Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure if this is the right section to ask this..
What I’m wondering is: I’ve been looking into getting a new gaming computer specifically for running GW2. The Alienware Aurora Intel Core i5-2320 Desktop is the one I have found in my price range that seems to have the best graphics quality etc.

I am significantly dumb at these things so I was hoping for some feedback and
suggestions. This is sitting at the absolute top of my price range ($1000) .I am currently playing on a Sony Vaio sitting at about 10-20 FPS on low settings which isn’t very fun.

This is the link to the computer and specs on the FutureShop website:
Intel Core i5-2320 Desktop

Thanks in advance!

I have i5, 8gb rm, geforce 660, 10mbit connection. In WvW game is unplayable. Not sure that higher specs can count that.

I have i3-2120 3.3GHz, 8GB, GeForce GTX 550 Ti and I mostly do WvW now. My in game settings below (attached image). Most of the time my FPS is 60 FPS (V-sync), but in big zergs in WvW FPS can drop below 10. Your link to system didn’t work, so can’t say what kind of computer you are talking about, but it does have better CPU than I have.

Hey samrogan, lots of feedback in these 2 posts I made for myself on the same topic:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Feedback-needed-on-possible-new-PC-spec/first#post538782

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Feedback-needed-on-new-spec-I-intend-to-buy/first#post544091

Judging by Google results, I think he’s talking about this one: http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-2nd-gen-intel-core-i5-2320-desktop-computer-dx4860-ef23p-dx4860-ef23p/10207077.aspx

Na, it’s this one (my guess): http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/alienware-alienware-aurora-intel-core-i5-2320-desktop-computer-ax51-5723bk-english-ax51-5723bk/10224073.aspx

Considering it’s alienware and the $1K price he said.

The most important aspects imo are going to be your CPU and GPU (or videocard). Most of the mid to high-end desktops are going to have standarg 8gb of ram and some decent memory.

The GPU on here is a very tested and reliable card. By now there are a lot of better cards out and I think this card will be dated relatively soon, but hey, it’s computers, so that can be said about everything. The only thing I couldn’t find is if it’s PCI-express 3.0 , 2.0, or 1.0. That would make a small difference.

The CPU is decent as an i5, but the speed is 3.0 gHz. That isn’t horrible, mine runs max setting and is 2.7gHz but has 6cores, which helps make up for the speed a little bit.

Those alienware packages are very overpriced for what you get FYI. It’s like putting a little apple on something and then charging 30% more.

As it stands, GW2 stressed my CPU pretty hard. I’d suggest nabbing an i7. I also suggest one of the Nvidia Fermi cards ( GTX 4xx, 5xx ). Extra money spent on a decent cooling system/case is well worth it ( for some reason GW2 is the only game that makes my system overheat ).

Ethics.4519:

The CPU is decent as an i5, but the speed is 3.0 gHz. That isn’t horrible, mine runs max setting and is 2.7gHz but has 6cores, which helps make up for the speed a little bit.

Honestly, clock speed isn’t that big of a deal, it’s all about the cache size/architecture. Efficient memory access goes a long way to improve performance.

GW2 is very CPU intensive so you want the best processor your budget allows. I’d recommend an i7 with 6+GB of RAM and any GPU with on-board memory 2GB+.

As far as brand, I’ve not had good experiences with Alienware. They tend to run hot right out of the box and I had one fry a CPU (I don’t mod or overclock and it wasn’t full of dust.)

I have great success with ASUS machines though.

Yes Ethics that’s the one I was talking about, I do t know what happened to my link so thank you.

Thanks everyone for this feedback it has been really helpful. You have given me some good info to work off of.

@therantventure: I saw an asus at future shop which was only around $600 and the memory card was 2gb however I read something about the 2gb being a useless extra feature because the architecture of the card wasn’t up to par (so basically the 2gb was to get you to pay more). Is this a legitimate issue i should watch out for? I’m not familiar with the term “architecture”.

Why the hell would you use vsync?
You’re not supposed to use that anymore since 8 years.
Also turn off depth blur.

samrogan.9132:

Yes Ethics that’s the one I was talking about, I do t know what happened to my link so thank you.

Thanks everyone for this feedback it has been really helpful. You have given me some good info to work off of.

@therantventure: I saw an asus at future shop which was only around $600 and the memory card was 2gb however I read something about the 2gb being a useless extra feature because the architecture of the card wasn’t up to par (so basically the 2gb was to get you to pay more). Is this a legitimate issue i should watch out for? I’m not familiar with the term “architecture”.

Architecture can be an issue that boils down to bottlenecks. My wife has the K53 ASUS with the nVidia 610m 2GB card and it runs great! It runs a bit better FPS than mine and runs at less load. I run with an nVidia 540m 1GB.

So the short answer to your question is “sometimes”. If the channel bandwith between the GPU and the CPU can’t handle the data flow, it stops up and hurt performance. I haven’t found this to be the issue with the ASUS.

Well, I’m not much good at saying what you should buy. But I can tell you that I have a Core i5 2500K, a Radeon HD6850 1GB, and 8GB of RAM.

I run the game at 1600×900 on High Graphics Settings. About the only thing that has ever given me lag is the Fire Elemental boss in Metrica Province lol, when he blows up there are soooo many particle effects. I guess other large scale PvE battles, my frames probably drop to about 20fps if 100s of people show up. In WvW I have not done too much there yet… I did get into some 20 vs 20 size battles and had no lag. But I would assume that zergs people talk about are bigger than that.

You seem to be looking at computers with similar capabilities to mine, so I thought I would let you know about how my computer is doing :-)

hey OP, if you like a little project and want to have some fun. you can easily build a computer yourself for waaaaaaaaaay cheaper than an alienware. i highly reccomend this. www.newegg.com there are videos on newegg that shows u how to build a computer if you are not sure how to. you wont regret it.

my specs:
AMD – 1100t @ 3.8 ghz – 6 core
8GB ddr3
2x radeon 6870 (crossfire)
120gb SSD
(can run everything maxed and supersample on 50 fps avg)

First off, the stats of the Alienware you list are very low for your budget.

If you have a knowledgeable friend who can help you build it (even for a small fee), you could build a fairly powerful rig for $1000. We are talking 8GB ivy bridge i5 and GTX660ti or AMD 7950 or higher and a small SSD + 500GB hard disk.

If you don’t have an option like this, or you just don’t want to risk it, I am fairly certain you can find a custom PC builder who can do better than a low end i5 and 550ti.

I went to ibuypower.com (not recommending them, just the first one google came up with) and configured a 3570K with an AMD 7870 system with all the trimmings for your budget.

Anything AMD 7770, 6970 and above or 460, 560, or 650ti and above will beat the 550ti hands down. (it is not a bad card, but your budget should be able to afford better)
I’d shoot for 560Ti, 660, 6950, 7850 and above.

You do NOT need an i7. GW2 does not gain any measurable benefit from hyperthreading or cores above 4. It does use the higher clocks of the i7, but usually the difference in clock between an i5 and i7 is not worth the price bump.

The difference between a $1000+ six-core Sandy-bridge-E running at 4GHz and a $220 i5 2500K at 3GHz is 4-7%. (with one of the best GPUs on the market)

The difference between a i3 with hyperthreading and a Pentium running at the same clock rate without HT are margin-for-error level.

GW2 DOES use four cores. The i5s perform 30%+ better than dual core i3s or pentiums.

You do want a good processor, but an i5 is good enough. Try to get the most raw clock speed in an i5 as you can. This isn’t to say an i7 isn’t good too, its to say you are much better off spending the difference in price between an i5 and i7 on GPU if you can.

For whatever reason, GW2 has noticeably lower performance on AMD CPUs. For the purpose of GW2, you can safely ignore AMD CPUs for a new purchase as they are not efficient price/performance for this game. (A $74 Sandy Bridge pentium gets better frame rates than an 8-core $190 AMD processor.)

As you were writing that I was actually building one via the ibuypower site, here are the specs:

0 x iBUYPOWER Labs – Internal Expansion ( None )
1 x Processor ( AMD FX-6100 CPU (6x 3.30GHz/6MB L2 Cache) )
0 x iBUYPOWER PowerDrive ( None )
1 x Processor Cooling ( Liquid CPU Cooling System [AMD] – Standard 120mm Fan )
1 x Memory ( 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module – Corsair or Major Brand )
1 x Video Card ( AMD Radeon HD 7870 – 2GB – Single Card )
1 x Motherboard ( ASUS M5A97 — AMD 970 )
1 x Power Supply ( 750 Watt – Corsair CX750 )
1 x Primary Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE — 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s – Single Drive )
1 x Data Hard Drive ( 64 GB ADATA SP900 SSD – Single Drive )
1 x Optical Drive ( 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive – Black )
0 × 2nd Optical Drive ( None )
1 x Flash Media Reader / Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer – Black )
1 x Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
1 x Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
1 x Operating System ( Windows 8 + Office 2010 Trial [Free 60-Day !!!] – 64-bit )

The total of this with shipping is $1,033 CAD
Any reccomendations for tweaking or an area that I can cut costs?

Edit: I do have someone who can do this for me. My step dad built his gaming computer by himself so this will definitely be an option for me since shipping to Canada is generally at least $100!

Try to build on an Intel system. For this game in particular AMD just doesn’t work out for price/performance.

Z77 motherboard and 3GHz+ i5 should be first.

Never mind with liquid cooling at this price range. Air cooling is fine. A good air cooler (anything better than the stock intel one) is a good idea. Liquid cooling is for people who have existing god-boxes or have maxed everything else and are looking to stretch their $1000 CPUs. Whatever money you would have spent on a liquid cooler, put it into better GPU ro CPU. (in that order)

Even liquid-cooled and heavily overclocked, a stock Ivy-bridge i5 will destroy an FX-6100 in this game.

600W is more than enough for this build unless you plan on x-fire/SLI.
Saving yourself some money on the little things might allow you to bump up CPU or GPU up a notch.

The 7870 is an amazing price/performance GPU, but better is better. Right now, the 7950 really isn’t that much more money on the market. (not necessarily ibuypower)
On newegg.com the sapphire 7950 is actually only $10 more expensive than the 7870 after rebate.

Don’t forget that if you order a system, call them and negotiate. Example, since anyone can buy a 7950 for slightly more than a 7870, see if they will lower their difference to be similar.

Your step dad can likely order you the parts for a much better machine for $1000.
He might be able to help you focus your money into CPU/GPU and make a MUCH better machine.

While I prefer self-builds…
Don’t forget that having a guarantee and pretested system is indeed worth something.
Builders get lower prices and better systems, but we also deal with RMAs, bad hardware, builder/roommate/significant other goofs, and a number of other challenges. :-)

Wow okay thanks very much for the detailed responses, you have all helped a lot!

thalenduros has some good points. though i wouldnt go out of the way for an intel. intels do benchmark better than amd, but that doesnt really mean intel is a must buy. the AMD cpu’s are great and fdefinately worth the price. i can safely say my amd cpu runs gw2 amazingly. didnt want you to think you absolutely have to buy an intel… good luck on your build, (you should do it yourself lol!)

In the current market, Intel is the better option in terms of gaming. The latest release of AMD FX chips has closed the gap somewhat but they still fall short of Intel’s performance in all but the most heavily threaded applications (not games). I wouldn’t even recommend the older AMD chips.

You can obviously still game on and AMD system, and the performance may be acceptable or all that you need. Just note that even the highest end AMD chip (FX-8350) cannot compare to an i5-2500k in terms of gaming.

I personally run the game on fairly high graphics without FPS lag, do get server side from time to time, with a AMD 970 (3.5 GHz x4) running 8 GB of 1600 and a GTS 450. This big thing that i notice about people complaining about there performance while running even higher end systems is they normally have something bottle necking there computer. The big thing is make sure you have a stable and powerful CPU, and a decent workhorse GPU.

All that being said heres a build you might look at. This is just the cpu, gpu, motherboard, and ram. Obviously you can look at other brands as there are cheaper ones out there. This is just ones that i know work well together and wont bottleneck your system. The motherboard is more than you would need but it gives you room to add to the setup if incase you ever want to sli/crossfire. These parts would run you $560 of your $1000 budget. Which gives you room if you hunt for the rest of your parts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130840
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104294
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285

lol intel fanboys. If you get one of the newer AMD cpus (Phenox II or the new FX chips) then your good to go man. my current setup listed above is able to max any game settings and keep a great constant framerate. Skyrim (ultra settings + super sampling), BF3 (ultra w/ 4x msaa), Borlderlands 2 max settings, GW2, all around 50 fps avg in open areas, you name it….

(take your choice samrogan, hope you enjoy)

Saalem.7194:

thalenduros has some good points. though i wouldnt go out of the way for an intel. intels do benchmark better than amd, but that doesnt really mean intel is a must buy. the AMD cpu’s are great and fdefinately worth the price. i can safely say my amd cpu runs gw2 amazingly. didnt want you to think you absolutely have to buy an intel… good luck on your build, (you should do it yourself lol!)

It isn’t just benchmarks… GW2 plays measurably better on Intel than AMD machines.

If you already have an AMD system, you can certainly play GW2. It’s just the i5 does it significantly better when everything else is the same. The OP is buying new. Why not go for the best his budget allows?

If you are on a much lower budget than this poster, you might be able to make a case for a cheap and overclocked 4170 or 4300 series Piledriver and using the price difference to up your GPU. You’d be relying on a hefty overclock to counteract the differences between the two in games, but it might work out for you with a little luck.

At $1000, I’d just get the i5 and be confident in knowing that AMD doesn’t have a processor that will beat it at stock. (not even the Piledriver 8-cores)