Guild Wars 2

Hello, fellow players!

A recent turn of events has left me in need of purchase of a new PC! So of course, I threw myself on the internet to do some research / figure out what I’ll get, only to realize that I’m technologically illiterate.

All these numbers and versions and what not, I can’t make sense out of any of it, so I come begging for help!

The heaviest thing I need a PC for is Guild Wars 2. Everything else I do on the PC only requires a little bit of ram. Most of it I can do on my tablet, while being a lazy kitten and staying in bed.

So without further ado; I need:

Budget: 800~900 EU / 900~1000 USD, but I wouldn’t cry if it was in the 700~800 EU range if it can do the job just as well/slightly worse.
I don’t need the monitor, mouse, keyboard, a DVD drive, Windows, or a big HDD (a small SSD just for my windows would do, I can use my old hard drive for everything else) but I do need a case and extra cooling fan(s) (It gets very hot where I live)

-A PC that will run Guild Wars 2 the best it can at given price
-Intel over AMD?

And that’s it? I think that’s it.

I’ll be looking forward to your replies!
~Jazz

Intel is the better choice performance wise due to it’s higher core performance over AMD’s current offerings. Even if you take into account the game performs better with more than two cores, AMD’s cores are weak and the only advantage AMD has is more cores, which only matters if your game can use all those cores which GW2 doesn’t. And I’m talking real cores here. i3 CPUs are two cores with hyperthreading which is a way to squeeze some additional performance out of those two cores by faking to the OS that it has four cores.

Unlike the Battlefield/Metro/Call of Duty style games, GW2 is still more affected by CPU performance than graphics card. You will see improvement with a faster video card but at times when the game’s frame rate really bogs down, it’s due to CPU performance and not the graphics card.

This is a rough build list, yes it’s up there in price.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F2mKVn

Basically top end Intel quad core with 3rd party cooler and an Asus Z97 motherboard with latest USB version. This combo will allow overclocking of the CPU.

16 GB of DDR3-1866 Cas 9 memory. Why 16 GB? Because the switch to DDR4 is coming within six months and if the pattern holds, the price of DDR3 will rise as more production is devoted to DDR4. So get it while it’s cheap. But if you want to drop it to 8 GB that’s fine too.

GTX 960 is half the performance of a GTX 980 Ti at 1/3rd the price. And as I said earlier, when the game bogs down, it’s not because of a complicated graphics being rendered but the CPU getting bogged down.

The case comes with 2×140mm front and 120 mm rear fan with spots for up to 5 more fans (2 bottom and 3 top). The PSU is a semi-modular 650 watt 80+ Gold Seasonic.

The SSD is the popular 250GB Samsung 850 EVO.

I’m sure while I was researching this others have chimed in so this is just one opinion and one suggested list of parts.

Thank you for the explanation! It helps out a lot!

Also thank you for taking the time to make the build!

Jazz.1870:

I do need a case and extra cooling fan(s) (It gets very hot where I live)

How hot?

data.4093:

How hot?

35°C +, my room is small and the warmest spot in the house too. No AC!

Jazz.1870:

data.4093:

How hot?

35°C +, my room is small and the warmest spot in the house too. No AC!

The only thing I’m really looking at is the case/psu because of your heat problem. You can’t spare room for excess heat. Seasonic is known for their quality products and the PSU seems fine, according to the product page it spins based on temperature(not load) so it should keep itself in check. Just make sure to face the PSU down and draw air from outside the case.

The case is a bit different.
1. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/obsidian-series-450d-mid-tower-pc-case
2. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-fan-af140l-1000-rpm-67-43-cfm-140mm-x-25mm-single
3. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/air-series-af140-quiet-edition-high-airflow-140mm-fan
4. http://www.overclock.net/t/1404897/official-corsair-carbide-air-540-owners-club-gallery/470

Link 1 is to the case, 2 is the fans contained inside the case, 3 is the fan model the case fans are based on and link 4 is a thread with some info. The problem is the case fans are based on the AF 140 quiet editions yet the 140 quiets spin 15% faster, cost 3x as much yet corsair claims they push the same amount of air(which isn’t true). The fans that come with the case are cheap sleeve fans that are set at low RPM to keep the noise down and they won’t push much air. Another problem is that you can’t fit a fan in the bottom slot of the case(the middle slot), companies claim there’s enough room but there never is once the PSU is installed. You can stick the SSD on the case’s back panel(see photos on the product page) and remove the HDD cage to fit 1 fan in the first bottom slot. That’ll leave you 3 intake fans if you choose to fill all 3, but I’m going to assume you use 2.

Buy something decent for these front intake slots like jetflo 120s or corsair sp120 performance. They will be loud but push air. The exhaust fans don’t have to be these same fans but if you choose to stick 2 on exhaust it should be fine.

To sum up, pick a good fan(like a jetflo120), get 2 of them and stick them on the front. Then you can make a choice of buying 2 more of these fans, sticking 1 on top and 1 on the back OR take the 3 case fans and stick 2 on top, 1 on the back. Bear in mind that sleeve fans(the ones with the case) don’t always work so great in horizontal positions.

But still, each front fan move 67.4 cubic feet of air per minute. The case only has a volume of roughly 1.8 cubic feet. That’s roughly 74 exchanges per minute, over 1 per second.

And yes, the 2nd fan on the bottom is unlikely due to the cabling coming out of the PSU, modular or otherwise. The 1st fan would be only slightly effective since the drive cage is above it and the first full drive will block airflow. Fortunately the lower front fan is blowing air across the drive cage for cooling.

You could always go odd with a case like this.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/carbide-series-air-540-silver-edition-high-airflow-atx-cube-case

I just dislike vertical DVD mounts. But it does provide a very clean airflow path across the motherboard. And nobody seems to like the silver version so it’s cheaper online than the other variants.

Behellagh.1468:

But still, each front fan move 67.4 cubic feet of air per minute. The case only has a volume of roughly 1.8 cubic feet. That’s roughly 74 exchanges per minute, over 1 per second.

Nah, those fan specs are a lie. The issue is that the heat needs to be dispersed immediately from the GPU and CPU and anything that pushes air further into the case(more CFM and higher static pressure) will produce better results. Normally he’d be fine with 2 regular fans because cases only have 1-2 cubic feet but his situation calls for something that can always generate air from outside onto the 2 hottest parts.

And yes, the 2nd fan on the bottom is unlikely due to the cabling coming out of the PSU, modular or otherwise. The 1st fan would be only slightly effective since the drive cage is above it and the first full drive will block airflow. Fortunately the lower front fan is blowing air across the drive cage for cooling.

He can remove the HDD cages for better airflow if he needs it. An SSD can be placed on the back panel.

You could always go odd with a case like this.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/carbide-series-air-540-silver-edition-high-airflow-atx-cube-case

I just went with what was picked out. There are so many cases you can look all day and not pick one.

Thank you guys, your help is invaluable!