Guild Wars 2

Hi guys! So I’ll be upgrading my CPU very soon. I bought an i5 4440, and my current one is i7 860 (eww hahah). My graphics card is a GT 240 (also ewww). I have a question: will my new CPU alone perform better than current setup (CPU+videocard)? I will upgrade my videocard later to a GTX 970, just wanted to check how well enough my new CPU alone will run GW2!

Thanks for all the help.

It should run a bit better in crowds of other players but the GT 240 is going to be a huge limiting factor.

GW2 is more CPU intensive then it is GPU intensive. The majority of your lag is attributed to CPU bottle necking, so getting that replaced will show vast improvements. GTX 970 is a bit over kill for this game, but Im sure you play other stuff too.

You will be amazed by the jump in performance just by changing your CPU and Ram. I went from a 2.22Ghz Duel Core and 4GB, with a 9800 GT 1GB, to a i5 4690K, 8GB and kept the 9800 GT, as I need a new psu before I get a new card.

I had a 40 fps increase with the settings on high, I get 60+ playing normal/leveling play, in a crowed, depending on the zurg size, I get 40+. Where as before if I did WvW or World Boss, I had to set everything to low to stop my game from stuttering and freezing.

What motherboard do you have?

No body brought up the PSU? If you’re going to a higher end CPU, then you’re going to be consuming more power. Can your power supply handle it or are you upgrading that with the CPU? And what kind of heat clearing system and air flow do you have with your case? Better not have a mini, that’s for sure . If you try to game with a mini, good luck because expect to have severe overheating issues. A mid with front fans, top fans, back fans, and a side vent is minimum, but a full is much better just because the big space.

Also, and this is a kicker, the mobo should be fitted well for the CPU’s base heatsink at least. The mobo I’d gotten with my CPU has horrible placement of the RAM slots so that the non-stock HS prevents me from using 2 slots (which isn’t a worry for me personally, but still a point to bring up).

Yeah, the PSU and cooling is important too.

What caught me was that the i7 860 is only compatible with the LGA1156 motherboard which is likely what he has now. The new i5 4440 that he bought is only compatible with the LGA1150 motherboards.

I’ve only done brief research years ago when I built my PC so maybe someone with more experience can confirm/refute my assumption.

I bought a new motherboard compatible with the CPU… but my new case will be a mid tower (Phantom 410), hope everything fits well in there! :P

Siphaed.9235:

Also, and this is a kicker, the mobo should be fitted well for the CPU’s base heatsink at least. The mobo I’d gotten with my CPU has horrible placement of the RAM slots so that the non-stock HS prevents me from using 2 slots (which isn’t a worry for me personally, but still a point to bring up).

As long as you don’t have RAM with massive heatsinks you should be fine. Stuff like Corsair Vengeance may have issues but more plain sticks shouldn’t cause any problems.

Ayrilana.1396:

What caught me was that the i7 860 is only compatible with the LGA1156 motherboard which is likely what he has now. The new i5 4440 that he bought is only compatible with the LGA1150 motherboards.

I’ve only done brief research years ago when I built my PC so maybe someone with more experience can confirm/refute my assumption.

You’re right. I had just assumed that the TC bought a motherboard to go with the i5.

Ok, first of all, as long as your mobo is half decent, it will do fine. However, new CPU means new mobo as well so consider that. Secondly, the gt240 is going to be as limiting as heck. At least the CPU you currently have is an i7, even if it is old. It will ofc limit the GPU, no question about that, but I am running gw2 at 2160×1440 maxed on a gtx770 + AMD fx-8350 (yeah, I know. Crummy CPU.). My point being, gw2 is not too heavy on the CPU I use only a very minor OC on the CPU (<10%) and as I said it runs smoothly at max @ 1440p.

As regarding the PSU, I think you will be fine. Intel gets more efficient each generation. Check your wattage just in case.

Finally, check out pcpartpicker.com for pricing comparison and wattage estimation.

Tl;Dr: Go with the GPU.

Fermi.2409:

Siphaed.9235:

Also, and this is a kicker, the mobo should be fitted well for the CPU’s base heatsink at least. The mobo I’d gotten with my CPU has horrible placement of the RAM slots so that the non-stock HS prevents me from using 2 slots (which isn’t a worry for me personally, but still a point to bring up).

As long as you don’t have RAM with massive heatsinks you should be fine. Stuff like Corsair Vengeance may have issues but more plain sticks shouldn’t cause any problems.

I need my G.Skill heatsinks. Plain ram is pain ram.