Guild Wars 2

Hello all!
I am not sure if this is posted in the right forum category – if it’s the wrong one, apologies and it hopefully can be moved. Sorry if it’s gonna be confusing, or too long.

I’m gonna say, first off, that I am very well aware that desktop computers will always be better than laptops for gaming (unless I am willing to spend money I don’t have). However, there might be a chance of me getting a new pc soon and for my situation laptops are a better choice. While I can’t specifically ask for advice which laptop to choose because I am not from the States, so a laptop that costs 800$ there would cost me over 1000€ here… and they never ship outside the US which sucks.

My idea would be having a laptop that can run GW2 on medium-high settings and not get under 30fps too often, obviously not counting zergs and such. I never have all the settings on high or ultra in games so I’m not worried about this. Besides GW2, I like to try out other games such as TERA and Blade&Soul, as well as single RPGs (for example Dragon Age Inquisition), and I was curious about Overwatch as well. I tend to game for a fair amount of time on some days and this is when I worry about overheating and the laptop burning my fingers to a crips as it has happend on the previous one.

I had my eye on the Asus ROG series but there is no way I could get any of that because it’s way too expensive where I live (I am only capable to spend around 800€ or 900$… just maybe a little bit more than that). So I had to search for alternatives.
One laptop that I found that could possibly run all those games is the Asus X751LX-T4149T, but I wouldn’t mind more opinions.
I’d say I’m not exactly dumb when it comes to computers but it’s also my very first time buying a laptop on my own, so I am kind of worried of making wrong choices, so be patient with me lol.

Thanks in advance guys.

I would think that Asus you listed would work quite nicely, as well as also being very good for other, more gpu intensive newer games. Also that unit would be very capable for quite a few years, imo.

It would certainly be very capable of running GW2 on max, or close to max settings most of the time.

Teon.5168:

I would think that Asus you listed would work quite nicely, as well as also being very good for other, more gpu intensive newer games. Also that unit would be very capable for quite a few years, imo.

It would certainly be very capable of running GW2 on max, or close to max settings most of the time.

Thanks for the response makes me feel a bit more sure about it. I am also aware of players that have (or had) issues with GW2 on the Windows 10 OS, but mostly if they directly upgraded from Win8 instead of a clean install.

i7 Processor is unnecessary to run any games, especially GW2. i5 is more than enough to run any of my games. You can also save $100 by choosing i5 (MSI GL72 6QD-001) which is way more than double the required minimum spec for GW2

Guild Wars 2 is, unfortunately, not very optimized for parallel use of processors (threading /hyperthreading), so both i5 and i7 processors will have similar (dare I risk to say, the same) performance. You’re basically limited to the clock of a single processor, to put it in maybe overly simple terms.

I don’t have windows 10 so nothing to say about that, but about the video: I use a laptop to play myself, and get through pretty fine (nearly to no drops) with a Geforce 740M, so I think you’ll be more than fine with the one that Asus you mentioned has. Keep in mind though some meta events with up to hundreds of people might experience minor backdrops if you play on high settings. But if you’re not worried about looking the prettiest at all times, just turn shaders to low, my low-end card gets steady 30FPS at all times without the extra shading.

ASUS all the way… been on my ASUS laptop since launch, and no issues. I do however still have a win8.1 operating system and refuse adamantly to change to win 10 …. (here’s me waving my middle to MSFT).

I generally play in WvW with heavy battles and no issues.

GM Gus said on Reddit that you should look for a 4th Gen Intel based unit. Apparently, the 4th gens have a better single core processing rating, which is what GW2 needs the most.

Check out
http://www.logicalincrements.com/laptop
This is a list of popular newer laptops.

This is also a great website for finding parts to build your own pc. (This what I used.)

Hexinx.1872:

ASUS all the way… been on my ASUS laptop since launch, and no issues. I do however still have a win8.1 operating system and refuse adamantly to change to win 10 …. (here’s me waving my middle to MSFT).

I generally play in WvW with heavy battles and no issues.

I think MSI is the better manufacturer these days. So far of 4 ASUS products I’ve had, all of them have been faulty, RMA’d, and I’ve been given used/refurbs as compensation (because the technicians couldn’t fix them because the parts themselves were manufactured poorly), rather than new models, despite being under warranty.

I advise ASUS customers of older models not to update to Win10 because ASUS is a horrible parts manufacturer when it comes to supporting their off-warranty systems’ drivers, too. Pretty much if it’s > 2 years old, forget about new drivers for a new OS.

Windows 10 is amazing from a tech POV and with Classic Shell and other utilities and when opting out of MS data collecting, becomes a strictly better Windows 7.

If you play on a G75VW or similar model, however, you will have no good drivers. ASUS has yet to release drivers for Win10 on these “older” machines (I did a factory reset on mine with a Win10 upgrade a few days ago, drivers are in a horrible state/non-existent for some things).

As far as the OP goes, single-core performance is pretty terrible on most laptops, and the game isn’t GPU-heavy. A gaming laptop will do decently, but there is no close comparison to a desktop running at double the CPU performance, especially with OC’ed RAM and increased cache sizes. An everyday laptop will probably get you above 30 frames in low-population areas, but that’s heavily-dependent on how your laptop cools and if it has a dedicated graphics card or not. Intel’s pushing hard with new on-chip GPU’s to a point where even entry-middle level dGPUs are losing ground fast.

You’d be able to get an ASUS G75VW from 2012 or so or similar for fairly cheap these days, but be aware of the Win10 problems. You’ll easily spend ten hours working with drivers to get basic functionality, and that’s with no guarantee from the manufacturer it’ll continue working.

any system run at the speed of the lowest performance component in the system and this is always the hard drive so consider a faster hard drive consider ssd pretty cheap also. adding memory can also help buy a 64 bits system it can use a lot more memory then 32 bit(3.5gb) gw 2 as a 64 bit client now. for graphic card that do not have their own memory it use 45 % of your system memory also be aware of that.

gw 2 is not optimize yet for multi core cpu but some of the other games that you might want to use can be so get one any way. even if the game does not use it it can split other task being done on the system. also with windows 10 and dx 12 game that are optimize in the future will use that.

also intel cpu i7 have integrated hd graphic on board and with dx 12 there is something new that can make use of all your graphic card on board what ever size or brand.
it is a feature that game dev will have to enable for it to work.

follow the link you will see the difference of using this.

https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/DirectX-Developer-Blog/DirectX-12-Multiadapter-Unreal-Engine-4

You probably know that DirectX 12 is designed for performance.

What you may not know is that the same design decisions that make DirectX 12 so performant also make it incredibly power efficient. This allows you to play all of your favorite games on portable devices without having an uncomfortably hot device on your lap or as much of a need to carry around a cumbersome power adapter.

What you describe sounds pretty much like what my 4 year old laptop offers, for which I payed around 1.250 € back in 2012. So there’s definetly hope to your cause!

A good source for information would be www.notebookcheck.net (if you’re able to read and write in german, got to the .com version, they also have a great forum there with a bunch of clever and helpfull people around).

Good luck!

stephanie wise.7841:

any system run at the speed of the lowest performance component in the system and this is always the hard drive so consider a faster hard drive consider ssd pretty cheap also. adding memory can also help buy a 64 bits system it can use a lot more memory then 32 bit(3.5gb) gw 2 as a 64 bit client now. for graphic card that do not have their own memory it use 45 % of your system memory also be aware of that.

gw 2 is not optimize yet for multi core cpu but some of the other games that you might want to use can be so get one any way. even if the game does not use it it can split other task being done on the system. also with windows 10 and dx 12 game that are optimize in the future will use that.

also intel cpu i7 have integrated hd graphic on board and with dx 12 there is something new that can make use of all your graphic card on board what ever size or brand.
it is a feature that game dev will have to enable for it to work.

follow the link you will see the difference of using this.

https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/DirectX-Developer-Blog/DirectX-12-Multiadapter-Unreal-Engine-4

You probably know that DirectX 12 is designed for performance.

What you may not know is that the same design decisions that make DirectX 12 so performant also make it incredibly power efficient. This allows you to play all of your favorite games on portable devices without having an uncomfortably hot device on your lap or as much of a need to carry around a cumbersome power adapter.

Nothing made in the last eight years is running less than four cores, though. 32-bit systems are far from industry standard.

Hard drive will only really affect boot time on the pc itself and loading screens in most cases, which frankly only matter for super-enthusiasts, especially since Win10 boots so fast even without an SSD.

Thanks so much for every response here… I can’t lie that I am still left a bit with questions but sadly I am not the expert I wish I was.

A thing I forgot to mention, which might not be really important, is that a friend of mine has a pretty similar Asus model like the one I mentioned, maybe just a bit older, and as far as GW2 goes it works really well… so I’m using that laptop as a ‘reference’, but I’m just a bit worried in general that whatever I will choose it will be a complete mess lol.
I had an Acer laptop that I recieved as a gift, and sadly it was a really, really faulty machine so this could be the first and last time I ever get any Acer product. Not to mention it made my fingers feel like sausages roasting for a barbeque.
I did also have experiences with an Asus laptop that I had before the Acer one and it worked real good for a while before it started to get overheating problems and shutting down everytime I played anything – granted it was quite an old laptop and it was given to me second hand.

So from what I gathered (that’s a whole bunch of useful infos so, thank you all again), that Asus seems like an alright choice yeah? I know it’s definitely not the best thing, but it’s all I can afford.

i will also buy new laptop for gaming…. will be a asus rog g752 …. my poor g73s cant handle with 460mgtx and 2ghz quad

Arkantos.7460:

i will also buy new laptop for gaming…. will be a asus rog g752 …. my poor g73s cant handle with 460mgtx and 2ghz quad

Ah, yeah… as I mentioned an Asus from the ROG series would be something quite perfect for me – but sadly too far fetched. Maybe in the next life I’ll be able to have one of those haha. Enjoy it! :>

Been running GW2 on my Asus N550lf for over a couple of years… runs at 50fps+ med/high setting (adsl connection… should be 8 to 10 meg but runs more like 4 to 6). does not get to hot or to noisy when playing, and this while having a 6+ hour a day average play time (don’t get out much).

Would say any laptop with a separate (or decent dedicated) graphics card would be OK… My lowly GT745 plays more than well enough for me but it does drop fps in big WvW battles etc

Will add that I use a Razer Tartarus keypad – for comfort rather than the Asus keyboard action – tried a few other laptops and stumpy fat fingers cause more problems than the key action :-)

Pug.9784:

Will add that I use a Razer Tartarus keypad – for comfort rather than the Asus keyboard action – tried a few other laptops and stumpy fat fingers cause more problems than the key action :-)

Hahah, yeah I can see how that can be a problem with bigger fingers. It’s fine in my case though, unless the laptop begins to overheat and then gaming becomes painful. A separate keyboard is a good solution in Summer, when it’s just impossible keeping your fingers on a laptop keyboard lol. Six plus hours of gaming is something that definitely happens to me as well, too.
Thanks for your input – guess the Asus isn’t such a bad choice afterall. Let’s just hope Win10 won’t be giving me problems with GW2.

I’m grateful for all the answers I got here Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into GW2 soon again.

DeceiverX.8361:

stephanie wise.7841:

any system run at the speed of the lowest performance component in the system and this is always the hard drive so consider a faster hard drive consider ssd pretty cheap also. adding memory can also help buy a 64 bits system it can use a lot more memory then 32 bit(3.5gb) gw 2 as a 64 bit client now. for graphic card that do not have their own memory it use 45 % of your system memory also be aware of that.

gw 2 is not optimize yet for multi core cpu but some of the other games that you might want to use can be so get one any way. even if the game does not use it it can split other task being done on the system. also with windows 10 and dx 12 game that are optimize in the future will use that.

also intel cpu i7 have integrated hd graphic on board and with dx 12 there is something new that can make use of all your graphic card on board what ever size or brand.
it is a feature that game dev will have to enable for it to work.

follow the link you will see the difference of using this.

https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/DirectX-Developer-Blog/DirectX-12-Multiadapter-Unreal-Engine-4

You probably know that DirectX 12 is designed for performance.

What you may not know is that the same design decisions that make DirectX 12 so performant also make it incredibly power efficient. This allows you to play all of your favorite games on portable devices without having an uncomfortably hot device on your lap or as much of a need to carry around a cumbersome power adapter.

Nothing made in the last eight years is running less than four cores, though. 32-bit systems are far from industry standard.

yes but the average user do not know about 32 bit vs 64 bit.

yes 32 bit was use in the past windows xp, windows vista, windows 7. windows 8 includes further optimizations for UEFI systems, including a faster startup, 32-bit UEFI support, and secure boot support. other pc before did not have a native UEFI 32 bit they where using a bios in 32 bit. what UEFI brings is secure boot, faster start up,

The interface defined by the EFI specification includes data tables that contain platform information, and boot and runtime services that are available to the OS loader and OS. UEFI firmware provides several technical advantages over a traditional BIOS system:
Ability to boot from large disks (over 2 TB) with a GUID Partition Table (GPT)
CPU-independent architecture
CPU-independent drivers
Flexible pre-OS environment, including network capability
Modular design
Backward and forward compatibility

64 bit give less fragmentation you can use more memory and more programs at same time.

Hard drive will only really affect boot time on the pc itself and loading screens in most cases, which frankly only matter for super-enthusiasts, especially since Win10 boots so fast even without an SSD.

yes but it is always the slowest component and where is the software that the cpu use on the hard drive. ram in the pc store some data that you use often. when the pc is reset the ram memory is erase. that is why that when you get memory issue 0×8000xxx event and reset the pc the memory is flush and the problem is solve for a little while until the problem that cause the memory issue to happen re happen again. hard drive or ssd write and read time also the bus speed that connect the component to the cpu can make a good difference in computer performance. the system is always as fast as the slowest component in it and it is always the hard drive.

Consider the fact that all M and U class mobile CPUs are dual core with HT, they are not quad core CPUs.

You need to consider a true quad core CPU in your laptop to get good performance for GW2. That would be MQ, HQ, MX series CPUs. And most of those are all i7’s, Intel does have an i5-6300MQ now though – http://ark.intel.com/products/88959/Intel-Core-i5-6300HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz

But my advice is to buy an older laptop from 2010~ or so that uses an MXM slot so that you can upgrade the GPU when Clevo releases them. Two examples would be a M4600 and M6600. The M4600 is a Type A MXM slot and the M6600 is a Type B MXM Slot. Both can take 32GB of ram, i7-MQ CPUs and pretty decent GPUs (GTX950 is the fastest you can fit for the M4600 and the GTX980M is the fastest for the M6600)

Else if you want to buy new just make sure you pair a HQ CPU with a modern era GPU. And, IMHO, stay away from 4k Displays as no laptop can really handle it.

I might be in the market for a gaming laptop soon, and was looking for some input since I haven’t bought a laptop for personal use in over 10 yrs.

Some filtering got me here.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100167748%204814%20600003988%208000%20600555758%20600551625&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=3365%7C34-890-015%5E34-890-015%2C34-154-112%5E34-154-112%2C34-154-241%5E34-154-241&percm=34-890-015%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-154-112%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-154-241%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

Other options welcome. Looking to spend under $1000.

Sagramor.7395:

I might be in the market for a gaming laptop soon, and was looking for some input since I haven’t bought a laptop for personal use in over 10 yrs.

Some filtering got me here.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100167748%204814%20600003988%208000%20600555758%20600551625&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=3365%7C34-890-015%5E34-890-015%2C34-154-112%5E34-154-112%2C34-154-241%5E34-154-241&percm=34-890-015%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-154-112%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-154-241%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

Other options welcome. Looking to spend under $1000.

Sorry, that link leads to nowhere (apparently it was somekind of comparison, but it doesn’t get reproduced when hitting the link).
Anyway, there’s some additional info needed, e. g. size, portability, usage besides GW2, “must haves” (if there are any for you that is).

Assuming you’re in the U.S. ($+newegg link), you might consider something like this: https://www.sagernotebook.com/customize.php?productid=1035
Perfectly in your budget and you can decide wether you like to spend some extra $ now (e. g. for a Solid State Drive) or later and upgrade yourself.
Ofc, just a shot from the hip by me, for more detailed help, plz give the above mentioned information

Ok I play gw2 with a 17" ASUS ROG Gaming laptop and it is awesome. The only time I might have so called lag issues is when the servers themselves are having issues. I run full hi resolution on every setting and also run the 64 bit version of the game.

On an average day I get 50 to 90 fps. When in blob situations I can drop to around 30fps at times.

Sorry for the comparison snafu. I can’t seem to find the 3rd option repeating the same filters (i5, 960m, <$1000), but here are the other two from the list.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834890015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154112

Sager is nice, but knowing the Asus is $100 less with an SSD (minus the i7 I don’t think I need) would the Sager be worth it? On first glance it looks like I could get away with the $799 Asus, but is there something I’m missing? The cheaper the better as long as I’m getting something that’ll do the job, hold up reasonably well, and not be a lemon.

As for your questions of need…
Size: Oversized screen is not necessary
Portability: I will not be carrying it around constantly, nor will I be gaming on my lap. Battery life isn’t super important since I don’t expect to be using it disconnected often, but having better than abysmal battery life would be nice.
Usage outside of GW2: Maybe other games when that day comes, but this will not be my primary computer. I can’t see myself using it for anything else outside of browsing and possibly watching movies. We seem to be doing more and more within a browser these days.
Must-haves: Really don’t have a must-have item.

Question: Time and time again I see on this forum and elsewhere that i7 is overkill for gaming and that an i5 with higher clock speed is a better bang for the buck. But most “gaming” laptops seem to come with i7 processors. If an i7 is really overkill why doesn’t Sager for instance offer an i5 with a 960m as opposed to a 950m?

Currently have an i5-3570K paired to a GTX 660 (superclocked, non-ti) in my desktop, and similar performance would be nice.

Sagramor.7395:

Sorry for the comparison snafu. I can’t seem to find the 3rd option repeating the same filters (i5, 960m, <$1000), but here are the other two from the list.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834890015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154112

Sager is nice, but knowing the Asus is $100 less with an SSD (minus the i7 I don’t think I need) would the Sager be worth it? On first glance it looks like I could get away with the $799 Asus, but is there something I’m missing? The cheaper the better as long as I’m getting something that’ll do the job, hold up reasonably well, and not be a lemon.

As for your questions of need…
Size: Oversized screen is not necessary
Portability: I will not be carrying it around constantly, nor will I be gaming on my lap. Battery life isn’t super important since I don’t expect to be using it disconnected often, but having better than abysmal battery life would be nice.
Usage outside of GW2: Maybe other games when that day comes, but this will not be my primary computer. I can’t see myself using it for anything else outside of browsing and possibly watching movies. We seem to be doing more and more within a browser these days.
Must-haves: Really don’t have a must-have item.

Question: Time and time again I see on this forum and elsewhere that i7 is overkill for gaming and that an i5 with higher clock speed is a better bang for the buck. But most “gaming” laptops seem to come with i7 processors. If an i7 is really overkill why doesn’t Sager for instance offer an i5 with a 960m as opposed to a 950m?

Currently have an i5-3570K paired to a GTX 660 (superclocked, non-ti) in my desktop, and similar performance would be nice.

Alright, given that you don’t want anything special the ones you found yourself seem to be fine. I just linked that Sager one since it’s the only major customizing reseller I know of in the U.S. (I’m from EU) and I have an avid aversion against ASUS laptops (my wife had one and their customer support was horrible; no big deal if everything works fine but dare you when some piece of hardware goes to the devil).
Indeed it won’t matter much wether you get an i5 or i7, it’s just that Laptop manufacturers tend to go with the i7 nowadays. For CPU comparison I suggest www.notebookcheck.net, just make sure it’s not an “U” modell (they’re slowed down models made for those ultra slim notebooks, so they won’t heat too much). Anything with an up-to-date i7 or i5, gtx960m, 8GB RAM+ should be what you’re looking for. Ofc kitten would be a great addition. Oh, and don’t forget to check the display, you wouldn’t want to get a higher resolution than FHD (1920×1080).
Good luck, I’m going to sleep now and looking forward to my new laptop being delivered tomorrow

Both of those laptops comes with a proper quad core CPU. Not the standard dual core + HT stuff you see in the mainstream mobility market. So good choice there.

But, looking at the models the Asus has a better keyboard but the MSI is built better (Both in Body and in Cooling…MSI has come a long way since 2014~).

If i were to buy either of those I would buy the MSI one. But thats me.

I can also confirm that, having just gone through nearly 11 weeks of trying to get an older out-of-warranty ASUS ROG repaired, they are awful to deal with. I loved my ROG as a machine and it ran like a dream, but as soon as something went wrong it was an absolute nightmare deal with ASUS (uk) and their procedures has absolutely soured me to their products.

Does anyone else have experience with MSI or Alienware laptops for GW2? I’m trying to find something on par with the ASUS G750JS, if not a bit more powerful since the G750JS is a few years old now.

jesters.9406:

[…]
Does anyone else have experience with MSI or Alienware laptops for GW2? I’m trying to find something on par with the ASUS G750JS, if not a bit more powerful since the G750JS is a few years old now.

No personal experience with MSI or Alienware laptops, but since you seem to be from the UK, you might want to check https://www.mysn.co.uk/ . It’s a medium sized german company famous for making great customizable laptops (and since ~1-2 years also gaming desktops) with excellent customer support. I just got my 2nd laptop there (first was back in 2012), I pruchased an U716 (desktop replacement, so mobility wasn’t important to me) and got it delivered two days ago- it runs beastly.
Might be worth for you to take a look at them as long as you’re still part of the EU

Nash.2681:

jesters.9406:

[…]
Does anyone else have experience with MSI or Alienware laptops for GW2? I’m trying to find something on par with the ASUS G750JS, if not a bit more powerful since the G750JS is a few years old now.

No personal experience with MSI or Alienware laptops, but since you seem to be from the UK, you might want to check https://www.mysn.co.uk/ . It’s a medium sized german company famous for making great customizable laptops (and since ~1-2 years also gaming desktops) with excellent customer support. I just got my 2nd laptop there (first was back in 2012), I pruchased an U716 (desktop replacement, so mobility wasn’t important to me) and got it delivered two days ago- it runs beastly.
Might be worth for you to take a look at them as long as you’re still part of the EU

I’ll definitely give that a look, thanks!

And I’ll always be part of the EU in my heart and spirit!

jesters.9406:

Nash.2681:

jesters.9406:

[…]
Does anyone else have experience with MSI or Alienware laptops for GW2? I’m trying to find something on par with the ASUS G750JS, if not a bit more powerful since the G750JS is a few years old now.

No personal experience with MSI or Alienware laptops, but since you seem to be from the UK, you might want to check https://www.mysn.co.uk/ . It’s a medium sized german company famous for making great customizable laptops (and since ~1-2 years also gaming desktops) with excellent customer support. I just got my 2nd laptop there (first was back in 2012), I pruchased an U716 (desktop replacement, so mobility wasn’t important to me) and got it delivered two days ago- it runs beastly.
Might be worth for you to take a look at them as long as you’re still part of the EU

I’ll definitely give that a look, thanks!

And I’ll always be part of the EU in my heart and spirit!

Hehe, glad to hear that but after all that’s your own buisness anyway and I wouldn’t judge you either way
I just wanted to point it out since I’m totally unsure about how the Brexit will affect future purchases price- and tax-wise, but I doubt that they will get cheaper