Guild Wars 2

Hi,

I’ve decided to build a pc instead of buying a laptop.

Will this run GW2 on Ultra(no supersample) in PvE 60fps+ and WvW 60 Fps+

CPU: i7 3930k 6 cores will overclock to 4,5 GHz
Ram: Corsair 16 Gb kit 1600 mhz
GPU: Sapphire Hd 7970 Ghz edition
And an SSD for games
and a lot of other stuff not important

You’re never going to get 60+fps in WvW zergs..noone can, but you should be ok for pve on ultra and you could probably get away with supersampling as well. You also will not get 60+fps in PVE zergs but, to my knowledge there isn’t a computer on the planet that can do that.
GW2 will not use all your 6cores/12 thread effectively so I hope your getting that CPU for other reasons.

WvW you will get 20-30 FPS in zerg battles if u have culling settings set to Character Limit: Highest, Texture Limit:Medium (low in extreme zergs)

PvE is mainly GPU bassed so u shouldnt have any issues with FPS there. With exception of area’s with lots of players. Like dragon events and Cities.

Max total CPU utilisation u will see is 50%, so u deffiantly dont NEED a 6core 12 thread CPUin terms of overall capacity as a 4core 8 thread will do just fine. The only benfit with a 3930k over say a 4770k is longevity. The 4770k will have better performance per core clock for clock, but the 3930k will last longer thanks to its more cores, and the socket its on. Newer games designed to play on PS4 and XboxDone will be 8 core/thread optimised (hopefuly) so we should see new games coming out with better thread optimisation, thus favoring more cores.

Other games, Crysis 3 in particular, likes the 3930k/3960x and 3970x over other CPU’s due to its core count and can attain higher FPS if u have the GPUs to allow it (note i said gpuS ..plural)

Do i actually need a heatsink for my cpu?(does it come with processor or do i have to buy it) And do i need a heatsink for Gpu(or does it come with GPU)

Yes you will need a heatsink/radiator/water loop for your CPU as Sandy Bridge – E processors do not come with them.

Your GPU will be fine as is out of the box, you don’t need anything else.

If you want to clock your 3930k to 4.5GHz +, you’ll probably need a large tower heatsink or a closed water loop such as a Corsair H100.

Is a Water cooler not enough?

a room full of these and you should be fine, just overclock them and make sure you have centralized air conditioning…..you’ll still lag a little in wvw though. just turn off reflections.

lol Ricky

Noctua has some great coolers but you can also go for an H100i or Nzxt Kraken X60 are good as well. If you’re going closed loop make sure that your case will support the cooler.

I use the H100i and it has been great for my moderate OC. I have never gone over 80c in stress tests and putting the fans on balanced it seems to be very quiet as well.

From my own personaly experiance i can tell u that if u want 4.5ghz or 4.6ghz u WILL need atleast a Top of the range air cooler (like the Noctua NH-D14 that i use), or a high end AIO water cooler like the Corsair H100.
The 3930k does not come with a stock cpu cooler.

is a water cooler the same as a heatsink
If no does a heatsink come with a water cooler
If no, What is a good quality heatsink and pasta

(Im not very experienced at Computers)

My case is the Cooler master HAF XM
and motherboard Asus p9x79 Pro

I want to buy the Corsair Hydro H100i

is this a water cooler and a heatsink?

(still not very experienced with computers)

A heatsink is a cooling solution for your CPU.
Your HAF XM should fit the H100
I would get the H100i since it comes with corsair link and you can use software to control the fans and monitor the heat etc.
Water coolers are usually more expensive but have the advantage of being less bulky.
Air coolers are are generally cheaper but are bulky(The Noctua NH-D14 works great but it is big).
A good watercooler usually performs pretty close to a high end air cooler so either way you will be fine.
As for the pasta I am guessing you mean thermal paste or TIM. The corsair TIM is pretty good and I found I got better results from using that then artic silver.
I don’t think that the Noctua comes with thermal paste so you might have to buy that separate.

thx for all responses

The NH-D14 comes with its own NT-H1 TIM which is a high performing non conductive paste, not worth buying somthing to replace imo.

A AIO water cooler has its own heatsink, the water cooler is a closed loop. The water passes through the heat sink which is sealed. You bolt the heatsink onto the CPU. Heat passes through the cpu into the heatsink, water passes through the heatsink and draws out the heat. The heated water then pumps through a radiator which has fans blowing through it thus cooling the water for the cycle to start over.

Air coolers work much the same way but with air. The heat goes through the CPU into the heat sink, the heat sink is finned and air is blown through these fins thus drawing of the heat and blowing out.

None of the 2011 CPUs come with heatsinks . . .

But to the other guy above: yes OP, 4.5Ghz’ish will make the game run quite well, you just need very good cooling.

I run the CoolerMaster 240m liquid cooling unit, it is very superior:
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=10025

It also uses a very well designed ‘fin’ setup for better heat disappation for the waterblock (shown below.) The only thing you will need to worry about is if you have the case to install this unit in. In my experience this unit is better than the Corsair H100i cooler. Far better design.

CoolerMaster’s 240m is cheaper than Corsair’s H100i

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h100i-elc240-seidon-240m-lq320,3380-12.html

This was posted at the end of last year but is still relivant.

SolarNova.1052:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h100i-elc240-seidon-240m-lq320,3380-12.html

This was posted at the end of last year but is still relivant.

Sadly, Tomshardware is paid reviews, so I won’t take anything that site has to say for truth.

Maybe you should consider LGA1150 and the Z87 platform instead of the X79 platform unless you’re running multiple GPUs or doing heavily multi threaded tasks. You might be able to save a couple hundred this way and not impact your gaming experience.

I want the 6 cores because i also do video editing, photoshop, make games my self and record and stream games.

Paid or not, the results are valid. Air coolers like the D14 and SilverArrow are on par with the upper mid range to top end AIO water coolers at mid range Overclocks. So if the OP is after 4.5ghz he should look at both AIO water coolers and Top end air coolers.
From my own experiance a air cooler like the D14 stops being usuable at around 1.38v at which point temps can hit ~85c at max load, so what ever clock u can get with that is down to the silicon lottery. After that point a AIO water cooler is better as it can keep temps down still.

Crawford.4135:

SolarNova.1052:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h100i-elc240-seidon-240m-lq320,3380-12.html

This was posted at the end of last year but is still relivant.

Sadly, Tomshardware is paid reviews, so I won’t take anything that site has to say for truth.

I would like references on that. I’ve only found traditional Intel/AMD or nVidia/AMD fanboy accusations of Tom’s “obvious bios towards X so they must be getting paid”. I haven’t seen any of their reviews contradict reviews on components from multiple other sites.

And if you honestly don’t trust Tom’s, here are a few other sites.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6916/cooler-master-seidon-240m-and-12-more-coolers-the-retest-and-megaroundup

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/cooler_master_seidon_240m_review,1.html

How long will this Pc last and play all games on Ultra(Future Games)

How many years?

Well its only a single GPU setup so it cant even play current games fully maxed out ..not if u include games like Crysis 3 Max settings including AA, and a bunch of other games. That requirs at minimum 2x GTX 780’s even on a 1080p screen.
However the core of the setup should last about 4 years. You will ofc need to upgrade the GPU as needed. But the CPU and the rest of the rig should be fine.

If i dont use a hd 7970 but a gtx 770 will that give better performance.

And later on i will put the card in Sli

How many years then?

well a 770 is a modified 680, so its only slightly better than a 7970..however they do work better in SLI vs a 7970 in SLI so if u plan on SLI in the future u NEED to go Nvidia. So yes a future spec with 2x 770’s would last a good while likely matching the CPU life span of 4 or so years.

all games now and future on ultra?

mujtaba.8167:

If i dont use a hd 7970 but a gtx 770 will that give better performance.

And later on i will put the card in Sli

How many years then?

If you’re looking for a definitive answer no one can really say what is going to happen more than a year out really. Typically, I wouldn’t give a single GPU a lifespan of more than 2 generations (I do often though since I’m don’t need highest everything). So maybe 3-4 years for the SLI setup and towards the end you might not be able to max everything. Really what you should look at is buying a new card every generation and selling your used on on an enthusiast site if you always want the highest everything forever.

thx for replies

Indeed the older they get the lower settings u will have to use in the up to date games.
Thats not to say the 770’s will get slower, just that games will get more demanding.

So u wil lstart of for the 1st year. possibly 2 maxing out 90% of games, then as the extra years go by u will find more and more games that u cant max out, till eventualy u get to a point where u want to upgrade.
SO 770’s in SLI ..a guestimate of 3-4 years befor u may want to replace them ..but what u consider ‘to slow fps’ or ‘to low graphics fidelity’ is up to u.

I have had my 680 for about 6 months maybe and I am already looking to SLI.