Guild Wars 2

I’m having a problem with guild wars 2 FPS on a new computer.

Desktop computer specs -

Windows 10
AMD 4300 Quad Core 3.8 Ghz
Nvidia GTX 960
16 GB Ram
FPS – 25 – 35 FPS (max!)

I can’t figure out why the FPS is so low. I’ve checked everything to fix low FPS -

-Checked Power settings on the computer
-Tried both 32 bit and 64 bit
-Made sure “run as administator” is checked
-Reinstalled 3 times
-I have the latest vid card drivers
-Ran a virus check
-Other MMOs (ESO, STO) have no FPS drop. Other games (Total War, Dota2) have no FPS issues either
-Lowering the graphics settings doesn’t help the 25-30 FPS on GW2
-When I use something like “Total Makeover Kit”, even selecting through different options in the window panel slows the game
-I checked the affinities, and every CPU core is being used when the game launches
-The game is open through the control panel firewall
-The game is slow in both Full Screen and Windowed mode
-The nvidia control panel doesn’t use any custom settings for gw2.exe. No other game has low FPS problems
-When I click “auto detect best graphics settings”, some settings are turned to low. In other MMOs, the auto detect will max out every setting.

My old desktop was an AMD 2.0 Ghz with GeForce 750, and it ran GW2 much better than this 3.80 Ghz, GeForce 960.

Any ideas how to fix this?

Here is the screenshot of the CPU cores being used during gameplay:
http://imgur.com/1JDEMRk

All 4 AMD CPUs are being utilized during gampley. I’m not sure if hardware is the problem here. Just changing compatibility to windows 7 seems to have boosted FPS

(Standing still, no characters on-screen) from 25 FPS to 40, but I still get choppy pauses doing simple stuff like selecting through options in the “Total Makeover Kit”.

I think this is a software problem between windows 10, AMD, and Gw2. I did not have this problem on windows 7, with a geforce 750, AMD

Well, the FX- series of CPUs aren’t all that much faster (you can’t compare clock speed across different CPU designs).

Run GPU-Z and post a screen shot while the game is running.

Try re-seating your graphics card.

Both replies are solid advice to the same culprit, GPU Bus Link Speed. It’s a rather common and tricky to pinpoint as to why Gw2 triggers it so hard.

Another suggestion: Judging by the size of your scroll bar on the Processes tab, I’m going to assume you have a ton of processes going. Both user and unneeded OS applications.

Look to trim that down if it’s much over 70. Black Viper is the place to go, but read carefully.

Some people have had issues with NVidia’s recent drivers. You may want to try some older versions.

its your cpu that cpu only has 2 virtual cores and 2 physical you need to upgrade the cput to at least the 8 core version

shastawong.3486:

its your cpu that cpu only has 2 virtual cores and 2 physical you need to upgrade the cput to at least the 8 core version

That’s an actual quad core. Getting an 8350 would be a waste of money though, if he were to upgrade getting even an i3 would be a way better move

I just saw the picture that the OP left behind in the 1st post.

I can see the utilization of the GPU is not at full capacity. In fact it’s not being utilized much at all. The CPU on the other hand is not 100%, but it is up there high actually. When reviewing the spec of the OP’s CPU, I can see that the performance versus other CPU cores out there on the market, is not impressive at all. It looks like the bottleneck is the CPU.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-4300+Quad-Core

But it’s a new computer. So replacing the parts now, would be um, not ideal at all. In fact, talking about his system not being good enough, could set in buyer’s remorse. The graphics card is fine by the way, no problems there; just the CPU sucks. Upside is, AMD hardware is usually cheap as chips, and the switch to Intel could be done, but that means spending some money. I suggest shopping second hand. But if you are buying a used Motherboard, I suggest the following. Make sure the CPU pins on the motherboard for mounting the CPU core, are not bent at all. This is really important!! If one is bent, the board may be completely useless, don’t buy. Ask why the person is no longer using the motherboard anymore. Use your brains here to determine if the person is being shady. Also if you find out how old the motherboard is, and even better if you could see the receipt of original purchase, even better. Before you settle on any particular motherboard, cpu, or ram, make sure the parts are compatible with each other, and make sure that the specs are descent enough. There is a good way of finding out if something will work with the games you want to play. Simply grab the name of the CPU, and youtube, or google. Reviewers will actually list how good the CPU performs versus certain titles, usually AAA games. This will give you a good idea on how the CPU will perform for what you want to do. Also to ensure the parts are compatible, easy to do by googling. But the simple way is, socket number on motherboard matches socket number for CPU. For ram, look up the motherboard’s manual and read at the section that says, supported RAM. If you are not sure, google or ask on a forum.

The performance the OP is getting is akin to a Athlon 5350 with no external GPU!

So the problem is not an under performing CPU it’s that the 3D abilities of the GPU are not being fully utilised – for example, might be running on 4 PCIe lanes rather than 16!

a) I would check that the motherboard you have uses all 16 lanes on it’s GPU PCIe 16 lane socket. Some don’t. Your other games mentioned may be happy with only 4 lanes.

b) Check if another Direct 9.0c game shows similar under-performance. If so, you have a driver problem, roll it back. The other games you mentioned are not Direct 9.0c.

c) Swap out your GPU for another.

d) Check the temperature of your GPU when the PC is idle – should be not far off the temp the motherboard reports.

FX4300 is not a true Quad core CPU, it only has 2 FPU units while having 4 Int units.

That is the main issue, as well as the inherent Latency found in the FX line.

OP made a poor choice on his CPU purchase, thats all there is to it.

sirsquishy.2619:

FX4300 is not a true Quad core CPU, it only has 2 FPU units while having 4 Int units.

That is the main issue, as well as the inherent Latency found in the FX line.

OP made a poor choice on his CPU purchase, thats all there is to it.

Pretty much. Even the really old original i7 920 beats the FX4300 in almost all aspects.

I have noticed others pointing out the Bus Link is showing 0% on your GPUZ. On tab 1 does your GPU show x16 @ x16 or is it x16 @ x8/x4/x1? If it is showing under x16, you will need to pull your GPU and reseat it.

On the other hand, the sad news is the entire Bulldozer family line have absolutely horrible single core performance. Even AMD called themselves out on it. As sirsquishy stated, the FX 4k series is not a true quad core, but rather 2 physical cores, each with 2 logic processors. In essence, an over-hyped dual core. My FX 6300 is the same and I pull about the same FPS with my build.

1st reply asked for that and they haven’t been willing to share so …

And yes the FX-4xxx series was designed to target the i3 series, being a CPU that can run 4 threads simultaneously but only has two FPUs. Sadly AMD marketing had other ideas.

thanks for all the responses. I ended up dropping another $100, and buying another CPU.

Now the FPS is where it needs to be. Just unfortunate Gw2 does not utilize system resources efficiently between directx 9, windows 10, AMD, and Geforce drivers.

Fhiladelphia.3945:

thanks for all the responses. I ended up dropping another $100, and buying another CPU.

Now the FPS is where it needs to be. Just unfortunate Gw2 does not utilize system resources efficiently between directx 9, windows 10, AMD, and Geforce drivers.

No, it’s because AMD’s current generation of CPUs are simply outmatched by Intel’s. AMD simply guessed wrong where computing was going in the near future.

Fhiladelphia.3945:

thanks for all the responses. I ended up dropping another $100, and buying another CPU.

Now the FPS is where it needs to be. Just unfortunate Gw2 does not utilize system resources efficiently between directx 9, windows 10, AMD, and Geforce drivers.

100~ for a 6300 (my guess as to your upgrade) isnt all that bad. however you are still very far behind the performance gap between AMD’s CPUs (2009 Technology) and Intel (2013-2016 Technology).

It really has nothing to do with Dx9, Win10 or Drivers.

http://techreport.com/review/26735/overclocking-intel-pentium-g3258-anniversary-edition-processor/3

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9532/the-intel-broadwell-xeon-e3-v4-review-95w-65w-35w-1285-1285l-1265/7