Guild Wars 2

Edit: http://www.xpcomputers.co.nz/ is the website im getting it from.
*Edit2: I changed some more parts and ended with this totalling $1950
-Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz 8MB Haswell HD4600 Socket 1150
-High Performance 16GB DDR3 1600 dual channel Ram (2 × 8GB)
- 1TB(1000GB) 7200RPM Sata3 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
-120GB Sata3 Performance Solid State Drive
-24x CD/DVD Multi-Function Writer Dual Layer
-Asus/Gigabyte/Intel/AsRock Intel H81 Chipset Motherboard Socket 1150
-nVidia Geforce GTX960 2GB GDDR5 DVI/HDMI/DP
-All-In-One Multi-Card Reader
-NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower case Black
-Acer K222HQL 21.5 Wide LED Monitor 1920×1080 16:9 5ms D-Sub DVI
-Windows 8/8.1 32/64bit (bundled with new customized PC only)
-Standard 18 Month Return to Base Warranty
-COOLER MASTER HYPER 212 EVO COOLER 120mm
-Reliable High efficency 500W PSU — up to 88% efficienct MEPS ready

I’m getting a new pc and wanted to get back into playing gw2. My current laptop can only run gw2 on max when i’m roaming solo and even then its at 20 fps or around there and goes to as low as 3-5 fps in wvw on low-med settings. I’m wondering if I can run it on max with no lag or fps drops. Not the most tech savvy person so idk can it? even in wvw

Ugh, so many things wrong… if you want a prebuilt machine thats fine, if you want a custom one then no.

- Go with the i7 if you got tons of cash to spare. Otherwise i5 are cheaper and about as fast.

- 2tb hdd? Hahaha who even use internal hdds anymore… get 512mb ssd at least. I recommend a fast 256gb as main and a cheap 256gb combo (cheap ssds are already so much better than hdd anyway). If you need 2tb storage, get a nas. Or 4 more ssds. At least they are worth it.

- scrap the dvd, we havent needed them for 5 years or something.

- is the mobo mATX? Otherwise pointless. ATX is so last decade. This apply to the chassi as well of course, you only need it if you plan on 4x sli.

- 750? Ugh… GTX970/R290X minimum.

- if that monitor aint 144hz is useless. If its tn instead of ips its already useless but I forgive people for that since the new gen ips aint out yet.

- never ever use stock cooler argh! Not even worth the metal they are made of. Noctua make decent ones, and a ton of others.

- if a PSU have to say its reliable, its probably not.

Youll still get some fps drops with that setup but nothing too bad. …if you can afford it go with the 780 ti for graphic card. .that thing is a beast and is price just went down due to the 960 970 and 980..also try and go with a Intel i7 4790k …it seems a little faster and is unlocked for you to overclock. .and it shouldn’t cost that much more than the 4790…for your monitor get a 120hz or 144z led if you can. ..you will limit your frames to just 60 with a 60 hz and it would be a waste of potential for your vid. card..
you don’t really need a full tower unless you plan on doing some water cooling or if you like a ton of room..I have a nzxt phantom mid tower and it had plenty of room for everything and it should save you some money….I went with corsair 850w for the power supply it had great review s and Lotta extra power for upgrades later. ….I would recommend just getting a 500g ssd if you can afford it….ssd is so much nicer and space friendly than the hdd

CowboyxXxBebop.6079:

Youll still get some fps drops with that setup but nothing too bad. …if you can afford it go with the 780 ti for graphic card. .that thing is a beast and is price just went down due to the 960 970 and 980..also try and go with a Intel i7 4790k …it seems a little faster and is unlocked for you to overclock. .and it shouldn’t cost that much more than the 4790…for your monitor get a 120hz or 144z led if you can. ..you will limit your frames to just 60 with a 60 hz and it would be a waste of potential for your vid. card..
you don’t really need a full tower unless you plan on doing some water cooling or if you like a ton of room..I have a nzxt phantom mid tower and it had plenty of room for everything and it should save you some money….I went with corsair 850w for the power supply it had great review s and Lotta extra power for upgrades later. ….I would recommend just getting a 500g ssd if you can afford it….ssd is so much nicer and space friendly than the hdd

I added a 120gb ssd which people said would help with load screen times. Dang I have like $100 to spare and its a custom pc. The dude building it for me said that the i7 4790 (non-K version) shouldnt be much difference to performance than the K version and that I should put my money in for a GTX960 but its an extra $310 so it’s a bit out of my budget, could I maybe upgrade to it later in the future and just replace that one part? My main question is if the rig i’m getting built can run gw2 smoothly with med/high graphics in wvw at 30+ fps

As above said , unless you wanna overclock , just get a normal cpu , i5 4590 is a great choice , also the gtx 750 is average at best , get a new 960 . Make sure you get a good branded psu , corsair , be quiet , coolermaster etc

I had a look on the website and picked different parts and chose the i5 with a GTX960 and it cost around $1,950 total compared to the $1,790 I was paying for the one I mentioned earlier. Would this be better?

Intel Core i5 4690K 3.50 GHz 6M LGA1150 Unlocked Processor
High Performance 16GB DDR3 1600 dual channel Ram (2 × 8GB)
2TB(2000GB) 7200RPM Sata3 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
120GB Sata3 Performance Solid State Drive
24x CD/DVD Multi-Function Writer Dual Layer
Asus/Gigabyte/Intel/AsRock Intel B85 Chipset Motherboard Socket 1150
nVidia Geforce GTX960 2GB GDDR5 DVI/HDMI/DP
All-In-One Multi-Card Reader
NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower case Black
Acer K222HQL 21.5 Wide LED Monitor 1920×1080 16:9 5ms D-Sub DVI
Default CPU Cooler Air Cooling
Reliable High efficency 650W PSU — up to 88% efficienct MEPS ready

A large SSD won’t really help you any, you put your main programs there and run them off that any superfluous things you can toss on your storage drive. Basically what’s the point of having your movies and all that on an SSD? None. So you’re fine there, get your OS and GW2 on there and you’re golden. No need to concern yourself. Whoever was advising you is right, the point of it is simply to increase load times, SSDs are faster and that’s why they’re better. Maybe these other guys have stuff to store where that’s important but at least for me the majority of my bulk space is a bunch of crap that it won’t matter (movies/music), and hell I could probably just run that stuff off an external if I wanted but why not grab a decent built in option? /shrug If you wanted to save money for now might be worth dropping that down to a 500g or 1tb and spend the money elsewhere but yeah you’re solid with a 120 SSD (unless you play a lot of different games and want to ahve them all running off your SSD).

The guy’s comment about the DVD drive… sure may not be necessary for many things but no reason to not toss 20-40 on a drive for when you need/want it for whatever reason. Better than not having it and having to buy an external or add one later even if you don’t anticipate using it.

Graphics is a little behind, but it’s costly and like you said you can bump it up later but it is worth it to go with something good if you can afford it. Spend money now and then more money later and have “wasted” the older one, or bite the bullet now and get something solid that will last.

The processor difference between the 4790 and 4790k is mainly for overclocking and without a solid cooler it’s probably not a good idea. But that’s what will be the big hold back if I were to comment on your build. Cooling is important and it’s worth it to get an aftermarket cooler and keep your rig running smooth.

You should be fine, it’s not top of the line but it should be more than enough for GW2. However, there’s also server lag to consider and no matter how well built your machine is server lag can’t be countered.

So basically I’d look into getting a better cooling system. Save up and grab the 970 gpu or something and you’re rocking pretty well. However if the parts aren’t bought already might look into the 4790k it’s not much different price wise and like has been said you can pump a little more out of it and safely if you invest in a solid cooling system.

I’ve been running on a potato due to money constraints but finally had enough sitting around to budget for a new comp, it’s similar to your specs but basically with the jump in pcu, gpu and cooling Of course you could go even crazier but it’s a solid affordable option.

So yeah, that’s my take on it.

Running GW2 on absolutely max settings, only Vsync turned off.

Very smooth, PVE/Dungeons 100FPS.

It is only in Eotm/wvw where FPS vary. Haven’t had it below 30FPS in massive 3 way zergs (lowest i saw was 30 fps in SM with all 3 servers fighting in the middle).

My setup:

Mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128709

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369&cm_re=I7_4790k-_-19-117-369-_-Product

Using Coolermaster v6gt cooler, You don’t want to use stock cooler on a proper CPU.

Memory:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233284

GPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125684&cm_re=Gigabyte_GTX970_g1-_-14-125-684-_-Product

HDD: This is a remarkable hard drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236624&cm_re=Western_Digital_2TB_black-_-22-236-624-_-Product

PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139051&cm_re=Corsair_TX750W-_-17-139-051-_-Product

Monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824022019&cm_re=Samsung_24_inch-_-24-022-019-_-Product

Last but least, that mobo has some epic on board sound
with its own dedicated processor so you may want to get a nice head set. I use the

Headset:

http://gaming.coolermaster.com/en/products/audio/sirus_s/

Goodluck with the build.

I’m running a gtx 770 and I play on Max settings. ..usually at 50 to 90 fps depending on the area andwhat’s happening. ..only place dropped frames in the sylvari city so far….brought it down to 30ish….but I also have not overclock ed my vid card or processor….and your stock cooler that comes with your processor will be fine as long as you don’t over clock ….I believe I saw the 960 for around 200 to 300 on Newegg. Com …and as long as your mother board is compatible and your psu has the spate juice…yes you can definitely swap parts out for upgrades in the future

Dawdler.8521:

- scrap the dvd, we havent needed them for 5 years or something.

er.. dvd r/rw drives are like $10… when you wanna drop 1500+ on a rig you might as well get one cuz its chump change and runs whatever your local old farts will wanna run

insanemaniac.2456:

Dawdler.8521:

- scrap the dvd, we havent needed them for 5 years or something.

er.. dvd r/rw drives are like $10… when you wanna drop 1500+ on a rig you might as well get one cuz its chump change and runs whatever your local old farts will wanna run

Looking at Dawdler’s post and the usage of “who uses … anymore”, “that’s so like last decade” I do believe his reason for telling OP to not get a dvd is because it’s no longer “cool” or “fashionable” or whatever those “PC master race”-people call it these days. Practicality be kittened.

So is the graphics card the only thing in my build thats holding me back from maxing out gw2 lag free? or

Yeah I’d say so. ..tbh if you can splurge I would….I regretted not picking up the 780 ti in my rig….you’ll regret settling with the 750 ti …so like previous said the 960 if you absolutely cannot spend anymore if you can. ..the 780 ti oc, 970 or 980 for sure will last you a good while. ..

Oh and I believe an LG Blu Ray player for your pc costs about 60 if I remember correctly

So I redid the parts on the build on their website and this fits my budget at $1,930

-Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz 8MB Haswell HD4600 Socket 1150
-High Performance 16GB DDR3 1600 dual channel Ram (2 × 8GB)
-2TB(2000GB) 7200RPM Sata3 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
-120GB Sata3 Performance Solid State Drive
-24x CD/DVD Multi-Function Writer Dual Layer
-Asus/Gigabyte/Intel/AsRock Intel H81 Chipset Motherboard Socket 1150
-nVidia Geforce GTX960 2GB GDDR5 DVI/HDMI/DP
-All-In-One Multi-Card Reader
-NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower case Black
-Acer K222HQL 21.5 Wide LED Monitor 1920×1080 16:9 5ms D-Sub DVI
-Windows 8/8.1 32/64bit (bundled with new customized PC only)
-Standard 18 Month Return to Base Warranty
-Default CPU Cooler Air Cooling
-Reliable High efficency 500W PSU — up to 88% efficienct MEPS ready

could this run on max?

Ive basically got a $2000 budget but I wanted to fit in a razer deathstalker as well which is $100

WHO NEEDS 2TB OF SPACE, prioritize your GPU/CPU>mobo>ram>the rest. You could run the game better if you buy a cheaper HDD and buy a better GPU. Honestly you dont need 2tb of space, I have a 1 tb HD and I only used 200gb of it.

1 Do not use a stock cooler! Processors work at a certain temperature atm: warming up to a certain temperatrure, and will throttle according to load, high load = more heat, so lower throttle with lacking cooling. Decent cooler, more room for load: higher performance…. As GW2 is said to be CPU heavy any room is appreciated: buy a good cooler, noctua held the best coolers for a while, but most coolers will improva a lot on intels “solution”

2 buy a brand PSU , make sure it has some room (in Watts) to spare. Preferably certified…

3 make sure you get a decent chipset on your motherboard. basic gaming motherboards allow for more options for OC, (additional videocards), faster video, faster bus speeds, more memory channels and so on. you’ll also get better solutions for audio and network the better part of the time.

4 if you can build lego you can build a pc, except for fitting the cooler, it takes a good read and some skill to fit a cooler correct, but IMHO as long as you do not high end OC, anyone will be able to do the job as well… coolant paste is often poisenous, so be careful, without it it will not conduct heat and your cooler is next to useless. All other parts requite you to look before inserting the cables. and dimms ask for some carefull handling. Learn about grounding and static electricity. and 1 rule. edges tend to be safe, never touch any components on chips, connectors or print.

5 If you’re going to buy it yourself do not forget coolant paste, If you are not going to build it yourself and you know a computer technician, have him fit it, at least the CPU & cooler.

6 120 GB SSD is low end, 256 or 512 (2x 256) could almost replace your HDD as long as you do not download huge amounts of movies. If you do buy a HDD: 512/ 1 TB performance HDD (so no WD greens, but a decent 7200rpm/10kRPM SATA 3, or maybe 2 250Gb drives and put the swaps and the user files on the preferably double (RAID-0) HDD stack.) Never buy a SSHD

7 750 is a mid end solution, gaming is (760), 770, 780(Ti), 960, 970, 980. check power usage when upgrading a graphics card in your syustem, you’d might need 50-100 watts more…

8 make sure your box comes with enough fans. if not fit some more, mak sure your box is “overpressured”, more fans in then out. In volume. your GPU fan will help vent. intakes on bottom need dust shields, make sure all vents in are on the bottom and front/side, exhaust fans will be behind your CPU stack and top. Hot air goes up. so help it get out.

9 make sure cables are well away from the parts that need cooling. tie rips are a very handy tool. make sure you run wires behind the Motherboard if possible: obstructions lower the air flow and lower coolingf.

10 if you built 1, you will never let anyone build 1 for you again. It will saye you a lot of overhead. check your components on an internet site and compare the total against your pre built.

Oh and if I forgot it : NEVER USE A STOCK COOLER!

basic requirements for a gaming machine for 32 bit games:
1 A Fast GPU (cooling solution preferred)
2 A Fast CPU & COOLER
3 A decent Mobo
4 A decent PSU
5 8 Gb of memory for 32 bit games, 4Gb max for the 32 bit (so max 4Gb adressed) game, 4 for the OS and other stuff. Anything more is nice. always use couples, so 2×4 will be better then 1x 8
6 A storage solution, choices: Raid SSD, SSD, RAID HDD, HDD
7 A box, with FANS! (water is nice, but if you are doing the first one yourself get fans..)
8 all other stuff is your wish. I still buy A DVD writer (RW) but I tend to just have ‘m sit there sometimes I use it: mostly to listen to a CD or watch an DVD, but for computer use I almost never use it anymore, and I’m 40, so I have CD’s and DVD’s, younger generations have learned about digital carriers…. card reader’s I find a loss of space. You need 1 adapter for SD which fits in 1 usb port if you need it. Most other formats tend to be rare.

Last remark:
Make sure your PC is wired, not wireless, wireless seems nice, but requires good connections, WiFi causes lags, batteries can fail in case of KB or mouse and so on. Wires, old and reliable. SO get an UTP cable and use it.

Oh and DO NOT USE STOCK COOLERS!

Do you all guys posting about expensive GPU and cheaper CPU know that this outdated game’s engine is far too often bottlenecked by CPU?

Slaptjip.4895:

Running GW2 on absolutely max settings, only Vsync turned off.

Very smooth, PVE/Dungeons 100FPS.

100 FPS!!! For what possible reason does any human need a frame rate that high to play a video game? It does look super smooth, but pretty much nothing can maintain that frame rate, and that’s bad. If you are playing for several hours and notice drops in frame rate (lets say 100 to 60 frames a second), the visual difference would be the same as if a person were playing at only 30 frames a second, and experienced fps drops to 18 frames a second. So even then, you’re still experiencing noticeable lag.

Guild Wars 2 is indeed very CPU-heavy, but doesn’t really make use of multiple cores. Therefore, an i7 is a “waste of cash” since you won’t be using the hyperthreading. The Intel i5-4690 runs at 3,9GHz (Turbo), the Intel i7-4790 runs at 4GHz (Turbo). Hardly worth the 75$ price increase.

Could you link us to the webshop you’re planning on using? That way we can have a look what they have to offer.

Keep in mind that GW2 will never be lag-free on ultra in large scale WvW fights. The game engine is simply not optimised for this. I run GW2 on ultra in PvE just fine, but I tone everything down a notch in WvW.

Lishtenbird.2814:

Do you all guys posting about expensive GPU and cheaper CPU know that this outdated game’s engine is far too often bottlenecked by CPU?

Yes it is and I think an older high end i5 can still run it perfectly with enough memory (8Gb) and a decent graphics solution. (say a PCI-E v3.0 MOBO and an enthousiast/high endvideo card)+

I have a hex core i7 with 2 gtx 780-’s and they are boths idling cpu used 4 threads max hovering at 30% and (SLI) GPU is at 40-60% ….
I doubt it is the PC holding me back.

You’re asking best performance, but the money goes to non-important things, while you cheap in crucial ones.

My opinion:

• i5 4690k and overclock it.
  There’s no much of a difference between stock i5 vs stock i7, but overclocking the i5-k brings better fps and it’s about the same price as a stock i7.
• 8GB of RAM 2133MHz.
  16gb of ram is overkill. The game only uses 1.5, so with 8gb there’s still plenty of it. Also, high speed RAM (2133 or 2400) also improves about 5fps from 1600.
• Cheap Z97.
  They aren’t that much expensive than H81 and you’ll be able to overclock cpu and ram.
• Get rid of DVD/Multi-card reader.
  Think how much times you have used them in the past 5 years, cause in the next 5 you’ll be using 1/10 times. Nowadays everything can be connected by USB.^
• Cheaper case.
  Don’t know why are you spending that much in a case, when you can find good of them for less than 80 bucks.
• R9 280X minimum
  GTX 960 is good, but similar to my r9 285 and I feel tehre’s still that bit of performance left.
• Aftermarket cooler yes or yes
  This doesn’t allow discussion, get Ashura, Mugen 4 or similar.
• Go for a 24" IPS screen
  If you want to take care of your eyes and have a much better experience.

My experience with i5 4690k + r9 285 at 1440p:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XSvcnLcmwI

I agreee with people telling you not to get i7. Just get i5-4960K. The difference in games is minimal.

Next, 2TB HDD is too big, get 1TB which is plenty, you can always buy external one that you can save your movies etc.. on and it is much better investment.

Get GTX 970, there is the thing abotu it having only 3,5gb instead of 4gb memory, but I just got the card and dont see the problem.

16gb of RAM is unnecessary, get 8.

Get a better cooler for your CPU, I got SilentiumPC Fera 2.

Basically PaxTheGreatOne.9472 knows his stuff, so listen to him.

badboyzpwns.9807:

WHO NEEDS 2TB OF SPACE, prioritize your GPU/CPU>mobo>ram>the rest. You could run the game better if you buy a cheaper HDD and buy a better GPU. Honestly you dont need 2tb of space, I have a 1 tb HD and I only used 200gb of it.

And you are everyone?
I have 2 TB HDD storage and 256gb SSD storage and I need them.

Only thing ill use my pc on is gw2, lol and fb so 1TB storage will suffice. I redid the build with an i5 4790K and its pretty much similar cost as the i7 build except there’s more room for a slightly better PSU like 100-150w more.

LimitBreaker.4165:

Only thing ill use my pc on is gw2, lol and fb so 1TB storage will suffice. I redid the build with an i5 4790K and its pretty much similar cost as the i7 build except there’s more room for a slightly better PSU like 100-150w more.

Are you going to overclock? If the answer is no, don’t get a K-series CPU. Seeing as you’re not building your own rig, I doubt you’re looking to venture into overclocking.

More wattage does NOT mean a better PSU. A good PSU means quality components providing a stable power output. A generic 800W PSU can perform worse than a good 600W PSU, and give less usable power output.

As I said before: please link the actual webshop instead of simply copying a list without any information.

NoobOnSteroid.7192:

LimitBreaker.4165:

Only thing ill use my pc on is gw2, lol and fb so 1TB storage will suffice. I redid the build with an i5 4790K and its pretty much similar cost as the i7 build except there’s more room for a slightly better PSU like 100-150w more.

Are you going to overclock? If the answer is no, don’t get a K-series CPU. Seeing as you’re not building your own rig, I doubt you’re looking to venture into overclocking.

More wattage does NOT mean a better PSU. A good PSU means quality components providing a stable power output. A generic 800W PSU can perform worse than a good 600W PSU, and give less usable power output.

As I said before: please link the actual webshop instead of simply copying a list without any information.

put the link up in an edit to my post but here http://www.xpcomputers.co.nz/pcbuilder-gaming_pc___$1000_to_$2000-292

Personally even as an IT Manager with a budget like that I would be looking to buy an overclocked system.
The game runs on a DX9 engine which is far more CPU bound than GPU bound. This means that clock speed of the cpu is more important in smooth GW2 play than anything, due to the game only utlising 1 core and not multi threading.

For $2000 you should be looking at getting a proper overclocked gaming system built.
Even on overclockers.co.uk I would struggle to spend $2000 on a system…..
Said system had:
3 Year Warranty
i7-4790k OC’d @ 4.5ghz
16GB of 2133mhz ram
GTX 970 4096mb
500gb SSD
2TB HDD
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
All packaged in a nice gaming PC case and with a 3 year warranty what more do you want?

Check out the Thermaltake level 10 GTX case. Lots of room, can handle extra fans, or a liquid cooling system, filters on air intakes, and 5 hot swap drive bays. Currently running 2 1.8 terabyte hardrives, one 100 gig SSD and one 170 gig SSD. (one empty bay in just in case )

I have my computers built to order at http://www.ncix.com/

Your hardware will only ever affect fps drops.

For lag, get a better ISP, and use wires rather than WiFi.

I’d advise against overclocking if you are not familiar with the risks. OC-ing voids warrantee and can cause catastrophic failure to main system components.
(never had it happen though)

Overclocking means you’ll have to invest in better cooling, better and stable PSU (overclocking uses more power, which tends to cause more heat), you might want to invest in better GPU cooling and you’ll tend to want to invest in more stable memory modules, if possible with better clock.
(= more expensive)

It will need to be tuned, and the room where it’s in needsa to have a stable temperature.
(can’t choose it…)

There are other solutions though, being water cooling and freezers, both tend to have advantages regarding cooling on fans, but both introduce water in the system.
Water can be a liability. (either due to chance of leaks (with custom water coolers) or due to condensation (badly insulated freezers). )
(well expensive and really really expensive, also when fail => system dies if you’re unlucky)

The investment in those cooling solutions costs more then the benefits I gain. It’s not like ‘96 and ’97 (or was it a couple of years before?) where you could take the jumper on you mobo and cap something else and turn you your 25Mhz 486 CPU to 40 Mhz. ( +160% with only a 1 jumper switch…, but I’m happy with my fully graphical interface nowadays . Well I’d love to see your air cooled 4 Ghz run at 6.4Ghz, but it’s impossible unless you park it at Antarctica…)

Main purpose is to get more speed out of a PC for a shorter duration. OC-ing always degrades components on the long run, and will cause the components not to live up to their MTBF times. Does happen! Eespecially at higher voltages..

OC-ing causes crashes/locks/boot fails when done not properly, or when ambient temeratures vary a lot: especially when the CPU/RAM/GPU get high loads, lastly there is a chance for data inconsistencies. In ram and on storage. more memory errors

It will work fine if you know what you’re doing though. and can be interesting. As long as you do not look for extremes.

(my PC is on our top floor of our house, suring hot summer days it can get 25C+ easy, with my PC warming up the environmment further I had it up to 30 even 35+ celsius… if you tune your PC during the winter @ 18-21C and then turn it on in the summer in situations like me you’ll notice it will run hot and downthrottle at high loads… (well not really that often tbh , but I got a huge cooler, with double fans and all.
In a very well ventilated case (20cm (side) in), 4 14 cm in (3 front 1 bottom), PSU venting from bottom to outside, (needs regular cleaning) , 2 14 cm out 1 12cm out, 2 GTX coolers (stock) out), CPU cooled with 2 14 cm. and 6 double heatpipes which makes for 12 fans, all running quite low RPMs most of the times. All ballbearing fans, to reduce noise. all fans have dust shields and I clean them weekly.

Do understand good OC-ing is extremely dependant on ambient temperature. you cannot lose the same amount of warmth to air of 30 C compared to 20 C.

And if stuff burns you’ll always notice late. Trust me, I have had 7 PC’s now mostly High end ones and seen things go wrong, mostly due to external factors though , Lightning strike, Ram instability (bought defective ram twice before, all exchanged…), dust bridges, clogged fan…Spider… Head crashes, HDD motor fail. Fan fails. My daughter and a glass of milk… and I myself poured 2 glasses of cola and at least 3 cups of coffee in my old IBM KB (ps/2)… It lived up to 18 years old before failing… It was the single most durable computer component I ever had.

Have a look at http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/
They offer assembled systems, but they let you use the actual components (brands and all), which gives better control over the quality you’ll be getting.

Do you need a new copy of windows, or can you use the license of the computer you’ll be replacing?

Short list of a build in your price-range:
CPU: i5-4690
GPU: GTX970
Mobo: Any major manufacturer, just pick one that has everything you want/need
PSU: 550W PSU, brands: XFX, Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, BeQuiet, PC Power&Cooling
RAM: 8GB 1600MHz DDR3
HDD: 256GB SSD (Samsung 840 EVO or Crucial MX100) & 1TB regular HDD
Case: whatever floats your boat

I doubt even the best of the best pc can save you from fps drops in WvW when zergs collide. SM fights or even garrison fights where entire zerg fight is not my pc, it’s the server that cannot handle it. All that is left is pressing 1, 1, 1, 1..

well 75vs75vs75 also leaves my computer game lagged and I’m able to press 1,1,1,1,1,1 but at high(est)/highest…

The server cannot handle the load, and the pc can, so I see everything, beautiful, but laggy.. I remain at 15-20 FPS when half my guild has freezes and skips or just dc’s mostly the dc-ing ppl use wireless.. or low baandwith connections (I’m at 90/9 Mbps) which isn’t very extreme…

Old rule: network games are as fast as the slowest client… and though most connections are sufficient, you’ll notice slow connecting clients, wireless clients and low end computers having problems…

Of course this should be mitigated as there are people nowadays using 1350,1500, 1650 and 1800 Mbps wireless connections… which tend to be better then a lo of older material, (draft-n single (150Mbps), g (54 Mbps) should both be considered obsolete, draft N will have decent range but speeds drop off quite fast at range, g is used by my 70+ yr old father to read his email and check a youtube-movie, preloaded or watch an internet page, not for gaming )

I have a 1 Gbit wired connection. but the internetconnections ismy bottleneck, I notice lag spikes when my wife pcks up the phone/tablet or other devices using Wifi, It cannot be helped, but ALL devices deteriorate bandwith. In my house we have 2 phones, 2 tablets, 1 wired printer, 2 wired PC’s and 1 standalone on wireless if I/We need it… we phased out the laptop.

Keep in mind all those high end networks are bottlenecked by the internet connection, people with 100 Mbit full duplex glass fiber are lucky (not to mention the few with actual gbit connections)

The draft n and the g networks however, bottleneck the internet connection… and therefore I consider them obsolete.

Anyone who states overclocking voids warranty is wrong….

Many gaming systems come with a full warranty on overclocked systems.

if you are having lag then its an issue with your internet connection / ISP service.

if you are having FRAME RATE issues ( FPS) then yes its either a hardware issue or poorly installed / outdated software.

now as for making the game run smooth 100% of the time in an mmo like gw2 and the nature of the game in large scale massive player battles. not gonna happen.
even with the highest end machine u will need to set the graphics to low for it to run okish and not stutter and look like a slide show.

the game is a 32bit direct x 9 game it has by default very limited access to system resources.

the best u can do is make it a comfy experience I large scale battles.

now for small scale battles like 5 mans of SPVP / TPVP then yes a high end machine will give u great benefit and the performance will be very smooth and reliable. provided you set it up correctly and keep it maintained.

its important to state if you are having LAG (that’s internect / data transfer delay) or FPS drops / poor frame rate (that’s hardware related)

also to clear up a common misconception your internet connection does not in anyway shape or form cause you to have low FPS. that’s just u having a crappy computer with a crappy connection because u did not invest in decent equipment to take up the PC gamer hobby.

Dal.5872:

Anyone who states overclocking voids warranty is wrong….

Many gaming systems come with a full warranty on overclocked systems.

What the heck is a gaming system?

A system built specifically with Gaming in mind. Overclocked high quality components built and tested for longevity and stability by the makers, allowing them to offer long term warranties….

I didn’t think I was speaking in Chinese or anything….

How sad that websites like Pcperspective exist yet someone would rather ask a completely unrelated forum on “computer advice”

Literally dozens of websites specializing in computer building and hardware. 1 hour of research on Newegg’s “how to” section and you’d be a computer expert.

I guess it’s easier to ask questions for 4 hours than it is to read for 1 hour.

Building a computer in 2015 is one of the easiest tasks any human being can do. All the parts literally snap together and are almost universally compatible. The most anyone needs to do now days is match a socket type.

Dal.5872:

Anyone who states overclocking voids warranty is wrong….

Many gaming systems come with a full warranty on overclocked systems.

Overclocking hasn’t voided warranties in years. In fact most gaming systems made by Asus, Gigabyte or MSI will encourage overclocking.

Most gaming motherboards have built in overclocking in the BIOS.

The fact you can do so doesn’t change the fact overclocking voids the warrantee.

If you buy a nice gaming set, and you modify the settings and move to even higher frequencies then previously tested and you fry a part, you can have liftime guarantee on it, but you will pay for your components. An OC-ed videocard (Eg all specials with “non-stock” coolers from any firm (ASUS,EVGA, MSI, GiGaByte and so on) is nice but it’s running within a set of so called “overclocked” limits, if you take to the overclocking tool and truly clock it up more -> bye bye warantee. It’s your choice, and if you’re lucky you can reset the values (when having a second card for example) when it smokes, if not you will pay the whole amount for a new one!

Most gaming motherboards also warn you: you are voiding warantees… most in the book, some in the bios. Intel delivers CPU’s with unlocked modifiers but when you overclock them it’s your choice, when you go over the Turbo frequency it’s your gamble all the way. Amd no different.

Only way to avoid it is a true all-risk insurance and even then I’d watch the fine print…

If I’m right you can buy for a true all risk guarantee on alienware systems, but you’ll pay a rediculous markup (IMHO). They used to be already 500-800 euro’s more expensive then the actual value of parts. excluding the warantee…

Trying to RMA a videocard which has burned it’s memory controller, memory or GPU is difficult….. DIMM’s tend to be a lot less problematic, and most CPU’s will cause the system to shutdown instantly and without warning the moment it goes beyond the temperature treshold, but when it’s burned have fun shopping. I doubt any store owner will help you and RMA will prove futile, also in this case: memory controllers tend to die first and as they are an integral part of CPU’s nowadays…

Also it can happen once….. but the second time you have a serious problem…

Lastly you can fry the voltage regulator on th motherboard… It shouldn’t happen though, but it is possible, most high end gaming boards have a heatsink on it or even a fan. If this blows you might actually have a chance getting a new Mobo, mostly because motherboard producers are trying to show they are better then the competition, but again if your system is truly melted… GG.

If I were you I would attempt to basically follow this part list stat: http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/tYgXsY/great-gaming-build

If not building it yourself once you include the monitor windows will be right about your price point.

I did and built myself and can run the game max settings fps limited to 60fps and never see a drop. I prefer the no fps drop to having a higher fps in low pressure situations and then have a noticeable drop in intensive.

The major factors of the build are:

i5-4690k which is the best bang for your buck for a gaming machine

Mobo that works for the i5

GTX 970 also best bang for your buck

8gb ram (I went up to 1866 for this for the slight boost) you only need more than 8 currently if you are planning on running your own server of a different game or playing more than 3 copies of GW2 simultaneously(which you would need to go up in cpu and gfx for also)

A power supply that can more than cover your components

A decent (no overclock) to great(overclock) cooling system (if your not tech savy I suggest being very careful with overclocking as you can ruin components doing it)

Chrispy.5641:

Slaptjip.4895:

Running GW2 on absolutely max settings, only Vsync turned off.

Very smooth, PVE/Dungeons 100FPS.

100 FPS!!! For what possible reason does any human need a frame rate that high to play a video game? It does look super smooth, but pretty much nothing can maintain that frame rate, and that’s bad. If you are playing for several hours and notice drops in frame rate (lets say 100 to 60 frames a second), the visual difference would be the same as if a person were playing at only 30 frames a second, and experienced fps drops to 18 frames a second. So even then, you’re still experiencing noticeable lag.

Its mostly so you never dip below 60frames in even the most stressed situations.

But yes, some games definitely need 60+fps, comp first person shooters mostly. A few miliseconds difference in loading a rocket or w/e can change a fight.

Godmoney.2048:

Building a computer in 2015 is one of the easiest tasks any human being can do. All the parts literally snap together and are almost universally compatible. The most anyone needs to do now days is match a socket type.

Oh man I remember the days where you had to wire kitten together then do all that test kitten with the lights. Hated building em then.

badboyzpwns.9807:

WHO NEEDS 2TB OF SPACE, prioritize your GPU/CPU>mobo>ram>the rest. You could run the game better if you buy a cheaper HDD and buy a better GPU. Honestly you dont need 2tb of space, I have a 1 tb HD and I only used 200gb of it.

I do. I have 16TB of HDD space, but my OS and games are located on a 512GB SSD.

OP, if you are buying an SSD be careful. There are tons of companies that sell ok and garbage ssd including samsung.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1538745/petition-samsung-840-ssd-series-read-degradation-issue-petition-for-replacement

We currently do not have a real way to benchmark ssd relability.

No, rewriting TB to PB of data constantly is an utter garbage benchmark. Whoever thought of that should slap themself.

So after a bit of back and forth with the person building my pc I ended up with this

Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz 8MB Haswell HD4600 Socket 1150
High Performance 16GB DDR3 1600 dual channel Ram (2 × 8GB)
1TB(1000GB) 7200RPM Sata3 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
120GB Sata3 Performance Solid State Drive
24x CD/DVD Multi-Function Writer Dual Layer
Asus/Gigabyte/Intel/AsRock Intel H81 Chipset Motherboard Socket 1150
nVidia Geforce GTX960 2GB GDDR5 DVI/HDMI/DP
All-In-One Multi-Card Reader
Acer K222HQL 21.5 Wide LED Monitor 1920×1080 16:9 5ms D-Sub DVI
Windows 8/8.1 32/64bit (bundled with new customized PC only)
COOLER MASTER HYPER 212 EVO COOLER 120mm
Reliable High efficency 500W PSU — up to 88% efficienct MEPS ready

He said when I get more money I can just replace the PSU but at the moment it’s enough to cover the components.

im using a 1TB hdd

an i5 4690 3.50Ghz

Nvidia GTX 660 ti oc direct cu

12 GB Ddr3 1600Mhz crosair vengeance ram 3x 4gb

and i only have a few seconds of loading screens betwin maps

aaaaaand im runing the game with these settings

not a single issues lol