I am NOT quitting the game (not anymore!) - Edit: The Whales have been saved! (read my 3rd post)

Guys,

I cannot take any more of this shit, I have to quit the game. The reasons that drove me to this is the fact that I can no longer play the game on my PC. It has become unplayable. I have tried everything I could (cleaned it up, both hardware and softwarewise), but I am sick and tired of playing on this old piece of shit, where fps drops to 15 every 30 secs just for the lolz, 1/2 of my ingame screen is covered by the minimap and playernames because of the 1280*800 resolution. It is like playing in a fucking tunel. I cannot aim, I cannot focus, I cannot have any situational awareness and honestly the fluidless motion is just killing both my reaction time as well as my patience. Nothing reacts as it is supposed to react.

I have had it guys seriously. I am sorry I just cannot take it any more.

I will continue to be an active member of the forum, I will also continue to be the admissions officer of the clan (for as long as the clan will want me to), but my gaming days of WoT I am afraid are over for now.

I am not saying gbye or anything because I am still going to be here, and on TS, you will just not see me ingame any more. Correction, you will see me on the academyHQ, but I will not be playing any games.

Needless to say, as soon as I can find a computer that is not as crap as this one and I can play again I am back on th game. Until that happens though I can no longer cope with all this shit.

Seee yaaaaaaa nabs, and thanks for all the fish!

New computer...NOW!!!!! D:

 

Just a troll, nothing to see here, move along  

No troll guys, 100% serious.

I have come to a point where all of my games are affected from my PC performance. I mean I have been playing with this PC before, but with slower tanks and in lower tiers the problem was kind of hiding "under the rug". With experience, the small details started to matter, and there my computer was seriously impeding me. To make a long story short, I cannot play a light or a medium tank. i can only play a heavy tank and I will still miss crucial shots due to break-ups and eratic reactions.

Since I have come back from my vacations every game for me was a nerve-wrecking experience.

I will try to see what I can do to get myself a new rig to play with, but the situation is a bit grim because I really have no money to spare at all. Where you can come in handy, those of you that are hardware litterate, is to help me compose a rig (or at least find a m/b and a graphics card, the rest I think I can either buy either manage to find from some old PCs I've got at home). I might be able to find at some point a couple of hundred Euros to buy these things (or at least I hope).

We are looking at minimum specs here but with FULL drawing distance and a minimum of 30fps (avg 50). The rest of the "effects" or graphics i do not give a rats ass about.

O.o I knew your system had issues. Damn, I have nothing left myself, otherwise I would have gratefully donated something my friend.

Ok I am turning this into a "Save the Whales - Build a new WoT capable min specs rig from nothing" project!

Please don't laugh at the material I am proposing, it's what I have available and PC needs to be cheap as fuck.

OPTION A


M/B:
From some office scraps, i can get my hands on either an:
- ASUS P5KPL-VM m/b or an
- ASUS P5VD2-VM  m/b

Processors:
Dunno what the processors are, but the must be the crappiest possible i guess. I will need to buy the best possible processor for any of these m/b

Case and PSU:
I can get decent midi case as well as a 400W PSU.

RAM:
I think I should be able to buy a couple of DDR2 Ram Dims from a shop selling old stuff here in Athens (I think these m/b are DDR2, not sure about frequencies though)

Mouse, kboard, DVDrom, speakers, HDD:
Those are cheap, I think I can handle them or get them from scraps

Monitor:
I think i can get a 17 inch flatscreen monitor too with a couple of pixels burned for free.

Graphics card:
Now this is where your advice is needed. Cheapest possible, able to run WoT at min specs with max drawing distance with min30 avg50 fps. Again, i can try to buy from the interwebz, or ask for it in a shop selling old stuff here in Athens. Btw if any of you have an old fart of Graphics card that could run WoT in min settings and is compatible with the m/bs above, and you are willing to sell it I am a taker.

Operating System:
Win 7 prefered I should be able to get my hands on a licence.

In order to upgrade the above rig I could spend in theory something around 100 to 150 Euros MAX.

FOR REFFERENCE

Just for reference, my current PC that is struggling with WoT has the following features:

Laptop HP Pavilion dv5-1030ev

Intel Core Duo P8600 @ 2.4 GHz
Ram 3 GB (guessing DDR2)
NVidia GeForce 9600M GT

Therefore the "new" rig needs to have at least 50% better specs than these.

Now I pretty much suck in hardware issues, so if someone says that the "project" is not doable I will take his word from it.

OPTION B

Alternatively, we could try to make a new rig from nothing if it is more cost effective and if it will run the game better. Total budget should be around 200 Euros MAX (only for the case, hypothetically I could raise that kind of money)

Someone proposed this rig for me, I could scrap the HDD for now saving 83€ but that is all about I can do.

CPU: AMD A6-3500                                                                  70.00€
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-A75M-D2H                                          64.50€
Graphics card: Sapphire HD6750 1GB                                           93.00€
RAM: RamCorsair Vengeance CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9 4GB 1.600MHz kit 29.50€
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB (WD5002AALX)                 83.00€
ROM: LG GH22NS70                                                                  20.00€
Tower and PSU I think those I have will do
Total Price:                                                                             359,50€

Now this rig has two problems: it is 76 Euros more expensive than I what I can afford and it is based on an AMD socket, and I am not a fan of AMD.

Your mission is to propose an equivalent rig based on intel socket (any but the cheapest would do) and prolly propose alternatives with better price for quality.

Fellow tankers this is YOUR mission: SAVE THE WHALES!

Remmeber, REALLY cheap, REALLY tight budget, must run WoT in min Specs and this is money I think I might be able to raise and not available yet. So the less the merrier!

Again NO CHARITY required, only good advice!

Thank you guys!

Edit: rig is now finished, mainly thanks to you guys, it turns out that after all I will be able to play again! 

Sapaki wrote:

CPU: AMD A6-3500                                                                  70.00€
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-A75M-D2H                                          64.50€
Graphics card: Sapphire HD6750 1GB                                           93.00€
RAM: RamCorsair Vengeance CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9 4GB 1.600MHz kit 29.50€
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB (WD5002AALX)                 83.00€
ROM: LG GH22NS70                                                                  20.00€
Tower and PSU I think those I have will do
Total Price:                                                                             359,50€

I think you can cut some of the price with the CPU and definately the HDD if you look for the best buys.
I see the AMD A6-3500 go for as low as €50 and the HDD's with 1 TB for as low as €55.
DO NOTE that you still need cooling fans fro the CPU and PC in general. So that will tkae you another €30.
I don't know any price comparesent sites in Greece for computer components though

I got some shit in the loft mate, I'll have a dig through it, its junk to me (I have an alienware) so if any of it is useful to you you can have it.

Me ending up eating from Monty's junk... Where has the world come at?

Sapaki wrote:Me ending up eating from Monty's junk... Where has the world come at?

Suck my junk bitch! Actually, I know for a fact I have an old alienware mouse you can have (got a shiny new one with adjustable DPI)

HA HA! I have a razer abyssus! The only thing remotely decent i have is my mouse!

I am always happy to save the whales!
Not sure whether I can save ponies though...

Sapaki wrote:HA HA! I have a razer abyssus! The only thing remotely decent i have is my mouse!

Pawn it for a new graphics card!

Wasp wrote:I am always happy to save the whales!
Not sure whether I can save ponies though...

 Whales, ponies whatever! Just stop talking MAN and SAVE THEM!

we_just_dinged_em wrote:

Sapaki wrote:HA HA! I have a razer abyssus! The only thing remotely decent i have is my mouse!

Pawn it for a new graphics card!

And how exactly would I stick my new graphics card into my laptop? 

But you are right, I can pawn it and get your alienware crap, It would make me some money. Going in fucking E-bay tonight, good thing I saved the box!

How much would it bring though?

I got some old parts left from before I updated my PC. Motherboard, processor, ram and a GPU.

GPU is Nivida GTS250 that used to run WoT on old render good enough to play. Not sure about the new render though. Motherboard, processor and ram where good enough to run WoT on the new renders med setting and get 20-25 fps on average, sometimes even 30-35 on average. So they should be good for min settings.

I hate typing, so come to TS later today

Like I said in chat earlier, I have 8GB DDR3 (Corsair Vengeance) and a GF 9600GT I am not using (does your motherboard take DDR3, vallu?). If you insist on paying, you can cover the postage fee and draw me a pony.

nilzatron wrote:...and draw me a pony.

This - and a cookie

I am so over eating cookies ever since I had one of Monty's  

Vallu01 wrote:I got some old parts left from before I updated my PC. Motherboard, processor, ram and a GPU.

GPU is Nivida GTS250 that used to run WoT on old render good enough to play. Not sure about the new render though. Motherboard, processor and ram where good enough to run WoT on the new renders med setting and get 20-25 fps on average, sometimes even 30-35 on average. So they should be good for min settings.

I hate typing, so come to TS later today

Isn't this the motherboard that made your computer crash every 3 battles? You must really like me to make such a *cough* generous *cough* proposal to me!

Joke apart, once I get Vallu's specs I will make a recap of the components available, with their prices. We will also work something out for the postage fees.

Again if it runs smoothly with the old render it suits perfectly my needs. 

As a second step, if I manage to sell my razer for a good price I will try to get myself a GeForce GT640 (70-80 Euros) or a Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR (80-90 Euros). This should make the rig fly!

I WILL draw a pony for nilz (any preferences there mate? Should it be doing something? Riding a tank? Slaping another pony in the face?), I will take any other request from an of the other "contributors" to the project (anything will do, just ask)!

Things you can ask for: 

- A picture of me doing something ridiculous in public (no naked!)
- Me creating a very embarassing topic about myself only to get trolled to death in the WoT forums
- Play badly in purpose when I platoon again with you people so you feel like "progamerers" (although I already did that for most of you)
- I can buy and try to make a scale model (1/48) of your fav tank for your office (don't expect anything extra-detailed!)
- Rent you my wife for a day/week/month, I don't care what you will do with her

I have also thought of a little special thing I was planning to do anyway, I only have to figure out whether it is doable (lot's of postage fees involved).

Damn it he noticed it!

Just realised it after I posted the reply already

Two areas where a little bit of cash make a massive difference -

HDD

Be very cautious about the read/write speeds and the cache - even with a reasonable upgrade, you'll find that the HDD will become a massive choke point. What you don't want is to be last to log into a battle half way down the count down. WD Cavier Black is a good drive, the green and the blue are ok, but the black is significantly better.

Could you save a few quid and go for a smaller size and put in a storage drive later when you need it? Personally I only use WD drives, drive failure is very upsetting.

I'd even consider a smallish SSD. They are actually not that much. I put in a 160GB for about £100 twelve months ago or so, and prices have dropped since then. It's honestly the single biggest performance increase you can put on a system now, for the least money. Windows 7 i a pretty small footprint, so you can get away with 100GB or so as a boot drive and tanks drive, if you're not going to fill the rest of your system with porn, music and loads of other games. I usually have two or three major games, a couple of small ones, and MS Office on mine. That leaves me with about 30GB (varies) free as cache.

RAM -

More RAM = less strain on your system and less time caching etc. It's also cheap as chips. 8GB of RAM will make a cheaper chip work much more efficiently than the 4 you suggest. If you can't afford it now (and there were a few donations offered!!) make sure you have the capacity to upgrade it later.

I've got a couple GTX 7950s kicking around, but I think that they are worth more for the copper than the performance now :-(

Have a look at upgrademonkey on ebay for chips - I've not used them (so can't vouch for them) but their prices change MASSIVELY over time, depending on availability. You might see a bargain for the main chip. At least check it...

I've been a laptop gamer now for the last 5 years, but the SSD and extra memory has made this one go on for a lot longer.

PS - I've got a razer lachesis - wouldn't swap it for anything. Well, maybe Gemma Arterton.

PPS - whatever you do - make sure your PSU can cope with the load!!! It's gutting when it can't.

PPPS - have you given your cooling system a really good clean? Also, stripped, cleaned and replaced your heat paste? FPS problems for me on WOT have ALWAYS been due to overheating systems - I give it a clean and FPS picks up again. Living with cats... /o\

PPPPS - Find out what the "native" res is for WoT, as it might run a lot quicker at that. A lot of games can run faster at higher res if the aspect ratio etc is aligned with the development one. Apologies if you are constrained by your monitor.

So let's recap:

Tower: check

HDD: The HDD has been taken care of, I have found a WD Caviar black. HDD check
SSD is a superb option for the OS and all programs while having a HDD for storage, unfortunately it is a luxury I can't afford atm.

m/b: I will prolly keep the P5KPL-VM series m/b from ASUS. m/b check! (unless processor is ridiculously expensive)

RAM: Only drawback is the DDR2 800Mhz max memory. Need to find some dims of this. price? 

Processor: I will need to find a good value-for money Core 2 Quad. Any other processors you can propose with good value for money compatible with the LGA775 Socket?

PSU: is 400W which is not sufficient, I will get a 450-500W as soon as I can get my hands on to one.

Graphics Card: best one I can get my hands on, alternatively I will try to save some cash to buy one of the ones mentioned before.

The rest has been taken care of.

Is there such a big diff between DDR2 and DDR3? Will I see a noticable difference? In that case i should consider scrapping the m/b and trying to get a good value for money m/b+processor pack, which might be cheaper than a decent Core 2 Quad and with a much better performance.

Thoughts?

PS: Cooling system squeaky clean, new paste added.

PS2: Two resolutions are available ingame, one is very low and the other has an asterisk as being the "native" resolution. This is the option I have selected ofc.

Sapaki wrote:

m/b: I will prolly keep the P5KPL-VM series m/b from ASUS. m/b check! (unless processor is ridiculously expensive)

RAM: Only drawback is the DDR2 800Mhz max memory. Need to find some dims of this. price? 

Please, keep in mind this MB has only 2 slots for RAM and max 4 GB of RAM (per specification) but when I checked http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5KPLVM/#support_QVL I saw only 1GB dimms.  

Second, DDR2 starts to be more expensive then DDR3 ... Its always practice ...

Sapaki wrote:

PSU: is 400W which is not sufficient, I will get a 450-500W as soon as I can get my hands on to one.

Graphics Card: best one I can get my hands on, alternatively I will try to save some cash to buy one of the ones mentioned before.

Look at http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/370906-33-best-graphics-card-asus-p5kpl-intelg31 .

Sapaki wrote:
Is there such a big diff between DDR2 and DDR3? Will I see a noticable difference? In that case i should consider scrapping the m/b and trying to get a good value for money m/b+processor pack, which might be cheaper than a decent Core 2 Quad and with a much better performance.

That's good idea, MB is old and maybe is now the time for going forward ... Look at the prices for Core 2 Quad, I was really surprised