Buying a new gpu
Buy an r9 390 or 380 based on how much money you can afford to invest in your graphics.
Keep character limit on lowest if you want to maintain the “best” possible fps you can get. You’ll be able to max out GW2’s graphics with a r9 390 at a resolution of 1920×1080. My little brother also has an i3 and it doesn’t bottleneck him… it just doesn’t give you as good of fps as an i5 or i7 would.
If you do upgrade your cpu go big… i7 6700k. Not worth upgrading to an i5 for just a little jump.
Mes (Guardian)
I make PvP & WvW videos
I make PvP & WvW videos
I don’t want to be an alarmist but I would be careful just ramming any GPU into your Mobo unless you know specifically which Asus pro broad it is.theirs about 16 different ones and some support both Nvidia and AMD but some are AMD specific.You may have some trouble with driver support swapping GPUs.I found this out over alot of aggrevation once before.
I don’t want to be an alarmist but I would be careful just ramming any GPU into your Mobo unless you know specifically which Asus pro broad it is.theirs about 16 different ones and some support both Nvidia and AMD but some are AMD specific.You may have some trouble with driver support swapping GPUs.I found this out over alot of aggrevation once before.
That doesn’t make sense for modern mobos… how long ago did this happen? Unless it was a design/BIOS bug, manufacturers don’t discriminate in terms of single GPU compatibility.
The main nvidia vs AMD issue with modern mobos is multi-GPU support. Some only support SLI only, others Crossfire, and some support both.
What’s your PSU? It’s important to know before you can even contemplate a GPU.
A new GPU is the priority, however a good i5/i7 would be beneficial too.
Something to think about: Normally when choosing a GPU, you go for the most powerful one that you can afford*. However, Nvidia’s new Pascal series of GPUs will be out soon and AMD’s new series looks to be interesting as well, they represent a marked improvement over previous series’. It might be prudent to buy a mid-range GPU for the meantime, then upgrade that to one of the new series GPUs in the next couple of months.
*It’s a little more complicated than that. Unless you’re upgrading your whole system yearly, I believe it’s wisest to buy with a view to upgrading your GPU in ~2 years, so buying the top-range GPU can be an unnecessary money sink. You should also factor in your display (if you’re only using 1080p, you don’t need the top-of-the-range GPU either) as well.
dace makes a good point… a 390 is a very power hungry GPU. You’ll generally need a 600W or more PSU. Even a 380 requires a fair amount of power… my old 420W PSU could not handle a 280X.
Thanks for all the helpful replies! I just had a few follow up questions:
Buy an r9 390 or 380 based on how much money you can afford to invest in your graphics.
That sounds like pretty good advice, but do you know what kind of framerates I would get? Also, I once read that AMD doesn’t render GW2 as well as Nvidia. Is that just a rumor?
The main nvidia vs AMD issue with modern mobos is multi-GPU support. Some only support SLI only, others Crossfire, and some support both.
Yeah, that’s my situation; my motherboard (H170 pro gaming) only supports crossfire, so I would ideally get an AMD card.
What’s your PSU? It’s important to know before you can even contemplate a GPU.
A new GPU is the priority, however a good i5/i7 would be beneficial too.
a 390 is a very power hungry GPU. You’ll generally need a 600W or more PSU.
I have a 500W 80+ bronze psu that was cheap enough I don’t mind upgrading it. I thought 3xx actually got more efficient than the 2xx, so now I don’t have to worry as much. The calculator I looked at seemed to think I had about 150W to spare if I got a 380/390. When you say a new CPU would help too, how much will that hold back my new graphics card?
A 500 watt 80+ PSU should easily support a GTX 960. Current generation of nVidia GPUs give you a much higher performance/watt than AMD GPUs. So if you aren’t looking to upgrade the PSU to the 650 watt range for plenty of head room, the 960 is a reasonable option.
Any current gen GPU will give if a significant improvement in visuals along with some improvement to frame rate. Just remember that the game does have CPU bottleneck issues and you are using a dual core (in all practical purposes) with a game that does perform better with at least one more real core. You will still have lower than desired frame rates at boss events or middle of zergs and that’s on the CPU.
We are heroes. This is what we do!
RIP City of Heroes
RIP City of Heroes
Also, I once read that AMD doesn’t render GW2 as well as Nvidia. Is that just a rumor?
Almost.
AMD CPU doesn’t work as well as Intel’s CPU with GW2, AMD GPU works totally fine.
Charter Vanguard [CV] – HoD
Bardy Belzebuson – Ranger Sir Belzebu – Herald
(and the other 8 elite specs maxed too)
(and the other 8 elite specs maxed too)
If you have the money on your hands I’d suggest you to pick some nVidia card of your choice. Raw processing power should be more or less equal (not like the 90s where AMD overtook Intel in the CPU department and even Cyrix was coming close…) so there is not “Only buy THIS” sort of argument but I experienced less power consumption and thus heat generation with my nVidia cards. I have a midi tower (the smallest towers) and heat is important to keep an eye on especially when it is supposed to be as silent as possible with a fan design. I am running a GTX970/i7 3770 combo and I also have some framerate issues in certain areas in 1080p/Ultra so there are clearly other bottlenecks around as you have already been told.
Plus, “ShadowPlay” is for me as Youtuber a real killer feature.
Zedexx, sly Asura Thief/Assassin
and politically highly incorrect. (#Asuracist)
“We [Asura] are the concentrated magnificence!”
and politically highly incorrect. (#Asuracist)
“We [Asura] are the concentrated magnificence!”
(edited by Zedek.8932)