Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone. I’m running a Windows 7 Dell XPS with a Nvidia GeForce 540m Graphics Card. I also have an i7 processor 2620 CPU, 2.7 GHz, 6 GB RAM.

I run GW2 at every single low setting, and I still only get 5-15 fps maximum even in low population areas. The game is pretty much unplayable. I have followed everything in here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FPS-and-Performance-based-issues-1/first#post338300. Still no change. I tried increasing CPU/GPU usage using MSI Afterburner. No change.

However, I read somewhere that I should try unplugging everthing. I unplugged my power adapter and BOOM – shot up to 30-60 fps. The game was much more playable, but the battery drained very quickly.

I have the power savings set on “performance,” and the plugged in is allowed to use 100% at min/max. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong here; I just want to maximize FPS while plugged in so I don’t drain my battery immediately. Any suggestions? Any help at all is much appreciated!

Okay, 24 hour bump because I’m appalled no one has anything to say on this issue.

If it helps, I am running Game Booster too. Still no difference. Every setting is as low as possible. No difference. But again, when I unplug the power adapter, my fps double or triples.

Sometimes when I plug the adapter in, it says it cannot identify the AC Adapter Type; it does not drain battery, but it does not charge. I’m wondering if this has an effect on it. Whether or not I get this message seems to be random, or what plug I’m using. Should I get a replacement adapter? I’m thinking that’s the cause of the problem, but I fail to see why.

Again, any advice at all would be appreciated, and I would definitely like some form of response.

the 500m series of cards have technology (optimus I believe) which allows the laptop to switch between on board and the card, you might want to start of by making sure its not doing this as gaming on a laptop is sub par at best of times let alone it switching to onboard graphics.

Also try unplugging your battery before running from the mains, as long as the battery is in the power will go through that first to try and charge it even at 99.9% which will allow more power directly to your vital hardware, this could explain your jump in performance.

The technolofy may have changed since I last worked with it, so don’t take what ive said as 100% fact but its a starting point.

hope I was of assistance.

This is definitely a start; thank you Illumine Sparkler. Unfortunately my computer knowledge only goes so far; how would I go about checking to see if my laptop is switching between on-board/the card? Would it be under Nvidia options? I have the latest driver (~330 iirc), if that helps.

Also, I’m not quite sure what you mean by unplugging my AC adapter “before running from the mains.” Any elaboration on this? Regardless, thank you for a quick reply!

I don’t play from laptop so I have no idea about the optimus stuff myself, and I said unplug the battery take battery off the bottom of laptop and put it in a drawer or something before plugging the laptop in so power will go straight into the laptop.

That might be worth a try; the only issue is the error message I commonly get when I plug in the adapter: “The AC power adapter type cannot be determined. Your system will operate slower and battery will not charge.” This is my primary concern. It might not have to do with GW2 specifically, but I think it has to do with the game’s performance.

Trying going into nvidia control panel and checking that the ‘high performance nvidia processor’ is enabled.