Guild Wars 2

I drive a liquid-cooled Alienware Aurora R3 with an i7 2700k CPU overclocked to 4GHz. It has 8 GB of 1866 RAM and 2x Nvidia GTX 560 ti SLI. My monitor is a 23" 1080p Alienware 3D monitor. I am an experienced high end PC enthusiast and overclocker. You are probably having issues with your high end Nvidia based system in GW2, especially if you are running SLI.

I also play GW2 on my Alienware M14x laptop. It has a GT 650M 2Gb, 16GB 1600 MHz memory and an i7 3820QM processory and a 512 GB SSD. It runs GW2 quite well but the 1600×900 screen is a bit small for the GW2 map.

How to get good, stable performance in GW2 from your high end PC:

1. GW2 is very demanding on your high end system and as such will make your system run hotter than most older games. Heat is the enemy, you must address the overall heat of your system.

2. You should first examine your fan speed settings in your system BIOS. Not just your CPU fan but your chassis fans as well. It doesnt matter how good the cooling is on your CPU and GPUs if the chassis airflow is insufficient. Automatic fan speed settings for chassis or case fans are often insufficient. You may need to increase the fan speeds of your chassis or case fans. I would suggest settings between 25 and 75%. Leave your CPU fan speed on Auto.

3. A push-me, pull-me case fan setup is best. You need to pull air in to the front of your pc and push it out the back. Make sure that there is a fan behind your PCI bus or video cards and one in front of your hard drives.

4. The fans and heat sinks on your video cards wont work if there is not sufficient airflow through and around your video cards. Try to space your video cards at least one slot apart. If possible.

5. DO NOT overlock your video cards unless it is a factory overclock. Make sure you have extra cpu cooling if you are going to overclock your CPU. I recommend a factory CPU overclock unless you have a lot of $$, patience and time.

6. Do not exceed the specs of your power supply. If your system keeps crashing on boot or wont boot at all, your power supply may not be up to the challenge. If you are going to upgrade your GPU or CPU, review the power requirements of the new components carefully before purchasing them to see if they are compatible with your existing motherboard and power supply.

7. Get a can of compressed air, open up your case and carefully blow all of the dust out of your system.

8. Use only high quality, highly rated components. A good resource to determine what you should buy is http://www.anandtech.com/. A good motto to follow is no bucks, no buck Rogers.

9. Reduce the ambient temperature in the room where your PC is to about 72-76 F. That will make a huge difference. It doesnt matter how much cooling you have if it is 85 degrees in the room where your high end PC is.

10. If you are running GW2 on a laptop, try a laptop cooler and whatever you do, DO NOT OVERLOCK YOUR LAPTOP GPU OR CPU. Gaming laptops are very tightly specced. Overclocking a laptop usually results in damaged components. Look for other means to increase performance on your laptop (see below). If you are running GW2 on an Alienware M14x, use the AW factory driver and wait until there is a WHQL driver available (preferably from dell) before you upgrade.

11. MSconfig is your friend. Use it to disable unneeded memory resident programs that are using up your ram and burning up cpu cycles. You can get a 10-15% speed boost just by using MSconfig. Turn off all auto-updaters except your virus protection including java, quicktime, itunes, adobe, office, windows update etc. Disable all CD/DVD programs including roxio and power dvd. These programs will run fine without them.

12. Use reliable virus and spyware detection and prevention and regularly scan your system for viruses and spyware.

13. Remove all unecessary software, browser plugins, desktop enhancements etc. None of them will help GW2 run faster and are likely to slow it down.

14. Close all programs while running GW2, especially browsers with multiple tabs open. Browsers can use a ton of memory, cpu cycles and bandwidth.

15. I am running the Nvidia 306.2 Beta driver. You should run that driver or a newer one to get the most out of GW2 and your Nvidia GPU.

Do not assume that because you paid big $$ for that high end PC, you do not have to take the time to optimize it for a game like GW2. Take some time and perform the steps above and you will notice a significant increase in performance and stability in GW2.

I am getting about 40-80 fps at 1080p on high (autodetect) settings everywhere including wvwvw. My 3DMark 11 scores for my desktop:

X2898: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883215
P8299: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883418

and my M14x laptop

P2332: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4181858

I hope this helps

i’m playing on an old quad core with a hd 5450 so i just giggled when i saw your specs and that you’re having a nvidia issue

very nice, i think this will help anyone who needs it. im going to do that msconfig now!

I build custom Desktops as a hobby and the fact you title yourself PC enthusiast and over clocker while using a Alien-ware is degrading on the other hand decent list of helpful stuff but would be better with links and post to how-to’s and wider range of subjects other then clean PC, cool PC, and less programs…

Running 3rd party software like Gamebooster is simple for the people without major PC experience and shutdowns all auto update features rather easily without getting into MSconfig. Google is always a good friend for performance related topics and walk though and major forums have plenty of guides.

Syn.3459:

i’m playing on an old quad core with a hd 5450 so i just giggled when i saw your specs and that you’re having a nvidia issue

There is often an inverse relationship between increased cpu and gpu power, performance and stability. Its not that those high end components dont work. The problem is all of the heat they generate and that when people get a high end system they think they can abuse the priviledge and waste memory and cpu cycles on non-gaming tasks.

TheKow.7604:

I build custom Desktops as a hobby and the fact you title yourself PC enthusiast and over clocker while using a Alien-ware is degrading on the other hand decent list of helpful stuff but would be better with links and post to how-to’s and wider range of subjects other then clean PC, cool PC, and less programs…

Running 3rd party software like Gamebooster is simple for the people without major PC experience and shutdowns all auto update features rather easily without getting into MSconfig. Google is always a good friend for performance related topics and walk though and major forums have plenty of guides.

It is not necessary to trash Dell/Alienware. Everyone is welcome to their own opinions. The fact is that most high end pcs have essentially the same components in them. The primary difference is configuration. I have had zero issues with my alienware factory overclock. Alienwares active thermal cooling is great for making games like GW2 run faster and more stable.

TheKow.7604:

I build custom Desktops as a hobby and the fact you title yourself PC enthusiast and over clocker while using a Alien-ware is degrading on the other hand decent list of helpful stuff but would be better with links and post to how-to’s and wider range of subjects other then clean PC, cool PC, and less programs…

Running 3rd party software like Gamebooster is simple for the people without major PC experience and shutdowns all auto update features rather easily without getting into MSconfig. Google is always a good friend for performance related topics and walk though and major forums have plenty of guides.

At the risk of sounding negative, I was also thinking the same thing. Seeing mention of an Alienware machine and being an overclocker/enthusiast in the same post kind of makes me do a double take. Alienware is the all-in-one solution and costs a lot because they’ve already done all of the tweaking, research, and buying – that’s kind of the opposite of what an enthusiast/overclocker is.

Anyway – some good advice in here – I’d also recommend simply changing the graphical settings in the game down until you get framerate that’s an acceptable value and also disabling a second (third – fourth) monitor.

Syn.3459:

i’m playing on an old quad core with a hd 5450 so i just giggled when i saw your specs and that you’re having a nvidia issue

ironically the 560ti is doing great on gw2, there is nothing to iron out, the brand new cards are just experiencing bugs like they always do. it’s standard to release a card 6 months ahead of when it can be pushed to 100% due to all the things that require ironing out.

a lot of people refuse to accept that new isn’t always better. so they buy new, help beta test it the first 6 months, then finally get what they paid for

Samaul.6073:

TheKow.7604:

I build custom Desktops as a hobby and the fact you title yourself PC enthusiast and over clocker while using a Alien-ware is degrading on the other hand decent list of helpful stuff but would be better with links and post to how-to’s and wider range of subjects other then clean PC, cool PC, and less programs…

Running 3rd party software like Gamebooster is simple for the people without major PC experience and shutdowns all auto update features rather easily without getting into MSconfig. Google is always a good friend for performance related topics and walk though and major forums have plenty of guides.

It is not necessary to trash Dell/Alienware. Everyone is welcome to their own opinions. <ins>The fact is that most high end pcs have essentially the same components in them.</ins> The primary difference is configuration. I have had zero issues with my alienware factory overclock. Alienwares active thermal cooling is great for making games like GW2 run faster and more stable.

This is where I’ll disagree. You may THINK you’re getting the same components but I would wager you’re not. Most times when you turn to a manufacturer for a PC they tend to us inferior/lesser quality of parts to keep the overhead down and the profit up.

I almost guarantee if you cracked open the side of your case you will find some generic parts. Mostly in the form of PSU and/or motherboard.

Proper air ventilation and circulation are part of the equation.

I have a 560ti and an i5 processor, nothing too fancy, and I’m running gw2 at a steady 50-80 (depending on whether I’m in combat or just running around) in windowed mode.

I’ve built PCs since the mid 90’s and I’m a strong believer in only needing 2 case fans (or 2 front/1rear) hence the pull/push setup. No need for those 8 fan cases and energy hungry gaming PCs, those make airflow way too inefficient, loud and eats more energy than it should. And these days, I see no reason to overclock anymore, I used to overclock Celerons and older AMD’s but nowadays a 3.2-3.4GHz CPU is more than sufficient to run most things and so are most of the modern GPUs.

Also if you have a fairly tall case (or even mid-tower), put your hard drives as far down as you can to the bottom that way air gets its way to the GPU.

I’m using an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T with 4GB ram (other 4GB stick burnt for some reason), 2x 1TB drive and a 120GB SSD and a GeForce 560Ti, and this game runs no problems 50-60fps in most places, 35-40 in world vs world. I don’t understand those “if you have an nVidia, this game will suck” and “AMD CPUs can’t run this game” threads in the other section.

OK, so the OP doesn’t roll his own but that doesn’t mean he isn’t an enthusiast or overclocker and it doesn’t undermine his message. I agree (and have pretty much stated) all points except number 5, which recommends factory-only GPU OC—you can OC more it but it takes more trial/error); i.e. my 580 is factory OC 795/2004 but runs fine at 833/2033 (hiccups occasionally at 840 or 2066 and frequently resets at 850 or 2133 and forget 866).

An enthusiast that only recommends factory overclocks for GPU and CPU (factory overclock CPU? really?)

As to getting improvements for Nvidia users, upgrade to the latest beta drivers from Nvidia. Their production drivers aren’t playing nice with GW2, at least for their new 600 series cards. I saw as much as a ~20fps improvement just updating the drivers.

I use the Nvidia beta drivers also. When I used the production drivers I kept getting an error saying the Driver had stopped responding, eventually leading to the game crashing.

Teknobug.3782:

I’ve built PCs since the mid 90’s and I’m a strong believer in only needing 2 case fans (or 2 front/1rear) hence the pull/push setup.

It really depends on the case and its location (in furniture, ambient temp).

I like more fans but lower RPM for low noise. My Antec Twelve Hundred and wife’s Nine Hundred Two can pretty much run with only the top 200mm fan running on low because they breathe so well and CPU and GPU have great cooling systems (Zalman 9900, Gigabyte 3-fan respectively). We have military switches for each fan so we can use them only when needed at low or high speeds (and wife frequently forgetting to turn on fans attests to their largely being unnecessary in this—ahem—case). Additionally, the fan went out on my old Zalman 9700 (whatever the socket 775 version is) and I didn’t notice until the 6-month take-town and clean maintenance; the large radial heat-sink near the top 200mm case fan kept the CPU plenty cool, underscoring my point that architecture matters when determining fans required for proper cooling.

Teknobug.3782:

And these days, I see no reason to overclock anymore, I used to overclock Celerons and older AMD’s but nowadays a 3.2-3.4GHz CPU is more than sufficient to run most things and so are most of the modern GPUs.

Show me a stock setup that will run GW2 at max settings, full-screen, 1920×1200 at 60 FPS unfailingly. For that matter, show me an overclocked setup (that doesn’t require liquid nitrogen or Peltiers) that will do that. You can’t because it doesn’t exist; therefore, the purpose of overclocking is to get as near that as possible and mitigate the appearance/performance trade-off.

The lesser-pragmatic reason for OC is that we can, knowing our hardware is optimally configured, ready for when it has to really chew on something. I don’t drive every 1/4 mile. in 12 seconds but its nice to know that I can when I want to—same thing.

Teknobug.3782:

this game runs no problems 50-60fps in most places, 35-40 in world vs world.

For me, 50 FPS “in most places” is a problem since I cannot stand tearing and therefore enable vsynch, eliminating tearing but 50 FPS = 30 FPS. I know the “official” definition is that 30 FPS is “playable” but liver and onions with locust hours devours is officially “edible” but that doesn’t mean I’ll find it tolerable, which I would find 35-40 FPS in any PvP game likewise intolerable.

Edit: I changed settings to “Autodetect” (everything on high) but reflections set to terrain and sky and I get a solid 60 FPS (vsynch cap, don’t need any more) except during large events, like the shadow behemoth

Rolo.9248:

Teknobug.3782:

I’ve built PCs since the mid 90’s and I’m a strong believer in only needing 2 case fans (or 2 front/1rear) hence the pull/push setup.

It really depends on the case and its location (in furniture, ambient temp).

I like more fans but lower RPM for low noise. My Antec Twelve Hundred and wife’s Nine Hundred Two can pretty much run with only the top 200mm fan running on low because they breathe so well and CPU and GPU have great cooling systems (Zalman 9900, Gigabyte 3-fan respectively). We have military switches for each fan so we can use them only when needed at low or high speeds (and wife frequently forgetting to turn on fans attests to their largely being unnecessary in this—ahem—case). Additionally, the fan went out on my old Zalman 9700 (whatever the socket 775 version is) and I didn’t notice until the 6-month take-town and clean maintenance; the large radial heat-sink near the top 200mm case fan kept the CPU plenty cool, underscoring my point that architecture matters when determining fans required for proper cooling.

Teknobug.3782:

And these days, I see no reason to overclock anymore, I used to overclock Celerons and older AMD’s but nowadays a 3.2-3.4GHz CPU is more than sufficient to run most things and so are most of the modern GPUs.

Show me a stock setup that will run GW2 at max settings, full-screen, 1920×1200 at 60 FPS unfailingly. For that matter, show me an overclocked setup (that doesn’t require liquid nitrogen or Peltiers) that will do that. You can’t because it doesn’t exist; therefore, the purpose of overclocking is to get as near that as possible and mitigate the appearance/performance trade-off.

The lesser-pragmatic reason for OC is that we can, knowing our hardware is optimally configured, ready for when it has to really chew on something. I don’t drive every 1/4 mile. in 12 seconds but its nice to know that I can when I want to—same thing.

Teknobug.3782:

this game runs no problems 50-60fps in most places, 35-40 in world vs world.

For me, 50 FPS “in most places” is a problem since I cannot stand tearing and therefore enable vsynch, eliminating tearing but 50 FPS = 30 FPS. I know the “official” definition is that 30 FPS is “playable” but liver and onions with locust hours devours is officially “edible” but that doesn’t mean I’ll find it tolerable, which I would find 35-40 FPS in any PvP game likewise intolerable.

I am getting 50-80 fps at 1080p on high default (autodetected) settings everywhere including busy wvwvw. I am not having any frame rate issues with my current setup. I occaisonally have ctd when I forget to set my active thermal cooling properly or dont set the thermostat to 74.

Can someone please clarify the assertion that ‘heat’ is the cause of an FPS drop? The game is pretty good at staying in the 98-100% cpu load range on a C2D, so I think the issue is better explained as the game being CPU bound, therefore freeing up CPU cycles and overclocking, temp lowering, and stopping services have the larger overall benefit.

Whiplash.7124:

I still don’t understand why people would spend the money on an Alienware…..this guy probably spent between5-6k for his deskptop and 120hz monitor for 3d. He does have solid points for heating being the main issue with fps drops, but he has a liquid cooled system he shouldn’t be having any problems even with subpar fan cooling setup.

No, I spent less than 4k on my Aurora R3. AW has come down a lot since dell bought them. In fact, they are only a few hundred more than what it would have cost to buy the components and build it myself and best of all, I dont have to bin my own components.

Synyst.2163:

Can someone please clarify the assertion that ‘heat’ is the cause of an FPS drop? The game is pretty good at staying in the 98-100% cpu load range on a C2D, so I think the issue is better explained as the game being CPU bound, therefore freeing up CPU cycles and overclocking, temp lowering, and stopping services have the larger overall benefit.

The harder your cpu and gpu work, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the slower they run. If they get hot enough, one of them will generate an error and your game or system will crash.

Do you have any actual tips specifically for the Nvidia GPU settings? The title is a bit misleading when you only provide fan speed information.

Masterpyro.4310:

Do you have any actual tips specifically for the Nvidia GPU settings? The title is a bit misleading when you only provide fan speed information.

Use the 306.2 driver with default settings, SLI enabled. The 306.2 driver has a GW2 profile with settings optimized for GW2. The GW2 profile was developed in cooperation with ArenaNet. The profile will be auto-selected when you launch GW2. All you have to do is play the game.

I have a I5 2500K, 8GB DD3 1600 Ram, Nvidia GTX 570. Everything was fine until about a week ago, playing with max settings pretty fine. Then, after a game patch my GPU usage hits 100% pretty much all the time, with some serious video lag. I tried reducing my graphic settings to low (best performance) and the usage keeps at 100% (I can easily keep track of this with the Vista 7 sidebar app for GPU usage). I’m running the latest beta driver and kinda of run out of options. Any ideas?

Tetsuo.2593:

I have a I5 2500K, 8GB DD3 1600 Ram, Nvidia GTX 570. Everything was fine until about a week ago, playing with max settings pretty fine. Then, after a game patch my GPU usage hits 100% pretty much all the time, with some serious video lag. I tried reducing my graphic settings to low (best performance) and the usage keeps at 100% (I can easily keep track of this with the Vista 7 sidebar app for GPU usage). I’m running the latest beta driver and kinda of run out of options. Any ideas?

What are your settings?

You may want to try uninstalling then reinstalling your video drivers, all of them. A driver cleaner like DriverSweeper could help with that process. Follow the instructions carefully.

Are things like DriverSweeper and Game Booster “safe”, meaning I won’t get viruses when I download? Should I run both? I am using an HP laptop that meets min requirements for the game, but I have a difficult time navigating; movements are jerky. I have it set on “best performance” and still having the issue with the navigating. We thought it was internet speed, but it is in fact the graphics card, b/c it plays fine on the desktop. I have noticed that even on the desktop it seems REALLY slow if you toggle b/w the game and your desktop, and I think it crashed once or twice. Never thought about the graphics card getting too hot. We upgraded the one that came in the Dell to the newest Nvidia one at the time, but this has probably already been 3-4 years ago. Would it be beneficial to upgrade the drivers for that?

GW2 is a “hobby” for us, so spending thousands of dollars on a gaming system isn’t possible. We need two, b/c my husband and I both play. I already checked and I can’t upgrade my graphics card in my laptop. Will probably buy a new one in the future, but not yet. So, looking to make the best with what I have. I know I need to do some tweaking to boost performance, but I didn’t know where to start, so the thought that there is a software out there to do it for me makes me happy!

Samaul, I think your initial post is helpful, but was thinking it would be nice to have instructions on how to do those things for those of us who feel like we’re reading something in a foreign language. :-)

I’m still using 285.62 drivers (dated Oct or Nov 2011), last time I used the latest driver was back in SWTOR which gave me some hiccup problems and I reverted back to the old driver and left it alone since then. If it ain’t broke, why fix it. Guess that’s why GW2 runs good for me.

Synyst.2163:

Can someone please clarify the assertion that ‘heat’ is the cause of an FPS drop? The game is pretty good at staying in the 98-100% cpu load range on a C2D, so I think the issue is better explained as the game being CPU bound, therefore freeing up CPU cycles and overclocking, temp lowering, and stopping services have the larger overall benefit.

No offence but lots of things are “CPU bound” with an 8-year old CPU (that’s like, 480 Moore’s dog-years). GW2 is not CPU bound on a contemporary mid-range CPU (i5), judging by mine hovering ~50% utilisation.

Heat only drops performance if components down-clock to generate less heat or components falter because of heat (crashes, lock-ups, power-offs).

Samaul.6073:

No, I spent less than 4k on my Aurora R3.

Ouch. Building one’s own yields two chief benefits: hand-picking all components and halving the cost.

Teknobug.3782:

If it ain’t broke, why fix it.

Performance improvements and bug fixes are why.

Samaul.6073:

Synyst.2163:

Can someone please clarify the assertion that ‘heat’ is the cause of an FPS drop? The game is pretty good at staying in the 98-100% cpu load range on a C2D, so I think the issue is better explained as the game being CPU bound, therefore freeing up CPU cycles and overclocking, temp lowering, and stopping services have the larger overall benefit.

The harder your cpu and gpu work, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the slower they run. If they get hot enough, one of them will generate an error and your game or system will crash.

Only partly true. Yes they do tend to get hotter, however with a proper cooling setup that will not be an issue. Stating that hotter chips will run slower is simply untrue. Only if cpu’s and gpu’s are too hot they will usually clock themselves back as a fail-safe.

However overclocking can indeed result in instability of the chip. This is caused by current leakage within the chip. This is normal but it will increase on higher clocked chips. To stabilize the chip again a higher voltage must be set. This will result into a quicker degradation of the chip. Though with a small increase not something you’ll notice during the lifetime of the computer usually.

There are stability benchmarks to use when you overclock to make sure the system is still stable after the overclock. This is something you really should do when you’re going to actually use your overclocked system on a day to day basis rather than just benchmarking. Overclocking isn’t something you should just not do period, however only do it if you are well informed about the risks and how it all works. It does void your warranty.

edit: Just wanted to add, all the tips on optimization are actually more useful if you do NOT have a high-end machine. Because if you do then you actually can have a browser with 20 tabs open en be perfectly fine. Now I must say I am a user of no script so I’m sure there’s no idiotic huge scripts running that I’m not aware off, but still. Yes it uses ram, but if you have a high-end machine that means you more than likely have 8gb of memory. (or more) Yes this may not actually be enough for literally every program you’re running but operating systems are smart enough to prioritize memory allocation to programs that need it at that moment, the rest will be swapped out to disk. I actually recently played a game of League of Legends while I had gw2 still running in the background as I was interested in seeing how my system would handle that. Worked without problem. For reference I have a i5 3570k, amd hd7970, 16gb, ssd storage. Yes turning it all off might give you 1 – 5% speed increase which means it isn’t gonna do a thing in any practical sense.

All in all a fairly nice thread. Having built several computers myself I understand the relation between quality parts and proper resource usage. Running lean is key to a good performing computer regardless of cost. The man can afford Alienware and there is nothing wrong with that since his working knowledge tells me he could easily build one himself. So cut him a break please. I would recommend a nice utility called slim computer. It is free, microsoft gold certified partner and will optimize a lot of the things in a much easier manner for those less tech savvy who yearn for an improved gaming experience. Again nice thread

Deepcuts.9740:

All I read was. " I have a powerful rig, blah blah"
Really?

Stopped reading at Alienware, but then reconsidered and gave him a chance and there was some good advice. While I think Alienware machines are indeed awesome they are normally purchased by people that don’t build thier own machines (I know this is a generalisation)

Not had any problems with my system and the latest stock drivers, so I’ve also been a bit confused by the AMD/NVidia doesn’t work posts that I’ve seen… (for reference AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8120 3.8Ghz (Clocked), 16Gb 1666mhz ram, Gigabyte GTX 560 OC 1024Mb)

That said, my system is a relatively clean build, and I make a habit of trawling through background services and applications to ensure the only things running are the things I want running.

If you are having problems with your system, regardless of who made the parts, there’s some good advice in the post there. Some of the systems I help performance tweak at work have so many random extra applications running on the side, it’s a minor miracle they manage to start the same day they’re booted, and access to do much to those is restricted by domain policies!

As an addendum to what the op said, I’d also recommend running an app like CCleaner regularly, just to clear out the trash your system will build up with update patches and basic usage. Make sure you run the registry scanner as well as the temporary file scan, and tick the box to clear your prefetch and update uninstallers too

Sulmith Greysin.5124:

ironically the 560ti is doing great on gw2

I wouldn’t say “great” but rather “good enough”. I have 560ti with C2D E8200@3.48GHz. I get smooth fps only when there is not much on the screen going on. :P

BTW There’s a nice gpu/cpu comparison here (it’s in Polish so you may have to use some translators if you want to read instead of looking only at graphs).

Your Wolfdale can’t feed your 560Ti data fast enough (I had a 580 on one at 3.66GHz and it just was bored silly whilst the CPU was completely taxed).

Yeah, I know. But there are many who have similar setup to mine. That’s why I wanted to point out that it’s not so obvious about performances.
It’s exactly like you said: cpu almost constant 100% and gpu 40-50% max. I’m waiting right now to upgrade my hardware either by replacing cpu (which means also motherboard and memory) or buying Clevo P370EM. But I have to wait when this notebook will be available in my country to see with my own eyes (or maybe better hear it with my own ears).

i5-k, solid motherboard, Mushkin 2133 RAM isn’t very expensive at all if you can use your existing parts, which you probably can since you got the 560Ti.

I can’t see getting a desktop-lite if you don’t have a real need for portability (which it really isn’t that portable since the battery life is so short) plus the cost/performance ratio isn’t favourable if you can use a desktop instead.

I don’t want to start this dispute because this is kind of topic I really like and I could easily move it beyond OP’s content and even beyond forum in a state it is right now.
So to be short: not i5 but i7, laptop not because of portability but dimensions and way to play in different places of my home without too much hassle. :P But I still didn’t choose what to do (ratio), which is quite normal because I need long time to decide what to buy – almost four months to buy Eizo.

Samaul.6073:

I drive a liquid-cooled Alienware Aurora R3 with an i7 2700k CPU overclocked to 4GHz. It has 8 GB of 1866 RAM and 2x Nvidia GTX 560 ti SLI. I am getting about 40-80 fps at 1080p on high (autodetect) settings everywhere including wvwvw. My 3DMark 11 scores for my desktop:

X2898: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883215
P8299: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883418

According to 3dmark, your CPU runs at 2.4 – 2.8GHz
Your GTX core clock is at 822MHz.
Your RAM is clocked at 1333MHz
where’s the overclock?

And btw, your performance score should be way higher than P8300. At least P10500 with that setup, after OC of course.

Nakama.8976:

Samaul.6073:

I drive a liquid-cooled Alienware Aurora R3 with an i7 2700k CPU overclocked to 4GHz. It has 8 GB of 1866 RAM and 2x Nvidia GTX 560 ti SLI. I am getting about 40-80 fps at 1080p on high (autodetect) settings everywhere including wvwvw. My 3DMark 11 scores for my desktop:

X2898: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883215
P8299: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883418

According to 3dmark, your CPU runs at 2.4 – 2.8GHz
Your GTX core clock is at 822MHz.
Your RAM is clocked at 1333MHz
where’s the overclock?

And btw, your performance score should be way higher than P8300. At least P10500 with that setup, after OC of course.

3DMark does not correctly display current/exact clock speeds for all chips.

But yes, his score does seem low for this gear which he claims is overclocked. I manage just over 9,000 with a 4.5GHz 3570K and 1050MHz (1180 boost) GTX 670.

If you have a problem with heat, use the FPS limiter in the graphics option, should be under your resolution and what not. They’re is three options, Unlimited, 60 and 30. Maybe in time they’ll add a custom FPS limit ability or maybe its in some file in a folder somewhere.

I run almost everything on medium a few things on low with a 9800gt, Phenom II X4 945 and I limit the FPS down to about 30 and it’s pretty smooth, I can’t tell the difference between 30 and 60 on the FPS limiter and i’m running rather cool with my CPU normally under 45c and my 9800gt around 55 to 65c.

Samaul.6073:

7. Get a can of compressed air, open up your case and carefully blow all of the dust out of your system.

Wrong. Don’t do this or you may very well damage your components. The correct way to do that is to get an air compressor and compress it yourself. But that’s neither cheap or efficient.
Cans of compressed air contain fluid that can damage your components. Also you can damage your fans by spinning them too fast when using a can of compressed air, and presumably even the components they are wired to.

Edit: In my opinion the best way is the old way, use a tiny brush or a vacuum not close to the components.

Well, I actually overclocked my notebook CPU, from 2.1GHz to 2.8Ghz. It runs very well, no crashes and no overheat, the cores rarely get to 60 celsius.

Maybe it’s because the airflow design is very good, its a Sager np5793. I have a cooling pad and watch over my temps on a second monitor but they have been very good even after playing lots of hours.

Nakama.8976:

Samaul.6073:

I drive a liquid-cooled Alienware Aurora R3 with an i7 2700k CPU overclocked to 4GHz. It has 8 GB of 1866 RAM and 2x Nvidia GTX 560 ti SLI. I am getting about 40-80 fps at 1080p on high (autodetect) settings everywhere including wvwvw. My 3DMark 11 scores for my desktop:

X2898: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883215
P8299: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3883418

According to 3dmark, your CPU runs at 2.4 – 2.8GHz
Your GTX core clock is at 822MHz.
Your RAM is clocked at 1333MHz
where’s the overclock?

And btw, your performance score should be way higher than P8300. At least P10500 with that setup, after OC of course.

It is a turbo-boost factory overclock. The actual overclock is 4.1 GHz. AW maxed the multiplier. I have tested the stability and it is a rock-solid stable overclock. All instability issues I have had have been GPU related. I could probably push the 3DMark11 score higher but at the price of stability. I think what is limiting the 3DMark11 score is the closeness of the video cards, they are right next to each other. I could turn my case fans much higher to cool them down but that makes my pc sound like a vacum cleaner.

Rolo.9248:

Synyst.2163:

Can someone please clarify the assertion that ‘heat’ is the cause of an FPS drop? The game is pretty good at staying in the 98-100% cpu load range on a C2D, so I think the issue is better explained as the game being CPU bound, therefore freeing up CPU cycles and overclocking, temp lowering, and stopping services have the larger overall benefit.

No offence but lots of things are “CPU bound” with an 8-year old CPU (that’s like, 480 Moore’s dog-years). GW2 is not CPU bound on a contemporary mid-range CPU (i5), judging by mine hovering ~50% utilisation.

Heat only drops performance if components down-clock to generate less heat or components falter because of heat (crashes, lock-ups, power-offs).

Samaul.6073:

No, I spent less than 4k on my Aurora R3.

Ouch. Building one’s own yields two chief benefits: hand-picking all components and halving the cost.

Teknobug.3782:

If it ain’t broke, why fix it.

Performance improvements and bug fixes are why.

Building your own is a huge risk, especially if you use OEM components which have no warranty. What you have to do if you are overclocking is get extended warraties on all of the OCed components so that if you fry them while testing them, you can return them, no questions asked. Been there, done that, no thank you!

Erim Elidor.3892:

Well, I actually overclocked my notebook CPU, from 2.1GHz to 2.8Ghz. It runs very well, no crashes and no overheat, the cores rarely get to 60 celsius.

Maybe it’s because the airflow design is very good, its a Sager np5793. I have a cooling pad and watch over my temps on a second monitor but they have been very good even after playing lots of hours.

I strongly recommend against overclocking any gaming notebook or laptop that is under warranty. You are likely to cook one or more components. You may not notice right away but it will cause your components to wear out much faster than they would normally.

Rolo.9248:

Your Wolfdale can’t feed your 560Ti data fast enough (I had a 580 on one at 3.66GHz and it just was bored silly whilst the CPU was completely taxed).

I have never noticed any cpu lag with my system. I think the primary drag is the 2x 1tb 7200 rpm hds in raid 0. SSDs FTW!

CPUs and GPUs don’t lag, networks do. Storage has nothing to do with it when the CPU is the bottleneck by having more to process than it can handle, leaving the GPU to wait. Instructions and data are stored in main RAM and GPU RAM, not storage.

SSD will only have an impact when you initially load the game and instance asset loading, which has to wait for the network for mob data anyway. Basically, you’ll appear in an instance before mechanical drive users (and RAID0/0+1 users will appear before single drive users) but this has nothing to do with FPS.

Rolo.9248:

CPUs and GPUs don’t lag, networks do. Storage has nothing to do with it when the CPU is the bottleneck by having more to process than it can handle, leaving the GPU to wait. Instructions and data are stored in main RAM and GPU RAM, not storage.

SSD will only have an impact when you initially load the game and instance asset loading, which has to wait for the network for mob data anyway. Basically, you’ll appear in an instance before mechanical drive users (and RAID0/0+1 users will appear before single drive users) but this has nothing to do with FPS.

I have a degree in elecrical engineering and I build software for a a living. I think it is safe to say that I dont need a lecture on PC perfromance.

An SSD will give you the biggest real-world pc gaming performance boost of any component you can buy. SSDs are also very expensive. A new Video card may be a more cost-effective investment.

GW2 really isnt that demanding on my desktop or even my laptop so far.

Samaul.6073:

Rolo.9248:

Your Wolfdale can’t feed your 560Ti data fast enough (I had a 580 on one at 3.66GHz and it just was bored silly whilst the CPU was completely taxed).

I have never noticed any cpu lag with my system. I think the primary drag is the 2x 1tb 7200 rpm hds in raid 0. SSDs FTW!

SSDs are only good for games where you don’t have to wait for everyone else to load the levels, in games such as shooters, there’s usually a 15 second wait after the host has loaded the level and connected to another person. SSDs are probably only useful at the moment for the performance savvy and enthusiasts, and until they get much cheaper many gamers will stick with your bog standard, trusty HDDs (not necessarily RAID 0, which sucks for gaming), plus the capacity too, there’s always a trade-off;

SSDs – Extreme Performance, Low-Medium Capacity, Not compatible with All Mobos, No Risk of Mechanical Damage, etc.
HDDs – Standard Performance, High-Extreme Capacity, Compatible with ALL Mobos, can break if dropped or vibrated when operating, however early prediction of data corruption is possible (with S.M.A.R.T) so you can go out and buy another HDD and transfer all your data across.

Desolutional.3874:

SSDs are only good for games where you don’t have to wait for everyone else to load the levels, in games such as shooters, there’s usually a 15 second wait after the host has loaded the level and connected to another person. SSDs are probably only useful at the moment for the performance savvy and enthusiasts, and until they get much cheaper many gamers will stick with your bog standard, trusty HDDs (not necessarily RAID 0, which sucks for gaming), plus the capacity too, there’s always a trade-off;

SSDs – Extreme Performance, Low-Medium Capacity, Not compatible with All Mobos, No Risk of Mechanical Damage, etc.
HDDs – Standard Performance, High-Extreme Capacity, Compatible with ALL Mobos, can break if dropped or vibrated when operating, however early prediction of data corruption is possible (with S.M.A.R.T) so you can go out and buy another HDD and transfer all your data across.

In real world terms, my M14x laptop with its 512 GB SSD runs most games faster than my Aurora R3 desktop. There is no wait when launching, zoning, loading textures etc. SSDs are extremely fast. Is an SSD worth the investment? For a deskop, maybe not, for a laptop, definitely.

Of course my desktop is running GW2 at 1080p on a 23 inch monitor with a Klipsch speaker system, full sized keyboard and mouse. While laptop components do have similar model numbers and product names to desktops, look at say video cards on a desktop vs a laptop and you will notice that a GTX 560 can run games much faster than a GT 660M. The same goes for laptop vs desktop cpus. On balance, the desktop is a much better gaming system.

KjarlSeaspite.9573:

If you have a problem with heat, use the FPS limiter in the graphics option

The GW2 limiter doesn’t work correctly; it actually limited mine to 50 when set to 60. It’s redundant anyway since vsynch essentially does the same thing whilst eliminating tearing.

Oconell.8673:

Samaul.6073:

7. Get a can of compressed air, open up your case and carefully blow all of the dust out of your system.

Wrong. Don’t do this or you may very well damage your components. The correct way to do that is to get an air compressor and compress it yourself. But that’s neither cheap or efficient.

The official line for this is to use no more than 30 PSI and to use an ESD vacuum (which will cost you ~$300). Just ground yourself, your components, and your tools before having them interact.

As for damaging components, just don’t force the fans to spin 9,000 RPM with it and you’ll be fine. If something breaks from a can of compressed air, it was broken anyway!

-+-

re: desktop vs. laptop. There’s no argument there as the answer lies in the user’s requirements.

Samaul.6073:

Building your own is a huge risk, especially if you use OEM components which have no warranty. What you have to do if you are overclocking is get extended warraties on all of the OCed components so that if you fry them while testing them, you can return them, no questions asked. Been there, done that, no thank you!

I don’t know/use any OEM components that have no warranty. The shortest OEM warranty I’ve seen/used is 30-days and that’s plenty of time to stress-test a CPU for defects. Otherwise, everything else is 90 days to 5 years. I’ve been building PCs since 1989 and overclocked everything since 1991 and the only components I’ve had fail are IBM DeathStar and Western Digital hard drives (those weren’t overclocked).

If you fry components, you are doing it waaaay wrong!

Samaul.6073:

I have a degree in elecrical engineering and I build software for a a living. I think it is safe to say that I dont need a lecture on PC perfromance.

An SSD will give you the biggest real-world pc gaming performance boost of any component you can buy. SSDs are also very expensive. A new Video card may be a more cost-effective investment.

GW2 really isnt that demanding on my desktop or even my laptop so far.

Since you’re whippin’ it out, I am a retired Electronics Engineer—to wit none of that matters since neither of us has a degree in infallibility or omniscience. I’ve stated facts about hardware as they apply to GW2 gaming: SSD only applies to loading assets, instruction into RAM/VRAM, period.

Your above statement is false; an SSD will not give you any GW2 performance gain as it pertains to FPS, only load times for the reasons I’ve explained. As far as which component would yield the biggest performance gain, it depends on the machine in question; i.e. a better video card won’t make much—if any—difference if the CPU is at max utilisation and contrarily, a better CPU won’t matter if the video card(s) are pegged at 100%.

-+-

Another note on SSD’s. They will make the entire machine far more responsive and are well worth the money. SSD’s small capacity is moot with Intel’s RST (Z68 chipsets) as it will cache whatever you are using, effectively making the SSD boost your entire hard drive. I have a 2TB drive full and everything loads instantly.

Rolo.9248:

KjarlSeaspite.9573:

If you have a problem with heat, use the FPS limiter in the graphics option

The GW2 limiter doesn’t work correctly; it actually limited mine to 50 when set to 60. It’s redundant anyway since vsynch essentially does the same thing whilst eliminating tearing.

Oconell.8673:

Samaul.6073:

7. Get a can of compressed air, open up your case and carefully blow all of the dust out of your system.

Wrong. Don’t do this or you may very well damage your components. The correct way to do that is to get an air compressor and compress it yourself. But that’s neither cheap or efficient.

The official line for this is to use no more than 30 PSI and to use an ESD vacuum (which will cost you ~$300). Just ground yourself, your components, and your tools before having them interact.

As for damaging components, just don’t force the fans to spin 9,000 RPM with it and you’ll be fine. If something breaks from a can of compressed air, it was broken anyway!

-+-

re: desktop vs. laptop. There’s no argument there as the answer lies in the user’s requirements.

Samaul.6073:

Building your own is a huge risk, especially if you use OEM components which have no warranty. What you have to do if you are overclocking is get extended warraties on all of the OCed components so that if you fry them while testing them, you can return them, no questions asked. Been there, done that, no thank you!

I don’t know/use any OEM components that have no warranty. The shortest OEM warranty I’ve seen/used is 30-days and that’s plenty of time to stress-test a CPU for defects. Otherwise, everything else is 90 days to 5 years. I’ve been building PCs since 1989 and overclocked everything since 1991 and the only components I’ve had fail are IBM DeathStar and Western Digital hard drives (those weren’t overclocked).

If you fry components, you are doing it waaaay wrong!

Samaul.6073:

I have a degree in elecrical engineering and I build software for a a living. I think it is safe to say that I dont need a lecture on PC perfromance.

An SSD will give you the biggest real-world pc gaming performance boost of any component you can buy. SSDs are also very expensive. A new Video card may be a more cost-effective investment.

GW2 really isnt that demanding on my desktop or even my laptop so far.

Since you’re whippin’ it out, I am a retired Electronics Engineer—to wit none of that matters since neither of us has a degree in infallibility or omniscience. I’ve stated facts about hardware as they apply to GW2 gaming: SSD only applies to loading assets, instruction into RAM/VRAM, period.

Your above statement is false; an SSD will not give you any GW2 performance gain as it pertains to FPS, only load times for the reasons I’ve explained. As far as which component would yield the biggest performance gain, it depends on the machine in question; i.e. a better video card won’t make much—if any—difference if the CPU is at max utilisation and contrarily, a better CPU won’t matter if the video card(s) are pegged at 100%.

-+-

Another note on SSD’s. They will make the entire machine far more responsive and are well worth the money. SSD’s small capacity is moot with Intel’s RST (Z68 chipsets) as it will cache whatever you are using, effectively making the SSD boost your entire hard drive. I have a 2TB drive full and everything loads instantly.

I have found the failure rate of even high-end components to be extremely high. If you buy OEM components with a 30, 60 or 90 day warranty, you may have to go directly to the manufacturer for replacement which means YOU have to contact the company, get the RMA and pay the shipping cost for the item and wait until a replacement comes back. You may have to do that with retail components as well. If for example, you buy the extended warranty from newegg, you can get the component replaced quickly with no questions asked and they are likely to pay the shipping. Get the extended warranty, its worth it.

By the time you get all of your components, burn test them, build and configure them, you will find you have just about bought a new Alienware system. All of those extended warranties on your components will pay for a 3 or 4 year alienware warranty.

If you are a true enthusiast and you love the entire selection, burn-in, build and configuration process and have the spendable cash, then building your own pc can be a lot of fun. Go to http://www.anandtech.com for advice on what to buy then go to http://www.newegg.com to get what you need.

If all you want to do is power up, install and play your favorite games, go to http://www.alienware.com. I do not have the time to build my own PC so I let Alienware do it for me.