Guild Wars 2

I’m possibly looking to upgrade my system depending on whether it’s worth it or not, and I’m having trouble assessing that. Currently my system is running with the following:

Intel Core i5-2300 @ 2.8GHz
Asus P8H67-M PRO
GeForce GTX 460
Corsair XMS3 4GB(2×2GB) DDR3 1333MHz CL9
XFX Core Edition Pro 450 Watt, 80+ Bronze

I built this PC a couple of years ago and it has served me well. However I am now looking to improve my performance in GW2 as I primarily play WvW. I am looking into upgrading my CPU to an i5-3770K, but I’m not sure if that’s worth it now that Haswell is out, which would require me to purchase a new motherboard as well.
My GPU is also fairly outdated and I’m thinking a bit more RAM can’t hurt either in this case.

Any advice? Thank you in advance.

If you have a 32 bit operating system their no reason to add more memory, if you have a 64 bit then yes you could add 2 more sticks of the same memory you already have.

With the motherboard you have their no reason to buy a K series processor as you can’t overclock anyhow with a H67 board.
Their no reason to get a i7 processor wth the price differance over a i5 for a extra 1 or 2 FPS.

Your cheapest option would be to get a i5 2500 or a i5 3570 procerssor the 3570 might require you to update the BIOS on the motherboard first before installing it.
Processors that your motherboard will support. http://support.asus.com/Cpusupport/List.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P8H67-M%20PRO

A decent upgrade to the video card would be a 7850 with it drawing less watts from the power supply than the GTX460 so no worries their. http://www.hwcompare.com/12060/geforce-gtx-460-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

Of course a new motherboard and a processor that can be overclocked would be best for this game. To do that right you would need to buy a new operating system also unless you have a retail version.

Sorry to jump in on your thread here but I am also looking to upgrade my system and have already started but I need advice on where to go from here. Firstly though, as far as memory is concerned when it comes to gaming there is not a massive need to go up from 4GB as most games just aren’t built to drain this area. Of course, it never hurts to have more and you could pick up 8GB for relatively cheap these days.

I have just upgraded my graphics card but I built my rig about 3-4 years ago. It has lasted me very well but when I realised my optimal settings for all games was the lowest settings I decided it needed to change. So here is my set up:

Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Socket AM3 3.0GHz
OCZ GameXStream 850W PSU
Asus GTX 660 DirectCU II OC 2GB GDDR5 – (the new upgrade)
Kingston 4GB (2×2GB) DDR3 1600MHz
500GB HDD

I intend to upgrade the HDD to 1TB, minimum, and also get an SSD. I may also go for an upgrade to the memory but my biggest concern here is that I am going to have to bring in a whole new mobo. Anyone know what I should be looking at and what is a good option, preferably not stupid expensive?

Simply put, any 2nd generation intel i series or newer + a middle of the range motherboard and u will be sorted. Get a K version if possible with the appropriat motherboard for overclocking.You’ll also want to look into aftermarket CPU coolers.

So a 2550k (100mhz faster than 2500k and no onboard GPU, harder to find but they should be more or less the same price), a 3570k, or a 4670k. These are the i5 options.

‘Stupid price’ is all relative tbh. If ur used to buying AMD, then Intel and Nvidia are stupid price to u most likely, but, specialy for CPU, you pay for the better performance. For me stupid price is a 3970x or 4960X, but a 3930k is fine. thats ~$500 vs $1000 just for the CPU, so u really need to state a price range.

OP, since u cant OC u ether want a 2500, or 3570 i5. If u decide u want to OC and/or want the latest intel generation, then a 4670k + Z87 motherboard is ur best option.

Thanks for your replies. I’d say my budget is around 500 euros.

I am still wondering though if only upgrading the CPU in my case will be worth it in terms of performance improvements. I find this very hard to judge. Also, I don’t know if upgrading my motherboard in addition to my CPU would be worth it in the long run since I doubt LGA 1150 will be supported beyond Broadwell, and Haswell doesn’t seem to be much of an improvement over Sandy Bridge for desktops.

I’m also not entirely sure why upgrading motherboard would require me to purchase a new operating system. Just to be completely clear: only the Z types motherboards are capable of overclocking CPUs?

Again, thanks in advance.

Yes Z type for OC’ing. And a K version CPU.

The performance difference between a OC 2500k sandybridge and a OC 4670k haswell is precisely 0. becouse the haswell wont reach the same clocks as the sandy due to heat, and so the small performance difference clock for clock between the newer haswell and the Older Sandy is lost once OC’ed.
But becouse of ur motherboard situation, if u get a new motherboard there really is no reason to make ur life difficult by trying to find a 2500k/2550k, not only that.. Haswell(4670k) has its benifits with power consumption and the motherboards that support it have newer technologies onboard.

Its totaly up to u which way u go, im fond of getting the extra ‘free’ performance of OCing so i would , if i were in ur position, buy a new motherboard and get a 4670k or 4770k and then give it a modest OC. Just remember that Haswell is a hot generation of CPU’s and so you will NEED an aftermarket cooler if ur gunna OC.

Worry not about ‘deadend sockets’. Intel has, once ur OC, produced 0 performance gains since Sandybridge, even Boradwell will only be 30% more power efficent than haswell ‘at the same performance’. By the time Intel comes out with a CPU that is worth upgrading to performance wise, u would expect any socket currently out to be unusable by said new CPU anyway.

What performance u will gain ?
Well just going on stock settings u will bassicaly be gaining 1ghz (1000mhz) of CPU speed going from stock 2.8ghz to stock 3.8ghz. add on a OC to maybe 4.2ghz and ur then gaining 1.4ghz over what ur current CPU can do + if u get a haswell ull gain that extra ~15% clock performance advanatage (Sandy to Ivy was ~7% performance increase, Ivy to haswell was again ~7%. So Sandy to haswell is roughly 15%)
Effectivly giving u a ~1.8ghz clock increase over ur current CPU.
What FPS icnrease that results in ingame is hard to say, but it will be noticable.

And u wont need a new OS for the motherboard. The talk about the OS was regarding your RAM. A 32bit OS can only use roughly 3.8gb(4gb) of RAM, a 64bit OS, depending on the package (home, premium, enterprise, etc) can handle up to 192Gb.
Windows 64bit:
Basic is 8gb,
Premium is 16gb
Professional is 192gb
Enterprise is 192gb
Ultimate is 192gb

SolarNova.1052:

And u wont need a new OS for the motherboard. The talk about the OS was regarding your RAM. A 32bit OS can only use roughly 3.8gb(4gb) of RAM, a 64bit OS, depending on the package (home, premium, enterprise, etc) can handle up to 192Gb.
Windows 64bit:
Basic is 8gb,
Premium is 16gb
Professional is 192gb
Enterprise is 192gb
Ultimate is 192gb

Those limits are for Windows 7.

Windows 8 64-bit’s are:

Windows 8 is 128GB
Professional is 512GB
Enterprise is 512GB

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_8

Yea i know :P

Becouse W7 is what i recommend

Micro Center usually has the top Intel processors for stupid cheap. Here’s you a 3770K, at the price of some i5’s. It’s worth it, if you have a store somewhere near you.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/388575/Core_i7_3770K_35GHz_Socket_LGA_1155_Boxed_Processor

I actually have an aftermarket cooler with my current setup, though I’m not sure if it’ll suffice if I want to start overclocking a new CPU. It is an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2.

Also I’m in Europe so no Micro Centers where I live. :P