Guild Wars 2

I was told the GW2 Client runs as a 32-bit executable. So for as long as I recall, it did not surpass a 1.8GB RAM usage.

But for the past three weeks, it’s been inexplicably tapping into as much as 3GB RAM, taxing my CPU cores excessively which causes its fans to go haywire. Framerates sometimes drop from steady 60 to 30 inexplicably. Temperature rose from near idle temps during regular gameplay to +20 – nothing alarming but weird.

I cleaned my PC’s case, cleaned the fans, checked everything, ran a -repair on the client but the problem persists.

Any suggestions on what causes it, or how to fix this?
I don’t like it when my fans pretend they’re a Ferrari.

My PC’s specs:
OS = Windows 7, 64-bit
CPU = Intel i7-4970 @3.6GHz
GPU = AMD Radeon 6850 HD @1GB vRAM
8GB RAM

I play the game on Low/Medium settings to tax my old GPU to a minimum. Framerate locked to 60.

That is strange behavior.
You’re using Windows Resource Monitor to view the RAM usage?

Just loaded up to do some testing and the highest I could push the RAM usage was at the crafting station in LA. Used a little over 1.8gb. Tried various things for over half an hour and still 1.8gb was the highest usage and that’s with most settings on high.

Also, your GPU is up to the task of running GW2 on a mix of High/Ultra. The most crippling part of your GPU is the 1GB vRAM but GW2 uses very little vRAM. I’ve never seen it go over 900mb on my r7 260x 2gb. Gw2 is much more reliant on a strong CPU, which you have.

Crank everything up to high besides

• Relfections- Terrain and Sky or None (I run None)
• Shadows- High or Med
• Render Sampling- Native
• Character Model Limit/Quality- Medium/Medium
• Best Texture Filter- Unchecked
• High Res Character Textures- Unchecked

Those settings will determine your average performance more than others.

Auruan.2837:

I was told the GW2 Client runs as a 32-bit executable. So for as long as I recall, it did not surpass a 1.8GB RAM usage.

4 GB is the official maximum a 32-bit client can use under a 64-bit OS if its
compiled with large memory aware. However there is space substracted
for system usage and then there is memory fragmentation so in reality
its around 3.5 GB.

People with maxed setting often manage to bring the client to use over 3.5 GB
where the client crashes.

One of thr biggest factors is the amount and detail of shown player characters.

Toyed with the graphic settings last night. Prettied it up a tiny bit, without any performance drops – so thanks for that, at the least!

Beldin.5498:

Auruan.2837:

I was told the GW2 Client runs as a 32-bit executable. So for as long as I recall, it did not surpass a 1.8GB RAM usage.

4 GB is the official maximum a 32-bit client can use under a 64-bit OS if its
compiled with large memory aware. However there is space substracted
for system usage and then there is memory fragmentation so in reality
its around 3.5 GB.

People with maxed setting often manage to bring the client to use over 3.5 GB
where the client crashes.

One of thr biggest factors is the amount and detail of shown player characters.

And then there’s this. This sure explains some of the “issue”.
As it stands, I forgot that I’d raised the Character Model settings to take some screenshots with. I put both back on low – making everyone often look awful and pink – but the memory load dropped significantly. And the core temperatures dropped to normal values again.

I guess I’ll just have to deal with the ugly until I can either upgrade my GPU to share in the burden a little, or until Arena Net creates the 64-bit client they dream of. Either way: thanks for the replies!