Guild Wars 2

Thought I should share this with you guys as it has helped me. It seems as if powerplay and GW2 doesn’t get along very well and your GPU clocks get stuck at 2D clocks instead of running in 3D mode. Follow this helpful guide as I did and you should be seeing major FPS improvement.

AMD/ATi 2D Clock Guide

I followed the above guide exactly as detail but instead of just changing the state of 1 clock I went ahead and completely got rid of powerplay cause in all reality it sucks anyways.

I’ll include screenshots of my preset (NOTE: Don’t use my settings unless you have an AMD Radeon HD 6870), as well as screenshots from in-game showing my FPS.

All the FPS shown rarely drop and its smooth as butter,. Enjoy and happy gaming until a better fix comes around.

System Specs:
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD
HD 6870 1GB
8GB DDR3 RAM
Intel Core 2 Quad 9500 2.83Ghz O/C to 3.4 Ghz (meh)

Thank you, will try this out on 6570M
EDIT: I use a laptop, and it seems to require a different method. Thanks anyway

No problem, if it helps you please feel free to leave a follow up response. Time for bed now though stayed up all night trying to figure this out, lol.

Awesome thanks man working wonder for me 7870 2gb.

Quick question though when im done gaming how do I return it back to normal do i need to create another profile… thanks again

An alternative (especially for those that use just the AMD driver without CCC) would be to use MSI Afterburner. With AB, you can manually set 2D/3D clocks, voltages, fan speeds for each, etc. Begin by making a profile with 2D clocks, and one for 3D clocks. Save them and then set them appropriately under “Automatic Profile Management.” [Settings->Profiles. See attached screenshot. You do not have to copy my settings, as they are custom for my 7870.] It is not recommended to make an automated fan profile as this creates CPU overhead and can make games stutter. What I recommend is setting a fan setting for 2D (low) and 3D (higher RPM). This way there is no CPU overhead from temperature/fan polling and your GPU will remain cool during 3D operations.

FYI it is NOT recommended to use MSI AB and CCC concurrently (at the same time). You can still have CCC installed, but if you want to use AB exclusively (recommended; it can load profiles at boot/on the fly), disable CCC from run->services.msc and run->msconfig. Disable anything with “ATI, Catalyst, or CCC” in the name. Reboot. You should no longer have CCC.exe or MOM.exe running in the background if it’s been fully disabled.

I have been using MSI AB for some time now and have never had clock issues with GW2. Not saying I haven’t had other issues…lol. But not related to clocks.

The above method also works, but seeing as AB hates me and doesn’t let me adjust my voltage on my card it’s no use to me lol

Clexzor.6351:

Awesome thanks man working wonder for me 7870 2gb.

Quick question though when im done gaming how do I return it back to normal do i need to create another profile… thanks again

Yep just make another preset and copy the original non-edited version onto that one instead, same method as before of course but without editing

BUMP for people who didn’t see this post, would be a great thing to get stickied like that NVIDIA post :P

Thanks for the inof

Had to log in just to say thank you! Bumped me from 25-50 fps in sparkfly when I logged off this morning to 40-75ish even with catalyst AI disabled to stop flickering.

Pretty pumped

Atrocity.5794:

The above method also works, but seeing as AB hates me and doesn’t let me adjust my voltage on my card it’s no use to me lol

Heck, I’d still prefer it even without voltage adjustment, if not only because of the ability to set a static fan speed % per clock mode (say, 33% for 2d clocks and 75% for 3d). That alone makes it worth it! Depending on either CCC or your vid cards default fan speed profile (“ramp”) in its BIOS to control fan RPMs on the fly is asking for trouble or a shortened life on your card, IMO. CCC can set a static fan speed rpm, but this encompasses both 2d and 3d modes, and who wants a noisy GPU fan when not gaming?

If you can’t adjust voltage on your card with AB then either it’s voltage locked (my old 4890 was), or you must use a “trick” to unlock AB’s “Unofficial Overclocking Mode.” Look that up if that interests you, but I don’t want to delve into that here.

There is also the method of flashing your video cards BIOS, which is what I did on my 4890, and to be honest it is the best method IF you are 100% certain of what you are doing. Flashing lets you create a custom fan profile directly in the BIOS (improving or eliminating the default “ramp,” and avoiding software CPU overhead), as well as alter voltages, 2d and 3d clocks, etc. and does not depend on software to do this at boot. This method is NOT RECOMMENDED unless you’re a real nerd who knows what you’re doing though…and by that point you’d already have a massive aftermarket heatsink on your GPU with Delta server fans strapped on top of it and regulated with a 40w+/chan. fan controller (liquid-cooling is for sissies!).

:)

I use sapphire trixx for my custom fan settings, :P, should of mentioned that I guess haha

Also the bios have been flashed to the XFX Black Edition 6870 from my sapphire card, gotta love bios flashing, but that’s a whole different beast

katharsis.2697:

Had to log in just to say thank you! Bumped me from 25-50 fps in sparkfly when I logged off this morning to 40-75ish even with catalyst AI disabled to stop flickering.

Pretty pumped

No problem man glad I could help

Thanks man! Worked great for my HD6970.

Especially the small annoying frame drops are gone now!

Wouldn’t it be easier to just set your PC’s power management to “High Performance?” In high performance mode the CPU never throttles and downclocks. This just seems a bit more convoluted when power management profiles are built right into Windows.

Hey Atrocity, what make is your HD 6870, because I tried your settings with my XFX 6870 and I proceeded to overheat. It may be a problem with XFX’s version (I’ve heard they changed a few things), but may also be my build’s poor ventilation xD.

Could I still do this if I have a poor processor without it breaking or overheating.

my computer spec:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core 4800
Vid Card: AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series

Yes, my computer specs sucks. Please forgive me, computer gods..

6700 by all means does not suck, but you might want to consider upgrading that processor because GW2 is surprisingly CPU heavy in regards to graphics

It shouldn’t be a problem that you have a poor processor because this mod only applies to the graphics card, and unless you have very poor ventilation it should be fine.

Total noob here. I’ve done what the guide said, but I’ve got an HD 6670 card and I have no idea awhat settings to use. Can ya help me out here? Thanks.

Tomkatt.1684:

Wouldn’t it be easier to just set your PC’s power management to “High Performance?” In high performance mode the CPU never throttles and downclocks. This just seems a bit more convoluted when power management profiles are built right into Windows.

The instructions in this thread are related to the GPU, not the CPU. Adjusting Windows Power Profiles will not affect GPU behavior (save for PCI-E LSPM which should always be set OFF on a desktop PC).

Also, just changing the Power Profile to “High Performance” will not disable hardware-level CPU throttling features such as C-States, etc. so you could very well still see CPU throttling at the High Performance setting if your BIOS isn’t set up properly in the first place.

radchad.9215:

Total noob here. I’ve done what the guide said, but I’ve got an HD 6670 card and I have no idea awhat settings to use. Can ya help me out here? Thanks.

I just tried this with a 6670, and I saw a huge improvement.
Here are the settings I used:

<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_6758&amp;SUBSYS_25451458&amp;REV_00_4&amp;17B04CE0&amp;0&amp;0008A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="80000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="50000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="80000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_6758&amp;SUBSYS_25451458&amp;REV_00_4&amp;17B04CE0&amp;0&amp;0008A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="87000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="80000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="87000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_6758&amp;SUBSYS_25451458&amp;REV_00_4&amp;17B04CE0&amp;0&amp;0008A">
<Property name="Want_0" value="1100" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="1000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="1100" />
</Feature>

Idolicious.6091:

Tomkatt.1684:

Wouldn’t it be easier to just set your PC’s power management to “High Performance?” In high performance mode the CPU never throttles and downclocks. This just seems a bit more convoluted when power management profiles are built right into Windows.

The instructions in this thread are related to the GPU, not the CPU. Adjusting Windows Power Profiles will not affect GPU behavior (save for PCI-E LSPM which should always be set OFF on a desktop PC).

Also, just changing the Power Profile to “High Performance” will not disable hardware-level CPU throttling features such as C-States, etc. so you could very well still see CPU throttling at the High Performance setting if your BIOS isn’t set up properly in the first place.

You’re right, there’s no GPU setting in Power management, but I’ve checked with CPU-Z in the past, in balanced mode my GPU speed gets throttled, but in high performance mode it does not throttle. Not sure why this is the case, but I do know it works.

Ok, I’m trying to follow this guide but I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly for my video card.
I’ve got a Radeon 6850 which according to the spec has a 775MHz gpu clock speed and 1000MHz memory clock speed.
So would I change the <Property name="Want_0" value="10000" /> over to <Property name="Want_0" value="77500" /> under the coreclock target section?

I have AMD Mobility Radeon HD 4200 series…I have low fps but I dunno if I should even attempt this.

I have an HD 5400 here. I’m not sure if this is even something I should do and I have no way to know what values to actually put in.

Xerek.7864:

I have AMD Mobility Radeon HD 4200 series…I have low fps but I dunno if I should even attempt this.

I’m in the same situation except with a Mobility Radeon HD 4500/5200 series.

What are the ideal values for an AMD Radeon HD 6670?

Tyranniss.4167:

Ok, I’m trying to follow this guide but I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly for my video card.
I’ve got a Radeon 6850 which according to the spec has a 775MHz gpu clock speed and 1000MHz memory clock speed.
So would I change the <Property name=“Want_0” value=“10000” /> over to <Property name=“Want_0” value=“77500” /> under the coreclock target section?

Setting it as that would make it no different to what you currently have it at.

However, I do not know what determines what these values should be in order to get best performance. If Atrocity can come back and explain that would be awesome?

EDIT: Ok, I think I’m really confused about what this fix actually does. When I launch GW2, or any game for that matter, my clock speeds kick up from 300mhz to 900mhz. Does this fix try and overclock your card so that it works much better with GW2? Or does it make it so it is not stuck permanently on 300mhz when playing games (which never happened to me in the first place)?

haven’t had any fps issues here, might give this a try and see if it somehow boosts me a bit tho

I’m running Dual CrossFire 1GB ATI® Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards, but I’m not all that knowledgeable with computers so not sure what values I should be adding.

How do I find out?

The game runs just fine but I thought I’d give this a try to see if it improves at all.

Many thanks in advance

I have tried what it says in the guide but mine looks completely different i am using a laptop and my graphics cards are Amd Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7450M Dual graphics. I have copied what was in my “appdata- Local- ATI- ACE- Profile” and this is what i get.

Zantom.8560:

EDIT: Ok, I think I’m really confused about what this fix actually does. When I launch GW2, or any game for that matter, my clock speeds kick up from 300mhz to 900mhz. Does this fix try and overclock your card so that it works much better with GW2? Or does it make it so it is not stuck permanently on 300mhz when playing games (which never happened to me in the first place)?

This basically OC your GPU settings, but bad thing about this method is that your GPU is forced to be on these setting all the time (while idle, watching movies, playing flash content, and so on).

Settings from the original article is just increasing GPU clock speed a bit to improve 2D content rendering and has nothing to do with 3D performance.

Setting in this thread will do force Overclock of GPU clock and memory, and will keep those values all the time. IMO, it’s better to use CCC Overdrive tool (or MSI tool also) to overclock for only under load performance, and you’ll get the same thing when playing GW2 and other 3D games. (but be careful, try to increase those values in small steps, and see how your card is performing)

I had MSI Afterburner and was using it simply to change fan speeds for games as the card got hotter. I also had CCC running at the same time. After making the changes (disabling CCC , setting 2 profiles up for MSI AB), my FPS jumped from ~40 to ~90. I was stunned at how such a little tweak made a huge difference. It also increased the FPS in a couple of other games i tested ( Eve and SR3).

However, i still have shadows set to low ( because i don’t care much for shadows) and reflections set to ‘terrain and sky’. Every other item is set to high.

Thank you very much for the tips.

I don’t really understand what this does or why it works, but this tweak raised the average fps on my 6950 from 30-35 to 50-60 on max visual quality. So thanks a lot!

Just a bit of background on all of this:

Powerplay is used to lower the clocks of your cards when you are not using it to its full potential in 2D applications (browsing the net, Microsoft Office, etc.). This decreases the power drawn by the card and reduces the heat generated.

It seems like running GW2 does not change the mode from 2D to 3D. Now I finally realize that some of my crashes in the game are due to this because the card fan speed in 2D mode does not adjust to the temperature very well (causing a hard crash requiring reboot). This is a big issue because high temperatures reduce the lifespan of the graphics cards.

What this tweak does is that it increases the default 2D clock rates to values similar to the 3D clock rates. However, this means that your card is running at full capacity at all times. I’m also not sure how it scales the fan speeds(my biggest issue) but I will take a look.

Ok guys sorry I haven’t kept up with the thread after all I thought it got buried again. Let me give you a run down of what this does.

Once you have your preset(profile) setup what you want to do is make another preset and name it default or whatever you would like. Then copy the default profile that AMD has made just like in the step where you where copying it to be edited but this time your not going to edit it, that way whenever your done gaming you can go ahead and re-enable powerplay which downclocks your card way down while idileing and doing nothing else.

THIS DOES NOT OVERCLOCK YOUR CARD, it simply gets rid of stupid powerplay…

For anyone wondering my card is the Sapphire 6870, that I’ve overclocked, but I also run a custom fan profile using Sapphire Trixx (It works on mostly all AMD cards, doesn’t have to be a sapphire one), I wasn’t thinking that would be a cause for overheating in other 6870s seeing as mine is still on it’s reference cooler and just running a custom fan profile cause the AUTO mode sucks. But seeing as how that happens to the guy running the XFX one I would recommend downloading a nice OC tool such as MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx if your new to it since Trixx UI is pretty straight forward and easy to use, to setup a custom fan profile.

Hope this helps some, if you need anymore help such as what to set your values to I can help I just need to know before hand what your Core Clock, Memory Clock, and voltage is running at so I can set the values accordingly. To get your values run GPU-Z and check my screenshot on where the values are located, thanks!

Salvateon.6320:

I have tried what it says in the guide but mine looks completely different i am using a laptop and my graphics cards are Amd Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7450M Dual graphics. I have copied what was in my “appdata- Local- ATI- ACE- Profile” and this is what i get.

Looking at your profile I don’t see it being possible on a mobile chipset, sorry to say :<.

You could always download MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx and set it up that way, though powerplay doesn’t always change to 3D clocks when playing GW2 and that’s the whole reason to do this.

I would highly recommend not overclocking at all on a laptop, you can do it but expect to overheat.

Lleksu.7894:

I’m running Dual CrossFire 1GB ATI® Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards, but I’m not all that knowledgeable with computers so not sure what values I should be adding.

How do I find out?

The game runs just fine but I thought I’d give this a try to see if it improves at all.

Many thanks in advance

Run GPU-Z to find what your values are on the core clock/memory and voltage, then follow the article on how to make and find the preset(profile), but as your crossfire you will need to input the settings twice instead of once but its not a biggy cause in the article the guy is also using crossfire.

and please other people reading this post be sure to scroll up for important info you may of missed, this isn’t one of them threads you can skim over, well you can but your going to be asking the same question as others since you can’t take the time to read post.

Ok thanks for that clarification Atrocity! Since you mentioned Trixx for OC, I downloaded it and I was wondering if you could screenshot your custom fan profile because I tested a bit more and it seems that the problem lies with the fan not speeding up when it heats up while on automatic. (long sentence lol)

Tomkatt.1684:

You’re right, there’s no GPU setting in Power management, but I’ve checked with CPU-Z in the past, in balanced mode my GPU speed gets throttled, but in high performance mode it does not throttle. Not sure why this is the case, but I do know it works.

You sure? Do you have NVidia (dumb question in an ATI thread, I know)? I do not, but I know they have power management options in their drivers that need to be disabled, as well. Couldn’t tell you exactly where to look though. ATI on the other hand uses the ‘Power Play’ system, which automatically switches clocks and voltages on the fly whether it be for 2d mode or 3d mode. These are settings in the video card BIOS and requires no driver settings (meaning Power Play is ALWAYS enabled). Power Play causes no issues as long as the app/game properly switches the video card into 3d mode when required – which seems to be the issue here that many are having. I find that strange since my 4890 and 7870 have no issues switching modes for this game, but just because I have no issues doesn’t mean that others won’t.

I have ran on Balanced Power settings before, and the only time the GPU would “throttle” in any way is when it enabled Link State Power Management/ASPM, hence I said this should always be disabled for desktop PCs – no matter the profile (check Advanced Power Settings after selecting profile) – because it is known to cause issues in apps/games that make use of the vid card.

Atrocity.5794:

Lleksu.7894:

I’m running Dual CrossFire 1GB ATI® Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards, but I’m not all that knowledgeable with computers so not sure what values I should be adding.

How do I find out?

The game runs just fine but I thought I’d give this a try to see if it improves at all.

Many thanks in advance

Run GPU-Z to find what your values are on the core clock/memory and voltage, then follow the article on how to make and find the preset(profile), but as your crossfire you will need to input the settings twice instead of once but its not a biggy cause in the article the guy is also using crossfire.

and please other people reading this post be sure to scroll up for important info you may of missed, this isn’t one of them threads you can skim over, well you can but your going to be asking the same question as others since you can’t take the time to read post.

Thank you so much for your help. I have the presets all made up ready and attached (hopefully) the results from GPU-Z.

I’m just stuck now with what to actually change the settings to

Lleksu.7894:

Atrocity.5794:

Lleksu.7894:

I’m running Dual CrossFire 1GB ATI® Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards, but I’m not all that knowledgeable with computers so not sure what values I should be adding.

How do I find out?

The game runs just fine but I thought I’d give this a try to see if it improves at all.

Many thanks in advance

Run GPU-Z to find what your values are on the core clock/memory and voltage, then follow the article on how to make and find the preset(profile), but as your crossfire you will need to input the settings twice instead of once but its not a biggy cause in the article the guy is also using crossfire.

and please other people reading this post be sure to scroll up for important info you may of missed, this isn’t one of them threads you can skim over, well you can but your going to be asking the same question as others since you can’t take the time to read post.

Thank you so much for your help. I have the presets all made up ready and attached (hopefully) the results from GPU-Z.

I’m just stuck now with what to actually change the settings to

Make the first bundle of settings 85000, the second bundle 120000 and the last bundle 0950. Hope it helps!

Keep in mind that matching all the values will make your video card run at full throttle at all times.

So when you’re browsing the net your video card will be running at full speed. Case in point when i am browsing right now my clocks are at 100mhz and 150mhz for memory. My card runs at 775mhz and 1000mhz for 3d

Even in the main example erocker changes his 2d clocks from 250mhz to 300mhz NOT straight to the max 3d rating.

Also AMD has released a new profile pack with Guild wars 2 specifically in it. So that may stop ATI from not detecting the 3d clock speeds properly.

^ This is the main reason I recommend using MSI AfterBurner vs. messing with the CCC .xml files. Seperate 2d/3d clocks, seperate fan speed profiles, seperate voltage settings, usage/clocks/temps/fan/voltage monitoring, etc. etc. It really is worth the time to set up MSI AB properly. I used to play the “hack the xmls” game but have given that up for more usability and features of AB. Just my 2c.

So i got the new profile pack from amd. The game now detects properly as a 3d application and goes to max speeds when gaming. Just an fyi.

Could you tell me what clocks I should put my sapphire radeon hd 7850 2 gb on?

Is this worth to do with HD 3850?

I know my card is really old, but that’s what i have. I can run the game fine on medium, except huge battles, but i want a little bit better FPS

Uhh.. I tried this multiple times and my clocks won’t change. The preset does nothing. Reckon I’m doing something wrong?

Uhh.. I tried this multiple times and my clocks won’t change. The preset does nothing. Reckon I’m doing something wrong?Edit: I got the clocks changed. Did absolutely nothing? I’m still getting 15FPS in LA.
Specs:
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (3.2GHz)
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
2x HD6970 (running in non-crossfirex because gw2 is bad at it)

FleaKill.4108:

Uhh.. I tried this multiple times and my clocks won’t change. The preset does nothing. Reckon I’m doing something wrong?

Uhh.. I tried this multiple times and my clocks won’t change. The preset does nothing. Reckon I’m doing something wrong?Edit: I got the clocks changed. Did absolutely nothing? I’m still getting 15FPS in LA.
Specs:
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (3.2GHz)
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
2x HD6970 (running in non-crossfirex because gw2 is bad at it)

What does it say in GPU-Z?

Will this work with my laptop? I have a AMD HD 6740 with AMD a8 3520m proccessor with a 6620 APU chip.