Guild Wars 2

hello! i have decided it is time to upgrade from my LG 755 x48 chipset motherboard combo to an up to date – i5 or i7 platform. this mainboard has served me well for the last 6 years and i plan to remake my current system as a median rig, how ever. I want to upgrade because my current system does not like and or does not handle mass wvw zerg fight’s, even at “best peformance” i manage to get 12 fps! it is very hard to see where the leader is and or going because of the random character (friendly/enemy swapping @ lowest model quantity setting). i am not too fussed about maxed out settings infact, i want to avoid that for wvw. but what i want is a good solid medium settings with a high frame rate. my budgest is at £600 max and all i need is mobo/cpu/ram combo. I have a gfx card that i am happy with in pve/dungeons. can any 1 suggest a good combo – mobo/cpu/ram (i prefer intel) please

many thanks

An i7 brings nothing in terms of performance for GW2 so if you don’t have use for it outside the game I suggest looking at i5’s. Do you have any preference in the mobo manufacturer?

Ideally you want maybe $150-200 motherboard with a Z-series chipset, K-series CPU (4670K/3570K) and a CPU cooler if you wish to overclock. If you don’t, H-series motherboard and non-K CPU is enough, but it translates directly into fps in WvW.

Lastly, the RAM isn’t much of an issue, Crucial Ballistix 2×4 GB or 1×8 GB 1600 MHz will do fine.

Remember to check compable chipsets and CPUs, like Z77 with 3570K, z87 with 4670K.

hey, thanks for the reply! no, i don’t really care on what the manufacturer is at all.
i have been browzing some online pc shops and i came across this -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-000-OG&groupid=43&catid=2512&subcat=2513

if i was to go down this root (its pre over clocked) will i need to invest in a better cpu fan too ?

I have that exact motherboard and I’m happy with it. I wouldn’t pay for 4.2 Overclock though since it’s literally pressing 3 buttons in BIOS. there is a better cooler than the stock Intel in that setup but I don’t know if that one is its moneys worth (I’m not saying it isn’t). Looks like it can be upgraded to H100i at will, at least that one has a good reputation. I suggest looking at the same parts elsewhere as well if you can find them cheaper, if not, that’s a very good option

Do note that any upgrade will still only net u ~25 fps in big zergs.

really? i hear people hitting 40+ fps close to being maxed out in zerg fights. i am not going to bother to spend £400 for only a few fps gain if that is the case then

Which LGA 775 CPU are you getting close to 25 with? With my Q6600 I got 7 fps in a situation where I now get 20-25 fps with my i5-4670K

this is my cpu – http://imageshack.com/a/img69/4793/jxa9.png i hope this link works

Figured it must be one of the best socket 775 CPUs. Well, on paper 4670K is 87% faster at stock speeds so that’s the increase you’d be looking at in the minimum fps.

sounds good to me i was thinking of going down the core 2 extreme root but not if they are that high priced. i built this system a very long time ago and i dont really want to just replace it

Yeah, that’s pretty much how the pc gaming is, you end up with a lot of useless parts. Of course you can resell them, for some reason there are always people needing some older tech, maybe for test purposes. I don’t know how much Those Core 2 Extremes go for atm, but the increase from the best of them is only 13% from yours, but 4670K+mobo+DDR3 RAM will cost you $400 and up depending on which mobo and RAM you choose.

I see. so yeah, i will look into an upgrade later depending on what deals come up. I may just use this old rig as a mdeia system it cost me too much just to throw it away on ebay and it has been 1 of the most stable systems i have seen (not the fastest)

Z87+i5-4670K+after market Cooler (Water or Air, doesn’t REALLY matter until you push more OC then 4.6ghz).

That is the BEST cpu/mb combo for GW2. Anything else gains you nothing else in benefit. You can pay more for the i7-Haswell-K series CPU, if you need HT. But it will not perform any better for GW2 then the i5 at OC speeds. Since the i5-4670K can overclock well, I dont even consider giving the Extreme series (1366 socket) CPUs as advice anymore.

I can push my 4670K to 4.6ghz at 1.225v and it will settle at 75c’s, under Prime95 Load, on my cooler master hex-heatpipe cooler(now sitting on my i3-2120). With my H100i clocked at 4.9(boost to 5.1) at 1.325v it will sit at 72c, again using Prime95. You have to delid to push more then 4.6ghz and be stable, voids warranty and I dont recommend it unless you NEED that 5.0ghz+ OC.

But I do recommend playing the silicon Lottery, buying 3~ 4670k’s (or one a time and RMA’ing until you can pass the 4.6Ghz Boot Test) and testing them out of the box at 4.6ghz at 1.2v. If you can boot into windows you can work with it. If you cannot, return the CPU as the Silicon that the die is set in is faulty for Overclocking and will fail at 4.6ghz~. Just cause it boots into windows at 4.6ghz at 1.2v does not mean its stable. Just that its an above average chip, and should be considered for an overclockable rig. If you notice I said mines set at 1.225v at 4.6Ghz. This is my 5th chip, the other 4 I went through would not clock at 4.6 below 1.30v and that was not good enough for my overclocking ‘wants’. (just a simple RMA process, nothing actually failed)