Guild Wars 2

Running with a new computer for almost a year now, I have never had trouble with any of my games. They’ve all worked fine, even on nearly the highest settings. However, I have had tons of trouble with GW2. The gameplay is choppy and slow, even when running around solo. A friend has an older GPU and his game runs perfectly on nearly the highest settings. The only differences between our systems is that he runs an older GPU, an intel CPU, and windows 7.

I am using:
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti
CPU: AMD A8-5600K APU (w/Radeon HD graphics)
16GB ram
Windows 8.1

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much

Edit: Also, GW2’s auto-detect put my settings at high enough that my FPS ended up being 11-15, just running around lion’s arch.

That’s the thing, Guild Wars 2 plays MUCH nicer for FPS with Intel cpus.

What would a better option for a CPU be? I’m at a loss as to how to proceed. Would really like some options.

Try to overclock that CPU
Should have better FPS.

That CPu is not much faster than yours — It has only stronger GPU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlxCfn94O8w

You can buy i3-i5, but you will need to buy better GPU then it is gonna cost you
50$MB + 7.1 sound at least 65$
190$CPU i5 4430 – 125$ i3 4130

i3 185-200$
i5 225-240$

or quick solution put animation/shaders to LOW! Or put everithing to low except textures/ sampling…

This game is demanding as CPU as GPU….

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

You can buy i3-i5, but you will need to buy better GPU then it is gonna cost you

For this game, a 650ti is fine.

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

50$MB + 7.1 sound at least 65$
190$CPU i5 4430 – 125$ i3 4130
+ GPu at least 7770/7750 – 85-95$

All you need is a mobo for $45-50 and the CPU, which would be $120 ish or whatever you’re paying for the i5 you choose (the dollar sign goes in front of the number, just for the record). Not to mention the fact that you can get a 7850 for like $110 these days, so spending $90 on a 77×0 card is a waste of money.

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

This game is demanding as CPU as GPU….

It’s much more CPU demanding- you can easily get by with a 7850/7870 as long as you have a beefy enough CPU.

I saw his GPU.
650 Ti is enough for minimum 30 FPS.

Only for AMD CPUs… Game CPU is not demanding if i3 can run it ….. and much better than Crysis 3/BF4 MP….

Fermi
Please tell me your FPS and your CPU usage in LA max settings?

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

Only for AMD CPUs… Game CPU is not demanding if i3 can run it

gl hf with an i3 in any sort of decent sized zerg fight. The game is incredibly CPU demanding anywhere with a lot of people.

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

Fermi
Please tell me your FPS and your CPU usage in LA max settings?

Maxed except render sampling native, 70-80% usage at ~16-23 FPS.

So i have better FPS than you….
FX 6300 4,5Ghz all maxed out 50-55%.
minimum 19 avarage 25 max 35.

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

So i have better FPS than you….
FX 6300 4,5Ghz all maxed out 50-55%.
minimum 19 avarage 25 max 35.

Pictures or it didn’t happen.

Screenshot of game settings at the MF in Lion’s Arch please.

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

So i have better FPS than you….
FX 6300 4,5Ghz all maxed out 50-55%.
minimum 19 avarage 25 max 35.

I don’t believe that for a second.

is an i5 or an i7 a better option?
and will the i5 run gw2 well in wvw?
WvW is where i do most of my work levelling/playing and such.
Thanks for the advice.

Okay
When i move my camera fast in all ways
Goes even under 16 …= 13.4FPS

But when i am walking around it just stays at 19 FPS. Okay sometimes goes in some benchmarks goes like 17-18 FPS.

I have 4,5GHz FX 6300….

http://postimg.org/image/62uc1y5j7/

Well not everything is maxed out (nothing on ultra) and we can’t tell the resolution since you scrolled that off the top. And you are in the UK by your time assuming you snapped this just now. Thanks.

Edit: Ah, I see in a previous post you are running at 1680×1050.

Fermi.2409:

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

So i have better FPS than you….
FX 6300 4,5Ghz all maxed out 50-55%.
minimum 19 avarage 25 max 35.

I don’t believe that for a second.

He is running nearly a 30% overclock and if your sig is accurate you are only running an i3. He does have more real cores but you have the better GPU, but we know that isn’t helpful in areas like LA by the forge.

Okay, in fairness this is what I have.

A8-3820
Quad core, K10 (Athlon II based) running at 2.5GHz
8GB DDR3-1333
Integrated HD 6550D @600MHz using system memory (similar to HD 5550 discrete card)
Resolution 1600×900.

First pic is of the same settings as XFlyingBeeX had in his screenshot. 2nd is minimum settings and third is what I normally run with. I am happy with the high 20s in the open world because a favor look over framerate to a large extent and low fps in cities doesn’t really bother me all that much.

Behellagh.1468:

He is running nearly a 30% overclock and if your sig is accurate you are only running an i3.

Remember that AMD doesn’t quite see linear gains like Intel does when OC’d. Anyways, he was (as we saw) claiming grossly inflated numbers- we actually perform about the same. Not to mention the fact that we were running different settings and resolutions. In addition, given different servers and times of playing, the performance will vary depending on number of people as well.

When I get back to my room I’ll tweak it to what he had and go to the same place., I measured on the other side, directly next to the forge and had things set a bit higher (more characters, LOD higher).

Fly, what was your render sampling set to? Supersampling or subsampling (or is it not called subsampling in this game o-o)?

http://postimg.org/image/i1nqzivpj/

Under this setting it never falls under 28-29 FPS

also little of GPU bottleneck

Behellagh.1468
On max setting your iGPu is bottleneck…. but u have space to OC your CPU – 3,3-3,6Ghz

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

http://postimg.org/image/i1nqzivpj/

Under this setting it never falls under 28-29 FPS

also little of GPU bottleneck

Obviously it runs well with culling on and low shadows.

Also, my previous post was borked it seems- something with the quote block- so I fixed it.

Shadows on max destroys my PC
i have character limit on lowes – on max takes me about 4-5FSp more so 28FPS min 25-24 – still good but it is no difference for me just on lowest is smoother… so

All the rest do shadows.. – instability low minimum FPS …. every thing…

I tired to get as close to XFlyingBeeX.2836 position in LA as possible.

Uploading picks as i go.

1st one is FlyingBee’s settings. Note that reflections all drops the FPS from an otherwise 50 to 45. Reflection on All is a no no. its bugged to hell. it renders stuff u cant see and puts loado n ur CPU.

2nd image. Reflection on terrain and sky.

3rd is MY settings that i play the game at. EDIT updated pic, didnt have LOD on Ultra

Huh nice FPS. But why no FXAA?
4,6Ghz nice overclock for that CPU… 24/7?

If this game will support AMD mantle (almost impossible) that i7 would ……

So FX 6300/FX8320 are really good for their price

FXAA is of no use when u have no jaggies what so ever at that esolution with supersampling. All FXAA does is add light blur effect over everything

EDIT: oh and yes 4.6ghz is an easy 24/7 OC so long as voltages and thus heat are okay. it depends on the silicon lottery. My CPU hits roughly 82c max when under full prime 95 load for hours on end. The NH-D14 air cooler is no joke it pritty much the best air cooler out, but im going into a custom water loop somtime in Q1 next year so i can keep my GPU cool (my GPU is one hot mofo, easily hits 80c even with 100% fan speed, i got unlucky with te lottery and got a hot runne,r BUT it oc’s very well oddly) and OC both the CPU and GPU further than i have atm.
But since nothing i run ever uses all 12 hreads at 100% my heat never reaches above 60c in most casses and my CPU cooler stays on its idle fan speeds.

What every APU User needs to do is download K10Stat and lock the Cores at 2.4Ghz-2.6Ghz (laptops) and 2.8Ghz-3.2Ghz(Desktops with GOOD CPU Coolers) to fix MOST of the performance issues with GW2+APUs.

My K8-3550MX Locked at 2.6Ghz plays GW2 at about 72C’s. (Laptop)
My K6-3420 Locked at 2.4Ghz Plays Gw2 at 75C’s (Laptop)
Both – FPS 40 in LA, 50-60 open World (not really suitable for WvW Zergs – 8-15FPS)

APU’s are all clocked at 1.5-1.8Ghz(Laptops) and 2.0-2.6Ghz(Desktops) then Boost to 2.2-2.6Ghz(Laptops) 2.8-3.2Ghz(Desktops)(1 core at a time). You are not really clocked at 2.4Ghz+(Laptops) or 2.8Ghz+(Desktops) for the entire Chip. You can verify this with CoreTemp and you can physically watch the 1 core jump from the default max clock to the boost for 1-2 seconds then throttle down.

the Default voltage should get you to stable the entire chip at the boost speed. if you run into temp issues, back down the Voltage, and test with Prime95 (in 120second stunts until you don’t drop a core – verify with CoreTemp – or BSOD/HardLock), then after you get a stable Core Lock run Prime95 for 30-45mins for a quick stability test.

DoomPuppy.1705:

is an i5 or an i7 a better option?
and will the i5 run gw2 well in wvw?
WvW is where i do most of my work levelling/playing and such.
Thanks for the advice.

If buying completely new right now, I would recommend spotting in for a z87 chipset board (I run an MSI Z87-G45) and an i5-4670K ($210~ is what I paid for the CPU).

That teamed with my single HD7790, I get a solid 22-25FPS in WvW under system stress (Zergs). OC’d to 4.6Ghz.

if you want, the i7-K was only $75 more, and from what I have read does not boost your Low end FPS at all when compared to the i5-K, just smooths the frame drops out a bit better so you dont see the frame dips if/when it drops below 24FPS.

But either way, its $400+~ for a good 4th gen i5/i7 CPU+MB.

sirsquishy.8531:

DoomPuppy.1705:

is an i5 or an i7 a better option?
and will the i5 run gw2 well in wvw?
WvW is where i do most of my work levelling/playing and such.
Thanks for the advice.

If buying completely new right now, I would recommend spotting in for a z87 chipset board (I run an MSI Z87-G45) and an i5-4670K ($210~ is what I paid for the CPU).

That teamed with my single HD7790, I get a solid 22-25FPS in WvW under system stress (Zergs). OC’d to 4.6Ghz.

if you want, the i7-K was only $75 more, and from what I have read does not boost your Low end FPS at all when compared to the i5-K, just smooths the frame drops out a bit better so you dont see the frame dips if/when it drops below 24FPS.

But either way, its $400+~ for a good 4th gen i5/i7 CPU+MB.

’OP.

Sry for kinda going offtopic :P

You can ether OC ur current CPU and stick with ur GPU.
or if u want a bigger boost in performance.
Do what Squishy said.
An i5 is more budget freindly and in most casses will be fine for GW2, some situations may max it out and thats where an i7 will trump it, but that doesnt hapen THAT often. just make sure ot get a Z87 board with a K edition CPU so u can OverClock for even mroe performance. You will need a good aftermark CPu cooler aswell for OverCLocking andi would recommend one even fi ur not goign to OC as the haswell (4670k/4770k) cpu’s tend to run toasty.

How I normally run:
http://i.imgur.com/9dOOE5a.jpg

~12-17, ~15 average

Fly’s post:
http://i.imgur.com/478yyWO.jpg

Like 21-27, pretty jumpy.

Fly’s normal settings:
http://i.imgur.com/iuzcZaw.jpg

31-36, usually 34/35.

I realized that I had the window in the middle instead of off to the side at the last one, so I can retake them later if you guys want. I’d do it now, but no time. It didn’t really change the framerate at all, though.

Wow people still using Reflection – All …

Really, change to Terrain and Sky, u will gain a good chunk of FPS. Specialy in LA.

And this is just my opinion, but Character Model quality .. anythign above medium is a waste of performance, u wont notice it untill u hit BIG zergs, even then those around ur char will be fully textured and only those further away will turn green. Its so worth the performance.

Still, good to see some up to date screen caps for comparison.

Fermi.2409:

How I normally run:
http://i.imgur.com/9dOOE5a.jpg

~12-17, ~15 average

Fly’s post:
http://i.imgur.com/478yyWO.jpg

Like 21-27, pretty jumpy.

Fly’s normal settings:
http://i.imgur.com/iuzcZaw.jpg

31-36, usually 34/35.

I realized that I had the window in the middle instead of off to the side at the last one, so I can retake them later if you guys want. I’d do it now, but no time. It didn’t really change the framerate at all, though.

I just noticed the PC in your siggy. That’s a very good budget setup, can you WVW on that? I’m thinking of a similar PC for my son i3 3240, B75 MB, Seasonic 430 PSU, and a 650ti boost, 900p TV he already uses for a monitor.
Sorry to get off topic.

Normal settings below for reference.

OP, would definitely recommend an i5/i7 for a build, but if you give us a budget we can help you with an overall build to see what may work and what may not.

zerk.9701:

I just noticed the PC in your siggy. That’s a very good budget setup, can you WVW on that? I’m thinking of a similar PC for my son i3 3240, B75 MB, Seasonic 430 PSU, and a 650ti boost, 900p TV he already uses for a monitor.
Sorry to get off topic.

It works pretty well. I haven’t WvW’d in a while, but the framerate generally drops pretty low when I do. However, the last few times (the ones I’m thinking about) I’ve been only gone in for a couple hours on reset night and ended up fighting map zergs of both of the opposing servers in our garri, resulting in probably 5~8 FPS. However, this is with the character limit as high as possible (I’d rather be able to see all of the enemies), as well as having the view distance as far as it will go.

Overall, I find it easily playable, and in more ‘standard’ zerg fights, the framerate’s higher. Not to mention that if I turned culling on, even a little, I’d probably see significant boosts. Every other game I’ve played has easily been played on high/ultra@1080P, including BF3 on 64 player games- GW2 is really the only game that causes issues, if they could be called that.

So basically, yes, I can WvW on it. Performance could be better, but I could also make it better, and it’s never excessively inhibited my ability to play. If you do end up getting one like that for him, just make sure he builds it with you- he’ll love it.

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

http://postimg.org/image/i1nqzivpj/

Under this setting it never falls under 28-29 FPS

also little of GPU bottleneck

Behellagh.1468
On max setting your iGPu is bottleneck…. but u have space to OC your CPU – 3,3-3,6Ghz

I wasn’t looking to improve, as I said I favor look over frame rate but thank you for your suggestion.

@sirsquishy – no need for such a utility since the CPUs stay at 2.5GHz while playing the game.

try this :

I have a8 3870k and running it at default speed (3.0) makes the game unplayable. 15 fps , going to 25 in the best scenario in queensdale. after oc`ing , even to 3.1 goes to 60 fps in open world and ofc dropping like a stone to 15-20 fps when big events or zergs in wvw. currently i`m using it at 3.6 and working perfectly, all I had to buy was a new cooler as long boxed one decided that its too much for it. having 25-35 fps in la as well. video card ati hd 5570.

if you are looking for maximum u can get , ofc intel is the answer. if you are like me , just wanting to play the game on good fps and not giving many thoughts about high details and so , just oc it and you are gonna be fine.
le: atm using med settings.

dorin.4618:

I have a8 3870k and running it at default speed (3.0) makes the game unplayable. 15 fps , going to 25 in the best scenario in queensdale. after oc`ing , even to 3.1 goes to 60 fps in open world and ofc dropping like a stone to 15-20 fps when big events or zergs in wvw. currently i`m using it at 3.6 and working perfectly, all I had to buy was a new cooler as long boxed one decided that its too much for it. having 25-35 fps in la as well. video card ati hd 5570.

if you are looking for maximum u can get , ofc intel is the answer. if you are like me , just wanting to play the game on good fps and not giving many thoughts about high details and so , just oc it and you are gonna be fine.
le: atm using med settings.

Look at my post about the k10stat. (scroll up)

k10stat fixes what is wrong with every APU. Enables Core Locking for all Cores at the turbo Speed. Just requires some tweaking.

Looks like the A8-3780K doesn’t offer Boost? Nothing I can find says it does. But It kinda sounds like you are using the IGP on the APU, the HD6550D?

I know you said you have a HD5570

You will want to disable the IGP, and upgrade your HD5570. I would recommend a HD7790. You can get one for $119 Local if you have a fry’s electronics. and that will be 200%-300% better then your HD5570.

http://www.hwcompare.com/14361/radeon-hd-5570-vs-radeon-hd-7790/

Behellagh.1468:

XFlyingBeeX.2836:

http://postimg.org/image/i1nqzivpj/

Under this setting it never falls under 28-29 FPS

also little of GPU bottleneck

Behellagh.1468
On max setting your iGPu is bottleneck…. but u have space to OC your CPU – 3,3-3,6Ghz

I wasn’t looking to improve, as I said I favor look over frame rate but thank you for your suggestion.

@sirsquishy – no need for such a utility since the CPUs stay at 2.5GHz while playing the game.

yes there is though. 2.5ghz is about 45% of what that CPU can do performance wise. If you use K10stat to Lock all the Cores at the Turbo Speed (you may have to play with the core voltage a little bit) you can get a 60%-80% Performance boost.

I have done this on 18 or so APU’s in the Llano and Trinity Platform(Both Desktop and laptop), and everyone of them showed the same results. 60%-80% increase in performance.

You cannot do this on the Bulldozer/Piledriver Platforms as they dont use the FM sockets, and the Chipsets dont allow for K10stat to interface with the multiplier/core Voltage with in your OS.

There’s no need because I’m not interested in improving my performance any. I wasn’t asking to improve my performance any. I was simply showing what my system is capable of.

Now if I had built this system so it had a descent heatsink, power supply, faster memory and better case cooling as well as a motherboard bios that allowed me to play with voltages with a MB chipset that wasn’t the bottom of the barrel then things may be different.