Guild Wars 2

Whenever I’ve tried to play GW2 in the past weeks, it has been laggy to the point where it’s unplayable. Before Christmas I upgraded my computer with a new motherboard, DDR4 RAM, new processor and Windows 8 and it worked fine for a few weeks, but then it suddenly started chopping a lot. I log in every day, and sometimes it’s fine for a couple of minutes, but never for more than that. Most of the time it’s horrible. My boyfriend has no issues playing GW2 on his computer, so it can’t have anything to do with our internet connection.

The FPS seems to go up and down. It’s mostly around 10, goes up to 20-60, and then straight down again.

What I’ve tried so far (to no avail)
- Setting graphics options to “best performance”
- Clean reinstall of Windows 8 (though there could be some driver issues because I’d upgraded from win 7 to 8 instead of clean install previously)
- Downgraded graphics card driver
- Reinstalled GW2
- Followed the directions in the stickied thread “[PC] FPS and Performance based issues”

GW2 is installed on a secondary hard drive, so when I uninstalled I just deleted the folder (installation was from before I reinstalled windows). Could there be some files left somewhere else that could cause issues?

Specs:
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro
Graphics card: AMD Radeon R9 280X
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K
Motherboard: MSI X99S GAMING 7
RAM: Crucial DDR4 2133MHz 16GB (4×4GB)

I have no issues playing other games, i.e. Civilization: Beyond Earth.

Attached DxDiag just in case.

it sounds like your GPU is not engaging at its full PCIE link speed. The first thing to do is open the case and make sure the GPU is in the PCIE slot closest to your CPU. Then download GPU-Z and make sure the bus width is at 16x v3 @ 16x v3 and not lower. If it is, you might want to reseat your video card.

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded GPU-Z, and when running the render test the Bus Interface shows PCI-E 3.0 x16 @ x16 3.0 so I guess that’s not the problem?

Make sure your gpu is in the slot closest to the cpu. (very important)

run the game in windowed mode and see what gpuz says while the game is running.

Use an oc software like precisionx/afterburner and change the power targets/clock speeds a bit higher

Try older drivers

Bump. Same issue.
AMD FX 6150 Processor
Graphics card: AMD Radeon R9 280X
Windows 7
Motherboard: GA-970A-DS3 (Socket M2)
Video card is in the closest slot to CPU
Speccy reports components running per spec
Temps running normal.
System’s been dusted.
Reinstalled vid card drives/chipset drives

Done a lot more as well that I can’t think of at the moment. Been talking to gw2 tech support via emails as well; so far we haven’t been able to figure it out. This computer before two weeks ago would run GW2 at max settings between 40-60 FPS, now on minimum settings I can’t get above 15.

What catches my eye is that we have the same vid card

Morgdane.3582:

Bump. Same issue.
AMD FX 6150 Processor
Graphics card: AMD Radeon R9 280X
Windows 7
Motherboard: GA-970A-DS3 (Socket M2)
Video card is in the closest slot to CPU
Speccy reports components running per spec
Temps running normal.
System’s been dusted.
Reinstalled vid card drives/chipset drives

Done a lot more as well that I can’t think of at the moment. Been talking to gw2 tech support via emails as well; so far we haven’t been able to figure it out. This computer before two weeks ago would run GW2 at max settings between 40-60 FPS, now on minimum settings I can’t get above 15.

Verify the PCIE link settings, like I told the OP.

Did that last night. Same result as posted by op

Morgdane.3582:

What catches my eye is that we have the same vid card

i5 4690k + R9 290 reporting here. Fresh newly build desktop in January. Safe temps, updated drivers, virus scanned, x16 slot, etc. GPU showing 100% usage and CPU seems locked in at 35% usage regardless of graphic setting. I will be doing a fresh Windows 8 install over the weekend and see what happens.

dodgycookies.4562:

Make sure your gpu is in the slot closest to the cpu. (very important)

run the game in windowed mode and see what gpuz says while the game is running.

Use an oc software like precisionx/afterburner and change the power targets/clock speeds a bit higher

Try older drivers

GPU is in the slot closest to the CPU. I have also tried other drivers for my video card. The latest drivers are also from way before I had any problems.

Morgdane.3582:

What catches my eye is that we have the same vid card

Same video card and problems started at around the same time. It certainly seems connected. :P

I have been having HUGE problems with actually, my connection. I have also done everything freaken thing in the world to fix it (and i mean EVERYTHING, short of replacing hardware in my comp, which is my next step). But i found connectivity problems. Do a IP pathping, and check it at your ISP level. Thats what i found to be a issue. Related? I’m not sure. But its an issue. Youy can find a related forum topic somewhere around here on how to do it. It should have a ArenaNet responce

Syviren.7086:

I have been having HUGE problems with actually, my connection. I have also done everything freaken thing in the world to fix it (and i mean EVERYTHING, short of replacing hardware in my comp, which is my next step). But i found connectivity problems. Do a IP pathping, and check it at your ISP level. Thats what i found to be a issue. Related? I’m not sure. But its an issue. Youy can find a related forum topic somewhere around here on how to do it. It should have a ArenaNet responce

Yours is a lag issues totally separate issue this issue is not related to Internet or connection

I also have the R9 280x and have 60 fps outside zergs, and 25-40 fps in zergs. So the GPU definitely isn’t the issue.

Fresh Windows 8.1 install. Before I installed any drivers or anything for that matter, the first thing I did was installed Guild Wars 2. I get the same exact performance as before, 20s in zergs, 30s in running around WvW. I get 20-25 just running around the center of Hoelbrak in the snow.

You can also try more things:
- Set gw2.exe priority to high and afinity to all cpu cores. Go to details in the task manager.
- In the Catalyst, create a system settings for gw2.exe. Put both Anti-aliasing and Texture filtering in “Use application settings”, Vertical refresh in “Always off”, and Tesselation in “AMD Optimized”.
- Create a shortcut of the gw2.exe and put -repair. You can find here (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments) how it is done.
- Create a shortcut of the gw2.exe and try these commands to see if they help (-forwardrenderer, -dx9single, -fps ⁶⁰). Try one by one.
- Clear CMOS and have the latest bios of your MB.

Seem to me I read somewhere that the R9 290 cards have issues something about the card using an older GPU processers and AMD over clocking them and calling it a new card and the card series is having a higher then normal failure rate. You all may want to look into this. Also there is a thread already about this issue, not sure if anyone came up with a solution but I think people were looking into getting their cards RMAed or refunded.

Ansau.7326:

You can also try more things:
- Set gw2.exe priority to high and afinity to all cpu cores. Go to details in the task manager.
- In the Catalyst, create a system settings for gw2.exe. Put both Anti-aliasing and Texture filtering in “Use application settings”, Vertical refresh in “Always off”, and Tesselation in “AMD Optimized”.
- Create a shortcut of the gw2.exe and put -repair. You can find here (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments) how it is done.
- Create a shortcut of the gw2.exe and try these commands to see if they help (-forwardrenderer, -dx9single, -fps ⁶⁰). Try one by one.
- Clear CMOS and have the latest bios of your MB.

Previously, I did:
- Full complete Windows 8.1 install (yes, legit and fully updated).
- Latest CPU/GPU drivers.
- Unparking cores.
- GPU set at x16 slot
- CPU and GPU well below throttling temps (Corsair H75 on CPU and H55 on GPU).
- Power Options set to High Performance.

I also did your suggestions:
- Priority set to high and affinity was already set to all cores.
- Catalyst already had those settings as default.
- Performed repair, no change.
- Updated BIOS, no change.
- Played with -umbra gpu, -forwardrenderer, -dx9single, no change (only -fordwardrender increased fps, but only because it made everything look like it was set to Best Performance).

Feirlista Xv.1425:

Seem to me I read somewhere that the R9 290 cards have issues something about the card using an older GPU processers and AMD over clocking them and calling it a new card

Good to know. Although I have i5 4690k + R9 290, I don’t think this is an issue with mine. I can run Crysis 3 and Farcry 4 on max settings no problem. The problem for me is that GW2 is pretty much locked at 35% CPU usage while GPU is 100%. That means even if I overclock, I will practically get 0 fps gain because of such low CPU usage (which I also tested).

I guess more research and testing tomorrow. Seems like nothing is working. There is definitely something holding back my CPU usage when playing GW2.

I should add that my FPS gets bad even if there is no other players around. It’s just as bad in the middle of Kessex Hills as by the bank in Divinity’s Reach. Also, a couple of days ago I managed to play for like 15 minutes in Dry Top with 60 FPS before it started lagging.

Feirlista Xv.1425:

Seem to me I read somewhere that the R9 290 cards have issues something about the card using an older GPU processers and AMD over clocking them and calling it a new card and the card series is having a higher then normal failure rate. You all may want to look into this. Also there is a thread already about this issue, not sure if anyone came up with a solution but I think people were looking into getting their cards RMAed or refunded.

I’ve also heard there has been issues with 290, but I haven’t heard anything like that about 280X, which is what I have.

Well, there’s no much left to try.
Test if older drivers present the same behaviour. And try to play the game in your hard disk, but in another pc with different hardware.

I have the i5 4690k (oc to 4.3GHz) and a r9 285 (also with an oc) tested with Omega, 14.9 and even beta drivers and it runs perfectly.

I’ve got a similar rig and im getting pretty smooth gaming experience @1440p with ultra setts in WvW. Make sure you are running latest bios for the mobo and your CPU is not downclocking itself.

Thanks for the help. GW2 is currently installed on a Samsung Evo 840 SSD. Apart from matching overclocks, probably the absolute last resort is to completely mimic all your settings down to the BIOS. Right now a lot of my BIOS settings are set to Auto (hyperthreading, etc). My brother has an AMD rig + HD79XX (forgot exact hardware) and he’s getting better fps with graphics on all high and texture set to super sample even.

My laptop has A8-3500m (Llano APU) + HD6750m and I can overclock the mofo to be just as smooth as my current desktop if I set both rigs to have Medium settings.

The quality of “low fps” is different. On my laptop, low fps means choppy, skipping frames, and camera rotation around my character is choppy during large WvW zergs. On the desktop, is feels like running through peanut butter. It’s still technically “smooth”, but everything feels sluggish and in slow motion. My camera rotation movement is laggy, as in I will flick my mouse, and camera movement will follow behind a few ms later, but in a very smooth fashion. It’s as if my camera is strapped to the mouse by a rubberband. In contrast, on my laptop the camera is pretty much locked exactly on the mouse position, if that makes any sense.