World of Tanks budget GPU comparison at 1080p resolutions

Introduction:

Many gamers play within a budget and don't have $350 and up to spend on a new graphics card.  With that that goal in mind, a test of graphics cards that can be purchased for $80-$120 was performed.

For smooth game play you want to keep your minimum FPS(Frames per Second) above 30 FPS.  Games can start looking like a slide show below 30 FPS.  Games tend to look smoother and are easier to play when you keep your minimum frame rates higher.  Generally 50-60 FPS is where games start to look much smoother to most gamers.  Some people with 60 Hz monitors prefer to have their minimum FPS never drop below 60 FPS then enable V-sync to reduce the visual effect called screen tearing.  Other players have monitors that are capable of 75 Hz, 100 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, or faster  refresh rates and want higher average FPS in game.  Minimum and average frame per second are a matter of both game play quality and personal preference and can be limited by the hardware.  Maximum FPS isn't as important for game play as minimum FPS and average FPS.

Another advantage of higher frame rates is less input lag and less game lag.  You may have a great ping and no packet loss, but if you are averaging 30 FPS it may feel that you have higher ping when you play because there is more lag in the game itself.  For example, if you play at 30 FPS, each frame is about 0.0333 seconds.  If you play at 60 FPS, each frame is 0.0167 seconds.  If you play at 100 FPS, each frame is 0.0100 seconds.  To many players, having higher frame rates feels and acts like having a better in game ping.  Some players feel that higher FPS in a game makes it easier to hit moving targets in game and to hit smaller targets in game.

Methods:

World of Tanks version:

World of Tanks 9.16 was used for this test.

There were no significant changes to the game engine between 9.16, 9.17, and 9.17.1 that have an effect on average FPS and minimum FPS.  Also World of Tanks 9.16 replays that play in 9.17 had no change in minimum and average FPS when played in version 9.17.  Therefore, these results can apply to future world of tanks versions until there are significant game engine updates.

Replay:

A World of Tanks version 9.16 replay of the M41 Bulldog on Windstorm map was used.  This replay was chosen because the M41 had battles in both the open areas of the map and in the city.  In addition to that tank battles occurred in and near water, there were tank fires, artillery near misses, destruction of destructible objects, a wide variety of tanks were in the battle, and the M41 drove a long distance through he map.

Hardware:

The computer used for the comparison had these specs:
i7 6700K overclocked to 4.6 GHz and water cooled.
32 GB DDR 4 RAM (8GB x 4 sticks)
1 TB Samsung EVO 850 SSD
Seasonic 750 Watt power supply
Windows 10 Pro

Graphics cards tested in the Desktop, the manufacturer's part numbers, and additional information:
GTX 1050 - ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Mini (ZT-P10500A-10L) - The GTX 1050 is Nvidia's new budget GPU.  GTX 1050 graphics cards currently cost $100-140.  The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Mini can be found for $99.99 regularly.
GTX 960 - EVGA GeForce GTX 960 FTW GAMING ACX 2.0+ (02G-P4-2968-KR) - A used 2GB GTX 960 equipped graphics card currently sells for $100-$130.
GTX 950 - EVGA GeForce GTX 950 SC+ GAMING ACX 2.0 (02G-P4-2956-RX) - The GTX 950 was replaced by the GTX 1050.  Used and refurbished GTX 950 graphics cards currently sell for $80-$120.
GTX 660 ti - EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti FTW Signature 2 (02G-P4-3664-KR) - The GTX 660 ti was released in August of 2012.  Currently, used GTX 660 ti graphics cards sell for $60-$100 on eBay.  Occasionally, you can find a pair of them sold together for SLI use for $120-$140
GTX 750 ti - EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti (02G-P4-3751-KR) - A new GTX 750 ti equipped graphics card currently sells for $80-$100 in the U.S.  Used GTX 750 ti cards can be found for as low as $60.
RX 460 - PowerColor RED DRAGON Radeon RX 460 (AXRX 460 2GBD5-DH/OC) THe RX 460 is AMD's current budget gaming GPU.  RX 460 graphcis cards currently cost $95-140. The PowerColor RED DRAGON Radeon RX 460 can be found for $95-$100 regularly.
R7 370 - XFX R7 370 1050M (R7-370B-CDFR) - The R7 370 has been replaced by the RX 460 and the low end RX 470 models.  A Used R7 370 equipped graphics card currently sells for $70-$000 in the U.S.
R7 360 - Gigabyte AMD R7 360 (GV-R736OC-2GD) - The R7 360 has been replaced by the RX 460.  A used R7 360 equipped graphics card currently sells for $60-$100 in the U.S.

GTX 1050 vs RX 460 World of Tanks FPS comparison results Part 1

Introduction

There are many gamers who don't spend much on hardware and also often have computers that can't power a high end graphics card.  I've been asked before what low end graphics cards are better for World of Tanks.  I had the opportunity to test several of them recently.

I used Fraps and a WoT replay of the M41 Bulldog on the Windstorm map to compare the GTX 1050 vs the RX 460.  Fraps recorded the minimum, average, and maximum FPS for the battle.  The RX 460 that was used cost $95 and the GTX 1050 that was used cost $100.  Both are models that don't use any additional power and get all their power through the PCI Express x16 slot.  Also, both cards have 2 GB of memory.

The computer used for the comparison had these specs:
i7 6700K overclocked to 4.6 GHz and water cooled.
32 GB DDR 4 RAM (8GB x 4 sticks)
1 TB Samsung EVO 850 SSD
Seasonic 750 Watt power supply
Windows 10 Pro
The faster processor was used to ensure neither graphics card was hindered by CPU performance.

The two graphics cards tested were:
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Mini $99.99
PowerColor RED DRAGON Radeon RX 460 $94.99
Both graphics cards were run at their default clock speed.

For smooth game play you want to keep your minimum FPS(Frames per Second) above 30 FPS.  Games can start looking like a slide show below 30 FPS.  Games tend to look smoother and are easier to play when you keep your minimum frame rates higher.  Generally 50-60 FPS is where games start to look much smoother to most gamers.  Some people with 60 Hz monitors prefer to have their minimum FPS never drop below 60 FPS then enable V-sync to reduce the visual effect called screen tearing.  Other players have monitors that are capable of 75 Hz, 100 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, or faster  refresh rates and want higher average FPS in game.  Minimum and average frame per second are a matter of both game play quality and personal preference and can be limited by the hardware.  Maximum FPS isn't as important for game play as minimum FPS and average FPS.

The Results:

I'm Trying WoT Clan Wars again Now that CW 2.0 is Less of a 2nd Job

I figured I'd have another go at World of Tanks clan wars.  My friends told me you don't have to grind strongholds for two to three hours a night 7 nights a week just for maintenance on your land and to replenish your resources.  One of the main reasons I quit REL_3 back in 2015 was because of the 2nd job strongholds became.  I applied to REL2 and was accepted today.

I'm not sure how it will be since I joined a clan again right before the campaign.  If I survive the campaign, I might just survive the "new and improved" Clan Wars 2.0.

T54E1: 9 kills, Mastery Ace Tanker, Radley-Walters's Medal, Top Gun, High Caliber, 6,575 damage

YouTube Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0ptNFc1Gao

This was my 4th battle in the T54E1. I went to a location where I could use its clip and gun depression to do as much as possible to help my team.

KV-2 best Great Sniper or Best Sniper?

I've noticed the KV-2 rarely lets me down when I really need to make that shot.  I've hit enemy TD's at 350+ meters and also recently hit this light tank on the move as he was trying to suicide.

Anyone else have video of amazing KV-2 shots guided by the hand of Stalin?  I still enjoy rewatching this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTuxjp7mcfE

Video was recorded in 3440x1440.  You may need to reduce the video size on Youtube depending on your download bandwidth for it to play without freezing.

This is another great KV-2 sniper video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Ld1oga78A

What happened to the Havok engine Physics that were going to be added to the World of Tanks PC?

I'm still curious, whatever happened to the Havok engine physics that were going to be added to World of Tanks.  Why the long delay in adding it?

Also, why did Wargaming choose Havok engine physics when the BigWorld game engine that is used by Wargmaing for World of Tanks and other games naively supports another one of the other game physics software programs, PhysX?

World of Tanks 9.15 GPU Comparison and Analysis

Introduction:

World of Tanks updated to version 9.15 which added new technology to the game.  Now the game supports multi core CPUs and is not dependent on single threaded CPU performance.  This should allow for an increase in frames per second with the same hardware compared to earlier versions of World of Tanks.

For smooth game play you want to keep your minimum FPS(Frames per Second) above 30 FPS.  Games can start looking like a slide show below 30 FPS.  Games tend to look smoother and are easier to play when you keep your minimum frame rates higher.  Generally 50-60 FPS is where games start to look much smoother to most gamers.  Some people with 60 Hz monitors prefer to have their minimum FPS never drop below 60 FPS then enable V-sync to reduce the visual effect called screen tearing.  Other players have monitors that are capable of 75 Hz, 100 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, or faster  refresh rates and want higher average FPS in game.  Minimum and average frame per second are a matter of both game play quality and personal preference and can be limited by the hardware.  Maximum FPS isn't as important for game play as minimum FPS and average FPS.

There is a myth that the human eye can't distinguish any difference above 30 frames per second, so that having more than 30 FPS is useless.  In scientific testing, it has been proven that the human eye may be able to see differences in frame rate at over 200 frames per second.  One United States military test of pilots showed that they can be shown an image of an aircraft for 1/220th of a second and they can accurately and reliably tell what type of aircraft it is.  Other tests have shown that computer gamers can see a difference between 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, and 100+ frames per second while playing computer games on newer monitors that have the capability of using refresh rates above 100 Hz.  The difference is noticed more by gamers who have previously played on 100 Hz and faster refresh rate monitors.  Also, some people say that television and movies are shown at approximately 30 FPS, so more than 30 FPS isn't necessary.  However movies and television shows often use motion blur to hide what would seem to be jerky movement due to being played at 30 FPS.

Another advantage of higher frame rates is less input lag and less game lag.  You may have a great ping and no packet loss, but if you are averaging 30 FPS it may feel that you have higher ping when you play because there is more lag in the game itself.  For example, if you play at 30 FPS, each frame is about 0.0333 seconds.  If you play at 60 FPS, each frame is 0.0167 seconds.  If you play at 100 FPS, each frame is 0.0100 seconds.  To many players, having higher frame rates feels and acts like having a better in game ping.  Some players feel that higher FPS in a game makes it easier to hit moving targets in game and to hit smaller targets in game.

Methods:

Replays:

I downloaded a replay from WoTReplays.com that had a combination of close range fighting around buildings and longer range and close range fighting around hills and trees. Its a T-54 replay on Murovanka.  The replay is available here: http://wotreplays.com/site/2713913

Computer systems used:

World of Tanks 9.14 GPU Comparison

Introduction:

For how popular of a game as World of Tanks is, I haven't seen many benchmarks comparing different graphics cards/GPUs to the game performance.  You might see one popping up every year or two with limited info about testing methods.  When I read that 9.14 was going to move the sound processing to another CPU core, I decided that after 9.14 was released, it would be a good time to compare different GPUs.  I'm going through the process of using different GPUs with the same replays to compare their performance.

For smooth game play you want to keep your minimum FPS(Frames per Second) above 30 FPS.  Games can start looking like a slide show below 30 FPS.  Games tend to look smoother and are easier to play when you keep your minimum frame rates higher.  Generally 50-60 FPS is where games start to look much smoother to most gamers.  Some people with 60 Hz monitors prefer to have their minimum FPS never drop below 60 FPS then enable V-sync to reduce the visual effect called screen tearing.  Other players have monitors that are capable of 75, 100, 120, or 144 Hz refresh rates and want higher average FPS in game.  Minimum and average frame per second are a matter of both game play quality and personal preference and can be limited by the hardware.  Maximum FPS isn't as important for game play as minimum FPS and average FPS.

There is a myth that the human eye can't distinguish any difference above 30 frames per second, so that having more than 30 FPS is useless.  In scientific testing, it has been proven that the human eye may be able to see differences in frame rate at over 200 frames per second.  Other tests have shown that computer gamers can see a difference between 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, and 100+ frames per second while playing computer games on newer monitors that have the capability of using refresh rates above 100 Hz.  Also, some people say that television and movies are shown at approximately 30 FPS, so more than 30 FPS isn't necessary.  However movies and television shows often use motion blur to hide what would seem to be jerky movement due to being played at 30 FPS.

Another advantage of higher frame rates is less input lag and less game lag.  You may have a great ping and no packet loss, but if you are averaging 30 FPS it may feel that you have higher ping when you play because there is more lag in the game itself.  For example, if you play at 30 FPS, each frame is about 0.0333 seconds.  If you play at 60 FPS, each frame is 0.0167 seconds.  If you play at 100 FPS, each frame is 0.0100 seconds.  To many players, having higher frame rates feels and acts like having a better in game ping.  Some players feel that higher FPS in a game makes it easier to hit moving targets in game and to hit smaller targets in game.

Methods:

Replays:
I downloaded quite a few replays from WoTReplays.com and found a few to find what I was looking for. I ended up using three different replays that I downloaded from WoTReplays.com.  Two replays were used more than the third replay.

The first replay is a Comet on Serene Coast. Link: http://wotreplays.com/site/2546813
The second replay is a Type 64 on Abbey. Link: http://wotreplays.com/site/2536214
The third replay is an IS-6 on Kharkov Link: http://wotreplays.com/site/2544611

I used the Comet replay because a large part of the battle occurs near the water, has tanks driving through water, and it is a good replay to see how the water quality settings affect game performance.  The Type 64 replay was used because it has a wide variety of game play events, game environments, and was stressful to even higher end GPUs giving the lowest average frames per second and lowest minimum frames per second of all the different replays I tried.  I also used the IS-6 replay because I wanted to see how stressful on the graphics heavy tank play is around buildings.  It ended up that heavy tank play in the city is not very stressful on the GPU for most mid and high end GPUs.  Several other replays of heavy tank play on city maps showed that it seems to be less stressful and yielded higher FPS than other types of replays.  The IS-6 replay is more of a best case scenario instead of an average or demanding replay.  Because of this I didn't use the IS-6 replay to test many of the GPUs.

Computer systems used:

Wargaming's failure on the World of Tanks 5th Anniversary

Wargaming received a lot of negative feedback about a much anticipated event, the 5th anniversary of World of Tanks on the NA server.  The 5th anniversary specials weren't much better than a typical weekend special and were much less impressive than the previous anniversary specials.

This was the 5th anniversary specials page:
http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/premium-shop/5thanniversary-special/

Here is the feedback thread:
http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/493021-5th-anniversary-x5-xp-and-the-hydrostat/

GhostPrime, on Apr 12 2016 - 17:16, said:
"I know a lot of people are not happy with this year's special. We didn't anticipate this sort of negative response, and that is our fault. The tanks we are focused on this month are the M41/90 and the Turan III. The Hydrostat is a tank bundle mostly intended as a tank collector bundle, and it’s not expected that everyone would want to own this vehicle.

We'll try to do better with bundle choices in the future. We're not able to change this bundle at this point, and I know that's not a popular answer. I want to reassure you that we are listening to all of the feedback, even if you don't see immediate evidence."

My reply to him was:

Type 59 Mastery Ace Tanker, Kolobanov's, Pascucci's, Pool's, Defender, High Caliber, Top Gun, 1 vs 6

YouTube Video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RV82mPCv8k

Turning a loss into a win.

I was too aggressive early on and pushed up, expecting some of my team mates to push up also.  I should have moved back sooner.  Because I didn't move back I took a lot of unnecessary damage.  Most of my team mates weren't in a position to shoot the enemy until they came over or around the hills I was in.