB VRAM is really outdated

 

[bsmooth]

Would a 1050Ti with only 2GB get me anywhere ? Just looked and cards right now even for something 2 years old are wayy overpriced. Sure isn't a good time to but graphics cards thats for sure.
I did find this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MEGB6LK/?tag=pcpapi-20

 

[Hal Burns]

That's what I'm looking at too ( GTX 1050)...AC for me can be a slide show, same with F1 2017.....others ( iracing, RRE, Dirt Rally, Automobilista) are OK. I have an old 1GB Quadro drafting card, not ideal.
The specs look OK, way better than what I have now and I can afford it ( < $200).

 

[RasmusP]

Would a 1050Ti with only 2GB get me anywhere ? Just looked and cards right now even for something 2 years old are wayy overpriced. Sure isn't a good time to but graphics cards thats for sure.
I did find this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MEGB6LK/?tag=pcpapi-20

That's what I'm looking at too ( GTX 1050)...AC for me can be a slide show, same with F1 2017.....others ( iracing, RRE, Dirt Rally, Automobilista) are OK. I have an old 1GB Quadro drafting card, not ideal.
The specs look OK, way better than what I have now and I can afford it ( < $200).

Not that familiar with how much vram is really used. Can you tell me the games and used resolutions? Then I'll load them up and check for the vram usages
Resolution and anti aliasing increase it. Game settings too of course but with a 1050 ti you will run high settings anyway so you'll at least know if you need 2 or 4gb vram after my test

Before I test: I would always go for 4gb. Friend of mine had a gtx 670 with 2 GB and it worked mostly fine as game settings that needed more than 2gb would drop to sub 40 fps anyway because the gpu wasn't fast enough anyway.
But a few games caused massive problems because they had just big textures but weren't very demanding overall.

For AC I already tested:
- 1080p single screen
- 8x AF
- Word detail: maximum
- Shadow resolution: 2048x2048 (second highest)
- Smoke: minimum
- Show smoke in mirrors: yes
- PP on
- Overall: maximum
- Glare: maximum
- DoF: off
- Motion blur: off
- Heat shimmering: on
- Crepuscular rays: on
- FXAA: off
- Reflection resolution: 2048x2048 (highest)
- Reflection Rendering Frequency: static
- Mirrors on maximum

With 23 AIs, mixed GT2 grid and 2x AA I got a VRAM usage of:

Watkins Glen: ~2690 MB

Barcelona GP: ~2600 MB

So for AC I can't recommend anything below 3GB of VRAM as a 1050ti for example will be able to run the same settings or better (my 1070 downclocks 500 MHz and is only at 30% load)!
If you can't find a used 780/960/970 then maybe have a look on used AMD cards like a 290/390/470 or a new Radeon 560 with 4GB.
It wouldn't be a massive upgrade regarding performance but still be a step forward and especially no VRAM restrictions anymore!
Radeon 560 is a little bit below the 1050 ti but costs the same as the 2GB version of the 1050 ti while having 4GB vram
Here's the Amazon Link:
LINK

 

[bsmooth]

I'm only running at 1680x1050, so wouldn't that make a difference ?

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

The Nvidia 1050Ti 4GB is a cheap solution to gaming woes. I run it with an Intel W3550 3.0GHz CPU and it handles AC pretty well on one monitor. The bottleneck is actually the ageing CPU, which is unclockable.

 

[RasmusP]

I'm only running at 1680x1050, so wouldn't that make a difference ?

Yes it does, but not enough to drop below 2GB. Maybe with reduced settings in general too but then it just won't make any sense to spend the money for a 1050 ti which would then be highly restricted in it's performance!
My best bet would be to just grab the cheapest card you can find with 4GB on ebay or similar sites. Afaik any card with 4GB will be newer and faster when compared to the 560 ti.
Best bang for the buck imho and actually available would be the AMD Radeon 560 4GB...

The Nvidia 1050Ti 4GB is a cheap solution to gaming woes. I run it with an Intel W3550 3.0GHz CPU and it handles AC pretty well on one monitor. The bottleneck is actually the ageing CPU, which is unclockable.

Agreed! Although when you look at amazon UK you'll see that the 2GB version is around 170 £ while the 4GB is 250+ £ which is just not appealing...

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

£250? I bought my 4GB Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC for £137 last year. Those blasted bitcoin miners...

 

[RasmusP]

£250? I bought my 4GB Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC for £137 last year. Those blasted bitcoin miners...

Absolutely... Turns out my 2 years old 1070 is worth 170€ more now... And I had a short moment of regretting to have pre-ordered it back then, lol!

 

[bsmooth]

Not a good time to update video cards, crazy ballooned prices. No way I can spend over $200 on 2 year old technology, thats what makes the 2GB versions a lot better, at least for the money.

 

[RasmusP]

Not a good time to update video cards, crazy ballooned prices. No way I can spend over $200 on 2 year old technology, thats what makes the 2GB versions a lot better, at least for the money.

Absolutely... I hate this mining trend...!
The problem with 2gb is that a 1050 Ti can easily run settings that use 3gb and more so it would just be a waste of money.

Try to set "World detail", shadow and reflection to lower settings if possible. That should at least lower the vram usage a little bit.

 

[LilSki]

World detail has no effect on Watkins at the moment. It will in later updates.

 

[RasmusP]

World detail has no effect on Watkins at the moment. It will in later updates.

Forgot that it's an early version.
It looks so final already when you're concentrated while racing

 

[Flibbberflops]

I recommend looking at a used AMD HD7950. They are almost identical performance to a 1050ti but they also have 3GB . Yeah they are now less fashionable than nvidia but I used to run AC on tripples without issue on one. They go for sub £100 on ebay, I know this because I am just about to sell mine (unfortunately no good to you as I am in the UK)