Guild Wars 2

I’m planning on upgrading my motherboard and microprocessor and I would like to know what would be better for a good performance of this game.

Other specs: SATA3 HDD, ATi 6650 (this could be better, but not just yet), 8gb RAM DDR3.

Any suggestions?

I would get a i5 or i7 K series CPU and new mobo but that is just me.

Intel micros go outta my budget, TBH.

I’ve never bought AMD before, but I did a quick look on the specs of the processors. If you’re looking just at playing GW2, I would run the A10 based on the fact that its’ clock rate is higher than the 8120 which is important for large scale battles in GW2. GW2 requires fast single thread performance. However, if you’re just casually playing GW2 and do other things with your PC, I’d grab the 8 core processor and overclock it to get the best performance.

The A10 uses less power than the 8120 by 25 watts, so you’d be more ‘green’ by going with the A10. Also, if your graphics card takes a dump on you and you don’t have a backup, you can use the A10’s built in 7660.

TBH though, I’m sure there are other things to look at besides core count, stock core frequency, and power used.

Edit: I guess you could replace your 6650 with the A10’s 7660 (I also don’t know the numbering scheme for ATI’s/AMD’s graphics cards)

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

GW2 relies a lot on single thread performance. Buy the best CPU you can afford on that list starting from the top going down.

A10-5800k – 1496 score
AMD 8120 – 1234 score

I’d need to get more RAM or 8Gb DDR3 1600MHz should do just fine?

If your going to go AMD the only real choice is the FX 8350 ..all others will not handle GW2 very well.

Or you can go with a Intel i3 3240 which should be ok for PVE and upgrade to a i5 at a later date since htye r same chipset. But for WvW the only real option is the Intel i5 2550k(2nd gen) or 3570k(3rd gen) with a OC.

8Gb is the new standard and its fine tyr to get 1600mhz atleast ..most are anyway.

Ilithis Mithilander.3265:

TBH though, I’m sure there are other things to look at besides core count, stock core frequency, and power used.

Indeed there is
You have to undertsand the architecture at work and how they perform on different tasks. AMD are perfectly fine with multi threaded operations (for their price). But AMD’s performance per thread is not very good, even for their price, and that is the main reason AMD cpu’s have a hard time with GW2 when you have alot of players in one area ..like WvW, LA, and large Pve events.

Devilsmack.5736:

I’d need to get more RAM or 8Gb DDR3 1600MHz should do just fine?

8gb should be more than enough for gaming. Ram is cheap you can go 16GB for like $40.

I run a 4100 at 3.9ghz and it runs gw2 just fine, even in wvw I only get down to 20~fps in huge zergs/fort fights. The only thing is reflections take a huge dump on me. But that happens to a lot of people, I don’t mind playing with them off.

Either of those processors wold be good for GW2. Though the A10 might be a better bang simply because if your graphics card dies out you got something to hold you over.

Sub 30 fps isnt somthing to be looking for in a upgrade tho. Hence my sugestions.

If you ok with frequently droping below 30 fps then you can pritty much get any CPU you want :P

kirito.4138:

Devilsmack.5736:

I’d need to get more RAM or 8Gb DDR3 1600MHz should do just fine?

8gb should be more than enough for gaming. Ram is cheap you can go 16GB for like $40.

If I were living in the US, which I don’t. Sometimes I wish I did after seeing Kingston HyperX 2×4Gb at merly 30 bucks… cuts his balls off in dispair

Where I live, Argentina (S America, for those of you that may not know), the diff between this A10 I mention and the 8120 is about 40 bucks.

If I were to go with the 8120 this is the MoBo I’d pair it with: Asus M5a88 V Evo.

PS: If any of you wanna do some charity and throw a couple of dollars (or the RAM modules) my way to help me upgrade my rig… I wouldn’t mind at all ^^

SolarNova.1052:

Sub 30 fps isnt somthing to be looking for in a upgrade tho. Hence my sugestions.

If you ok with frequently droping below 30 fps then you can pritty much get any CPU you want :P

I am running the game on this rig: Athlon64 x2 4200+ / ASuS M2N-MX SE / 2Gb RAM DDR2 800MHz Kingston HyperX Dual-Channel / Western Digital WD5000AAKX / MSI R6670 MD2GD3 / AOpen Cobra AW-850 Deluxe 5.1 (which I can’t get to work on Win7 due to lack of drivers and it’s driving me nutz cuz it’s 1 hell of a sound card)

When I’m in WvW and zergs collide is like I kill 1 screenshot at a time. Really, dying by my hand with the way my computer displays the battle should be shame enough to Alt+F4 and go play Sudoku, Hello Kitty Online or thinking about dropping games… ROFLMAO.

Btw, the 8Gb HyperX RAM modules I mentioned before I already bought them in advance and are sitting there all pretty and unused.

Well if you got the money get a Intel i5 2550k or 3570k + a Asus or Gigabyte motherboard, for good measure get a good aftermarket cpu cooler like the evo 212 or Noctua NH-D14 and OC the cpu to around 4.5ghz. That will run GW2 as best as it is possible currently.

If you can find a Phenom II X6, or even an X4 someone is selling for cheap you can pair it with a decent aftermarket cooler for OC and it will last you a few more generations.

There aint much that uses more than 4 cores. A core 2 Quad would also work quite nicely but GL finding one under 200$

Ebay search for Phenom II X6. Looks promising.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=phenom+ii&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=phenom+ii+x6&_sacat=0

A core 2 quad will NOT do. I know this becouse my other computer is running a QX6850 with a OC and get under 10 fps in wvw and in LA and any reasonbly sized event the FPS also drops really low. it wil lRUN GW2 ..but it isnt a nice experiance ..unless ur used to sub 30 fps gameplay.

My computer runs on a Core 2 Quad, and even running at default clock speed (2.83GHz) I can get 40-60FPS in WvW just fine. Outside in PVE I get an average of 59FPS according to fraps with lowest being 49fps and highest being 62fps.

A core 2 Quad would run the game fine, however I would not advise buy one nowadays simply because for their price you can get a new, better Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge based processor.

Geez, I guess I need to find a way to make some extra bucks to buy this babies…

Just entering WvW and looking at fps doesnt give you the real picture. Get into a proper battle and i garuntee your fps will drop like a stone.

Feel free to record a vid of u playing WvW with good FPS including evidence of ur cpu and ill gladly admit being wrong ..but untill then all other evidence from other people on the forums including my own old rig states that those cpu’s are to slow.

Which MoBo would u guys pair the A10 with? Don’t think too high end cuz I can’t afford it. I would need USB 3.0, PCI-e 2.0 (2.1 preferably) and SATA3 (6Gb) support. On-board sound a must.

Btw, thank you all for the feedback I’m getting. It is really useful.

If I was to get a mobo for the A10 I’d get this.
Considering 140$ on a mobo isn’t too much, I have an Asus M5A99X EVO and the bios and clocking functions on this thing are ridiculous.

don’t buy ANYTHING AmD has out for a CPU. its a waste of time . go intel , if you want bang for your buck, the i5-2500k is hands down the best way to go.

Don’t buy AMD for gaming. Plain and simple.

I’m using Phenom II X6 OC’d to 4ghz, with 2 × 6870′s in Crossfire.

25 frames per second on LOWEST possible settings in Lion’s Arch during the event.

WvW is unplayable.

Overall, this game is an unoptimized mess.

Ok, AMD can be chosen for this game, but unfortunately as SolarNova pointed out subpar single core performance causes fps drops in areas with several people on screen; though that does happen with all cpus to some extent due to this game’s poor optimization.

The only AMD cpu that can play this game in the ideal 60fps range is the FX8350. (This does not include WvW)

Now, Intel on the other hand has the Sandy and Ivy chips that can run the game just fine.

Tom’s Hardware recently came out with a chart showing the gaming cpu hierarchy. i5/i7 Sandy/Ivy are top tier and FX8350 is the lone AMD cpu that’s in the 2nd tier.

The A10 can play the game at 30-45fps @ 1080p when paired with a 6600-series Radeon GPU and RAM that is running at 2133Mhz. I cannot comment on WvW performance for this hardware. Remember for APUs you must pair them with 2133 speed ram since they scale in performance together.

Hey man the A10 is the best chip AMD has to offer in my opinion at it’s price is far better than anything intel has to offer. Overclocked it is as fast as the Fx8350 on gaming (single thread performance is about the same), and the videocard side can be overclocked up to 30%, if u use very fast DDR modules 1800mhz or faster u will get very impresive results out of it, it will most likelly run GW2 at med/high at 30FPS+. If u have a dedicated videocard u should probably consider the Fx4300 or the Fx6300, they overclock like hell (they run cooler since they don’t have a video module) and they are very cheap too, ppl recomending i3 for budget builds don’t know kitten about processors, on the budged AMD is the king as long u don’t care about ur electricity bill xD.

You guys say the Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3B1K2 will be subpar? Cuz I was thinking about getting a 2nd 2×4Gb module for when I finally buy the upgrade.

the kingston should be fine

the trinity apu on the other hand…..

funny…amd cant game…..

I been playing just fine on

AMD 8120@4.5
Xigmatek Aiger cooler+2 panaflo fans off ebay(8bucks each shipped, cooler was under 50usd)
Kingston HyperX Genisis 4×4gb 1600mhz(have just moved to 32gb Gstkil 1866 today)
2xAMD 6870 1gb videocards

I run the game maxed out at 2560×1440, in pve I never see dips below 40fps, I dont WvWvW knowing how big a mess it is(anet really need to optimize the game more, sorry but it really is a mess, if other MMO’s can give comparable gfx and not have huge perf hits in “zergs” anet should be able to pull it off)

My suggestion would be to try and get an 8320, and after market cooler, clock it to 4.5 of better, that should allow you to play anything but WvWvW fine, (also shouldnt be hard to get to 4.5 range on an 8320, It was kitten easy on this 8120)

Alot of places AMD is quite a bit cheaper then Intel.

another tip I can give is to grab radeon pro, build a custom profile for the game, if done correctly you should be able to scrape some more fps out of the game without to much of a quality hit(6600 range cards really arent gaming cards…)

also note, I have run a higher end K series i3 next to this rig and found that even with a 7870 it wasnt any better in pve on average, despite being pushed to 4.7 under water cooling by the owner…….

biggest thing if you go APU is to make sure you get FAST low latancy ram, faster the better….the video side of those chips REALLY needs it.

but honestly, I personally would try an get an 8320, may be a bit of a hunt but they really are the better option in the same price range and with proper cooling it should be easy to hit 4.5 or better…..

well good luck, if you need any more help, feel free to head over to my forums, http://ashentech.com theres a whole group of us who play this game who will be happy to help

You state that you find the comments that AMD cant game funny .. then prove those people partialy correct by saying that you dont WvW becouse of the performance you get lol. Now AMD CAN game ..but not all games , and not GW2 when u get to WvW.

WvW is perfectly playable if you have a rig that can handle it. GW2 could do better in performance yes. .but considering what it does atm with the number of people involved ..its not to shaby ..30fps minimum in 100 man WvW fights is nothing to complain about. You just need to accept that u need a OC’d Intel 2nd or 3rd gen i5 to do it. And tbh buying a new motherboard and intel i5 k CPU doesnt cost all that much .i beleve atm u can get it on newegg for about $350.

Its all well and good being a fan boy of ether side. .But we are here ot give unbiased technical support to those that want it. The facts are the facts and as it stand GW2 WvW and highly populated Pve events cannot be run above 30 fps with a AMD cpu.

I’m running 2 computers at two different locations, both exactly the same builds loaded with Athlon 64 x2 3800+ with an overclocked (900/900) xfx HD6670 on high settings. Everything inside the comp bottle necks the video card, while the whole computer bottle necks my connection to the internet, I have T3 at the office and Cable at home.

I’ve played WvW at home on cable. Its hilarious and fighting the Dragon in PVE… again, hilarious, its like watching a silent movie from the 30’s when you see the frames skip like mad. Events in Lion Arch, forget about it. Sometimes when I log into Lions, half the building take like 30 seconds to load. But at the office, I can actually play WvW, but only the outskirts, like catching 1 or two toons running location to location.

As far as normal play in PVE… runs great at either location.

Last year I started to build a new computer, I made it as far as a new case, power supply and a thought. lol

I found this thread because I was curious about the new A10 5800 Trinity or the FX6300.

I’m not a huge fan of intel products. in the professional side of what I do, they have screwed our company over so we don’t like dealing with them. So we stick with AMD.

So, with that said, reading this thread, looks like an FX chip is going to be the trick for myself.

If ur gunna stick with AMD then get the FX 8350 and OC it. You will still drop below 30 fps in WvW battles ..but it will atleast be playable in most of the rest of the game.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

The FX 8350 is AMD’s best single thread processor.

You may not like Intel, i personaly find them overpriced, but for gaming they are the best choice …atm atleast.

I run an AMD Phenom II x 2 3.3 BE edition....but it’s unlocked to a b60 Quad Core and OCd to 3.7 Ghz....runs the game great! and I’m playing with an older but still bad kitten nvidia GTX 460 never see dips below FPS, unless in a very populated area.

‘unless in a very populated area’

Thats a big portion of endgame GW2.

Temple runs
Dragon Events
WvW

GPU wise ..yes a 460 .specialy a OC’d one …is perfectly fine for GW2 .. u honestly dont need a super uber GPU for GW2. CPU though ..thats another story

Well I hope the developers will make guildwars 2 a multi threaded game. I understand the first game wasn’t. But since the graphics are better, we should expect that the game uses the GPU as much as it can. We are now in a age of multi-cores/threads so games can’t stay forever running on 1 single thread.

hoegarden.4287:

Well I hope the developers will make guildwars 2 a multi threaded game. I understand the first game wasn’t. But since the graphics are better, we should expect that the game uses the GPU as much as it can. We are now in a age of multi-cores/threads so games can’t stay forever running on 1 single thread.

Gw2 is multi threaded. Actually uses about 50. (See Part 4.3)

Indeed it is.

Unfortunatly ..only about 3 of them are highly used and if any1 of them gets to the point where the cpu cant process it any faster (which happens ALOT) we then get fps drops (bottlenecks).

What we need is those 3 threads split up into more threads, thus sharing the load across the CPU ..unfortunatly trying to split up certain processes into sperate threads is incredicbly difficult, specialy if they need to interact with each other for things like ‘timing’ and such.

thanks kirito, so a fx-8350 will do the best job on guildwars 2. 8 different cores are still better than 4 cores and 2 threads on each core.
On intel, each thread on 1 core uses the same cache memory of that core. So basically you will have 2 threads using the same cache.
Real cores are better than logical cores.

You can’t expect to run a kitten program in a virtual operating system at the same speed than in a non virtual OS, same with cpu’s

Actually a 3570k will hammer a FX 8350 in GW2.

GW2 may be multithreaded but only 3 main threads r used for performance so u see next to 0 imporvment goign form 4C/ 4T to 4C/8T or even 6C/12T.
The main performance enhancer is how fast each of those 3 main threads can be processed ..thats where Intels better single thread performance comes in.

Anyway ..2500k/2550k/3570k beats FX 8350 in GW2 easily.