Guild Wars 2

I don’t know if this is the right section to post in but it seemed to be the closest to what I was getting at. I imagine there’s a lot of tech-savvy people in here so I was wondering, how much do you think it would cost to build a computer that isn’t top of the line but can hold its own in WvW zerg fights without lag? If you’d like to go even further, you could post a list of parts you think I should get. I’m just trying to get an idea of what I’d be sticking my head into.

P.S. I didn’t think I’d have to look into getting a new computer since mine is decent and GW2 is suppose to be casual-friendly…not that I’m all that casual but still lol.

An intel 3570k with 8gigs of ram and a decent mobo + Geforce Gtx 660 / 660ti / Ati Radeon hd 7850 would be a relatively cheap and high performance solution.

All prices in UK Pounds. If u from US then just take the price ..devide by 120 ..times by 100 ..and then times by 1.63 (ur removing 20% VAT, and converting to dollars) Though its likely u will find most parts cheaper than what it works out at anyway, you could probably remove another 15% actually.

Core parts:

2550k + Noctua NH-D14 air cooler (£173+£68)
Asus motherboard (£87)
GSkill ram 16gb/2×8gb dual channel 1600mhz/ (£70)
Ati 7950 (~£250)

Depending on what u can salvage form your old computer (if u have one)

ATX compatable case (~£65)
750W PSU (~£75)
22" 1080p monitor (~£100)
Logitech, or other gaming, Keyboard & Mouse (~£100)
Sata 500gb HDD (~£65)
Sata Optical Drive (~£15)

Optional
128gb/120gb SSD (~£120)

Then OC the CPU to 4.5ghz (its easy)

That list is not TOP of the line.. but you can consider it more than capable for most games atm. If you wanna save money on any of the core components i sugets it be on the graphics card.
As for the other parts ..you could go down on the size and resolution on the monitor to save some money and also go down to a non gaming keyboard and mouse. Ofcourse if you already have those then no need to owrry about them

SSD is a nice addition, though completly optional, as it only really helps with loading times and in some casses helps reduce stutter in games due to the super fast access times.

I put this build together recently with the intent of a minimum build that should play WvW smoothly (25+fps in zergs). The parts are chosen with the intent to overclock which is important for WvW:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nsDy

In short, it has a i5 2500k and a GTX 560 Ti.

Aye a 560ti or Ati equivalent would be adequate but you owuld likely want to upgrade it within a year. If you have the option of gettinga 2550k ..there is no reaosn to get the 2500k unless u want to use its Internal GPu. The 2550k is the same price but has a higher stock clock speed which helsp with OC.

SolarNova.1052:

Aye a 560ti or Ati equivalent would be adequate but you owuld likely want to upgrade it within a year. If you have the option of gettinga 2550k ..there is no reaosn to get the 2500k unless u want to use its Internal GPu. The 2550k is the same price but has a higher stock clock speed which helsp with OC.

Where is the 2550K at $200? The 2500K best deal is at newegg.com for $200. The best I see the 2550K for is at Amazon $230. Not worth $30.

Ah ..i cant comment on where to get it in America tbh. All i know is that in the UK ..both CPU’s are within a couple pounds of each other. And usualy PC components are cheaper in America than the UK.

TBH $230 is like £138 ..unfortunatly for Uk ..we have to add 20% ontop for VAT >.< + a little extra on top of that aswell.
US cost $230 = £138
UK cost £176 = $ 287

Bassicaly what im saying is ..be happy ..$230 is cheap :P Im sure with some searching you could find somwhere that sells it for the price of a 2500k ..or very close in the US.

haha, OK – yes I am happy with prices. I read the 2550K was introduced to meet the high demand for 2500K, the 2550K has no integrated graphics but both overclock quite easily 4.5+ghz.

BTW, if you are close to a Microcenter check their stock… I recently purchased my i5 3570K for a staggering $170, and still in stock.

o.0 wow ..nice price

most places i look the 3570k is cheaper then the 2500k or 2550k chips. 3570k is a solid choice.

Here comes the AMD guy and I will take some heat for it I’m sure.

The 3570k seems like a decent proc and the quick reseach that I did it is about $220. It runs 3.4ghz out of the box and is capable of 3,8 after the OC. When the hyper threading kicks in you might be able to see 4.2-4.4ghz (rough estimate).

The AMD FX-4170 is a 4.2 quad core out of the box (no over clocking needed) and it is $120 at the website of the electronics store that I worked at. This is the proc that I am using at the moment and it is a real nice proc.

Couple that with a ASUS M5A97 motherboard for about $100 and you should do fine. Slam 8 gigs of ram (that you can get for around $40-$50 bucks) in it the look at your video card options. I am using a gtx550ti. It is a solid video card for around $110 depending on model rebates and where you shop.

The Intel vs AMD debate is a very simple one. Sure the Intel chips are better, but they are not very cost effecive. My chip runs a 7.3 on the windows scale. That is equivilent to many of the i7 procs out there. Intel does not become cost effective untill you get into the more high end chips with quad channel memmory configurations. Those chips cost around $600 and the boards are around $350-$500. If Intel chips were cheaper then I would go with them. I would be grumbling about the install of the heatsink over the chip, but that is another story. Basicly you get more bang for your buck with the current AMD chips to get a meduim ranged build.

Optionaly you can get yourself a SSD drive but they mainly just make loading times faster, and give you a faster boot up. My current system with no password will boot up in about 15 seconds or less. It will go from desktop to shut down and back to desktop in about 30ish seconds.

Good luck to you in your desision making process and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

You can get an i3 that will give you better gaming performance for the same price as that fx chip.

If your going to go AMD at least get a piledriver or a phenom 2 they are even better then the bulldozer series chips.

i3-2120 cost $120 Windows score is 7.1. Still better with the FX Series for the same cost. The OP is trying to build a system that will not break the bank but be able to run the game well. AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition is a good proc as well. It runs the same Windows score as my proc. It is however an am3 socket and not an am3+ so the motherboard I quoted might not work with it. It’s price is less than $100 bucks depending on where you go.

Kaos ..hyperthreading doesnt increase cpu core speed. It creates virtual cores which means each core can in.. laymens turms ..process 2 threads at once. That isnt EXACTLY how it works but i wont go into details. ‘Turbo Boost’ is what increases core speed, and the 3570 turbo’s to 3.8ghz. But since its a K cpu it should be manualy OC’d by the user for the best performance and will likely hit 4.3/4.4ghz on air cooling.

Additionaly AMD dont run well with GW2 ..atleast at the moment. Some of it will be down to the lower per core performance AMD have compared to intel ..the rest may well be optimizations. As it stands, any1 upgrading in the future and who intend on playing GW2 for the most part, should go with Intel ..dispite the price. You get what you pay for. Also i might add that the windows experiance index is one of the worst benchmarks you can use for performance..its to limited and very vague.

I agree the windows score is not a good benchmark. My phenom 2×4 965 gave roughly the same score as my i5 3570k in gaming and its like night and day playing guild wars 2 no comparison 965 vs 3570k at all the intel chip is so much smoother then the AMD chip.

You don’t want to overpay ?
Get i3-3220 – which according to my win 7 shows 7.2 points of score >.>
Im running it with GTX 260 on medium/low ( Due to crap GPU >.> ) sett and getting 25-31 fps In WvW.
Maybe this is not great view on WvW as some ppl hidden but it’s fine in most cases.

Sorry for my bad ability to post images

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/803/wvwf.jpg/

So get good intel Mobo, i3-3220, a gtx 660 or 560ti and upgrade i3 later on to Ivy brige i5 ( which is prolly i5-2550k? )

2550k is sandybridge
equivialent ivybridge is the 3570k
:)

both are great i5’s ..personaly i would go 2550k for higher OC’s. but for mild to moderate OC’s the ivybridge would be better.

just checked.
Your right.
Tho sandy is more OC’friendly

I took my i3 cause had no other choice ( cash limit ) tho I will definately upgrade it to i5 in future