Guild Wars 2

Hey people.

I am looking to upgrade my PC in order to get a considerably good FPS increase in this game. Right now in big events or WvW my game slows down to 10 fps, maybe lower. In SPvP it works just fine at a constant 50-60.

Right now I am looking at the AMD 1100t x6 Black Edition that has 3.3GHz for roughly $200. I know it can also be overclocked relatively easily.

However, the primary reason I am looking at it is because of my motherboard. It can only take AM3 processors.

Would it be more worth it for me to just shell out an extra $150 to get an intel motherboard with an i5? Or have some people out there had a good experience with the Phenom II?

My specs:

Motherboard: ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB
Current CPU: Phenom II x4 945t 3.0 GHz (overclocked to 3.4)
GPU: nVidia GeForce 560ti
RAM: 8gb

When I upgrade, I want to be able to at least do WvW and big events with no lower than 30 fps at moderate settings, (medium – high)

That’s not nearly worth $200. Go for the i5 option, it’d be worth it.

That is worth the two hundred if OP cannot afford a new board, Fermi.
Hitting that Phenom II up to around 3.8 or 4.1 GHz would maybe grant better FPS than my FX-8350.

I would not recommend buying that X6 black since kaveri is coming out soon and you can probably get the mobo and apu for $200-250

or shell out an extra 150 for intel.

Either way, these two options have better longevity then that phenom II X6

Let me point something out here. The game rarely uses more than three core’s worth of performance so going from a quad to a hex core won’t make much of a difference but clock speed does. Now I don’t know how well a 1100T BE overclocks beyond the 3.4MHz you got with the 945 but it’s likely not going to be a significant amount without a decent cooler, a bit of luck and deep OC mojo. I see that 4.2GHz is possible (pureoverclock.com) which could give you a 20% boost over what you have if you can finesse it up to that speed.

Avelos.6798:

That is worth the two hundred if OP cannot afford a new board, Fermi.
Hitting that Phenom II up to around 3.8 or 4.1 GHz would maybe grant better FPS than my FX-8350.

not really

Behellagh.1468:

Let me point something out here. The game rarely uses more than three core’s worth of performance so going from a quad to a hex core won’t make much of a difference but clock speed does. Now I don’t know how well a 1100T BE overclocks beyond the 3.4MHz you got with the 945 but it’s likely not going to be a significant amount without a decent cooler, a bit of luck and deep OC mojo. I see that 4.2GHz is possible (pureoverclock.com) which could give you a 20% boost over what you have if you can finesse it up to that speed.

Overclock your CPU NB

Avelos.6798:

That is worth the two hundred if OP cannot afford a new board, Fermi

No, it’s not. It’s a quite outdated CPU, no matter what his board is. For $200, the CPU is nuts overpriced no matter the what the situation is. It’ll take blows with an FX-6300, which is what, like $110? And GW2 won’t see much of a boost, if any, from that upgrade.

Not to mention the fact that ~$220 will buy you an i5+board.

I also had the Phenom II X945 @ 3GHz but paired with the ASRock A770DE+ MB. For about $200, at the time, I got an ASRock 970 MB, FX 63000 3.5Ghz CPU, and 8GB DDR3 1600 AMD Radeon RAM. I can hit up to 35-40fps in normal gameplay, but drop down to about 10fps in major zergs. However the drop comes with no lag on frame drop. I will point out I also run an Sapphire 6870 and with the 13.9 CCC I see less drop in some cases.

Overall the main issue at hand, regardless whether you run Intel or AMD, is the lack of overall optimization the game provides, which is slowly being rectified through each patch. I can tell a huge difference in game play over the last 3 patches especially. With luck the next 2 or 3 will bring about more.

I will say this, research each part before buying. Each platform will give some some advantages, however each has its own share of drawbacks as well. I will say that if you are looking at anything that requires buying more memory be wary at this point. In September one of the major manufacturers for RAM lost about 65% of its capability due to a fire, thus prices have gone up between 35-50% and are not expected to come down until after the first of the new year.