Guild Wars 2

Guys hello, pretty self-explenatory title, I am planning on getting the following spec, mostly for GW2 but also for future games to come. I would like some feedback from people that actually have this spec (or seperate components of it) on performance issues or possible bottlenecks. I suppose I would have no issue with preformance on PvE content, I mainly need feedback/comments on performance on large scale PvE/sPvP and of course WvW.

System Components
Corsair GS 800 80+ (CP-9020014-EU,80+ Bronze)
Intel Core i7 3770K (s 1155 , 3.5 GHz , 8 MB)
Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 (s 1155 , Z77 , DDR3 )
Corsair RAM DDR3 16GB (4×4)Kit 1600MHz Vengeance Gold
MSI R7870 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC
OCZ Vertex 3 Series 240GB SSD (2.5", Sata 6Gb/s, VTX3-25SAT3-240G)

Possible overclocking on CPU is of course something I can easily do. Suggestions and/or replacement of various components are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Reposted the post on the “Players helping players” thread, probably more suitable for this kind of post. Can a moderator please remove this thread or merge it with the second one? Thank you.

Should be able to run everything on medium/low settings.

Gibbel.5734:

Should be able to run everything on medium/low settings.

How about high settings? What do you think might need upgrade to run WvW on high at decents fps (at least 30, to be playable that is)? Moreover, do you suppose that or do you have actual experience with this kind of spec?
Thanks for pitching in however

Good setup at this point in time there really is no setup that will run WvW on highest settings and achieve a solid 40+ fps with 75+ people on screen with maybe 40-50+ on screen you’ll stay above 30 witch is very playable anymore than that the game engine takes a nose dive. Lots of people are running 5.0ghz+ i5’s and still dropping below 30 fps with 70-100 players on screen just how it is…

You should really get a minimum fps of about 30 in WvW zergs with that system which is where mine drops to in the most intense situations with a i5 2500k@5ghz and gtx580 on high settings (but without supersample). You may have to do some overclocking to achieve this as I have never tested at stock.

The only thing I would change personally is the vertex3 for a samsung 830/40 or crucial m4 mainly due to reliability and sandforce viability long term.

I sugest you get a sandybridge cpu if you want to try get the most out of OC’ing.

Bassicaly the sandybridge equivalent to the 3770k is the 2700k which you can get for around £215(OEM) to £275(Retail).

Clock for clock the 3770k is better but once you reach about 4.3ghz onAir cooling the 3770k will start running into problems with OCing..it will requir more and more cooling and will likely top out around 4.5ghz on average. You could get lucky and go a few hundread mhz more.
The 2700k however can easily reach 4.5ghz on Air cooling and will likely top out at 5ghz on water cooling.

The grpahics card is on form with a 560ti which i can tell you form experiance can run PVE with max settings 1920×1080 native sampling managing 45 to 60 fps. When it comes to WvWvW it matters even less becouse focus is shifted to the CPU.

The SSD you chose ..i personaly wouldnt go OCZ v3 ..the Coraisr Performance Pro series is a good solid SSD with the Marvel controller which is much more reliable than the sandforce controller.. so maybe you should look into that.

other than that ..dont forget to buy a good CPU cooler. I sugest the noctua NH-D14 for which ever CPU u decide on.. its the top air cooler out. (but mak sure it will fit your PC case and that your RAM isnt too tall ..i beleve the corsair vengence ram is to tall so you should proabably switch to G.Skill)

Thank you all guys for the feedback, more posters would be welcome as well as I need as much information as possible. Thanks again.

Lol Thana is that you?

Looks like a good rig, the 3770k should be ok most will max out at around 4.5ghz on a good air cooler which is about the same as a sandybridge i7 clocked to around 4.7/4.8ghz.

Ram is ok but 8gig is more than enough for gamin tbh but if that is you I guess with some of the stuff you do might benifit more from 16gig lol

GPU is fine aswell the 7870 is a kick kitten card overclocks like a champ and is probably the best value mid/highend card at the minuet.

Don’t really rate SSD at the minuet there still to expensive, yes they give you faster boot, load and install times but thats about it, for the price of that SSD you could probabbly get yourself to normal sata 3 HDD and with the extra money you save get a 7950 instead.

Brem.6792:

Lol Thana is that you?

Probably some other guy with the same nickname, not sure though ^^. Thanks for the info however

Must be a differnt guy or you would have recognised the name

Was in a rush yesterday I meant to say get acouple of normal SATA 3 hdd’s and if your that fussed you could run them in RAID 0 to get faster read/write times.

What is your monitor’s resolution? I’d bump down on the PSU and upgrade the GPU instead to a 7950 at least.

What is the motherboard?

If you’re going with a new i7 CPU get a top notch air cooler (Noctua NH-D14) and overclocking is a must. Otherwise, you’re wasting a lot of FPS.

LOL, i get 16 fps as lowest in wvw and in big zergs usually like 16-25 so no way ull be over 30.

Suggest you go for i5 instead of i7, cheaper and better bang for buck.

You could get the same graphics card I have as well – 7850 2GB MSI Twin Frozr, will still play anything and be cheaper, though it really depends on which is available for a lower price.

Go for a decent cooler, not sure about water cooling, but a safe bet is to go for a good air cooler.

I suggest you get a normal hard drive as well, maybe 500gb or 1tb, for just in case.

Ok guys, after taking into mind all of your comments I made some re-arrangements, that’s the new spec:

Corsair GS 800 80+ (CP-9020014-EU,80+ Bronze)
Intel Core i7 3770K (s 1155 , 3.5 GHz , 8 MB)
Sapphire 7950 with boost (Pci Express X 16 , 3GB)
Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD (2.5", Sata 6Gb/s)
Corsair RAM DDR3 16GB (4×4)Kit 1600MHz Vengeance C8
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H (s 1155, Z77, DDR3)
Corsair Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler

I cut down SSD’s size and changed to Samsung instead of OCZ for better reliability and gained enough money to go from 7870 to 7970. Also changed the motherboard for an ATX model instead of the m-ATX to avoid issues with RAMs and cooler’s space, for the same money. Any comments on the cooling device from anyone?

PS. Monitor resolution stands at 1920×1080 on a 27" LG monitor. Dacooli, do you mind referencing your spec in order to compare?

You can get a i5 3570k for about 70 bucks cheaper then that i7 and roughly the same performance.

The H60 Water cooler among benchmarks averages out as being beaten by the Noctua Nh-D14 Air cooler .Some bench’s have it the other way around but most from when i was researching for my rig, show that the Noctua is better untill you hit the H100 and above). The H60 is alot smaller around the motherboard though. Noise wise i beleve they are comparable. Same goes for price. .they are roughly wihtin the same price bracket.
Just a quik google.. here is one such benchmark Its the H70 not the H60 ..but even the H70 gets beat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6W_YkqILY

SolarNova thanks for all the feedback, the thing is I can’t find the cooler you suggest here in Greece so I’ll probably go with the H60. Any concerns with it being a water cooling device? Never used one myself before.

Clexzor.6351:

Good setup at this point in time there really is no setup that will run WvW on highest settings and achieve a solid 40+ fps with 75+ people on screen with maybe 40-50+ on screen you’ll stay above 30 witch is very playable anymore than that the game engine takes a nose dive. Lots of people are running 5.0ghz+ i5’s and still dropping below 30 fps with 70-100 players on screen just how it is…

My setup runs 45+ fps with that many people on screen in WvW. So there is a setup that will run it at that fps.

The cheaper the water cooler. .the more chance of leaks and the noisier the fans are becouse they are cheap fans.
And tbh low and even mid end Water coolers can be beaten by high end air coolers. And the prices are very simular.

Also the corsair H series have these really hard stiff tubes which make rueting the pipes a pain in the a*s.

Honestly if you go water cooling you have to go high end otherwise its not worth it.

EDIT: If your using a website to check on availability ..could you link it.. doenst matter if its in different languae .. Ill have a look and see if i can spot a good air cooler for the same sort of price. beats guessing in the dark at what might be available for you.

yes swordbreaker …but .. Our CPU’s and their corresponding component requirments are not exactly what you call cheap as you are fully aware :P

SolarNova.1052:

yes swordbreaker …but .. Our CPU’s and their corresponding component requirments are not exactly what you call cheap as you are fully aware :P

True. lol. But that guy said there wasn’t a setup that existed that would play WvW with that many people on screen at 45 fps minimum.

Swordbreaker.2581:

SolarNova.1052:

yes swordbreaker …but .. Our CPU’s and their corresponding component requirments are not exactly what you call cheap as you are fully aware :P

True. lol. But that guy said there wasn’t a setup that existed that would play WvW with that many people on screen at 45 fps minimum.

I really doubt your getting a min of 45fps with around 80-100 on screen…screenshot because I know multiple people with better rigs than in your sig that get a min of 30-35 with 80-100 on screen in fact next time your in SM with all three server smashing at the lord screenshot love to see your 45 min fps lols….Its not a matter of brute forcing fps it comes down to the limitations of the game engine itself this is a known fact…

Well true. But you realy have to OCyour CPU to get that.

Only experiance i’ve had in WvW was about 30ish people smashing a gate down ..my FPS droped to 50. So i guestimated i would drop to maybe mid 30’s if i was lucky in BIG battles. Im a notch down on my OC compared to yours. GPU wasnt an issue evem my 560ti droepd to 60% usuage at that point.

SolarNova.1052:

Well true. But you realy have to OCyour CPU to get that.

Only experiance i’ve had in WvW was about 30ish people smashing a gate down ..my FPS droped to 50. So i guestimated i would drop to maybe mid 30’s if i was lucky in BIG battles. Im a notch down on my OC compared to yours. GPU wasnt an issue evem my 560ti droepd to 60% usuage at that point.

Your rig is fine man that sword guy is bs’ing you hard…the game engine needs to be optimized better simple as that. WvW is mainly cpu bound…

Something like a Thermalright Silver Arrow is a good alternative to the Noctua if you choose to go air, although bear in mind you probably need to go with the low profile vengeance and check it fits the mobo fine.

The game engine doesn’t need optimized. Its a graphic intensive game with a lot going on on the screen. And yes I do get 45 fps on huge zergs in WvW.

Thanatos.5102:

SolarNova thanks for all the feedback, the thing is I can’t find the cooler you suggest here in Greece so I’ll probably go with the H60. Any concerns with it being a water cooling device? Never used one myself before.

You should be able to get something like this for a CPU cooler.
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus or EVO Use low profile ram to avoid problems.
If you use the H60 make sure to upgrade the fan to a higher CFM.
The hoses are perty stiff but really not that hard to install.
I use the H100 with 4 110 CFM fans in push/pull and never have ran cooler.

Clexzor.6351:

I really doubt your getting a min of 45fps with around 80-100 on screen…screenshot because I know multiple people with better rigs than in your sig that get a min of 30-35 with 80-100 on screen in fact next time your in SM with all three server smashing at the lord screenshot love to see your 45 min fps lols….Its not a matter of brute forcing fps it comes down to the limitations of the game engine itself this is a known fact…

I find this particular comment interesting for the sheer fact that it makes assumptions based on the experience of other individuals. It is not possible for Sword to speak to what someone else has done but only to what he has observed. The premise is faulty. I believe Sword and do not think it is necessary to prove himself with a screen shot, although I will put money on his providing one to you. He has dedicated a great deal of time toward tweaking so that he can attain these results. Just because you and multiple individuals you know are unable to see that and attribute it to the engine does not mean it is not true nor does it warrant basically calling him a liar.

Clexzor.6351:

Swordbreaker.2581:

SolarNova.1052:

yes swordbreaker …but .. Our CPU’s and their corresponding component requirments are not exactly what you call cheap as you are fully aware :P

True. lol. But that guy said there wasn’t a setup that existed that would play WvW with that many people on screen at 45 fps minimum.

I really doubt your getting a min of 45fps with around 80-100 on screen…screenshot because I know multiple people with better rigs than in your sig that get a min of 30-35 with 80-100 on screen in fact next time your in SM with all three server smashing at the lord screenshot love to see your 45 min fps lols….Its not a matter of brute forcing fps it comes down to the limitations of the game engine itself this is a known fact…

I can see him getting 45 FPS with a good setup, I’ve been building PC’s for a long time the lowest I have ever seen on mine is 35 FPS. It comes down to alot more things than just the PC, like your ISP connection and the way your PC is setup. For instance click start and type msconfig in the search window then startup how many things are listed? This is my total list Realtec Audio Semico… and Catalyst Control Center yes just 2 items. My PC i5 2500k 4.4 ( I can clock this 100% stable @5.0 and stay nice and cool), Sapphire 6970 950/1425, 16GB 2133MHz ram, Corsair H100 CPU cooler with 4x 110 CFM fans in push/pull, 2x Samsung 830 SSD’s 64&256GB, SB 1TB HDD, Corsair TX 850 PSU, Corsair C70 case with to many fans and LED’s to list.

These guys should be able to let you have a system that will run WvW at great frames
http://www.cray.com/Products/XK6/XK6.aspx

It`s pretty bad when you need a 3000 dollar system to run this game in WvW at 45 fps lol.

Well you kind of misinterpreted what I said. Not all of WvW runs at 45 fps. Just every single person on screen at the same time. That is also with everything maxed out graphically and every check box checked at 1920×1080. When its a medium sized fight to larger fight, its at least 60 fps. Smaller fights around 80-100 fps.

SolarNova.1052:

If your using a website to check on availability ..could you link it.. doenst matter if its in different languae .. Ill have a look and see if i can spot a good air cooler for the same sort of price. beats guessing in the dark at what might be available for you.

Man, you’re really extremelly helpfull and I appreciate it more I can express. This is the pc store site I am using right now, I am linking you the cooller/fans webpage:
http://www.plaisio.gr/Computers/Hardware/CPU-Coolers.htm .
Keep in mind that the H60 sells for 72-75 Euros (as you can see in the site, just to reference your search). Thank you so much.

The i7 2700k OC at 5ghz can’t run the game at 30 FPS (even with shadowns and reflections disabled) during a massive battle at eternal battleground castle, 25fps drops, it is still very playable tho, just not desireble. The 6 core i7 3930k is a bit slower core per core, so no chance to run this game properlly even with a 3000$ setup (game use 2 or 3 cores top). Just get ur new system it will kick kitten on every game u throw at it, but for GW2 u will need to wait until 2015 cuz to play it properlly u will need a processor 45% faster (clock per clock) than anything existing up to date. If u are buying a system specifically for gw2 i would recomend the i5 2500k (i7s won’t give u any noticeable performance increase on most games, also sandy bridge processors OC much better than IVY do, which is what u are aiming for here) OCed close to 5ghz, a noctua nh-d14 cooler or a coolermaster hyper212 EVO with 2 turbine 12mm fans. If u go for watercooling a h100 or higher cuz anthing below will perform under the 2 Air coolers i mentioned.

Also forget about a game engine fix, they would have to rewrite the game code completelly or a huge part of it which is not gonna happen. That is why they don’t say anything about performace issues. So it is what it is.

Looks fine, but not sure about Corsair RAM, look for Geil or G.Skill.

You should be able to OC that i7 to 4.5 or 4.6GHz with a Hyper 212+ heatsink.

Thanatos.

I see your problem. That website does have a very limited range of CPU coolers. The Corsair is your only choice it seems. Whilst i still think its not the best choice over other possible coolers… for you, if this website is your only possible option, then it is the best choice out of whats available.

Just take your time when installing it making sure there are no leaks.
Put the radiator and fan in a well ventilated position.. a good place internaly is at the top of your case venting out the top.
Your other option if your case allows it, is to mount it on the outside of your case.
Alternativly mounting it inside at the front of the case pulling air from the outside in throug the radiator is fine so long as you have enough case fans pulling air out of the case.
When it comes to OCing you will just have to realize that you wont be able to go as high as some of the recommended targets.

As for the RAM , the Corsair will be fine. The only time you need to worry about getting different ones is if you have the option to get G.Skill ..which tend to be just as good or beter for less money.. and they are also very usfull for when you need low profile RAM ..corsair tend to be tall and can get in the way of some Air cooler heatsinks.

Stop lie, Swordbreaker. I go down to 16 FPS in WvW and I got a gtx 680 and i5 2500k 4.2. I get 15% gpu usage under this circumstances which proves that its my cpu that is bottlenecking in this game, even if its top notch (i7 3930 3.7 equally expect HT). This game is hugely CPU heavy, HUGELY, and an I7 is to prefer.

SolarNova.1052:

Thanatos.

I see your problem. That website does have a very limited range of CPU coolers. The Corsair is your only choice it seems. Whilst i still think its not the best choice over other possible coolers… for you, if this website is your only possible option, then it is the best choice out of whats available.

Just take your time when installing it making sure there are no leaks. Put the radiator and fan in a well ventilated position.. a good place internaly is at the top of your case venting out the top. Your other option if your case allows it, is to mount it on the outside of your case.
When it comes to OCing you will just have to realize that you wont be able to go as high as some of the recommended targets.

As for the RAM , the Corsair will be fine. The only time you need to worry about getting different ones is if you have the option to get G.Skill ..which tend to be just as good or beter for less money.. and they are also very usfull for when you need low profile RAM ..corsair tend to be tall and can get in the way of some Air cooler heatsinks.

Hey Solar, I deeply appreciate all your search. After reading your concerns I took the time and searched again and found out that there’s actually one pc-store that sells the Noctua cooler you’re mentioning, for a slightly higher price but well within my budget. As far as OC is concerned, how high would you think I could go with a) the H60 and b) with the Noctua solution?

Asuming you DONT get lucky with the ‘silicon lottery’ (which you have to asume ) and your using a Ivybridge processor (3770k)
Without heavily researching myself i would have to estimate ..
H60 = ~ 4.2ghz
Noctua = ~ 4.4ghz

Bassicaly you OC till your cooler cant keep the temps below about 80c .. I personaly aim for 75c just to account for a really hot day, and to reduce the chances for any possible degridation due to high temps.
90c is the max you want to go becouse things start getting dangerous at that point. (temps when at 100% load acroos all cores)

In all honesty ..if you can get the hoctua NH-D14 ..get it ..you cant go wrong ..its the BEST air cooler out and will trounce the H60 temperature wise.

dacooli.6712:

Stop lie, Swordbreaker. I go down to 16 FPS in WvW and I got a gtx 680 and i5 2500k 4.2. I get 15% gpu usage under this circumstances which proves that its my cpu that is bottlenecking in this game, even if its top notch (i7 3930 3.7 equally expect HT). This game is hugely CPU heavy, HUGELY, and an I7 is to prefer.

If you intend to overclock anyway, an i5-3570K is probably just as good as, let’s say, an i7-3770K, except for 2MB of level 2 cache. HT won’t help much with GW2 anyway, and that are the two major differences between these CPUs. But i7 = good pretty much nails it

dacooli.6712:

Stop lie, Swordbreaker. I go down to 16 FPS in WvW and I got a gtx 680 and i5 2500k 4.2. I get 15% gpu usage under this circumstances which proves that its my cpu that is bottlenecking in this game, even if its top notch (i7 3930 3.7 equally expect HT). This game is hugely CPU heavy, HUGELY, and an I7 is to prefer.

First of all, you have 1 680. I have two 7970s in crossfire and they are overclocked. Second of all you have your cpu at 4.2 ghz, I have mine at 4.7. Third im using the new catalyst 12.11 drivers that take advantage of the 7000 series newer architecture.

So no. Im not lying.

I am using some Corsair closed loop cooler (not sure which model,) and I run stable at around 4.5 Ghz. i7 3770k (Ivy.) It does overhear briefly sometimes as I don’t think the pump starts soon enough sometimes (my theory.) But it fixes itself in seconds, and nothing bad seems to happen.

I did not spend much time on overvoltage. Bumped it a bit, and called it a day.