Guild Wars 2

The problem first happened about 2 months ago. I would log on and the game would be completely unplayable, with constant 2-3 FPS, and if I would turn the sounds on.. it would just be so weird, electronic loud broken and hurtful for ears, like some weird sound glitch.

Of course I tried many things, tried every settings combination downloaded the latest graphics card driver, etc. At that time the problem would be fixed after installing a random graphics card driver and then restarting the PC. However, the problem would come back sometimes after turning the pc off and turning it back on and would be solved again by installing RANDOM graphics card driver. Any would work really.

However, what started happening to me yesterday was the same problem but nothing seems to be fixing it now. Not windows update, not any version of graphics card drivers, not any version of audio drivers, I even re installed the game. Also, I can’t do system restore, I never made a restore point.

But, there was something else that started happening at the same time. I would get random sound stutters when starting up the system or when playing YouTube videos. And since the sound would go all weird on GW I think those 2 are connected and it’s actually the sound issue that makes my GW unplayable. Please note that low FPS issue is only with GW and nothing else. Well, everything else while GW is running but you know what I mean…

Of course then I researched a lot about Windows 7 32-bit (that I have) sound stutter issues, tried all of potential solutions and nothing helped at all. I have no idea what to do now.

Also please note that my GW worked perfectly at the time when that problem wasn’t there. At some point I had random low FPS at zerg fights issue but that got fixed simply by cleaning the PC, it was quite dusty. Other than that it would usually run at solid 40-50 FPS and maybe 15 at the biggest zergs, which was perfectly fine for me.

What should I do?

I tried everything and nothing worked at all. All is vain.

Help please!

First you need to post your system specs, no one can advise you with your issue without knowing what type of system we are dealing with.

Please post specs…

Also run http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html and monitor your temps.

Assuming drivers are good, low FPS like that usually means overheating or powersaving modes.

Machine name: WINDOWS7
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.130318-1532)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/01/10 10:14:27 Ver: 08.00.12
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3328MB RAM
Page File: 1347MB used, 5305MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

Display Devices
———————-
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GT 220
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A20&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A2
Display Memory: 2386 MB
Dedicated Memory: 978 MB
Shared Memory: 1407 MB
Current Mode: 1680 × 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: SyncMaster 2243NW/2243NWX
Monitor Model: SyncMaster
Monitor Id: SAM03C2
Native Mode: 1680 × 1050(p) (59.883Hz)
Output Type: HD15
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver File Version: 9.18.0013.3221 (English)
Driver Version: 9.18.13.3221
DDI Version: 10.1
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/19/2013 21:26:04, 15230352 bytes
WHQL Logo’d: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4960-11CF-256F-0D201FC2C435}
Vendor ID: 0×10DE
Device ID: 0×0A20
SubSys ID: 0×00000000
Revision ID: 0×00A2
Driver Strong Name: oem10.inf:NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTx86.6.1:Section002:9.18.13.3221:pci\ven_10de&dev_0a20
Rank Of Driver: 00E00003

CPUID HWMonitor Report
————————————————————————————————————-

Binaries
————————————————————————————————————-

HWMonitor version 1.2.4.0

Monitoring
————————————————————————————————————-

Mainboard Model P5KPL-SE (0×00000231 – 0×00B5BC70)

LPCIO
————————————————————————————————————-

LPCIO Vendor Winbond
LPCIO Model W83627DHG-P
LPCIO Vendor ID 0×5CA3
LPCIO Chip ID 0xB0
LPCIO Revision ID 0×73
Config Mode I/O address 0×2E
Config Mode LDN 0xB
Config Mode registers
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 0B FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
10 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
20 B0 73 FF 00 44 00 00 FF 50 02 00 00 9A 21 00 FF
30 01 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
40 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
50 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
60 02 90 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
70 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
Register space LPC, base address = 0×0290

Hardware Monitors
————————————————————————————————————-

Hardware monitor Winbond W83627DHG
Voltage 0 1.20 Volts [0×96] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 1 1.83 Volts [0xE5] (VIN1)
Voltage 2 3.44 Volts [0xD7] (3.3V)
Voltage 3 5.16 Volts [0xD7] (5V)
Voltage 4 7.97 Volts [0×8F] (+12V)
Voltage 5 1.62 Volts [0xCB] (VIN5)
Voltage 6 0.96 Volts [0×78] (VIN6)
Temperature 0 35°C (94°F) [0×23] (SYSTIN)
Temperature 1 45°C (112°F) [0×5A] (CPUTIN)
Temperature 2 39°C (102°F) [0×4E] (AUXTIN)
Fan 1 1110 RPM [0×13] (CPUFANIN0)
Hardware registers
Register space LPC, base address = 0×0290
bank 0
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 04 FF 04 4B 31 00 4A 10 01 4B 01 01 3C 3C 0A 05
10 04 FF 10 00 00 01 01 3C 43 17 00 00 25 FF FF D6
20 97 E5 D7 D7 8F CB 78 23 FF 13 FF DA 00 10 81 32
30 C7 81 0C 8C D1 F4 60 65 27 9A 3C 3B 20 32 40 FF
40 03 DE 00 FF FF 00 3F B5 2D 02 00 C4 10 95 00 A3
50 FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 80 C1 60 FF FF 19 E4 00 05
60 04 7F 40 00 01 01 3C FF 12 FF 01 FF FF FF FF 00
70 00 00 00 00 00 0E 7F 7F 7F 7F 7F 7F 00 23 FF FF
80 04 FF 04 4B 31 00 4A 10 01 4B 01 01 3C 3C 0A 05
90 04 FF 10 00 00 01 01 3C 43 17 00 00 25 FF FF D6
A0 97 E5 D7 D7 8F CB 78 23 FF 13 FF DA 00 10 81 32
B0 C7 81 0C 8C D1 F4 60 65 27 9A 3C 3B 20 32 40 FF
C0 03 00 00 FF FF 00 3F B5 2D 02 00 C4 10 95 00 A3
D0 FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 80 C1 60 FF FF 19 E4 00 05
E0 04 7F 40 00 01 01 3C FF 12 FF 01 FF FF FF FF 00
F0 00 00 00 00 00 0E 7F 7F 7F 7F 7F 7F 00 23 FF FF
bank 1
50 30 00 00 4B 00 50 05 5E 00 00 00 00 00 00 0E FF
bank 2
50 27 00 00 4B 00 50 1E 10 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
bank 3
50 03 04 06 07 02 00 02 04 03 00 00 40 10 06 00 00
bank 4
50 3A 13 FF 00 00 00 00 07 34 4E 1D 9A 09 60 20 7F

Hardware monitor NVIDIA I/O
Temperature 0 40°C (103°F) [0×28] (TMPIN0)

Hardware monitor NVIDIA NVAPI
Voltage 0 1.00 Volts [0×3E8] (VIN0)
Temperature 0 40°C (103°F) [0×28] (TMPIN0)
Fan PWM 0 35 pc [0×23] (FANPWMIN0)

Processors
————————————————————————————————————-

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 4

APICs
————————————————————————————————————-

Processor 0
— Core 0
— Thread 0 0
— Core 1
— Thread 0 1
— Core 2
— Thread 0 2
— Core 3
— Thread 0 3

Timers
————————————————————————————————————-

ACPI timer 3.580 MHz
HPET timer 14.318 MHz
Perf timer 2.286 MHz
Sys timer 1.000 KHz
BCLK timer 334.44 MHz

Processors Information
————————————————————————————————————-

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 4)
Number of threads 4 (max 4)
Name Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
Codename Yorkfield
Specification Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 775 LGA (0×4)
CPUID 6.7.A
Extended CPUID 6.17
Core Stepping R0
Technology 45 nm
TDP Limit 95 Watts
Core Speed 2006.8 MHz
Multiplier x Bus Speed 6.0 × 334.5 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1337.9 MHz
Stock frequency 2333 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, EM64T
L1 Data cache 4 × 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 4 × 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 × 2048 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x – 7.0x
Max VID 1.288 V

Also please note that this issue only happens with GW2, which is completely unplayable. It happens with YouTube when watching videos, sound keeps stuttering quite a bit. And it happens on Windows startup, one big stutter. Everything else works just fine. I am hopeless, tried everything.

Well first off, that graphics card is way outdated. Have you tried turning the graphic options to absolute minimum, including resolution? Horrible looking, I know, but just for testing.

Also, download CPU-Z and after you’ve launched the game open it, check mainboard tab and link width. If it’s x16, then alles klar. if it’s x1 the problem is even more severe.

EDIT: the trick can be done using GPU-Z too

Rezz.8019:

Also please note that this issue only happens with GW2, which is completely unplayable. It happens with YouTube when watching videos, sound keeps stuttering quite a bit. And it happens on Windows startup, one big stutter. Everything else works just fine. I am hopeless, tried everything.

As mentioned, verify your PCI-E link speeds using GPU-Z And CPU-Z(Mainboard Tab).
if it is 16x, then using the sensor tab on GPU-Z, while running GW2 or any other rendered application, what does your Core Clock display?

I recently ran into an issue where my core clock locked at 300mhz. Turned out to be a dying PSU. A work around, until my new PSU arrived, was to download MSI Afterburner, and set the Power Slider to +4. This would unlock the Core Clock 300Mhz lock and it would work normally.

After installing my new PSU the problem went away entirely.

Also, download and install HDTUNE (Google for it) and look at the SMART tab. If there are any Red or Yellow Lines. Replace your HDD. If your power on time is more then 20,000 Hours (each Unit is an hour), Replace the HDD.

Under the Benchmark Test, you should be able to read from the HDD at 55MBs-135MBs (Worst-best, and Best-best) before considering replacing it as well.

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

My core clock speed while running GW is 2341MHz but every 10-15 seconds it would spike to some really low amount like 3 or 6, but that would be for a second or so only.

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

Attaching a screenshot of the power settings in windows.

Did you launch CPU-Z after or before launching GW2? There’s been problems with CPU-Z reporting x1 and staying there if it’s launched first. If it still stays at x1 you could just open up your case, pull the card out for a second or two and put it back to it’s place.

HDD Benchmark test: mimimum transfer rate = 52.9MB and maximum = 111.5MB, average = 87.8MB, access time = 12.4ms, Burst rate = 138.3MB/sec, CPU usage = 3.6%

locx.6412:

Did you launch CPU-Z after or before launching GW2? There’s been problems with CPU-Z reporting x1 and staying there if it’s launched first. If it still stays at x1 you could just open up your case, pull the card out for a second or two and put it back to it’s place.

Tried both ways, it still says x1

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

My power profile has already been on High.
Is disabling PCI-E power saving feature safe?
What driver cleaner program should I run?

Also, is it normal that graphics card problem affects sound? And all my single player games work just fine, GW2 is the only one that has this problem.

Rezz.8019:

Also, is it normal that graphics card problem affects sound? And all my single player games work just fine, GW2 is the only one that has this problem.

This depends on the software in question. Anything that uses a good portion of the GPU, when the GPU is acting up, can affect sounds.

Only way to find out is for you to fix the 1x issue.

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

My power profile has already been on High.
Is disabling PCI-E power saving feature safe?
What driver cleaner program should I run?

yes, its just a setting that tells windows to apply link power states or not.
It may break sleep on win7, it does for some. It didnt for me though.

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

My power profile has already been on High.
Is disabling PCI-E power saving feature safe?
What driver cleaner program should I run?

yes, its just a setting that tells windows to apply link power states or not.
It may break sleep on win7, it does for some. It didnt for me though.

I did that and everything is still the same.

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

My power profile has already been on High.
Is disabling PCI-E power saving feature safe?
What driver cleaner program should I run?

yes, its just a setting that tells windows to apply link power states or not.
It may break sleep on win7, it does for some. It didnt for me though.

I did that and everything is still the same.

If your PCI-E is still 1x then you need to reseat the GPU.

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

My power profile has already been on High.
Is disabling PCI-E power saving feature safe?
What driver cleaner program should I run?

yes, its just a setting that tells windows to apply link power states or not.
It may break sleep on win7, it does for some. It didnt for me though.

I did that and everything is still the same.

If your PCI-E is still 1x then you need to reseat the GPU.

Yup it is, I will try doing that. I hope I won’t break it.
Do I just take it off then put it back on again?

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

sirsquishy.8531:

Rezz.8019:

Tried graphics and resolution to minimum and the performance is exactly the same. Not better and not worse, though I doubt it can be any worse than this.

I got CPU-Z and it says link width is x1 and maximum supporter is x16

Thats the root cause of your issue, just as I thought.

You can try pulling the card out and dusting the Slot and the Pins on the card, then reseating it.

You can try setting your power profile to High
You can uninstall the GPU drivers, boot into safe mode and run a driver cleaner program, then reinstall the drivers in normal mode
You can go into the BIOS settings and disable the PCI-E power saving feature for whatever PCI-E Slot your GPU is in.

My power profile has already been on High.
Is disabling PCI-E power saving feature safe?
What driver cleaner program should I run?

yes, its just a setting that tells windows to apply link power states or not.
It may break sleep on win7, it does for some. It didnt for me though.

I did that and everything is still the same.

If your PCI-E is still 1x then you need to reseat the GPU.

Yup it is, I will try doing that. I hope I won’t break it.
Do I just take it off then put it back on again?

Pull the card. Dust the connections, plug it back in.

gw2 in the backround is not going to show you anything more than 1x link width on cpu-z, just tested it myself. so before breaking anything do this

1. open GPU-Z, start rendering test and leave it backround(you will find it behind small question mark on first tab)
2. start CPU-Z now, and check the link width.

I agree that it’s better to first meddle with software than hardware, especially if you don’t have much experience with what’s inside the case. Now it looks like he’s tried different drivers, launching CPU-Z before and after the game amongst other things, so the easiest way now is to detach the GPU physically.

Also about sound affection, I can tell you this much: I have a very weak laptop and when I play YouTube videos at 1080p both image and sound stutters. When I turn it down to 720p or lower, everything’s fine again for both of them.

My FPS has dropped drastically since reset last night. I downloaded the latest drivers from the geforce website, but nothing has changed. I use GT525m but it has always run smoothly on lowest settings in wvw. Please help, because I can’t play with 3 FPS in large fights in wvw.