Guild Wars 2

My current laptop cannot run this game effectivly, I get acceptable FPS on low but I get video tearing, so I am selling my laptop and currently buying a new computer.

My current laptop specs are:
i3 proccessor: 2.13ghz quad
4GB RAM
Mobility Radeon Hd 5470 at 512mb

My new computer will be:
2.4ghz dual core
5GB RAM
Geforce 9400GT at 1GB memory

I understand these specs are considerably ower than most people who have way to much budget behind them for a super fast gaming computer, but I do not have this kind of budget, and this computer will serve as a project to get a respectable gaming system using this as a base.

I know by basic logic, a desktop will always handle games better and manage its specs better, will I get a noticeable improvement at these current specs? and any recommendations for a cheap upgrade parts to run smooth on atleast medium settings? on a tight budget so cheap, and in £ if at all possible don’t really wish to buy on $ websites

It will run, but it’s going to be similar to your laptop if not worse. Dual core + GW2 = slideshow.

I knew the dual core would be an issue, and do plan on upgrading that first, but in terms of everything else, can those be afforded to put off for the moment and focus on cpu?

I don’t mind the fps drop, and would play gw2 and be happy on lowest settings with minor fps lag if it wasn’t for the immersion ruining video tearing I get on the laptop, which this new card should fix.

9400GT is not going to do much if anything at all. There are some good benchmark reviews (Toms hardware) showing what the newer GPUs and some previous generation models thrown down. That 9400 is horrid and I would advise using nothing less than a 460.

Phoenix.1370:

any recommendations for a cheap upgrade parts to run smooth on atleast medium settings? on a tight budget so cheap, and in £ if at all possible don’t really wish to buy on $ websites

What is your budget? And how confident are you at manually install or replacing a graphic card on a desktop?

Victus.9631:

9400GT is not going to do much if anything at all. There are some good benchmark reviews (Toms hardware) showing what the newer GPUs and some previous generation models thrown down. That 9400 is horrid and I would advise using nothing less than a 460.

Going to agree with this. The 9400 is terrible. But then again, so are all those parts.

But again, this will be better than my current laptop at running any games let alone this game.

And quite a low budget anything respectable but nothing generally more than £100 per part is pushing it, I don’t want or need high graphic settings, low will be fine as long as its smooth to me, 25-30 fps the rest will come in time when my budget increases.

And, I’ve changed my previous cards before I can change parts no problem.

I already have my eyes on one card, but unsure of its performance on such games, I had a look at the
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X

Cbuzz.5083:

Victus.9631:

9400GT is not going to do much if anything at all. There are some good benchmark reviews (Toms hardware) showing what the newer GPUs and some previous generation models thrown down. That 9400 is horrid and I would advise using nothing less than a 460.

Going to agree with this. The 9400 is terrible. But then again, so are all those parts.

Yes, I was just trying to be nice. It’s kind of awkward having people post “Is this good enough?!” when there are reviews out there and not to mention, very affordable and good parts for a PC. You can build a PC for near a grand that can dish 30-50FPS on Crysis with everything capped to highest quality. I don’t get why people spend $400-500 on a mediocre PC (Desktop or laptop-lol) then wonder why they can’t snag some decent frames. Living in such a tech heavy society now, you would think people would be aware…/end PSA

Victus.9631:

Cbuzz.5083:

Victus.9631:

9400GT is not going to do much if anything at all. There are some good benchmark reviews (Toms hardware) showing what the newer GPUs and some previous generation models thrown down. That 9400 is horrid and I would advise using nothing less than a 460.

Going to agree with this. The 9400 is terrible. But then again, so are all those parts.

Yes, I was just trying to be nice. It’s kind of awkward having people post “Is this good enough?!” when there are reviews out there and not to mention, very affordable and good parts for a PC. You can build a PC for near a grand that can dish 30-50FPS on Crysis with everything capped to highest quality. I don’t get why people spend $400-500 on a mediocre PC (Desktop or laptop-lol) then wonder why they can’t snag some decent frames. Living in such a tech heavy society now, you would think people would be aware…/end PSA

Unlike most though I do not have such money just to spend instantly on a system, as I said previously, this computer will serve as a base so I can buy parts piece by piece, and not all at once.

since laptops generally cannot be upgraded much and since this new one will have better specs than this laptop I thought I’d grab it since its affordable currently and will serve better for future.

I understand there are other threads/posts/websites dedicated to getting good fps, but they always are on a budget I cannot reach, or aim for max/ultra when I do not care for that, and have never needed max settings, most people who cannot get max settings on a game deem it “unplayable/horrid!” but I do not, low settings with smooth fps will be acceptable for me for now, I am just after ideas to get this running acceptable on MY standards so I can at least play it while I wait to upgrade.

Phoenix.1370:

But again, this will be better than my current laptop at running any games let alone this game.

And quite a low budget anything respectable but nothing generally more than £100 per part is pushing it, I don’t want or need high graphic settings, low will be fine as long as its smooth to me, 25-30 fps the rest will come in time when my budget increases.

And, I’ve changed my previous cards before I can change parts no problem.

I already have my eyes on one card, but unsure of its performance on such games, I had a look at the
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X

If your that stretched for cash, hit up your local tech forum for donations & start researching how to overclock.

You can almost double your FPS by overclocking low end hardware.

I can overclock, I just generally avoid it, as I’ve burned out previous cards very rapidly when I wasn’t on such a budget.

And donations? I highly doubt it, I’ve not had much luck previously from anyone anywhere. As I said I think I’ve found a respectable card, It is just the processor I need to find now, and ideas on that, processors i’ve had no experience in firsthand but have a techie mate who can easily fit the parts I lack experience in.

I am debating an i3 or i5 but they are still barely on the knife edge of my price range, and am trying to find something similar in power but less in price.

Phoenix.1370:

I can overclock, I just generally avoid it, as I’ve burned out previous cards very rapidly when I wasn’t on such a budget.

And donations? I highly doubt it, I’ve not had much luck previously from anyone anywhere. As I said I think I’ve found a respectable card, It is just the processor I need to find now, and ideas on that, processors i’ve had no experience in firsthand but have a techie mate who can easily fit the parts I lack experience in.

I am debating an i3 or i5 but they are still barely on the knife edge of my price range, and am trying to find something similar in power but less in price.

if you fry stuff your doing it wrong & need to learn how to do it properly. Ample info on the internet & an army of savvy tech heads willing to help out another bro.

Yep donations, put a wanted ad on your local IT trading forum to help a bro setup a budget gaming rig. I see people do this stuff all the time & they end up with some pretty respectable gear (WAAAY better than those parts in Op) for the price of postage.

Hey, got nothing to loose & if your desperate & by the looks of it you are listing those parts give it a shot.

Cbuzz.5083:

Phoenix.1370:

I can overclock, I just generally avoid it, as I’ve burned out previous cards very rapidly when I wasn’t on such a budget.

And donations? I highly doubt it, I’ve not had much luck previously from anyone anywhere. As I said I think I’ve found a respectable card, It is just the processor I need to find now, and ideas on that, processors i’ve had no experience in firsthand but have a techie mate who can easily fit the parts I lack experience in.

I am debating an i3 or i5 but they are still barely on the knife edge of my price range, and am trying to find something similar in power but less in price.

if you fry stuff your doing it wrong & need to learn how to do it properly. Ample info on the internet & an army of savvy tech heads willing to help out another bro.

Yep donations, put a wanted ad on your local IT trading forum to help a bro setup a budget gaming rig. I see people do this stuff all the time & they end up with some pretty respectable gear (WAAAY better than those parts in Op) for the price of postage.

Hey, got nothing to loose & if your desperate & by the looks of it you are listing those parts give it a shot.

I can give it a shot, but as I keep saying which, people keep missing the point of, which to be honest was expected, THIS ISN’T the end result, this is simply something to build on that’s the entire point of buying this computer, with these so called “horrid and terrible puke enducing parts” which quite frankly doesn’t seem THAT bad, since as I’ve done a quick look and find people running far cry 2/bf 3/skyrim on this card at 30+ fps on medium/max (with a screen recorder going) and the skyrim one with a worse processor and only 2gb ram, when this laptop can’t even run it on my standards on lowest setting.

Phoenix.1370:

Victus.9631:

Cbuzz.5083:

Victus.9631:

9400GT is not going to do much if anything at all. There are some good benchmark reviews (Toms hardware) showing what the newer GPUs and some previous generation models thrown down. That 9400 is horrid and I would advise using nothing less than a 460.

Going to agree with this. The 9400 is terrible. But then again, so are all those parts.

Yes, I was just trying to be nice. It’s kind of awkward having people post “Is this good enough?!” when there are reviews out there and not to mention, very affordable and good parts for a PC. You can build a PC for near a grand that can dish 30-50FPS on Crysis with everything capped to highest quality. I don’t get why people spend $400-500 on a mediocre PC (Desktop or laptop-lol) then wonder why they can’t snag some decent frames. Living in such a tech heavy society now, you would think people would be aware…/end PSA

Unlike most though I do not have such money just to spend instantly on a system, as I said previously, this computer will serve as a base so I can buy parts piece by piece, and not all at once.

since laptops generally cannot be upgraded much and since this new one will have better specs than this laptop I thought I’d grab it since its affordable currently and will serve better for future.

I understand there are other threads/posts/websites dedicated to getting good fps, but they always are on a budget I cannot reach, or aim for max/ultra when I do not care for that, and have never needed max settings, most people who cannot get max settings on a game deem it “unplayable/horrid!” but I do not, low settings with smooth fps will be acceptable for me for now, I am just after ideas to get this running acceptable on MY standards so I can at least play it while I wait to upgrade.

Never said if it’s unplayable if you can’t hit max settings. I’m simply calling it as it is. The GPU you’re looking at is significantly outdated. Another thing to point out is that buying computer parts one by one over time is not a suggested strategy. By the time you accumulate the parts to the build you had your sights set on, your newest piece will probably be held back by the first piece you bought as technology has progressed down the road. I highly suggest saving money (allowance, chores, whatever) and getting it all pooled for one big purchase at once. If you REALLY aren’t up for that kind of patience then I suggest you lay down somewhat big on a good motherboard that will accept components that will be released down the road. The issue with this is we’re on the brink if not already there with PCI 3.0. So you’ll buy a PCI 2.0 compatible GPU now but have it on a PCI 3 mobo later, or you’ll buy a PCI 2 mobo now and end up bottlenecking a PCI 3 GPU later. Also, check eBay, you could find some used parts there that could help your budget but keep in mind it’s on you if they arrive defective in some manor.

I understand upgrades will come quick but to be honest I just need something that will work for now, I already have spoken to a mate who can give me a spare motherboard if I can pay for the shipping costs, which is a ASRock P55 PRO/USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard, I am unsure if that will be worse/better than the motherboard on the new computer as I haven’t got my hands on it just yet.

To be honest, new card/processor seems to be all I really need right now, and few weeks and id have a new card and maybe add few more weeks for the processor, it is just finding the right ones, as I said the card I found seems to do the job but I have yet to find a decent processor, I am debating the i3 530 or 540, but with those two combined with its other specs, will it run decently smooth?

What I notice is people compare THEIR computers to others then accept theirs as standards, I do not have those standards, I am sure someone understands the parts I am looking for are significantly lower in standard due to the fact of budget is low and performance doesn’t need to be fantastic, as long as it could run atleast gw2 on lowish settings with 25 MINIMUM fps I can live with that and save for superior parts in the near future.

Near future and superior parts… that doesn’t seem to register with you as it should. And why settle for less when you can “in the near future have superior parts”? The logic still doesn’t make sense. And I’m not basing your 9600 to my 670, I’m basing it based on the cards performance with current games. Your 9600 is literally a waste of money. Most of what you’re looking at is a waste of money.

Here is why I’m still repeating myself… The 9600GT is valued at (By EVGA) $59.99. Lets take this card and put it on a scale of 1-100. This scale of 1-100 is ranging from a GeForce 6xxx series card (1) to a GTX690 (100). The 9600GT falls to about a 5 in comparison to the 690. Now, for just $100 more you can get a GTX560 and this will score you medium quality at decent frames. Yeah, it’s $100 but if you wait just 2-3 more weeks you’ll have a much better time (considering you’ll take lowest settings at 25fps…). This card will then last you at least 4-5 times longer than a 9600 would. Seems to me you’re over eager and not looking for the most practical solution in long term. You are a “I want it now no matter how kitteny it is”. This is a significant issue for another day but I hope you grow out of this mindset.

Victus.9631:

Near future and superior parts… that doesn’t seem to register with you as it should. And why settle for less when you can “in the near future have superior parts”? The logic still doesn’t make sense. And I’m not basing your 9600 to my 670, I’m basing it based on the cards performance with current games. Your 9600 is literally a waste of money. Most of what you’re looking at is a waste of money.

Here is why I’m still repeating myself… The 9600GT is valued at (By EVGA) $59.99. Lets take this card and put it on a scale of 1-100. This scale of 1-100 is ranging from a GeForce 6xxx series card (1) to a GTX690 (100). The 9600GT falls to about a 5 in comparison to the 690. Now, for just $100 more you can get a GTX560 and this will score you medium quality at decent frames. Yeah, it’s $100 but if you wait just 2-3 more weeks you’ll have a much better time (considering you’ll take lowest settings at 25fps…). This card will then last you at least 4-5 times longer than a 9600 would. Seems to me you’re over eager and not looking for the most practical solution in long term. You are a “I want it now no matter how kitteny it is”. This is a significant issue for another day but I hope you grow out of this mindset.

Right now guild wars 2 is unplayable on my laptop due to heat issues/video tearing…i am getting this computer to bypass that and play to an acceptable level FOR NOW, “THEN” upgrade, this laptop needed to go anyway.

What, do people expect me to sell the laptop/not have a gaming system for a while, while I wait for a “Decent” computer system to come along, then get that? No sorry, in my mind, it seems logical to get something similar/better in points right now even if it is “crappy” even if it runs at the same fps as my laptop I won’t mind it still be playable as long as the video tearing was solved which it will be as I can properly update the drivers of something else instead of my current card, then from there I can be patient and get all the parts I need.

Based on specs and the fact this computer will run better than my current laptop, even if it is a so called “waste of money” it is something to build on, you people fail so much in seeing it the way I see it, right now, if my laptop could solve its own video tearing i would happily keep the laptop and save for a better system, but right now I need to swap out for something similar with upgrade potential in the long run

The original point of this entire post was ideas of a budget processor and graphics card that would run it decently smooth at low/med settings, not get the pretty much bare bones system I was planning on building it on criticised and miss the entire point of the thread to begin with!

Right now I’m settling on buying a gtx 550 and 500w power supply and a Intel Core i3 Processor i3-540 3.06GHz 4MB LGA, how would those specs handle gw2?

Phoenix.1370:

Right now I’m settling on buying a gtx 550 and 500w power supply and a Intel Core i3 Processor i3-540 3.06GHz 4MB LGA, how would those specs handle gw2?

Go for it. Lightyears ahead of those parts in Op.

Cbuzz.5083:

Phoenix.1370:

Right now I’m settling on buying a gtx 550 and 500w power supply and a Intel Core i3 Processor i3-540 3.06GHz 4MB LGA, how would those specs handle gw2?

Go for it. Lightyears ahead of those parts in Op.

As I said that specs on the original would be little more than a base and only ram remain really, what kind of performance would that get? It would cost me round £140 for all those, which is just over my budget