Guild Wars 2

Hello.

I’ve got an issue with FPS drops in Lion Arch or zergs like on Frozen Maw for example. My PC is pretty good, I’ve got i5-2400, 8GB of RAM and R7 260X OC.

I tried on few different combinations of settings and there is accually no difference. I’m running through the city with ~70-80 FPS and suddenly I’ve got FPS drop especially during camera rotation.

I’ve tested my CPU with OCCT and temperatures are fine – around 60C per Core.

I’ve tested my GPU and.. there is 100% loads almost all the time…

Here’s a log from Gigabyte OC GURU II:

http://wklej.to/CLdnK

I’m not sure, but the GPU’s Core Speed is dropping down right in the moment of FPS drop. I’m asking for some advices, thanks.

GPU-Z, CPU-Z and Coretemp, and test your FPS drop scenarios.

It could be as simple as a dying/aging HDD (cant keep up with the object load on screen turns), or maybe an aged driver (14.4 ver2 is what I recommend for AMD GPUs)

Ok, so…

I had a short walk through Lion’s Arch and Core Temp says that uses all of my 4 Cores without Turbo Boost (I guess it is not needed atm),

Frequency is ~3000-3100Mhz,
Load of Cores 50-90%
Maximum Temperature per Core is ~45C

I can upload log file is You would like to see it.

GPU next:

Log file: http://wklej.to/jP2Uo

It works on 100% load almost all the time with drops to… 0%?

My driver version is 14.4 (ver2 is beta or something?)

And my HDD is new, its age is about 2 weeks:

SMART: http://pl.tinypic.com/r/wse83/8

Is it normal that GPU is loaded almost at maximum values while CPU is not? I OC’ed my Sandy Bridge i5 by changing the Turbo Boost Multiplier so it can use 4×3.6 Frequency if needed. The temperature is ~60C then.

GW2 really doesn’t like overclocking. I’d suggest trying resetting to factory settings and see if that fixes the problem or not. If it doesn’t, you can just set the values again.

It was same before OC, anyway i only increased Turbo Boost Values, without it there’s no difference between Frequencies.

Mind that your graphics card is factory overclocked, which could also cause issues. You might want to try temporarily underclocking it, to bring it into line with standard 260X values.

Gigabyte R7 260X OC has got standard clocks, they are equal to non-OC editions of 260X… Anyway temperature is fine, so I don’t think it is a reason of my problems.

What is the theory that GW2 doesn’t like overclocking?

It just doesn’t, really.

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Depending on your system because this does vary, overclocking can certainly give your system a speed boost if done right. However, this isn’t really something that we can advise especially since there have been quite a few issues with the client for players with overclocked systems in which the only resolution (for now) is to set their system to stock settings. If this is something that you’re considering I would highly recommend researching the subject and keeping in mind the potential risks to your system.

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Hi Skiroid – The first thing I would recommend would be to disable Turbo Boost to disable the auto “over-clocking” as the client can be sensitive to overclocked hardware.

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Hi elvenninja – This looks like the “Out of Memory” crash experienced by players with 32-bit operating systems. Turning down your graphics settings or updating to a 64-bit operating system may resolve the issue for you.

Additionally, it looks like you’re getting a few errors in that ArenaNet.log file. Generally the “File: ..\..\..\Game\Main\MainCli.cpp(584)” crash means that you’re overclocking your hardware, usually the CPU. If you are over-clocking at all I would recommend returning your hardware back to stock settings or even underclocking if they came factory overclocked.

If you didn’t know, Ashley is the most prominent tech support ANet has on these forums.

Privileged.7328:

Ok, so…

I had a short walk through Lion’s Arch and Core Temp says that uses all of my 4 Cores without Turbo Boost (I guess it is not needed atm),

Frequency is ~3000-3100Mhz,
Load of Cores 50-90%
Maximum Temperature per Core is ~45C

I can upload log file is You would like to see it.

GPU next:

Log file: http://wklej.to/jP2Uo

It works on 100% load almost all the time with drops to… 0%?

My driver version is 14.4 (ver2 is beta or something?)

And my HDD is new, its age is about 2 weeks:

SMART: http://pl.tinypic.com/r/wse83/8

Is it normal that GPU is loaded almost at maximum values while CPU is not? I OC’ed my Sandy Bridge i5 by changing the Turbo Boost Multiplier so it can use 4×3.6 Frequency if needed. The temperature is ~60C then.

Download MSI Afterburner, in the settings window (with the sliders) set the power to +4 and click apply, and see if that resolves the issue.

Your 260x is doing the same thing my 260x and HD7790 does. It has microbursts of over temps and sets itself to base clock of 300~.

The work around is to jump the power up to force the card out of that ‘over-protection’ mode.

Basically, the 260x’s are good GPUs but GW2 really pushes them when your settings are too high.

Jigain.8231:

It just doesn’t, really.

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Depending on your system because this does vary, overclocking can certainly give your system a speed boost if done right. However, this isn’t really something that we can advise especially since there have been quite a few issues with the client for players with overclocked systems in which the only resolution (for now) is to set their system to stock settings. If this is something that you’re considering I would highly recommend researching the subject and keeping in mind the potential risks to your system.

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Hi Skiroid – The first thing I would recommend would be to disable Turbo Boost to disable the auto “over-clocking” as the client can be sensitive to overclocked hardware.

Ashley Segovia.8276:

Hi elvenninja – This looks like the “Out of Memory” crash experienced by players with 32-bit operating systems. Turning down your graphics settings or updating to a 64-bit operating system may resolve the issue for you.

Additionally, it looks like you’re getting a few errors in that ArenaNet.log file. Generally the “File: ..\..\..\Game\Main\MainCli.cpp(584)” crash means that you’re overclocking your hardware, usually the CPU. If you are over-clocking at all I would recommend returning your hardware back to stock settings or even underclocking if they came factory overclocked.

If you didn’t know, Ashley is the most prominent tech support ANet has on these forums.

It all comes down to the silicon in your GPU/CPU when you OC. Not all OC’s are stable, and even when you do stability testing its only synthetic.

GW2 is Harsh when it comes down to any hardware you throw at it (OC or not), so if you are OCing its going to be that much worse.

Its not really that GW2 doesnt like OC’d hardware, it doesnt really care. What it doesn’t like is unstable OC’d hardware.

Something that I would LOVE Anet to offer out is a GW2 base benchmark. That is what OCers are lacking when they OC for this game. Testing your OC against 3dmarks and the rest is not testing it for GW2.

Ok I already set +4 Power in MSI Afterburner, now I’m gonna test it.

Did it help in your case sirsquishy?

Would You recommend to turn off Turbo boost?

Btw. How is that possible that my GPU uses self-protection if the temperature is not really high? It is about 60C…

Should I turn off auto FAN Speed and set manual value?

Privileged.7328:

Ok I already set +4 Power in MSI Afterburner, now I’m gonna test it.

Did it help in your case sirsquishy?

Would You recommend to turn off Turbo boost?

Btw. How is that possible that my GPU uses self-protection if the temperature is not really high? It is about 60C…

Should I turn off auto FAN Speed and set manual value?

Its part of the advanced power saving that are in the newer line of AMD cards. It also includes a thermal protection system too.

The only thing you can really do is find out WHY its dropping to 300mhz and make proper adjustments.

The following reasons :-);

PSU not supplying enough amps on the 12v rail, or unstable power delivery
MicroTemp Bursts (78C+) throttling the card (you can find this out by lowering in game graphic settings. – Really means the Thermal Paste under the Heatsink is going bad.
S7 power state being tripped (+4 on MSI Afterburner tends to disable this)
over heating (GPu-Z will show this) – Fan not spinning fast enough, Bad Thermal Paste, or just poor Cooling in your system case.

But myself, setting +4 on MSI fixes it for all my AMD cards (280x, 260x, 270, and HD7790)

Thanks man, I just tried it on Frozen Maw and short walk through LA and I guess it’s better.

I’m gonna make a log file tomorrow and we will see is there any difference “in numbers”.

The card is new one, I just bought it so I guess Thermal Paste is fine. I’m gonna check the maximum safe temperature for my card and I will control it.

Do I have to use MSI Afterburner all the time now to save this setting? You use manual or automatic Fan Speed?

Thanks again :P

Privileged.7328:

Thanks man, I just tried it on Frozen Maw and short walk through LA and I guess it’s better.

I’m gonna make a log file tomorrow and we will see is there any difference “in numbers”.

The card is new one, I just bought it so I guess Thermal Paste is fine. I’m gonna check the maximum safe temperature for my card and I will control it.

Do I have to use MSI Afterburner all the time now to save this setting? You use manual or automatic Fan Speed?

Thanks again :P

Those cards like to be between 65c and 70c if you can tolerate the loud fan sound. I suggest using MSI Afterburner to control the fan speed via detect Temp Ramps (settings > Fan Control), then let MSI Afterburner control it via the auto switch.

I don’t know what the exact GPU model you got (there are many 260x’s) But you SHOULD be able to keep the Fan at 55%-65% and maintain 63-65C. Then let the fan ramp down as the temps drop (25% is the lowest IIRC)

Ashley Segovia.8276:

the only resolution (for now) is to set their system to stock settings.

sorry to break this to you guys but this so called for now is out there since the 1st closed Beta of GW2. A friend of mine participated in it and had the problem reported back then. When public beta came I reported the same problem. And now we are 2 years after release, I still have the problem.

It has to be some really nasty bug maybe only a minor scrap of code somewhere that causes this problems. Though here are some things that work for me to fix the FPS drops “temporarily”:

Restart the game
most drastic way i know but for me it is sort of a failsave, though some other people say it does not work a tall for them

Tab out and in again
its kind of a 50:50 chance for this to work but sometimes it seems to trigger something and all is okay again. don’t ask my why because i am merely an end user with some scraps of knowledge.

Die (ingame)
it rarely works but on some rare occasion this gets my frames to jump back up at their usual 60-70 per sec rate

Set your hardware to factory settings/under clock it
this works for sure, i tried it out as did my friend but int he end the performance suffered. I know we all buy OC gear for a reason and we do not want to under clock it then, but it works. So if you know how to work your way around in BIOS and all the other stuff necessary to do it: try it out!

Rhage.4390:

Ashley Segovia.8276:

the only resolution (for now) is to set their system to stock settings.

sorry to break this to you guys but this so called for now is out there since the 1st closed Beta of GW2. A friend of mine participated in it and had the problem reported back then. When public beta came I reported the same problem. And now we are 2 years after release, I still have the problem.

It has to be some really nasty bug maybe only a minor scrap of code somewhere that causes this problems. Though here are some things that work for me to fix the FPS drops “temporarily”:

Restart the game
most drastic way i know but for me it is sort of a failsave, though some other people say it does not work a tall for them

Tab out and in again
its kind of a 50:50 chance for this to work but sometimes it seems to trigger something and all is okay again. don’t ask my why because i am merely an end user with some scraps of knowledge.

Die (ingame)
it rarely works but on some rare occasion this gets my frames to jump back up at their usual 60-70 per sec rate

Set your hardware to factory settings/under clock it
this works for sure, i tried it out as did my friend but int he end the performance suffered. I know we all buy OC gear for a reason and we do not want to under clock it then, but it works. So if you know how to work your way around in BIOS and all the other stuff necessary to do it: try it out!

If you Overclock and are crashing, it just means you have an unstable overclock.

sirsquishy.8531:

Privileged.7328:

Thanks man, I just tried it on Frozen Maw and short walk through LA and I guess it’s better.

I’m gonna make a log file tomorrow and we will see is there any difference “in numbers”.

The card is new one, I just bought it so I guess Thermal Paste is fine. I’m gonna check the maximum safe temperature for my card and I will control it.

Do I have to use MSI Afterburner all the time now to save this setting? You use manual or automatic Fan Speed?

Thanks again :P

Those cards like to be between 65c and 70c if you can tolerate the loud fan sound. I suggest using MSI Afterburner to control the fan speed via detect Temp Ramps (settings > Fan Control), then let MSI Afterburner control it via the auto switch.

I don’t know what the exact GPU model you got (there are many 260x’s) But you SHOULD be able to keep the Fan at 55%-65% and maintain 63-65C. Then let the fan ramp down as the temps drop (25% is the lowest IIRC)

My card is Gigabyte R7 260X OC ver. with 1 GB of memory.

I found an option to raise a Power Limit in Catalyst Control Center in AMD OverDrive, but I’m gonna use Afterburner to control FAN Speed just like You said. Tomorrow I’m gonna generate GPU-Z Log during the game and we will see.

Privileged.7328:

sirsquishy.8531:

Privileged.7328:

Thanks man, I just tried it on Frozen Maw and short walk through LA and I guess it’s better.

I’m gonna make a log file tomorrow and we will see is there any difference “in numbers”.

The card is new one, I just bought it so I guess Thermal Paste is fine. I’m gonna check the maximum safe temperature for my card and I will control it.

Do I have to use MSI Afterburner all the time now to save this setting? You use manual or automatic Fan Speed?

Thanks again :P

Those cards like to be between 65c and 70c if you can tolerate the loud fan sound. I suggest using MSI Afterburner to control the fan speed via detect Temp Ramps (settings > Fan Control), then let MSI Afterburner control it via the auto switch.

I don’t know what the exact GPU model you got (there are many 260x’s) But you SHOULD be able to keep the Fan at 55%-65% and maintain 63-65C. Then let the fan ramp down as the temps drop (25% is the lowest IIRC)

My card is Gigabyte R7 260X OC ver. with 1 GB of memory.

I found an option to raise a Power Limit in Catalyst Control Center in AMD OverDrive, but I’m gonna use Afterburner to control FAN Speed just like You said. Tomorrow I’m gonna generate GPU-Z Log during the game and we will see.

Oh yea, that fan on that thing should be plenty to keep it at 65C or below.

Also, feel free to OC the Core to 1200 and Memory to 1600 (if its not already) out of the box nearly every 260x can handle that with no mods.

Since you have MSI AB already and even a +20 powerlimit didnt stop the Core Clock Reduction for me,you could disable AMDs factory powersaving/thermal reduction software(PowerTune) which is what automatically controls your Core Clock.

It,in my experience,does a bad job of it. I’d get core clock reductions at the worst possible times(under stress) even with <70c temps.
If your temps are below 80c there’s no reason to not run your full clocks while gaming,right? The dynamic clocks just introduce stuttering.

To start,you’ll want to set custom clock profiles.

Use the sliders to set your Core and Memory MHZ to the default 3D speed (1100core/1625mem for reference 260x’s) and click apply then save to Profile 1.

Next drop the core and mem sliders all the way down,click apply and save to profile 2.

Now open the MSI AB Settings tab and navigate to “Profiles” and save the corresponding 2/3d clocks to the 2d/3d profiles Like this .

Then go to the “General” Tab in the same window and disable PowerTune(called PowerPlay in AB),like so

Now,after a restart,MSI AB should be in control of your clocks and you’ll have a stable,100% speed while gaming at the cost of higher idle(2d) clock rates(150/300 compared to 525/750 with my 260),which doesnt make a huge difference at all.

Also,my Sapphire 260x’s default Fan Profile kicked up way too late,it would wait until +75c before going over 50% fan speed,which is enough speed to keep it from getting hotter but i felt it was too hot still so i made a much more aggressive fan curve . Now the fans spin up much faster and i dont see Gw2 temps get over 70c with the same fan speed .

Edit: And my 260x is OC’ed to 1155/1662mhz Core/Mem.

MrFayth.3546:

Since you have MSI AB already and even a +20 powerlimit didnt stop the Core Clock Reduction for me,you could disable AMDs factory powersaving/thermal reduction software(PowerTune) which is what automatically controls your Core Clock.

It,in my experience,does a bad job of it. I’d get core clock reductions at the worst possible times(under stress) even with <70c temps.
If your temps are below 80c there’s no reason to not run your full clocks while gaming,right? The dynamic clocks just introduce stuttering.

To start,you’ll want to set custom clock profiles.

Use the sliders to set your Core and Memory MHZ to the default 3D speed (1100core/1625mem for reference 260x’s) and click apply then save to Profile 1.

Next drop the core and mem sliders all the way down,click apply and save to profile 2.

Now open the MSI AB Settings tab and navigate to “Profiles” and save the corresponding 2/3d clocks to the 2d/3d profiles Like this .

Then go to the “General” Tab in the same window and disable PowerTune(called PowerPlay in AB),like so

Now,after a restart,MSI AB should be in control of your clocks and you’ll have a stable,100% speed while gaming at the cost of higher idle(2d) clock rates(150/300 compared to 525/750 with my 260),which doesnt make a huge difference at all.

Also,my Sapphire 260x’s default Fan Profile kicked up way too late,it would wait until +75c before going over 50% fan speed,which is enough speed to keep it from getting hotter but i felt it was too hot still so i made a much more aggressive fan curve . Now the fans spin up much faster and i dont see Gw2 temps get over 70c.

Edit: And my 260x is OC’ed to 1155/1662mhz Core/Mem.

This is the ultimate work around for the power play crap AMD did. But the reference 260x clocks are , Core 1050, Memory 1550.

You can set them above that (Core 1200, Memory 1625), but not much more with out Mofset heatsinks and all that. Those 260x’s like to get hot when OC’d.

MrFayth.3546:

Since you have MSI AB already and even a +20 powerlimit didnt stop the Core Clock Reduction for me,you could disable AMDs factory powersaving/thermal reduction software(PowerTune) which is what automatically controls your Core Clock.

It,in my experience,does a bad job of it. I’d get core clock reductions at the worst possible times(under stress) even with <70c temps.
If your temps are below 80c there’s no reason to not run your full clocks while gaming,right? The dynamic clocks just introduce stuttering.

To start,you’ll want to set custom clock profiles.

Use the sliders to set your Core and Memory MHZ to the default 3D speed (1100core/1625mem for reference 260x’s) and click apply then save to Profile 1.

Next drop the core and mem sliders all the way down,click apply and save to profile 2.

Now open the MSI AB Settings tab and navigate to “Profiles” and save the corresponding 2/3d clocks to the 2d/3d profiles Like this .

Then go to the “General” Tab in the same window and disable PowerTune(called PowerPlay in AB),like so

Now,after a restart,MSI AB should be in control of your clocks and you’ll have a stable,100% speed while gaming at the cost of higher idle(2d) clock rates(150/300 compared to 525/750 with my 260),which doesnt make a huge difference at all.

Also,my Sapphire 260x’s default Fan Profile kicked up way too late,it would wait until +75c before going over 50% fan speed,which is enough speed to keep it from getting hotter but i felt it was too hot still so i made a much more aggressive fan curve . Now the fans spin up much faster and i dont see Gw2 temps get over 70c with the same fan speed .

Edit: And my 260x is OC’ed to 1155/1662mhz Core/Mem.

Thanks man I’ll try it if +4 Power limit won’t help.

I wouldn’t worry about your PC specs, This game is just horribly optimized.

New log from GPU-Z:

http://wklej.to/KWTZB

As you can see, Core Clock drops to ~900 I guess it’s fine but in some moments “Load” drops to 0% and I guess it’s not proper. Should I change Power limit to more than +4?

Btw. I’ve created FAN Profile and OC’ed clocks to reference values. (1100,1625)

If you’ve disabled PowerPlay and set up 2d/3d profiles correctly,you should get any dips in core clock,any time ingame.

Rhage.4390:

Ashley Segovia.8276:

the only resolution (for now) is to set their system to stock settings.

sorry to break this to you guys but this so called for now is out there since the 1st closed Beta of GW2. A friend of mine participated in it and had the problem reported back then. When public beta came I reported the same problem. And now we are 2 years after release, I still have the problem.

It has to be some really nasty bug maybe only a minor scrap of code somewhere that causes this problems. Though here are some things that work for me to fix the FPS drops “temporarily”:

Restart the game
most drastic way i know but for me it is sort of a failsave, though some other people say it does not work a tall for them

Tab out and in again
its kind of a 50:50 chance for this to work but sometimes it seems to trigger something and all is okay again. don’t ask my why because i am merely an end user with some scraps of knowledge.

Die (ingame)
it rarely works but on some rare occasion this gets my frames to jump back up at their usual 60-70 per sec rate

Set your hardware to factory settings/under clock it
this works for sure, i tried it out as did my friend but int he end the performance suffered. I know we all buy OC gear for a reason and we do not want to under clock it then, but it works. So if you know how to work your way around in BIOS and all the other stuff necessary to do it: try it out!

Mind I quoted that just in order to show that GW2 doesn’t play well with overclocking – or, more accurately, as sirsquishy pointed out, unstable overclocking. Ashley’s quotes may or may not apply to this specific case, but they are certainly not intended to.

Stable overclocking is fine. I run a stable overclocking of a full GHz, with factory overclocked GFX cards. No issue since day one (or more accurately day minus three). But if you’ve got problems with your game, and you run overclocked hardware, your overclocking may be unstable (even if it only shows with GW2), and you should try factory or underclocking. If you’ve got half a brain you write down your overclocking values so you can just go back to them if it doesn’t solve anything.

MrFayth.3546:

If you’ve disabled PowerPlay and set up 2d/3d profiles correctly,you should get any dips in core clock,any time ingame.

If I’ll do that, is it necessary to do something with Power Limit? Should be set at +20?

Yea that’s just a power ceiling,not a forced boost. Required for extreme Overclocking mostly.

Okie thanks for help guys

I heard rumors that higher RAM clock is likely to even out frame drops. Do you run your RAM at at least 1600Mhz?

Yes, Crucial Ballistix 1600 Mhz.