Guild Wars 2

System Specs:

i7-980x OC’s to 4.2 ghz
12 gb 1600Mhz Ram
2 680 GTX’s in SLI (driver ver. 310.54)
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD (game install drive)
OCZ Revodrive (OS drive)

When I initially load into the game, no matter what zone (obviously Lion’s Arch is the worst), I get frame drops when rotating my camera for the first 10 to 15 seconds. I drop to single digits during this time, after the game runs for about 30 seconds, it’s playable.

I still get frame drops on camera turns occasionally, but not to the point of being unplayable.

I’ve read the thread about dropping reflections and shaders for similar issues, and this does help. The main issue is, I shouldn’t get single digit frames with my hardware.

I did a fresh install of Windows 7 (64 bit) 2 days before GW2, just in preparation. I don’t remember these issues in the early Beta Weekends, but it’s definitely been an issue since release.

I notice my GPU’s aren’t really taxed (and they are locked in 3d performance mode).

I also notice my CPU is only using between 20 and 25%, with all cores active (registry edit done to not park cores).

Any thoughts on this?

Even after the game is running for a while, I occasionally get a 20-30 fps when turning, which seems way low. It definitely seems to be an issue that I don’t recall from before release. But I could be mistaken, I’m just curious if there’s another issue that I should hunt down.

I also verified that my PCI-e slots were running in either x16 or x8 when under load.

Sorry for the ramble, just thinking out load as I try remember everything I’ve checked.

Thanks for any advice!

20-25 is where your CPu maxes out for GW2.

bassicaly gw2 uses 2 to 3 main threads forits performance when one or all max out the thread performance, the game drops in fps. it will never use 100% of the total cpu performance becouse it isnt going by the total cpu performance ..its going by the ‘thread’ performance.

So the 980x has 6cores 12 threads. Just like my 3930k it will work out that you will notice fps droping when you cpu’s total usuage is anywhere from 20 to 25 and up depending on how heavily other threads are being used when 1 maxes out. Note that task manager will not show you the information you need to check this. it wil lonly give you ur total usuage ..not per game thread usuage.

I see my cpu usage reach up to 30 ..maybe a tiny bit more under extreme circumstances like enourmose WvWvW battles and special eventsl ike the Karka invasion. Normal anywhere from 20-25% and i see FPS starting to drop along with GPU usuage droping ..untill ofcourse there is enough effects on the screen to make my GPU become the bottleneck.

Whats happening when you turn is that the thread responsible for loading thei nformation is maxing out causing your GPu to wait for said data and thus lowering your FPS. Thats why lowering shaodw and reflections aswell as LOD can help.

Due to the way GW2 is coded these important threads do not ofload processes to seperate threads once a thread is maxed.. instead al lthat happens is thigns slow down. The onyl way to get around it as a user is to have a supper fast CPU that has really good sinlge thread performance. Those cpu’s like urs requir OC’ing to do this..even then its not enough to keep a stable 60 fps in places like WvW and high population events.

What would you say a good cpu would be if someone were in the market to upgrade Solar? With/without a budget…

2550k + OC would be fine. Air cooled 4.5 to 4.7ghz

If you want to go further get a 3770k/3750k + OC. Air cooled 4.3 to 4.5ghz

Chances are you wont see much differnece between the 2 though.

If you really wanted to go to the extreme. Get a 2700k + high end water cooling .and get it to 5ghz. thats the best you can do bassicaly.

The SB-E 3930k and 3960X wont perform any better than the 3770k or 2700k and will be harder to OC due to the extre cores. The SB-E processor are just for future proofing and for those that want to do encoding and other multi threaded intensive tasks.

Right on, thanks. I’ve an i7 3770 now, but it’s not Ivy Bridge. That’s what I get for skimping out lol.

The 3770 is an ivybridge.

22nm/3rd generation = Ivybridge
32nm/2nd generation = sandybridge

Do you mean its not a ‘k’ ?

Yeah, no “k” with mine. My bad.

I’m only on Q6600 @3.2ghz with GTX 660 so my machine is less powerful than yours, but I don’t get single digit fps when turning. Something is funky with your system, have you tried fiddling with Nvidia control panel setting and turning off SLI?

Yes, I’ve spent a ton of time fiddling with the control panel settings. Making sure I’m on performance mode as opposed to adaptive, trying with and without SLI, etc.

My wife plays on a system that is about 5 years old, with a more current (but far from new) 560 ti. She has no issues as well.

Granted, she plays with settings that aren’t totally maxed, so the comparison isn’t ideal.

I did notice, I can alleviate the problem by dropping reflections to Terrain & Sky Only, and dropping Shadows and Shaders to Medium. Then the problem is no longer as noticeable, but I still dip down to the 20’s (fps) on the initial camera rotation when first loading into a zone.

Thanks for all the input!

By the way, Thank you SolarNova for the information. The only thing that really bugs me is that I didn’t really have an issue in BWE 1 or BWE 2 (frame dips like that, I’d remember pretty well). I didn’t get the opportunity to play until the early launch and that’s when I noticed the difference.

I don’t want to say, “It’s ArenaNets problem!” like so many others. There just feels like a missing piece of the puzzle, and if it’s on my end, I HAVE to find it…..yes, a little OCD.

Thanks!

Reash.8725:

System Specs:

i7-980x OC’s to 4.2 ghz
12 gb 1600Mhz Ram
2 680 GTX’s in SLI (driver ver. 310.54)
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD (game install drive)
OCZ Revodrive (OS drive)

When I initially load into the game, no matter what zone (obviously Lion’s Arch is the worst), I get frame drops when rotating my camera for the first 10 to 15 seconds. I drop to single digits during this time, after the game runs for about 30 seconds, it’s playable.

I have a similar computer spec (same cpu, same ram, same ssd but 2×670 twin frozn IV in SLI, instead of your 2×680) and I got same your problem.
Basically is A.Net problem: GW2 has an horrible code and has zero optimization for nvidia 6xx series and SLI but I found a solution to reduce this effect.

Try 306.23 WHQL or 306.63 developer with clean istall (use driver sweeper) and rotation camera will be shutter only first time when you change map then will be fine.

All version from 306.97 to 310.64 (beta) will reintroduce the problem

It is possible it may be an problem that ever1 has but your seeing and exagerated version of it due to somthing else. Maybe a driver problem.. if you havnt done so already ..try downgrading your drivers.

Another more drastic approach would be to format your HDD’s ..reinstall your OS + Drivers + GW2 only ..no other programs. And see if that works. I know you said you reinstaleld your OS just before GW2 released. .but maybe a recent update or program has caused an issue. This is bassicaly what i do as a last resort.

This is a resources to RAM/GDDR stutter, not a cpu stutter.

Also it is possible that you didn’t notice it as much in the BWE’s because there weren’t as many people online. The dip in frames happens to me too upon first entering a map and Alt-tabbing out of the game has the same effect.

If you haven’t already you could try using Supersampling in the in game options to put more load on your GPU’s and make sure that you don’t have any Nvidia settings ticked that would double over on what the games graphic settings already do. You’ve said you’ve been through the Nvidia settings already though so. The stuttering may also be magnified by the fact that you are using SLI (I use crossfire) and are getting microstutter on top of the normal in game stutter. Enabling Triple Buffering can help with this as microstutter if it is present is almost surely going to be noticeable when going below 30 FPS.

This is happening for me too, i got a GTX660 and before that a HD7850. The stuttering happens only when im entering an area and turning the camera around.