min computer requirements aiming effects

[Spud_butt]

hi. after a year of playing the game, I noticed in-game performance decreasing substantially with each new patch. the latest reduced battle FR from an average of ~18 down to ~12, at the lowest graphic settings possible, with frequent freezes, pauses, and skipping of torps, shells and even faster ships. my computer runs a quad core AMD black box with 8 Gs ram, wired hi speed cable internet access, but has been thumping and bumping along with a 1G radeon 5400 series graphics card that was marginal 5 years ago. it is slightly below the minimum requirements listed for this game, and tested out (userbenchmark) at about 1%. after a bit too much research, I selected a RX 580 4G. for me it's a good combination of performance and value.

needed to find and install a new BIOS so the PCIE could run slightly faster, but now it's at 34% (again, benchmark) and with a bit more fiddling and tweaking, should be able to get it closer to 35%. I've played on my son's computer, which benchmarks at ~73%, but he has more invested in that sound card alone than I do in my motorcycle.

currently in battle, at the highest graphics settings, FR is hovering around 60, has not dropped below 40 (that I am aware of), and there is zero lag, no skipping, nor any other graphics issues, and even loading is taking far less time. this is like playing an entirely different game.

have had to start over on aiming. the lack of skipping, lag and the higher frame rate does not need to be compensated for. my hit rate last nite took a major beating in the first couple battles, I was using habits that no longer apply. when shells were hitting, it was typically on the bow of the intended target, unless it was reversing. at range, I could tell the shells were actually going where I was aiming, and this was exceedingly frustrating at first. also, I could actually see where the shells were hitting. while this may not be (according to WG,anyway) where they are actually going, it's all I have to assess my aiming effectiveness.

I don't know if long term it's going to be improving my stats or not, but it has already been far more enjoyable and fun !! except I can't blame my crappy video card for my lousy aim anymore.... 

conclusion: it's one thing to be using Kentucky windage, it's something else to be using Kentucky windage that includes lag, graphic speed, resolution, skipping and freezing caused by computers or parts below minimum standards for the game. at this time, the suggested capacities are probably closer to the min standards if you want to be playing the opponents and RNG, rather than playing the opponents and RNG, and computer limitations as well.

[Ducc_ducc]

My GTX 460 manages to run the game at max and ultra, its very cheap too, I'd try that first since its so inexpensive.

[Spud_butt]

2 hours ago, megadeux said:

My GTX 460 manages to run the game at max and ultra, its very cheap too, I'd try that first since its so inexpensive.

I looked at that, and strongly considered it. found a new, open box special for $120 for 4G RX 580 and pounced on it. am shocked at the difference it makes in game.

[DDJohnston]

Interesting.  I'm using an old 2011 AMD/ATI Radeon 5770 on my 6-core Xeon (bought for development VMs in 2011, but I still have it), and I'm keeping a good 40-60 frames just fine.  

 

[HowitzerBlitzer]

1 hour ago, not_acceptable said:

I looked at that, and strongly considered it. found a new, open box special for $120 for 4G RX 580 and pounced on it. am shocked at the difference it makes in game.

 

Open box RX 580? Must've been used for cryptocurrency mining and sent back in a form of RMA fraud if purchased from a distributor...

 

I'd be surprised if it lasts more than a year.

[DDJohnston]

The big difference in the last patch is that it made DX11 the default setting, so some computers noticed it more than others.  

[Spud_butt]

13 hours ago, mavfin87 said:

Interesting.  I'm using an old 2011 AMD/ATI Radeon 5770 on my 6-core Xeon (bought for development VMs in 2011, but I still have it), and I'm keeping a good 40-60 frames just fine.  

 

the 5770 is for PCIE 2.0, which was not available when I got my MB. I tried one about 2013, and was operating at 500 MBs rather than 1G. it may have been a faulty installation, or did not have the correct BIOS to run it under PCIE 1 configuration, that's my son's area of expertise. he said the PCIE bus system, whether 1, 2 or 3 moves so much data at worst it will only drop about 10% slower, which with a faster card is not that significant to me.

13 hours ago, HowitzerBlitzer said:

 

Open box RX 580? Must've been used for cryptocurrency mining and sent back in a form of RMA fraud if purchased from a distributor...

 

I'd be surprised if it lasts more than a year.

actually it was a local computer store that had it on display with a CPU/MB/RAM combination, with no box, power supply, etc. didn't even have dust on it. while it's quite possible it won't last more than a year, i'm planning on upgrading about then anyway, I don't believe it was powered up, much less used in crypto whatever. but then, I don't carry my credit or debit cards in lead lined sleeves, nor wear foil hats either. 

[HowitzerBlitzer]

4 hours ago, not_acceptable said:

but then, I don't carry my credit or debit cards in lead lined sleeves, nor wear foil hats either. 

 

Well, it's not that uncommon, here's a blog post explaining it.

[Spud_butt]

2 hours ago, HowitzerBlitzer said:

 

Well, it's not that uncommon, here's a blog post explaining it.

thanks for the info and link. I called the store where I bought it, the manager talked to me about it. he's well aware of the situation, and explained that GPUs used for cryptocurrency mining are often times in far worse shape than a used CPU that was severely overclocked. the effects on price and availability have cost him dearly. he can order the cards at current prices, they are on backorder, and may show up after the price drops. if it drops.

he pointed out when he sold me my card, he had me pay via paypal, for the buyer protection, and also threw in a two year purchase protection program at his cost. he's been burned when selling used cards a few times a couple years ago, during the bitcoid thing (??) and was reluctant to sell me this one, as used cards are worse than useless, they often times cost more than the fuss is worth.

I feel like he's honest, so this may work out. if it doesn't, I still have my old card, and some buyer protection coverages that will at least pay for most of the purchase price??? probably not replacement price though....

tell you what, I actually started feeling really, really old, like dinosaur old, in the middle of this whole process. thought back to my second computer, the amazing 486DX with turbo boost that would run at a blazing 512 mb, for short periods of time, and came with one of the first 500 mb hard drives. mine came with a floppy disc drive, and had a place to plug in the brand new smaller 3.5" removable drive as well, when they were released. my next computer had a place to insert in a sound card, and you could plug in a telephone cable into it, for the international network, which was a very big deal.

[DDJohnston]

46 minutes ago, not_acceptable said:

tell you what, I actually started feeling really, really old, like dinosaur old, in the middle of this whole process. thought back to my second computer, the amazing 486DX with turbo boost that would run at a blazing 512 mb, for short periods of time, and came with one of the first 500 mb hard drives. mine came with a floppy disc drive, and had a place to plug in the brand new smaller 3.5" removable drive as well, when they were released. my next computer had a place to insert in a sound card, and you could plug in a telephone cable into it, for the international network, which was a very big deal.

Yeah, my first computer had an 8-bit CPU measured in single (i.e. less than 10) kHz speed.  So, I know what you mean.  And 128K RAM.  Hard drive?  What's that?  I did have two 5 1/4 floppy drives, one to boot from, and another for data.

 

 

[HowitzerBlitzer]

On 8/11/2017 at 9:29 PM, not_acceptable said:

Spoiler

 

thanks for the info and link. I called the store where I bought it, the manager talked to me about it. he's well aware of the situation, and explained that GPUs used for cryptocurrency mining are often times in far worse shape than a used CPU that was severely overclocked. the effects on price and availability have cost him dearly. he can order the cards at current prices, they are on backorder, and may show up after the price drops. if it drops.

he pointed out when he sold me my card, he had me pay via paypal, for the buyer protection, and also threw in a two year purchase protection program at his cost. he's been burned when selling used cards a few times a couple years ago, during the bitcoid thing (??) and was reluctant to sell me this one, as used cards are worse than useless, they often times cost more than the fuss is worth.

I feel like he's honest, so this may work out. if it doesn't, I still have my old card, and some buyer protection coverages that will at least pay for most of the purchase price??? probably not replacement price though....

tell you what, I actually started feeling really, really old, like dinosaur old, in the middle of this whole process. thought back to my second computer, the amazing 486DX with turbo boost that would run at a blazing 512 mb, for short periods of time, and came with one of the first 500 mb hard drives. mine came with a floppy disc drive, and had a place to plug in the brand new smaller 3.5" removable drive as well, when they were released. my next computer had a place to insert in a sound card, and you could plug in a telephone cable into it, for the international network, which was a very big deal.

 

 

 

Ah, looks like it's all good if that's the case.  Even though the card potentially bottlenecks your CPU (all I know is that it's a quad core AMD black edition of sorts from the main post), it's better than buying an equivalent $120 card.

 

Enjoy the card, you got a great deal.

[Spud_butt]

3 hours ago, HowitzerBlitzer said:

 

Ah, looks like it's all good if that's the case.  Even though the card potentially bottlenecks your CPU (all I know is that it's a quad core AMD black edition of sorts from the main post), it's better than buying an equivalent $120 card.

 

Enjoy the card, you got a great deal.

thank you, I hope this holds up!!

ran the userbenchmark tests before and after. CPU was in the 75%, old video card was at 1%, ram at 44%. with the new card, the CPU and RAM are unchanged, the video card is 37%. a card to get into the mid 40's for a noticeable bump would be about $290 RRP, but are selling for $450 and up online. with the PCIE 1 on the MB, pretty sure that would result in a 10-12% decrease. saving up for a new computer next year.