Guild Wars 2

Since latest patch, my computer is overheating while GW2 is open.

Even at minimum settings and the game in windowed mode and set tot the tiniest possible size, the GPU is overheating to 110 degrees C and above. This causes my GPU to shut down and the game to drop to less than 1FPS until the thing cools down sufficiently.

Up until now I could run the game at half decent settings, the GPU would get hot but not this hot. Now playing is completely impossible as the overheating occurs every 10 minutes and forces me to stop playing for at least 3 min until things cool down.

System: Asus G50VT-A1 gaming notebook
CPU: T9400 dual core
GPU: Geforce 9800M GS 512MB
Driver: 8.17.0013.0142
OS: Windows Vista 64-bit

Fans are cleaned of dust regularly.

Yup Almost identical thing for me. Except I caught the high temp and shut the game down before anything blew up.

With the game on. Lowest video settings for everything. It got to about 93 degrees C before I noticed it. It never got above 80 C yesterday. Ambient temp is about the same as yesterday. Shut the game down. Everything cooled to normal in a minute or so.

I have a program that monitors GPU temp. I don’t have anything to monitor CPU temp. I cringe when I think what it might be doing to my processor.

3.16 Ghz dual core CPU
8800GT videocard
Vista 32 bit

This is an awesome app for monitoring temps and other things:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

You guys may need to open your systems and make sure there is no dust or gunk around your processors, fans, or heat sinks. Give them a good cleaning just to be safe.

Kyllaa.1385:

This is an awesome app for monitoring temps and other things:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

You guys may need to open your systems and make sure there is no dust or gunk around your processors, fans, or heat sinks. Give them a good cleaning just to be safe.

Good advice, but everything is 100% fine and dandy inside the case. And the problem is isolated to GW2.

I’m also having this issue since the patch, https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Performance-Gutted-since-Aug-6th-Patch/first#post2568124

My card has the Windforce cooler on it and I have taken great pains to ensure the inside of my case is spotless, the cables are well tidied and my airflow is good. Normally my gpu is one of the coolest around. =/

have your graphics settings been reset by the patch? I’d check them again….

Graphics settings seemed to be dropped to bare minimum with this patch, but that should GIVE an fps increase, not diminish it.

Could always try deleting the local.dat file (my documents/guild wars 2), then reload. This will clear all saved settings.

Kyllaa.1385:

You guys may need to open your systems and make sure there is no dust or gunk around your processors, fans, or heat sinks. Give them a good cleaning just to be safe.

Why would that suddenly matter if it wasn’t the case before?

I had some sort of critical GPU crash after the patch, which could be related to overheating. I’ve recently completely scrubbed all dust from the inside (even removed the cpu/gpu fans/heatsinks and reapplied thermal paste).

It has to be the patch.

You really need to search the forums about overheating issues befor starting a new thread. I myself, and other tech savy peeps have pointed out time and time again.

Software, with the exception of fan speed profile and voltage software, can not cause your system to overheat unless their is an already pressent hardware cooling issue

Your ether:
A) using a laptop not rated to be run at high loads.
2) using a known hot running piece of hardware with inadequat cooling.
C) have inadequate cooling overall
4) have dirty heatsinks.
E) have slow fan speeds/not working fans
6) using a peice of hardware with gone of TIM.
G) have improperly applied TIM
8) have a faulty peice of hardware that should be replaced/RMA’d.

im sure iv missed somthing, but point is. its hardware related in all casses exculding voltage and fan speeds, which can be altered via dedicated software. GW2 cannot directly alter fan speeds or voltages any more so than any other game.

SolarNova,

Your post is extremely unhelpful. Do not disrespect the facts that are being reported to you by the original poster. GW2 cannot alter fan speeds, but it can place greater demands on the hardware than it did before.

Yesterday running dungeons, GW2 ran fine…

Today after patch my CPU over heats to 71C and turns off.

Just going from idle 30C – login into GW2 standing around doing nothing it jumped 30C in less than 2 minutes. Then when I do Pavillion events, it goes over 70C.

I am betting it is something to do with GW2’s patch seeing everything worked fine yesterday.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Framerate-halved-by-8-6-patch/first#post2573307

So guys, it’s apparent anet made some tweaks or “optimisations” with this patch. It’s obviously more memory intensive, so it’s possible they are trying to distribute the load a little more evenly between the CPU & GPU. I personally did not verify CPU usage while running the client today, nor did I test my temps, but my client was running fine after I fixed my settings post-patch. I could be absolutely wrong too.

Also remember, there are A LOT of people playing this patch and A TON of things going on within the pavilion with a huge amount of effects in one instance with that many people, it’s going to be a tad sluggish.

Btw, do any of you have the LOD setting enabled?

Chaba.5410:

SolarNova,

Your post is extremely unhelpful. Do not disrespect the facts that are being reported to you by the original poster. GW2 cannot alter fan speeds, but it can place greater demands on the hardware than it did before.

8 points listed in my post aswell as bolded statements, all in regards to overheating and what could be the route culprit.

Unhelpfull ?

Unhelpful. Occam’s Razor would agree. That isn’t to say there couldn’t be underlying hardware issues or to have a debate over how software can overheat hardware, only to say that it is not coincidental that so many people suddenly flood these forums with the same issue after the patch. It is extremely frustrating to install a patch and suddenly experience these issues only to be told by some person on the Internet that it is a hardware issue.

There is nothing to discuss. Its fact, a game cannot suddenly MAKE hardware overheat. It can put on higher loads in different ways to different parts of the, in this case, GPU. BUT the game is not the route cause.
If your overheating whilst playing GW2, you honestly should be thanking GW2 for letting you know you have an issue, otherwise it could go unnoticed for long periods.

So in this example the GPU went to 110c, and it was only noticed becouse it shut down, which only happens at extreme temps.
Now say another game comes along and puts a high load on it, not as much as GW2 but still a high load, and the GPU runs constantly at 95c. It doesnt shut down, so you go obliviose of the heat …thats not good for the GPU and will shorten its lifespan.

Why is there so many people flooding the ofrums with the issue?. The same reason the same questions get asked again and again when it comes to computers.
Things like “will this run GW2?” , “is X a good component?” , “what settings should i was?” , " why is my FPS so low in WvW?" (this one is usualy incorrectly worded as “why and i laging in wvw?” .

The reason for all these questions is simply lack of knowledge about computers and how they work. Same goes for this issue, many people buy prebuilt, or use stock items that come with purchases, or simply only know the absolute basics about putting a rig together, they dont know that stock coolers suck, that laptops, unless they cost megabucks, will likely run hot and overheat, that certain generations of CPU and GPU run hotter than others etc etc.

A perfectly setup and running PC will not overheat no matter the program its running.
There are certain bench/stress programs that push things to the limit, but they are designed to do so and the user is expected to have configured their rig accordingly.
A ‘proper’ gaming laptop will run hot but not dangerosly so.

Do feel free to remain ignorant about this though, its no skin of my nose.

note: no insult is intended in any of my posts here

I agree with your post Solar. You try to explain those things but people would rather blame a game (easy) than figure out what is going wrong on their system (hard). I believe I posted a lighter version of what you just wrote on another thread, but with so many peeps flooding the forums with the same issues and never searching or skimming through the first 3 pages, they never see it, so I get tired of trying to post the same thing over and over. I’m just trying to help, but many choose to not agree or ignore.

I think your post sums it up quite well!

FYI, I play on a …. Mac laptop… I know this is stressing my system, but I also keep it well maintained and know my limitations and monitor my temps and such. I haven’t had any issues with this patch… Other than the " why the kitty does this look so ugly?!?!? Oh, they reset my settings." Issue just after update.

“So in this example the GPU went to 110c, and it was only noticed becouse it shut down, which only happens at extreme temps.
Now say another game comes along and puts a high load on it, not as much as GW2 but still a high load, and the GPU runs constantly at 95c. "

Impossible though!, you say as software cannot cause hardware to overheat. No, not at ALL! </sarcasm>

I’ll stop wasting my time with condescending people who automatically assume they know more about computers than the person they are responding to. Good day, sir.

SolarNova.1052 IS absolutely correct. It is (or should be) designed to run at FULL loads for indefinite periods of time – that means 100% loads on all CPU cores and 100% load on the GPU, as well as other components.

Laptops can do this IF properly designed (I’m looking at you HP); but they tend to build up dust much quicker than desktops (smaller area and less airflow). When using any laptop (especially for gaming) you should be using a laptop cooler. There are many out there.

Think about it…wouldn’t it be kinda’ stupid to design a piece of electronic hardware that couldn’t be operated by certain types of software without overheating?

Edited to add: I have been an electronics and computer technician for over 30 years (yes, I am that old).

Another great post explaining things.

As a computer technician for 30 years, you have an understanding that one of the first questions you ask is “What changed?”. When it is the game alone that has changed, especially when there are changes to how the game deals with graphics, the typical canned technical support responses cannot be taken seriously.

And why the talk about HP laptops? The OP said he has an ASUS gaming laptop and cleans his fans regularly. Somehow the reported facts are being ignored.

I think your missing what we are saying.

Nothing has changed to the fault. The fault being a hardware cooling issue.
The game has just changed to a point where it demands more thus showing up said hardware cooling fault. The issue was always there, its just now being shown up.

And as for ‘Asus gaming laptop’ ..unfortunatly alot of vendors and manufacturers are slaping the ‘gaming’ sticker on their laptops and PC, and yet they run low spec, or poorley designed systems. laptops are a stickler for this.
A proper gaming laptop that is modern and up to date will cost around $1500 or more. If the ‘gaming laptop’ is within 2 years old(tech wise) and cost less than $1000 or is mroe than 2 years old and wasnt bleeding edge when it was purchased, it most deffianlty is not a gaming laptop becouse chances are the specs are not high enough and/or the design of the laptop chassis has poor airflow which doesnt allow extended gaming sessions.

The gaming laptop in question uses an old 9800m(good 5 years back) and a dual core CPU, that thing is going to be running itself ragged trying to play modern games. I know, i have a simalar one myself,(Acer Aspire 6935G) i use it for browsing and watching movies nowerdays. It is also a Intel Dual core but has a 9600m GS. It cost somthing like £600 when i got it years back, its was not then , and is not now, a proper gaming laptop.

Chaba.5410:

As a computer technician for 30 years, you have an understanding that one of the first questions you ask is “What changed?”. When it is the game alone that has changed, especially when there are changes to how the game deals with graphics, the typical canned technical support responses cannot be taken seriously.

And why the talk about HP laptops? The OP said he has an ASUS gaming laptop and cleans his fans regularly. Somehow the reported facts are being ignored.

My point regarding HP laptops is that many of them (at least in the past) were poorly designed, resulting in overheating and failing GPUs.

Of course one question I ask is “what has changed?”, but I never assume that that is the only thing related to the problem. In fact, it would be poor troubleshooting practice to do so. The nature of electronics is such that things can change without (apparent) reason. Just because an electronic device worked properly yesterday, doesn’t mean that it won’t fail today or even six months from now.

I said before, if hardware can’t run at 100% loads for any reason without overheating – it is either improperly designed OR malfunctioning.

Obviously, I’m not referring to programs that are intended to modify hardware settings in such a way that could cause overheating (such as EVGA Precision or MSI Afterburner). That is a design decision made by the hardware manufacturer and they are aware that changing certain settings can be risky. They didn’t even have to make those settings changeable. That, of course, is by design.

Speaking of the Asus laptop in question – how exactly are the fans being cleaned? I’m curious because most laptops need to be completely dissassembled to do that properly.

Edit: Lol thanks Kyllaa.

What most people don’t realize is the change that happened from Windows XP and now(Vista/7/8). Several layers were added to protect the kernel and the hardware. An application like GW2 cannot directly access hardware. This was first seen when Vista was released and numerous vendors were scrambling to write new drivers.

Since GW2 cannot directly effect the hardware; what has changed? Why is it more taxing on your GPU? Are they taking advantage of a feature that wasn’t used before? Is this causing a fault in the hardware or how the current drivers interact with the card?

The OP has a G50VT, which is an older laptop. 2009ish? I had G50VT from best buy. The hardware is pretty good; but the cooling is awful. I always had to play with a cooling mat. The system vents out the side, under the left hand with a fan that is way to underpowered.

An overheating piece of kit is one thing. Getting horrible FPS after a build is another.

SolarNova,

As you have continued to miss the point I am making. Look at the second post in this thread. That guy been running at 80C normally and after patch his system is running way hotter. Generic responses skip over such posts. Say, hey, wait a minute, you’ve checked all the normal things to check and you’re still getting lower fps and overheating. Hrm, must be something with the patch.

Chana, you realise that one of the most common causes of low FPS is overheating, right?

I also did not skip over crucial parts (fans cleaned regularly, etc), I just repeated them for the 2nd post as a good reminder and posted something he could use to monitor his CPU as well.

No one else is missing anything, if a game is taxing a system more, that system WILL generate more heat. Now if the system can’t keep up with that due to poor ventilation, dust accumulation, faulty or failing hardware (could be PSU, fans, vid cards, etc), there IS a problem with the system, not the game or program causing the extra load.

As stated, they are designed to function at full load.

Yes Kyllaa.

I never argued against underlying cooling issues. I felt that what was being ignored was the fact that the patch caused a change to the load the game places on hardware. Maybe I can make this clearer with quotes from my post and Solar’s post.

Chaba original response: “GW2 cannot alter fan speeds, but it can place greater demands on the hardware than it did before.”

Solar in a later response to Chaba: “The game has just changed to a point where it demands more thus showing up said hardware cooling fault.”

The point being made is, it’s not the games fault that the system can’t keep up. Which is exactly what everyone has been saying all along, it’s on the user end where the fault lies.

Okay, I’m out now lol.

rolls eyes

That’s right users. It is your fault that the game places greater demand on your hardware.

Irrelevant.

If hardware can’t handle 100% usage, it isn’t the game’s fault.

Acer V3-571G
Intel core i7 3632qM 2.2GHz with turbo boos 3.2 GHz
NVIDIA geforce GT 730M 4gb dedicated VRAM
8GB DDR3 memory
have the sam problem since last patch…
i use to have 45 fps now i have on 13-16fps

abomally.2694:

Speaking of the Asus laptop in question – how exactly are the fans being cleaned? I’m curious because most laptops need to be completely dissassembled to do that properly.

I completely disassemble it roughly every 6 months or whenever I think it is needed, to clean out the dust inside. I’ve been working in tech support in a computer store for years, you know…

And I also replaced the fan earlier this year. Old laptop yes. Fans get old. Better replace them in time so you won’t get cooling issues.

Anyway, I don’t want to join in the kitten waving about who knows more about computers. Let’s just stick to the facts:

• All other games and applications (GTA4 at mid-high settings and Skyrim at max settings at 1680×1050, for example) still run fine, even if they strain GPU to close to 100% on occasion.
• Guild Wars 2 was running OK before the recent patch at 1680×1050 and mid-low settings.
• Guild Wars 2 is not running well after the last patch. It causes heat issues and performs terribly at lowest settings and 1182×766 windowed mode resolution.

The laptop is old yes, but the hardware is still half decent and can run plenty of other modern games. The question is still, should a relatively simple game like Guild Wars 2 load a GPU to 100% at all times during play, at such low settings and low resolution? I think the answer is no.

MSI Military Grade MOBO Flashed and Up To Date (yes..! there’s your problem! LOL)
AMD Phenom II x4 3.0GHz
8GB GSkill RipJaw RAM
AMD Radeon HD6570 2GB DDR3 DX11 capable
Running 6 Fans:
3- 80mm
3- 40mm
all clean and working
Optimal Running Temp (built-in HWM ~70C)
I ran on Med settings with Post Processing on Low BY CHOICE as I run other progs as well as GW2.
Since the patch I am now only able to run on Low, and have insane lag, FPS drop (60ish to a now stellar 10-12ish) and frequent disconnects that over 36hrs of ANet Tech Support testing- tells me is not from packet loss or the other issues they are looking for when this Error happens.
My case is cleaned regularly. I have no Pets. I do not Smoke. My cables are Tied Properly. Myself and my boyfriend have worked in the Computer Field collectively a very long time (and I’m ‘older’) and specifically in the role of ‘turning the screwdriver’ to fix other peoples PC’s and Servers.
I know how to clean a PC, and fix one.
I also know that by changing code, and placing a higher demand VISUALLY from an already Graphically Intensive Program -such as GW2- that it will cause a CPU and/or GPU to overheat.
Look at the PS3 and Skyrim. ’nuff said.

No one ever stated that GW2 was changing Fan Speeds or Voltage Settings. Not Once.

I can tell you these things were changed to back up this claim that they changed the way things were rendered:

I also play on my laptop.
During the first (most) part of Labyrinthine Cliffs- You used your Crystals at ‘jump’ points for the said crystal. Little Sun Bursts, Cloud Bursts, Lightning Bursts.
With my Laptop on LOW everything but Post Processing for the character highlight
I Did Not Ever Once See ANY Of Those ‘Bursts’ on the ground. EVER.
After the Candidate Trials patch, and NOT changing ANY setting on my laptop…
They were now there. I had to ask a friend. Imagine the stupid look on my face to learn they’d been there the whole time. No wonder I was so lost in Sanctum Sprint…
So YES- They DO make ‘improvements’ to the GRAPHICS of the game that must then be RENDERED by your CPU/GPU and thus
HEAT IS CREATED!!!
Wow…
Yes… Blah Blah TL;DR IDC.
It’s more than possible.
As Far as the Other Poster Above:
Yes, any System w a 32bit OS can only see and use up to 4GB of RAM anything more is wasted.
You’ll need a 64bit OS to utilize up to 32GB.
Also… Anyone that tells you that MS XP is a ‘Mid Range’ OS… You’ve been given false information. Microsoft has now completely Discontinued ALL Support for XP. No Updates, Nothing. It’s Obsolete. Whether it’s ’ Happy and Stable’ or not, it’s no longer viable.
Edit- No, my CPU isn’t running – (negative) Silly Buttons…

abomally.2694:

Irrelevant.

If hardware can’t handle 100% usage, it isn’t the game’s fault.

Irrelevant to the ORIGINAL point that software can place greater demands on hardware.

Chaba original response: “GW2 cannot alter fan speeds, but it can place greater demands on the hardware than it did before.”

Solar in a later response to Chaba: “The game has just changed to a point where it demands more thus showing up said hardware cooling fault.”

Experiencing same issues, with gtx 670, i can play games like Skyrim , bf3, planetside2 on max settings while getting 100% CPU usage without overheating (max temps 70 degrees), but when I’m playing Gw2 temps can go up to 83 degrees.

Chaba.5410:

abomally.2694:

Irrelevant.

If hardware can’t handle 100% usage, it isn’t the game’s fault.

Irrelevant to the ORIGINAL point that software can place greater demands on hardware.

What, exactly; is the point you are trying to make? Obviously, software can place a “greater” load on components that are operating below 100% and UP TO 100%.

I’m really not seeing what is so difficult to comprehend about this.

Well let’s start with this, if the game causes to get you high temps its either
a) Cooling related
b) Sloppy code

If the problem is narrowed to just one game which is Guild Wars 2 for normal user it would mean thakittens game fault and… partially they are right.

The thing is Anet adds to its problems rather then solve them, they are using DX 9 with god knows what instructions. At this point this game is code nightmare, got my i5-2500k cooled with Corsair H60 in Corsarid Carbide 400r case (dual 120mm front two 120mm on top to cool down mb) never seen a game to get CPU over 54 and then I met GW 2 and hit magic 68 degrees.
According to SolarNova I should be thankful because apparently i have cooling issues that glorious Guild Wars 2 discovered. Well Sir i will disagree, if the game uses as old libs as DX 9 its only sloppy code that is the root cause of the problem. Don’t play white knight for Anet, sorry but they are to blame for this. How come newer and more demanding games, even when there is a lot of things going on screen, are failing to get my CPU that high ?

Its easy to say oh You have cooling problem, which is like missing the mark by a mile. This game needs to get its code cleaned and instructions fixed, sorry but adding more bricks to the top of the wall doesn’t fix gaps in it, it only makes wall easier to collapse.

But Clumsy .. you do NOT have a cooling problem. 68 degrees at load is PERFECTLY fine for a Sandybridge 2500k.

My CPU at max load under a Prime test can hit 75-80c depending on the ambient, and thats with a air cooler and a 4.6ghz OC on a 6core 12 thread sandybridge CPU.
GW2 doesnt come close to fully utilising my CPU becouse of how many cores/threads its got, so heat is never a problem, it never gets close to the max temps i see in stress test environments.
Now if GW2 ‘could’ push my CPU to 80-100% load ,like a 2500k, then i might see temps closer to the max i see in stress programs…but it doesnt. And even if it did 75-80c is still perfectly acceptable, i specificaly tested my OC’s to stay within a safety margin, most people OC till their temps hit 85c on Intel sandy cpu’s, even then its still not 90c+ which is where things get a bit to toasty.

Now your H60 may not be as good as a NH-D14 air cooler, but still, 68 degrees is not an issue. So in ur case, u dont have a cooling issue, GW2 is just putting a greater load on ur cpu and thus the CPU’s heat output increases due to the extra work. This is not overheating, this is just increased work load and is nothing new to computer software-hardware realtions or anything to worry about.

Im deffinalty not a Anet white Knight, i have stated plenty of times in the past that GW2 has a crap game engine that cant use a CPU to its full potential (im talking i7’s and AMD 6core CPU’s and above) I have had to tell people that their rig wil likely not play GW2 well and thakittens not their fault, i have put the blame squarly on Anet’s choice of game engine. BUT in this case, its not Anet’s , or GW2’s fault.

If ur CPU / GPU is overheating, u have a cooling issue or hardware fault plain and simple.

Chaba.5410:

…
And why the talk about HP laptops? The OP said he has an ASUS gaming laptop and cleans his fans regularly. Somehow the reported facts are being ignored.

The facts aren’t being ignored. You’re drawing baseless conclusions. Branding something “gaming laptop” and regularily cleaning your fans and heatsink doesn’t convert a bad chasis/cooling system into a good one. Acer’s 3820TG is an example of good cooling and it doesn’t have gaming in the name. Asus’ G50VT is an example of awful cooling and is called gaming.

Shakkara.2641:

…
The laptop is old yes, but the hardware is still half decent and can run plenty of other modern games. The question is still, should a relatively simple game like Guild Wars 2 load a GPU to 100% at all times during play, at such low settings and low resolution? I think the answer is no.

But it’s okay if Crysis 2 loads it at 100% permanently? I guarantee the heat output of your 9800M GT will be the same with either game running. If you’re worried about it, that’s what the frame limiter is for. If you don’t like the frame limiter, underclock your hardware. Otherwise the game will run as fast as the slower of your CPU and GPU allows it.

tovadaun.6304:

…
I also know that by changing code, and placing a higher demand VISUALLY from an already Graphically Intensive Program -such as GW2- that it will cause a CPU and/or GPU to overheat.
Look at the PS3 and Skyrim. ’nuff said.
…

No, changing code to better utilize CPU (or GPU) power increases the usage and heat output of the GPU (or CPU). Overheating is a side effect of the heat coming into the system being greater than the heat going out. It’s not ANet’s fault that the user didn’t plan out their rig very well or the manufacturer didn’t provide adequate cooling (in the latter case it’s not directly the user’s fault either, but they’re on the recieving end of poor design).

On a side note; a single 140mm can most likely push more air than all six of your fans combined… I’d stronly suggest looking into a new case.

ClumsyPanda.6897:

Well let’s start with this, if the game causes to get you high temps its either
a) Cooling related
b) Sloppy code
…

So if I decide to use Heaven 4.0 to test GPU stability, while doing some x264 encoding in the background, and experimenting with Haswell’s AVX2 at the same time (just to be certain I’m using every bit of circuitry)… I can blame the temps on the sloppy code of any of those? I don’t think so. And I’m sure as hell certain that will drive temperatures a lot higher than just GW2 and your theory of DX9 being old and used with sloppy code the root cause of it.

As for other games, they don’t heat up your CPU as much because they aren’t loading it as hard (usage from waits != usage from ALU/FPU instructions, yet both count to total %).

SolarNova.1052:

…
If ur CPU / GPU is overheating, u have a cooling issue or hardware fault plain and simple.

TL;DR: ^this.