Guild Wars 2

I may soon be upgrading a very old 2008 Dell XPS with ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics card tower to a Dell Precision with Nvidia Quadro K1000M graphics card laptop (docking, so can be run as a tower as well). My concern is that the only benchmark I’ve been able to find regarding the new system’s graphics card (Quadro) says it runs extremely poorly for Guild Wars 2 (see: http://goo.gl/1KawAL ), and it says that it can’t even run this particular game much higher than 21 fps on low end (if I’m reading the article correctly).

I would pick an Nvidia GeForce card if it were an option, but it isn’t, so I didn’t know if someone could confirm for me whether or not GW2 would even feasibly run on this new laptop. Many other compare/contrast sites compare the Quadro to the Nvidia GeForce GT 630M, which shows it’s benchmark to run GW2 CONSIDERABLY better, however, I do believe it SHOULD run better than my current system (which still get’s a decent 20-60 fps on medium settings).

I apologize if this is in the wrong section. But I didn’t want a loved one to end up wasting a lot of money on a Christmas gift that they believe will be improving my gaming experience that potentially could make it worse!

EDIT

I should add that the new laptop’s CPU processor will be an Intel Core i7-3540M (Dual Core 3.00GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo, 4M cache, 35W), which I believe may be important as I’ve read that GW2 is one of those rare games where the processor can have just as much effect on game performance as the graphics card can.

Also, alternatively, the same Precision Laptop can have an AMD FirePro M4000 GPU. Shows to have similar benchmark results.

The Quadro and FirePro cards are for workstations and the like, they are not gamer cards, and are in no way made to play games with, from how the card is made down to the drivers, it is optimized for a completely different working environment than a main stream card. This is why, even though the card might have the same GPU core as a main stream card, it does not perform the same in games, however, throw some CAD, rendering etc work at it, and it will bash the main stream card into the ground.

Only workstation card I’ve seen that is any good in games is the AMD FirePro cards based on the GCN architecture. They’re so good, they might as well be called the hybrid GPU. W9000 FirePro follows closely behind a 7970 GHz Edition.
However for Nvidia, Quadro eats dirt for gaming. Quadro is just for workstation.

So if my only options right now (literally, these are the ONLY options) are the Quadro or the FirePro, I should lean towards the FirePro? The only graphics heavy workload this workstation is going to be handling is gaming, nothing CAD. That wouldn’t be so bad either, as it costs more to upgrade to the Quadro.

I’m going to be checking with someone at Dell to see if there is a GPU kit that I can purchase and swap out later on that will still work with the system.

Save ur money, buying a workstation laptop for gaming is just a baaaad idea all around.

^ A good gaming laptop that can sustain the game, or a desktop.

I ran gw2 on an i5 with a quadro 3000m for a year. It could sustain ~55 FPS with medium settings and I didn’t notice performance hits in large-scale wvw fights. The quadros are largely based off of the mainstream cards, but with more memory, a few hardware differences, and software optimization for CAD. The 3000m’s architecture was similar to the 540m’s. However, the quadros will run the normal NVidia gaming drivers. Then again, the K1000M has very low memory bandwidth, so I wouldn’t expect performance near the 3000m.

But if I had a choice, I would never buy a machine with one of these cards for non-design work. OEM quadros are more than twice as expensive as the regular consumer counterparts.

I’ve only heard of the Fermi based cards doing good.

I’ll redirect them to an Alienware then. They happen to work for Dell and wanted to use their employee discount to get me one of their more powerful computers. The Precision is a frigging beast in every aspect EXCEPT its GPU, having high end powerful options for RAM, Processor, etc (also one of their few legitimately dock-able laptops). Sadly no game optimized GPU as an option.

Dell own AlienWare, u may still be able to get a discount.

I know, that’s why I’m redirecting them to Alienware.

zechsword.1946:

I know, that’s why I’m redirecting them to Alienware.

What is your price point?

While I agree that FireGL and Quadro cards are specifically for CAD like applications, if you can get in a precision workstation for a good price I would take that above other options.

Right now, the best Precision workstation for the price is the M6700. It lists at 2400, and has a discount of about 670 on it (You can get it for about 1500). Comes with a Quadro K5000, which is close in performance to the Nvidia 680 GTX, 3rd Gen I7 and can take 32GB of ram. I ordered 6 of them for work a couple months back and had the chance to Test Gw2, Diablo3, and a few other games on them. And for the price (at the time) it was well worth it, IF you needed the optimizations that the quadro brings to the table.

otherwise, stick to alienware. It will be cheaper then the Precision. and most of the XPS builds are as sturdy as the Precision.

I have used Dell Precision workstations since 2000 and I have yet to have even my oldest one fail on me. Used to Play Everquest on my M50 with a Nvidia Quadro 700GL(Ti4200), then used my M70 with a FX1400 to play WoW….ect.

But, They are good machines and last a good 4-6 years before needing an upgrade to keep up with newer games.

@sirsquishy.8531

The Precision we were looking at was the M4700 or M4800 series, that the most you can get for the GPU I believe is the Quadro k1000M or close to it (the AMDs are only 1GB, whereas the Nvidias are 2GB).

The Precision itself is a VERY powerful piece of equipment, but the GPU is the only thing lacking. My concern most is that the Quadro GPU uses DirectX11.1 drivers, and I’m worried that GW2 will not run on this driver.

We were avoiding the 6800 (6700 is no longer available outright), is due to the massive screen size, and wanted a more portable system that can also dock for monitor use.

So further inspection: the NVIDIA Quadro k1000M GPU is DirectX 11.1 compatible. I guess the real question now is, will GW2 run on DirectX 11.1?

Yes it will as The game is coded in direct x9 so a 11.1 card should run it