Guild Wars 2

I wish to upgrade my PC to play GW2 better on native settings with full sharers etc. I only have basic understanding of PC’s I’v been recommended to upgrade my GPU but i need help and a recommendation of witch to get that will work well with my current setup:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1, System Model: p6-2065uk Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.4GHz, Memory: 4096MB RAM Available, OS Memory: 4000MB RAM, DirectX Version: DirectX 11 DX Setup Parameters: Not found, User DPI Setting: Using System DPI System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent) DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled Card name: Intel® HD Graphics, Manufacturer: Intel Corporation, Chip type: Intel® HD Graphics Family, DAC type: Internal any help with this will be much appreciated if anymore info is needed just ask, thanks

So it looks like you’re using the embedded graphics on your processor which is the bare minimum to play the game. Your processor is pretty nice though.

Native settings with full shaders…are you trying to say you want to play at max settings? What resolution do you play games at/what is the resolution of your monitor(s)? What FPS do you want to achieve while playing the game at your desired resolution and graphics settings? Do you have a budget?

You might also want to pick up another stick of DDR3 RAM since you only have 4GB of RAM and I wouldn’t recommend a machine of that caliber with less than 8GB. What is the current speed of your RAM? You’ll want to match the speed of the RAM along with its timings (ie: 9-9-9-24) so that you won’t have too many hiccups when adding the RAM to your system.

Since that looks like a prebuilt computer you will need to check your PSU, findo ut what wattage , make and model.
A good GPu to get is the 650ti, its cheap and is capable of handle GW on medium to high settings at native resolutions. But since ur rig is built with the IGP in mind, its likely not got any wattage left to power a dedicated card so u will likely need a new PSU aswell.

Ilithis Mithilander.3265:

So it looks like you’re using the embedded graphics on your processor which is the bare minimum to play the game. Your processor is pretty nice though.

Native settings with full shaders…are you trying to say you want to play at max settings? What resolution do you play games at/what is the resolution of your monitor(s)? What FPS do you want to achieve while playing the game at your desired resolution and graphics settings? Do you have a budget?

You might also want to pick up another stick of DDR3 RAM since you only have 4GB of RAM and I wouldn’t recommend a machine of that caliber with less than 8GB. What is the current speed of your RAM? You’ll want to match the speed of the RAM along with its timings (ie: 9-9-9-24) so that you won’t have too many hiccups when adding the RAM to your system.

I’m hoping to play with 40+ fps and native res of 1920×1080 with shaders and high textures, ill have to find out what the speed of my RAM is, but I do see that in my speccy report it is 9-9-9-24, my budget is pretty much anything under £400 but could wait longer and save more.

SolarNova.1052:

Since that looks like a prebuilt computer you will need to check your PSU, findo ut what wattage , make and model.
A good GPu to get is the 650ti, its cheap and is capable of handle GW on medium to high settings at native resolutions. But since ur rig is built with the IGP in mind, its likely not got any wattage left to power a dedicated card so u will likely need a new PSU aswell.

Yes it is prebuilt, I will check the psu details tomorrow from my speccy report and update my question with them included. Ill look up that gpu. Thanks for the help I’m pretty much hoping that with as much info I can get as possible from other gamers I’m able to learn more about this sort of thing as I go about upgrading.

theckylistener.5317:

Ilithis Mithilander.3265:

So it looks like you’re using the embedded graphics on your processor which is the bare minimum to play the game. Your processor is pretty nice though.

Native settings with full shaders…are you trying to say you want to play at max settings? What resolution do you play games at/what is the resolution of your monitor(s)? What FPS do you want to achieve while playing the game at your desired resolution and graphics settings? Do you have a budget?

You might also want to pick up another stick of DDR3 RAM since you only have 4GB of RAM and I wouldn’t recommend a machine of that caliber with less than 8GB. What is the current speed of your RAM? You’ll want to match the speed of the RAM along with its timings (ie: 9-9-9-24) so that you won’t have too many hiccups when adding the RAM to your system.

I’m hoping to play with 40+ fps and native res of 1920×1080 with shaders and high textures, ill have to find out what the speed of my RAM is, but I do see that in my speccy report it is 9-9-9-24, my budget is pretty much anything under £400 but could wait longer and save more.

You can do that with mid-high range graphics cards, the one SolarNova linked is what I consider to be a bare minimum to have an enjoyable experience in the game, but my tastes are likely different than everyone else’s tastes. I got my siblings a GTX 650Ti and it works great with their very antiquated C2D E6320. Another sibling runs Guild Wars 2 with a GTX 560Ti which I ran for a while and is a nice mid range card. He got better FPS than I do with my 448 version in some places but he is also running a 3770K while I roll with my older 930. The main reason I wanted the 448 version was for the extra RAM while not necessarily wanting to spend the extra money to spring for a 570.

If you have that much of a budget, I would grab a GTX 660Ti mainly because I’m an Nvidia fan, however, the better card for performance/{insert unit of money here} is AMD’s 7870XT.

And ofcourse now its the 23rd u can always go balls deep and get the monster that is the GTX 780, its been reviewed and benched, You thought the GXT Titan was good ..ha take a look at the Overclocked vrsions of the GTX 780 >:)

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/gigabyte_gtx780_windforce_review/1

Stock versions come in at £550, so yes its over budget but its the best GPU out by a big margin 20%+ over the 7970ghz and GTX 680.

The Oc’d one is so good, im gunna get one .. hehe ..then i can laugh at all those who watsed money on the Titan :P ..well ok maybe i wont laugh at them, im not that obnoxious ..but ill have a giggle :P

SolarNova.1052:

And ofcourse now its the 23rd u can always go balls deep and get the monster that is the GTX 780, its been reviewed and benched, You thought the GXT Titan was good ..ha take a look at the Overclocked vrsions of the GTX 780 >:)

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/gigabyte_gtx780_windforce_review/1

Stock versions come in at £550, so yes its over budget but its the best GPU out by a big margin 20%+ over the 7970ghz and GTX 680.

The Oc’d one is so good, im gunna get one .. hehe ..then i can laugh at all those who watsed money on the Titan :P ..well ok maybe i wont laugh at them, im not that obnoxious ..but ill have a giggle :P

Yeah, I think I might grab a GTX 770 depending how it fares out against the GTX 780. However, this won’t be until they come down in price because 650 for a top tier card is a little ridiculous IMO. I am impressed by how close it comes to the TITAN and how they priced it. I wonder if TITAN prices will drop now? If they don’t I’m going to be surprised because the performance per {insert money type here} just isn’t there for the TITAN now (not thakitten was before but its even worse now).

The 770 is a 680 bassicaly, dont expect it to be close to a 780. It will likely be ~5% faster than a current 680.

The 780 is the only one of the 700 series to use a Gk110 chip.

@theckylistener

It looks as if you have this HP box.

Ram speed doesn’t impact much in the big scheme of things. However if you are looking to increase your memory to 8GB, you have to replace the 4GB you have since that motherboard only has two memory slots.

Also besides a real gamer video card you will have to swap out the anemic power supply that’s in all HPs. And since the HP case is cramp, you will need a power supply that conforms to the actual ATX12V spec when it comes to physical size. There is really not a lot of extra space in that case.

What you need is a modern ATX12V power supply in the 430-500 watt range (note I’m not expecting you to have a sky high upgrade budget). It also has to be able to fit and HP cases are very cramp so most power supplies with fans on their top/bottom aren’t a good fit since they are longer. Because of this you are looking for ones that are only 5.5" deep (long). They are all going to be 5.9″ × 3.4″ but the third dimension is important.

Now since you are in the UK, at least that PC is only sold in the UK according to HP, I don’t have any handy links to online sources of parts So I can only recommend models and hope they are available there.

In the 430 watt size I would recommend the Corsair CX430. It can provide 380 watts of 12 volt power for the CPU and video card (it’s what they feed on). For 500 watt size I would recommend it’s big brother the Corsair CX500 with 450 watts of 12 volt power. Either should be able to support up to a GTX 660Ti but the CX430 might be pushing it a bit.

As for video cards, the GTX 650Ti Boost (lets add MORE suffixes) is a fairly good card for the price point. It has more in common with the GTX 660 than the vanilla GTX 650Ti. If you prefer AMD then the HD 7850 should have similar performance.

Some good places to shop in the UK online.

In no particular order.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/
http://www.dabs.com/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk
http://www.scan.co.uk/
http://www.aria.co.uk/
http://www.ebuyer.com/

I have not used Aria before but they r sugested by a very well known review and overclock forum (overclock3d).
Ebuyer i havnt used ether but im thinking of using them in the future for a particular PC upgrade purchase, they seem legit enough, big aswell. I’ve got a family firend who has used them without trouble also.
The others i have used in the past and they are all good.

Just to second solarnova’s recommendations, they are all reputable places. Personally i’ve used overclockers and scan.

Thank you all for this very helpfull and specific information it has helped me greatly in reading into all of these things I’m now leaning towards building my own PC over a few months with help from anyone who will. Iv looked into what I can use from my current pc in the new one processor hard drive disk reader. Thanks again for the amazing info it has inspired me greatly to fill my head with as much computer building knowledge as I can.

SolarNova.1052:

And ofcourse now its the 23rd u can always go balls deep and get the monster that is the GTX 780, its been reviewed and benched, You thought the GXT Titan was good ..ha take a look at the Overclocked vrsions of the GTX 780 >:)

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/gigabyte_gtx780_windforce_review/1

Stock versions come in at £550, so yes its over budget but its the best GPU out by a big margin 20%+ over the 7970ghz and GTX 680.

The Oc’d one is so good, im gunna get one .. hehe ..then i can laugh at all those who watsed money on the Titan :P ..well ok maybe i wont laugh at them, im not that obnoxious ..but ill have a giggle :P

Hmmm…. for STOCK OC of course… /facepalm. You haven’t seen custom modded TITAN BIOS shooting up to 1200Mhz and 7Ghz Mem. at 1.212v Power 115% 320+watt…

GTX Titan is still far superior if clock the same way as GTX 780. btw TITAN is 3 months before GTX780… so enthusiast as always. Best of the best if you have the money, and if money is not an issue at all. Of course price per performance is just bomb.

Size of the stock case will be a problem, so you will want to open it up and break out a measuring tape and check. A 670 or 7950 will be more than enough for GW2 and can be had for under 300, and then still have 100 left which should get you a good brand 550-700W PSU. You might have to get lower powered GPU’s to make them fit in the case, so find that out first. You can get another case for cheap though if you are not picky and just want something to stuff the parts in.