Guild Wars 2

I’m pretty new to being a gamer and know next to nothing about video cards. My current card is a GeForce GTX 580 v364.72 and to keep my computer from crashing I have to run the game at the highest performance setting, which is terrible to look at.

The minimum specs suggests a GeForce 7800, but most of what I see around are the 700-900 series. From what I can see, the 7800 is in the price range of the 980, but seems a lot older.

I’m running on a budget, and so my question is, would a GTX 750 Ti be a good buy on a budget that meets the minimum requirements, or is there something more affordable that would run the game comprably?

I’m going to give you some bad news..
It could be you have a buggy card.

I had an old gtx 260 which worked solid as a rock at 100% GPU usage after down clocking slightly.

The reasons your PC may be crashing might not be just from your video card..it could be down to a number of factors. Without knowing what you want to achieve from the game and what your current setup is..there may be w much better option given time.

Ps : I used to run at “medium/high” with gtx 260 – solid 30 FPS (except in wvw / big boss fights). It took some research to work out how to stop my XFX GeForce 260 Black edition from crashing – required a custom bios change but once that was sorted it was sweet as anything. The CPU tends to be a limiting factor in this game.

Post. Some more details/what you actually want to achieve/budgets/what you have etc.

Thanks for the reply! You’re post is a bit bittersweet – that my card should be good enough, but it may be buggy. Hopefully with more information this can get resolved. My budget is around $130.00.

Here are more of my specs:
Windows Edition: Windows 10 Pro
Processor: AMD Phenom™ 9950 Quad-Core Processor 2.60 GHz
Installed Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB
System Type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Pen and Touch: No Pen or Touch input is available for this Display

I’m not trying to get the top possible picture or FPS, I think I could be happy with 60% or more. I want it to be good enough to enjoy the scenery and character art in this beautiful game.

As a side note, I ran the GeForce Experience to optimize for GW2, and on the optimized settings it gave, my computer was crashing. Not sure if that means anything.

Buy a used 7970 or 280x imo. Easily the best performance in the price bracket. You’re going to wabt a CPU upgrade at some point in the future though, that CPU is ptetty dated.

Wait… seriously, just wait.

Nvidia have just announced their new generation GPUs will start arriving at the end of this month.
http://anandtech.com/show/10304/nvidia-announces-the-geforce-gtx-1080-1070
AMD probably will do follow suit soon. That’ll drive down the prices of previous gen cards and you’ll get more value for your money.

Thanks for that tip onevstheworld.

Do you folks think an outdated CPU would be the cause of my crashing when the graphics are set at a high level?

An old CPU can slow down your FPS, but should not cause crashes. Unless its overheating, or some part of your PC is failing.

Are you using the 64-bit client? If not, that’s your answer… switch to that and see if it helps.

The CPU can be a huge problem. CPUs handle AI management and all computing. The older it is, the worse it does.
In terms of needing to use low quality graphics, that’s the GPU. GPU handles all rendering of textures etc.
You wont really get much for $130. Well not something to make the game look great and play smooth.

I agree on waiting for next Gen to drop the prices.
But I say save up and get a new PC all together. As if you have a really bad CPU, and a good GPU the pc will handle poorly and bottleneck.

Judging for the processor you are using I would say the most likely cause of your problems is your PSU.

I am thinking you have a kinda old system, and with a processor pulling 125 cooling watts (which could mean as much as 175 watts actual power draw) plus a graphics card what may be happening is that as the PSU has got older the voltages on the rails have gone off a little on high power draw, very small voltage changes can trigger resets on the motherboard (or even command reset by the processor).

My advice would be to purchase a second hand R7 250 (under 65watts cooling and no need for PSU six-pin cable, very simple to retro-fit), which should be better that the GTX 580, BUT has lower power rating – cost is around £40 ($55?). If this – lower power requirement) does not cure the problem you can resell the card with little lost.

If you still have still have a problem consider replacing the PSU with a > 350 watt second-hand business PSU (these are usually of high quality – if not very pretty -and being business items are never run hot). Cost is problem less than £15 ($20).

The cheaper solution is ofc to purchase the PSU first however it can be more hassle to fit (or make sure you are buying the right thing). Albeit I could be entirely wrong in suspecting the PSU.

I most certainly won’t spend a lot of money on a new graphics cards with the processor you have. My old general computer used a A8 3580 (slightly better than your processor) and a HD 7570. Was ok fro GW2 but I wanted to use a 260x which was a big step up on the 7570, unfortunately I couldn’t get the computer to consistently work with the 260x (suspect the BIOs needed up dating or AMD and MS were having an argument – was also having to use a workaround as the 260x needed a six-pin supply from the PSU which wasn’t directly available).

I have a preference for the 260x chiefly because I don’t like or need a power hungry GPU. For GW2 you’re looking at FPSs around 40 to 50 with medium settings.

Another thing to consider is that some graphics features are very power hungry but of low value – prime example being shadows. So a zero cost solution might be to start off with every on low settings and slowly inc up whilst monitoring the GPU temperature (an indirect indication of power draw).

All told I think you’re best bet is to purchase a cheap but newer second hand GPU and give is a go. Save your pennies (or cents) for a CPU/Motherboard upgrade – you’ll find 4th Gen Intel processors are now very good value – aim for a 65/84 watt i5 – failing that an A10 (FM2+ mobo) without a GPU will out perform your current system, an A8 7xxx will be better as well.

Note, a 4th Gen i5 with an iGPU (4600) will probably out perform your system as well! You can buy an ex-business machine that have been running MS Outlook for the last 3 years for $300 to $400 – although you would be wise to budget for replacement Hard disks as reseller often throw in any very old HDs (the original owner usually removed these). Note however you will most definitely will not be able to retro-fit a powerful 3D GPU into them. So if you’re GW2 gameplay is casual then that might be the way to go, as these ‘old’ machines are shockingly fast when you’re not playing 3D games.

Your GTX 580 has a 244 watt cooling requirement, almost any ~$100 GPU over the last 2 years would have lower wattage and probably be better. However DirectX 11 benechmarks indicate the 250(65watts)/260x(110watts) would be slightly worse however GW2 runs on Direct 9.0c so might be a bit of a muchness about muchness – a mote point as you’re saying you can’t deliver the performance expected of a 580. You’ll definitely consume a heck of a lot less power with a more modern GPU.

POI: GTX 750 Ti is ~60watts cooling so would say that’s a good bet as well, a little more expensive, but whatever. Iffy decision – if the problem is the PSU and it’s not lessen by reduced power draw – but think of the electricity you’ll be saving! Bottom line is that if you purchased the card for $130 you’ll most definitely be able to resell it for $100 at present.

lilypop.7819:

…

It being a bad PSU is a possibility, but otherwise your advice is awful. Like this bit:

lilypop.7819:

My advice would be to purchase a second hand R7 250 (under 65watts cooling and no need for PSU six-pin cable, very simple to retro-fit), which should be better that the GTX 580, BUT has lower power rating – cost is around £40 ($55?). If this – lower power requirement) does not cure the problem you can resell the card with little lost.

An R7 250 isn’t even anywhere close to a 580 lmao. It’s a garbage low-end card that’s not worth anything close to $55, let alone as a downgrade from a 580.

Downgrading your GPU in general is idiotic, assuming it’s a PSU problem. You can get a decent 450-500W PSU For like $30

Riku.4821:

The CPU can be a huge problem. CPUs handle AI management and all computing. The older it is, the worse it does.
In terms of needing to use low quality graphics, that’s the GPU. GPU handles all rendering of textures etc.
You wont really get much for $130. Well not something to make the game look great and play smooth.

I agree on waiting for next Gen to drop the prices.
But I say save up and get a new PC all together. As if you have a really bad CPU, and a good GPU the pc will handle poorly and bottleneck.

GTX950 for 131 shipped from newegg, Plays the game on Max settings at 1080p and pushes 80FPS, paired with an i5-4570 clocked at 3.4ghz with Turbo.

Fermi.2409:

lilypop.7819:

…

It being a bad PSU is a possibility, but otherwise your advice is awful. Like this bit:

lilypop.7819:

My advice would be to purchase a second hand R7 250 (under 65watts cooling and no need for PSU six-pin cable, very simple to retro-fit), which should be better that the GTX 580, BUT has lower power rating – cost is around £40 ($55?). If this – lower power requirement) does not cure the problem you can resell the card with little lost.

An R7 250 isn’t even anywhere close to a 580 lmao. It’s a garbage low-end card that’s not worth anything close to $55, let alone as a downgrade from a 580.

Downgrading your GPU in general is idiotic, assuming it’s a PSU problem. You can get a decent 450-500W PSU For like $30

User’s problem is that they are NOT getting 580 performance!

The R7 250 is cheap, considerably less power draw, very easy to fit and does not require a six-pin PSU cable, and I suspect would yield better graphics than the user is currently experiencing – albeit at a lower frame rate.

Fitting a new PSU is not so simple – for many people – for example, is that 450 – 500 watts continuous or peak?, is 450 – 500 watts enough giving the users rig and its age?, will the new PSU last more than a few months? Point is there is more uncertainty in swapping out the PSU. And the cost isn’t than much less than a second-hand R7 250.

Also as I tried to suggest, sometimes it just isn’t worth the effort to keep an old PC up and running as a gaming machine. In which case the R7 250 would be a better bet for any ‘re-purposing’ of the machine. Frankly you don’t want a general purpose machine burning the watts a gaming machine burns.

I am also of the opinion that it just isn’t worth blowing lots of $$$ on a GPU to play GW2 at PRESENT. I would put any savings to a better PC in a year or twos time and if you must spend money NOW then 4th Gen Intel i5s are a good value-for-money bet than an existing low to mid range GPU cards as the future benefits – for your $$$ – are likely to be better.

Also note that the benchmarks that determine whether a GPU is kitten or wonderful tend to be based on DirectX 11 measurements and are very strongly influenced by the particular game being played (chiefly due to the wars between GPU vendors).

As for the R7 250 being a ‘garbage low-end card ’ it’s a fairly decent card for the price tag, that easily runs GW2 on fairly decent settings and gameplay. Many people are perfectly happy playing GW2 with the card, and as someone who has played GW2 with the card I can understand why.

lilypop.7819:

User’s problem is that they are NOT getting 580 performance!

Yes, so let’s throw it in the trash and kitten away $50 on a kitten GPU instead of just spending $40-50 on a new PSU that will fix the problem. Absolutely fantastic plan.

lilypop.7819:

Fitting a new PSU is not so simple – for many people – for example, is that 450 – 500 watts continuous or peak?, is 450 – 500 watts enough giving the users rig and its age?, will the new PSU last more than a few months? Point is there is more uncertainty in swapping out the PSU. And the cost isn’t than much less than a second-hand R7 250.

There’s more uncertainty in the sense that whether or not the PSU is the problem is unknown. 450-500W is plenty for the given specs, and worrying about whether or not the PSU will last more then a few months is dumb, you could ask the same thing of the GPU. A quality PSU will last just fine.

lilypop.7819:

…

Honestly it’s not worth responding to the rest of your post. In general you should stop making recommendations if they’re as ridiculous as what you’ve said here.

On the GPU front, a $130 950 will work just fine for this game. You can get more bang for your buck on the used market, but it’s up to each person to determine whether or not it’s worth it to them. Personally getting a 7970/280x for $130 is much more performance for your dollar (it’ll even beat a 960 by 10-15% depending on the game)

What are your temps at while gaming (gpu and cpu)?

It is obviously a fairly old system and over time dust and crud accumulating on heatsinks diminishes their effectiveness to the point where excessive heat can cause instability and crashes.

Has the system been physically moved recently?

The gtx 580 is a fairly heavy card and may have shifted in the socket.
Reseating it and the power connector(s) may be worth a shot.

Is this an oem system or a custom build and what is your psu? (brand, model, watts)

While the 750ti is a good solid card, you might be able to get a GTX 960 for around that. When I built my new PC about a year ago, there was a £30 price difference between a 960 and 750ti. So I’d shop around.

To be honest, I’d like to see what his full PC setup is before making suggestions.

CPU
GPU
PSU
MOBO
Cooling System
Etc

I have the AMD R9 290x personally, it has been really good for GW2.

Oulak.3610:

I’m pretty new to being a gamer and know next to nothing about video cards. My current card is a GeForce GTX 580 v364.72 and to keep my computer from crashing I have to run the game at the highest performance setting, which is terrible to look at.

The minimum specs suggests a GeForce 7800, but most of what I see around are the 700-900 series. From what I can see, the 7800 is in the price range of the 980, but seems a lot older.

I’m running on a budget, and so my question is, would a GTX 750 Ti be a good buy on a budget that meets the minimum requirements, or is there something more affordable that would run the game comprably?

While I did post specifically about the full stats of your PC build earlier, I have some other questions.

How long have you had your PC?
Is the GeForce 580 a new addition?
What power supply do you have?

What I’m thinking is that you upgraded an existing PC with a new graphics card. Unfortunately, your power supply is unable to handle it. It may work fine when settings are on low, but the higher settings require your system to use more power which you may not have enough.

I had a friend a year or two ago that had a similar issue. He had a 400W power supply trying to run a new GeForce GTX 680. The computer would run for maybe 20 seconds on high graphics settings before it crashed. It would work fine when everything was on low settings.

My suggestion is to upgrade your power supply to something like 750W. It should be more than enough and well within your budget. I would still post here with what your power supply is. Buy my assumption is that is your issue.