Guild Wars 2

Hey people,

I Recently bought a new computer I think its pretty decent i’ll list the specs in a second, however in order to get the most of the game I bought a really powerful g card MSI PE 660 TI, now the card I had previously was the 560 model.

Now onto the main issue even after buying this brand new card I get pretty much the same FPS as I did on my old card and the settings arent even on max! There is no difference whatsoever in terms of performance my FPS fluctuates between 30-50fps in lions arch with a number of settings on medium. One thing I have noticed is when moving the camera it laggs a little too. I have tried a few things. First I tried reinstalling the game however this just kept my previous graphic settings. Second I thought it was because I was using a vga cable so I bought a new hdmi to dvi cable which made zero difference. I have the latest drivers for my card. Surely with the below I should be able to play this game on ultra settings while maxing FPS?

• Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz 6MB Cache (3.40GHz Max. Turbo Frequency) Quad-Core Processor
• Official Intel Cooler
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 TI
• 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Silverline (2×4GB) 1333 (PC3-10666) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM CAS 9-9-9-24 1.5V
• Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V GEN3 Intel H61 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• 550W OCZ ZS Series 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply

Any help on this would be really appreciate because I feel I am not getting the most out of my computer and my game.

Thanks in advance!

changing from 560 to 660ti wont really much with the current state of the game i believe it will only let you go with higher AA kinda stuff for the the time being

You mentioned you purchased a new computer. It looks like based on the parts you listed that you built it yourself. Do you recall installing the Intel Chipset drivers before you installed any other software or especially your video card drivers? I do believe though that 50 fps does seem like a fairly normal frame rate for the video card you mentioned.

It was custom built but not by myself, It came with a disc with all the drivers and stuff which was the first thing I installed when I got it, I dont know what it is but I just know its not performing as it should be if you get me. I just want to get the best possible results from my computer and I know I am not achieving it. I saw the game on my mates computer a couple of nights ago, now he has a slightly weaker cpu and and a radeon 6850 card but it looked so much nicer on his computer than mine plus he is able to play at a higher graphical setting while still getting a better FPS rate.

Those drivers came with the discs are outdated update as many of them you can starting with GPU & Sound ones they really impact on gameplays.

Well I definately have the latest Graphics and Sound drivers I did try to do as much as I could before directing the question here, I even updated the motherboard drivers (I believe)

What are your in-game settings for reflections and v-sync?

I’ll post it a little later on, but V Sync is on and I think its on terrain and sky for reflections if thats the setting, if reflections is near the top of the graphic settings menu its probably on normal if its near the bottom it will be on high,

Few things i wil ladvise first of

Check nvidia control panel for guildwars 2. make sure your on single display performance mode, powermanagment is on max performance, triple buffering on, rest leave as standard.
make sure your drivers are on the latest BETA drivers from nvidia website.

Use some monitoring software to check cpu and gpu usage when your fps is NOT on your max (60 for 60hz Vsync). If your GPU is not maxing out then i would say its a cpu bottleneck. And visa versa

If it turns out your gpu is not maxing out then try overclocking your cpu a bit. A new gen 3.1 to 3.6ghz processor is nice but never underestimate how much cpu power a mmo requirs

Ah thats more like it, thanks solar, I definately have the latest beta driver 306.xx, Looking at some of the posts on here I have thought it might be my CPU struggling, now by all means the game doesnt look too bad, I just know it can and should look much better, now for a first time overclocker, would it be better to look at OC’ing the CPU or the GPU first?

Don’t overclock anything yet, try running the game with v-sync off and post your results first.

I can tell you now though I have tried it on and off before and it didnt make the slightest bit of difference, I will try it again tonight to be doubly sure. is there anything else you can recommend? maybe tweaking the nvidia management settings or something?

My only tips would be to get drivers 306.23 from http://www.geforce.com/ if you already didn’t and try Reflections: None. From what I’ve tested (GTX560 Ti@1GHz), Reflections: All are sometimes a 50% performance hit.

IMO CPU overclocking is probably easyer. Specialy if its only a little OC .

now i only say this becouse i personaly buy pre overclocked GPU’s. Which imo dont really need OC’ing more usualy becouse they end up being unstable and not worth the hassle for the tiny extra OC you could get.

CPU OC’ing however, with current generation cpu’s tends to be easier UNLESS your going for massive OC’s. For example it took me a couple weeks to get my OC from 3.2 to 4.6 on my 3930k stable and running on its lowest voltage it could.

A small OC can generaly b done with very few tweeks and should not need new cooling systems. It might requir you to turn up your cpu fan ..but thats about it.

SolarNova.1052:

make sure your on single display performance mode, […] triple buffering on

Both options only influence OpenGL applications, GW2 is DX9.

Any time you plan to upgrade video cards it’s a good idea to check

This Chart

It tells you where your current card falls performance wise in relation to other cards. Tom’s doesn’t recommend you upgrade unless you go at least 3 tiers higher than your current card because otherwise you won’t see much real world improvement.

As for the framerate unless you are getting massive screen tearing you could try and turn Vsync off.

EDIT: when I get home from work today I’ll see what kind of framerate I get in LA and post. I have the same CPU but a GTX 470 which should match your old cards performance if the 560 you had was a GTX 560 Ti.

Drintar.1246:

Any time you plan to upgrade video cards it’s a good idea to check

This Chart

I’d also add this one too, it lets you select 2 gfx cards and compare them easily in all the benchmarks. Pretty handy.

Sorry for the delay. I forgot to check LA last night but did run AC and while in AC I was sitting at around 70 FPS according to EVGA Precision. I say around because it was at 80 a time or two when I looked and like 78 another time so I figure in reality during the fights it was probably lower

Hey Maken, I just want to check, what did you get with your 560 Ti previously? I personally have some issues with my 7950, which I upgraded from a 560 Ti.