ZOTAC GT 210 1G DDR3 Performance

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Hey Guys,

To the point, I have been seeing what all this old PC graphics card can and can not do.  I've tried a few XBOX Game Pass games.  Out of the five I tried only two actually did anything...but those games are games also available on Steam.  The only difference is with being a Game Pass member I don't have to buy the games to play them IF I use the Game Pass service.  Those games were Mudrunner and Farm Simulator '17.  They played but there were some huge frame rate drops in spots which made the games difficult to control even on their lowest settings.

The Steam games I have tried are American Truck Simulator (no surprise), Euro Truck Simulator 2, Car Mechanic Simulator 15, and Saint's Row 2.  All of these games have done well with CMS 15 being the one struggling the most.  Saint's Row 2 plays and looks like the 360 version...as long as I turn down it's settings to a mix of low to medium.  The only time these two games struggle are when there is a lot on the screen at once.  CMS 15 has issues if I have more than one car in the garage.  Visiting the testing tracks, no matter what the settings are, are unplayable.

The truck simulators are where I was able to pull the most out of the GT 210 I am using.  I was able to set the scale to 50%, textures to max, vegetation to max, and the weather to ultra on both games...and all without making the game unplayable.  In fact it seemed like it didn't affect the game play at all.  Only when I turned on the shadow textures did I start to have issues.  I can have shadows set to low and no problems but I have to keep the texture of those shadows either off or very low.  But, for the most part, I am able to see these games in full glory for the first time.  Of course I took pics but only of ATS as it's my most played game right now as it is the one I'm concentrating on the most.

There is one downfall.  OBS.  OBS is an open-source, completely free, desktop recording package.  I can capture anything my computer is doing and save for editing later or I can do live broadcasts using multiple camera angles (of which I'm still learning) without having to worry about anything.  Except video frame rates.  It's not the fault of the software or games I play...it's the simple fact that doing both at once is too much for the video card to handle.  It can do the games with decent settings really well, and I can record the desktop if it isn't doing much, but it can't handle both.  

For that reason I'm thinking I will reschedule ATS YouTube series until I can pick up a GTX 750.  That's what the game recommends and I've seen its performance.  That's the one I am going to wait for.  Until then I am enjoying the games I'm playing in ways I couldn't before.  The GPU I am using does work and works well as long as I don't push it too hard and if the developers don't try to make medium graphics look like ultra graphics.

 

 

[RickR]

I don't know how comfortable you'd feel with overclocking that video card.  Rivatuner could do it AND will show your framerates.  It may give you a little more performance until you get your 750. 

 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I'll have to try that.  The ZOTAC software wouldn't let me OC it.  The option was there but it would reset once I clicked on the apply button.

[RickR]

MSI Afterburner is another overclock utility to try.

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I know I keep saying the 750....but I just found this 610.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000516506767.html?gps-id=platformRecommendH5&scm=1007.18499.130806.0&scm_id=1007.18499.130806.0&scm-url=1007.18499.130806.0&pvid=ddb76872-7119-41d1-ad65-36d1fc17110b&_t=gps-id:platformRecommendH5,scm-url:1007.18499.130806.0,pvid:ddb76872-7119-41d1-ad65-36d1fc17110b&spm=a2g0n.detail-amp.moretolove.4000516506767&aff_trace_key=f132a755514542588d4e11a476895fb2-1578459189206-08803-UneMJZVf&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=3782amp-UyutZ4wZiojDrEg_6BiySQ1578751398198&browser_id=df6d9190feb6457d8da176e59d25baa6&is_c=N

I'm also learning how to read specs of graphics cards.  The 610 I found has double vram, more than double the CUDA cores, and has a slightly faster clock speed. That should be an improvement, right?

[RickR]

I'd stay away.  The 610 still won't use the latest drivers.  It's about twice the speed of a 210, but I think you should aim higher. 

 

[RickR]

I think you'd be pleased with this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-AMD-Radeon-R5-340-2GB-GDDR5-DisplayPort-DVI-PCIe-x-Video-Card-X0CVJ-Grade-A/274154687277?hash=item3fd4e48b2d:g:SU4AAOSwhQpdlP~u:sc:USPSFirstClass!97086!US!-1

 

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by RickR

[Atari 5200 Guy]

The only games I care about playing good are the two trucking games.  Those are the ones I play the most.  And I play ATS more than ETS 2.  Both games require a minimum GeForce GTS 450, recommend a GTX 760 with 2GB.  That 610 is one of few I found on Ali that has 2GB and priced under $30.  Everything else has just 1GB which seems to be the norm.  

Edited January 12, 2020 by kamakazi20012

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I do have a bunch of older PC games my wife and I found at a yard sale a long time ago, and some I found on our give-a-way table, that I have not played yet.  Jetfighter V Homeland Protector (have no clue, don't ask), Black Hawk Down Platinum Pack, Delta Force, Triple Play Baseball (no year but for Win 95/98), TC's Rainbow Six, TC's Rainbow Six Covert Ops, TC's Ghost Recon 2, and there's a PC Gamer demo CD from Dec 1999.  Maybe I'll try them on my current setup.

I have never played them before with the exception of TC's Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2 on 360.  The second one was a disappointment.  Fun game...just really short.

Edited January 12, 2020 by kamakazi20012