Guild Wars 2

I want to buy a new desktop recently. I have been using my laptop for a long time and its spec is not very good. Therefore, i have been using the lowest settings. I mostly do WVW, and when there is a zerg fight my fps go down a lot and it is not interesting. Thats why i want to buy a desktop.
My budget is around 1000-1400 USD. I think i can get a steady and relatively high fps with a high setting in WVW while zergs are fighting. Is that right?
As i am not very familiar with PC, i hope you guys can give me some suggestions or a PC list.
Thank you very much

If you have that kind of money, just make one. You can make one 10 times more powerful for under $1000 then buying a fully made one for $1000+
If you don’t know how, ask a friend, or ask a local store to assist, or look up some videos on how to do it. Building a PC is like buying the pieces to a puzzle separately, but they all fit nicely into each other. With that kind of money, you could blow an Alienware PC out of the water. For things like that you are buying the brand, not the item itself. I built my PC that runs Gw2 on medium/some high settings for under $500! But that because I was short on cash. Since AMD and Invidia have released shiny new graphics cards, the prices of the “older” ones will go down. making your price EVEN LOWER.

I’m kinda in the same boat. I play mostly wvw and my pc gets stomped during zerg vs zerg, or taking a keep.
anyway I have been wanting a new pc (motherboard, cpu, and ram, actually) my budget is around 800ish. I have done a ton of reading, research, and asked a lot of questions.
here is what I learned.
cpu must be Intel. the 2 newest Intel cpu in our price range are haswell, and the ivy-e.
asus makes a motherboard called the hero for haswell it only runs around 200 and it has almost everything it’s 500$ big brother has. both the i7 4770k haswell and the i7 4820 ivy-e are around 330$. however the ivy-e is a different socket, and therefore needs a different motherboard. socket 2011 motherboards seem to be more expensive but I think over all will have a.longer shelf life.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YHy5

Could it be cheaper, yes. but the parts picked are all top quality. And as a added bonus it will ‘look’ good with a red/black theme.

I put in 6 of corsair new 120mm Af series red LED fans, adds a significant chunk of cost to it, but ill make it look great. Ofc u could buy these at a later date to save money and stick the with stock 2in 1 out fans that comes with the case.

The 250gb SSD could also be lowered to 120GB to save a bit if u want.

The GD65 gaming motherboard has great feature and look baller. The 4770k with a H100 cooling it means u can OC it nicely for that extra performance needed for GW2 to play as good as can be done atm, which is to say ..not good enough in WvW and LA :P

And ofc finaly, the graphics card. If u want more VRAM then one of AMD’s R9 280x’s would probably be the best bet. Try get one like Asus’s DC2T or MSI’s Gaming 3G.

Don’t get 2 GB GPU. We’re at a point where games will be taking more vram soon, like BF4 already does.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Yhw2

If you already have an OS, go for a 256 GB SSD instead.

850w PSU more than total overkill for a haswell system.

That case has no side window to see the awsome sauce inside :P

Blue RAM and Blue PCB GPU with red/black motherboard .. ?

Performance wise its fine.

The VRAM point is totaly true though. Atm i dont see many, if any games use 2gb or more VRam, most around 1.2 to 1.5gb VRAM at 1080p. But in the future i supose it could matter. if ur gunna run above 1080p then deffinatly get a R9 280×. otherwise for now 2gb should be fine for 1080p. You could always get a 4gb GtX 770, but its just not cost effective, 4gb VRAm for 1080p is overkill.

SolarNova.1052:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YHy5

Could it be cheaper, yes. but the parts picked are all top quality. And as a added bonus it will ‘look’ good with a red/black theme.

I put in 6 of corsair new 120mm Af series red LED fans, adds a significant chunk of cost to it, but ill make it look great. Ofc u could buy these at a later date to save money and stick the with stock 2in 1 out fans that comes with the case.

The 250gb SSD could also be lowered to 120GB to save a bit if u want.

The GD65 gaming motherboard has great feature and look baller. The 4770k with a H100 cooling it means u can OC it nicely for that extra performance needed for GW2 to play as good as can be done atm, which is to say ..not good enough in WvW and LA :P

And ofc finaly, the graphics card. If u want more VRAM then one of AMD’s R9 280x’s would probably be the best bet. Try get one like Asus’s DC2T or MSI’s Gaming 3G.

I’m trying to look at that build a tweak it a bit.

What do you think about changing out the h100i? From my understanding haswell will hit it’s limits regardless of a h100i, h80, cm 240 seidon, etc etc…..

As for cpu….Is the 7 series worth the extra cash over the 5 series?

Gpu…..As for all of the parts we are on the verge of BF (black friday) as well as non-reference r9-290. These two things are sure to shake up the pricing of gpu’s such as the 770.

Fans…..As relating to the cpu cooler…..maybe consider 2-4 ap series? Ofc that woud be dependent on 120 vs 240 rad and case

PS: I cannot stress enough BF BF BF BF CM CM CM CM CM deals are on the horizon

Get the H100i I have loved it since I built this rig and in push/pull I get about 70c load and 29c idles at 1.36v for 4.5ghz.

Yes the 7 series is worth it since your future proofing for next gen console ports. Devs will start writing games designed for multithreading(like BF4 etc).

I agree you might want to wait until BF for some deals

I never had to buy case fans for my HAF since they came with it and they work ok.

The systems that Solar and Fermi both look good. I would myself get the larger PSU since you never know if you might SLI someday.

Currently 4gb vram IS overkill for 1080p and probably won’t be necessary for many years to come.

I say dump the H100i, those Asetek units are utter garbage and you are buying one waiting to have issues… If you want water cooling, go for water cooling, not cheap out on a cheap unit. Then again water cooling is a hobby, and can cost upwards of $400+, not just something you “get”. You need time to learn and understand water cooling, flow rates and restrictions, etc.
(For those that own it, don’t jump up here, lol. It’s performance isn’t bad, that’s not the issue with those units)

As for inquiry on i5 vs i7, honestly it depends on your usage…. If you just mainly play games and don’t really work in large project Photoshop environments, 3D rendering and modeling, encoding, etc. You can save some money and grab an i5 and put that extra cost into a better vid card.

As far as GPU, the GTX 780 Ti reviews have just hit the net with a storm with a 10-15% performance increase over the 290×. So more options for gpu goodness, along with a new toy for sobe’s test bench

For cooling a radiator, the Scythe GentleTyphoon AP15’s on a fan controller are definitely a good way to go.

Also agree with Essence, there should be some nice deals coming up soon.

sobe.4157:

As far as GPU, the GTX 780 Ti reviews have just hit the net with a storm with a 10-15% performance increase over the 290×. So more options for gpu goodness, along with a new toy for sobe’s test bench.

So they castrated their prior Titan flagship, how odd. You’d think they would at a very minimum change the pricing to reflect where it stands now they have released the 780ti.

The 780 Ti is a full GK110 chip

I meant it in the pricing sense. A faster card for 300 less than the titan. You’d think they drop the price of the titan. Granted the 780ti only comes in 3gb atm and the titan comes in 6gb, but, who would buy a Titan now?

PS…castrated was a poor word choice as it is more commonly used to depict a held back version of a card……..ahhh hindsight

sobe.4157:

The 780 Ti is a full GK110 chip

I was about to say the Titan had more but then I looked it up… a whole 200 more cuda cores than Titan, wow. Now I want one. Actually two. ._.

I’m a little bothered that people are even suggesting hardware like GTX 780/780TI or other out-of-question expensive pieces. OP asked for a $1,000 to 1,400 dollar build, not a $2,400 dollar build.

New build for Guild Wars 2?
Intel i5 3570K or Intel i5 4670K with Cooler Master Hyper 212Plus
Regular case of your picking, maybe something in the 70 dollar range.
8 GB DDR3 1600 (Don’t even need to shop for specific speeds. Honestly, buy what you think looks cool but isn’t pricey.)
An Asus/Gigabyte/MSI Z77 if Ivybridge
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837 (One suggestion)
and same brands for Z87.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131981 Z87 suggestion board.
1TB HDD
Regular disk drive (lol 30 dollars)
650 watt power supply
GTX 670 (I think this is a good purchase because it’s still quite fast and recently it became last generation but it’s high power for a low price) or a GTX 760 (might be same speed for same price)
And a Windows 7 or 8 product key.

I think this could come around to being like 1,100-1,300 dollars if your ceiling is 1,400.

The specs I have listed here are for a good high end budget gaming computer capable of overclocking a bit. It won’t get THE BEST wvw FPS but it’ll get good enough that it won’t be an utter slideshow at the drop of a hand. The system is overclock ready as well. If you want to overclock, please do look up some guides for it. Or you could have a professional overclock it for you (if they’re trustworthy) and so on.

If you have any money left over and would like to add a little more to your system, some good recommendations would be like a 120 GB Solid State for Windows, or a mid range Closed Loop liquid cooler from Corsair or Cooler Master or other brands. Like, a Corsair H60. I think that one is around 40-50 dollars. Or you could buy yourself a decent wireless network card if you want to. I assume you’ll be using a cable connection so I never listed any. (But really a USB wifi stick is all you’d need for GW2 anyway. I’ve played BF3 no problem on a D-Link N150 as well)

Or you could even take your spouse (if you have one) out to a fancy dinner haha.

Most mainstream build I see from players is an i5 3570K with 8 GB DDR3 and a GTX 660/660Ti/670 or Radeon HD 7770/7790/7850/7870.

Hope this helps

SolarNova.1052:

850w PSU more than total overkill for a haswell system.

Not if you go for CF/SLI down the line.

SolarNova.1052:

That case has no side window to see the awsome sauce inside :P

And?

SolarNova.1052:

Blue RAM and Blue PCB GPU with red/black motherboard .. ?

And?

Color matching can be nice, but it’s not really that important. Hell, depending on where the computer is put, you may not even be able to see the side where the window would be.

As a thought on your build, there’s no reason to throw away money for looks; performance comes first and foremost. For example, 6 ridiculously gaudy $15 case fans? Nonsense. You’re better off getting actual computer components, AND those components won’t be distracting.

SolarNova.1052:

otherwise for now 2gb should be fine for 1080p. You could always get a 4gb GtX 770, but its just not cost effective, 4gb VRAm for 1080p is overkill.

If you want the card to last more then a year, you’ll want over 2 GB of vram. Just look at all of the people who went with 1-1.5 GB GTX 570s and the like; the cards are still plenty powerful, but they’re running out of vram, which means that an upgrade is now needed.

Getting at least 3 GB of vram at this point in time is the most logical thing to do, even for 1080P. Like I said before, just look at BF4; it’s already chugging over 2 gigs of vram at 1080 once you max it out. More games will be trending in that direction before long.

OP;

Since your budget is 1500~ I would split that. 650~ for your desktop and the rest into a decent laptop to upgrade your aging laptop. You sound like a mobile Player as well as a stationary one (Do you travel a lot, the holiday’s are coming up..do you wanna drag your desktop around?)

I would suggest something on the 1150 socket for the motherboard Z87 chipset, and for an i5 get the 4670K. If you want an i7, not sure what would be the best bang for the buck. The i7-K was $75 more then my i5-4670K, and why I opted out of it.
My Z87-G45+i5-4670K ran me $419 after Taxes locally.

That way, while your i5 isn’t an i7, its still top of the line for the CPU Series, and the 1150 Socket is new this year, so you can upgrade it down the road if you needed/wanted to.

For the GPU, I am completely Happy with my HD7790, and I only paid $119 for it. If you need more performance HD7850 is good too. Here is a theory Compare
http://www.hwcompare.com/14299/radeon-hd-7790-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

And that will get you pretty solid for the base of your build for the Desktop. team that with a quality Power Supply, Performance RAM and a couple SSDs (128G, one for the OS one for your games?) and you should be sitting at or around 700 after taxes.

For the Notebook, I’m still a fan of the AMD APU based Laptops. They are cheap and offer a decent bang for your buck. But you need to make sure the APU is teamed with a Dedicated Graphics Card. Such as my A8-3550MX with my HD7690M, even though the APU has a 6620G included as well. I got that notebook on ebay (Refurb) for $350 Shipped, and out of the Box it played GW2 as expected. Add in the k10stat tweaks and it goes from an average 40FPS to 65-75FPS.

That is what I would do had I needed to rebuild my desktop/laptop needs over again. its cost effective and you get alot of ‘bang’ for your buck.

Avelos.6798:

I’m a little bothered that people are even suggesting hardware like GTX 780/780TI or other out-of-question expensive pieces. OP asked for a $1,000 to 1,400 dollar build, not a $2,400 dollar build.

Don’t think anyone was suggesting those cards for this build. We just got bit sidetracked as the 780ti just came out. One that note though, amd might allow 3rd party coolers in time for bf cm in which case a 290 non-ref might very well fit into this budget.

Oh, it’s a $1400 budget, not $1500. Whoops.

In that case:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YNvA

Or for the lower end:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YNxU

Essence Snow.3194:

Avelos.6798:

I’m a little bothered that people are even suggesting hardware like GTX 780/780TI or other out-of-question expensive pieces. OP asked for a $1,000 to 1,400 dollar build, not a $2,400 dollar build.

Don’t think anyone was suggesting those cards for this build. We just got bit sidetracked as the 780ti just came out. One that note though, amd might allow 3rd party coolers in time for bf cm in which case a 290 non-ref might very well fit into this budget.

I know. I read the topic and people are saying H80i, H100i and other sort of things… It’s kind of ridiculous.

I will tell you that I run an ASRock 970 Motherboard, AMD 6300 @ 3.5GHZ, 8GB DDR3 1600 AMD Radeon memory, Sapphire 6870 1GB, with a 600w PSU running it all. It is a fairly cheap build and gets about the same results as those with higher end systems from what I’ve compared via the forums.

Sadly the optimization level of GW2 is very low. Neither the AMD or Intel platforms can run as smooth as they should due to this. As such I just wanted to forewarn you that spending more money on more expensive systems does not equal having higher FPS or performance in this game. As it becomes more optimized over the next few years, if such does happen, maybe we will start to see better performance, but until then I suggest a good mid-ranged board, at least a quad core cpu @ 3.0GHz or higher, 4-8GB RAM, and a 600+w PSU to power it all.

moonstarmac.4603:

I will tell you that I run an ASRock 970 Motherboard, AMD 6300 @ 3.5GHZ, 8GB DDR3 1600 AMD Radeon memory, Sapphire 6870 1GB, with a 600w PSU running it all. It is a fairly cheap build and gets about the same results as those with higher end systems from what I’ve compared via the forums.

Sadly the optimization level of GW2 is very low. Neither the AMD or Intel platforms can run as smooth as they should due to this. As such I just wanted to forewarn you that spending more money on more expensive systems does not equal having higher FPS or performance in this game. As it becomes more optimized over the next few years, if such does happen, maybe we will start to see better performance, but until then I suggest a good mid-ranged board, at least a quad core cpu @ 3.0GHz or higher, 4-8GB RAM, and a 600+w PSU to power it all.

It wont have ‘higher’ FPS. But a high end build will have more stable ‘Low’ FPS. less frame drops, better Texture handling…ect.

But your right, the state of GW2 as an application is very sad.

H100i and H80s are not that expensive really.

All of that is for nothing I really don’t think he lives in the US and prices and availability are so deferent from region to region. You really cant just say this is 1500US dollars so with the currency exchange you can buy it.

He never mentioned building one.

Avelos.6798:

Essence Snow.3194:

Don’t think anyone was suggesting those cards for this build. We just got bit sidetracked as the 780ti just came out. One that note though, amd might allow 3rd party coolers in time for bf cm in which case a 290 non-ref might very well fit into this budget.

I know. I read the topic and people are saying H80i, H100i and other sort of things… It’s kind of ridiculous.

A $1400 budget is easily enough to fit in an H100. You can get high end everything with that, without really skimping anywhere.

zerk.9701:

All of that is for nothing I really don’t think he lives in the US and prices and availability are so deferent from region to region. You really cant just say this is 1500US dollars so with the currency exchange you can buy it.

Alex Ko.4580:

My budget is around 1000-1400 USD.

zerk.9701:

He never mentioned building one.

He asked about a new desktop; we gave him new desktops. Buying a prebuilt is just a good way to throw away a couple hundred dollars.

Fermi.2409:

Avelos.6798:

Essence Snow.3194:

Don’t think anyone was suggesting those cards for this build. We just got bit sidetracked as the 780ti just came out. One that note though, amd might allow 3rd party coolers in time for bf cm in which case a 290 non-ref might very well fit into this budget.

I know. I read the topic and people are saying H80i, H100i and other sort of things… It’s kind of ridiculous.

A $1400 budget is easily enough to fit in an H100. You can get high end everything with that, without really skimping anywhere.

zerk.9701:

All of that is for nothing I really don’t think he lives in the US and prices and availability are so deferent from region to region. You really cant just say this is 1500US dollars so with the currency exchange you can buy it.

Alex Ko.4580:

My budget is around 1000-1400 USD.

zerk.9701:

He never mentioned building one.

He asked about a new desktop; we gave him new desktops. Buying a prebuilt is just a good way to throw away a couple hundred dollars.

And this will give the same performance for $400 less than you picked.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YZ5n

16GB of memory for a gaming PC REALLY?

zerk.9701:

And this will give the same performance for $400 less than you picked.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YZ5n

And I offered another, much cheaper build as an alternative. However, an i7 build will be much more futureproof, and the TC has the budget to get a better computer. That also means the ability to get a better cooler, case, etc.

zerk.9701:

16GB of memory for a gaming PC REALLY?

There are more uses for a PC then just gaming.

Should keep in mind that I’m taking into account the price of the operating system, shipping costs and taxes if it is not purchased locally. Adding an i7 with an H100 or H80i with the build I suggested might be pushing it close or over budget.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming (and what games? only GW2 or others)? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What’s your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, monitor, keyboard etc.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Just upgraded to core i5 4670k with gtx 660 ti 2g, RAMS 8g. I’m getting good fps compared to my old pc in middle of heavy zergs fights, running everything at HIGH and fps during fights 16-25.

haven’t tested yet how smooth it will be if I take it down to medium settings but things are smooth in wvw, so I expected better performance if everything goes medium.