Guild Wars 2

Hey there everyone!

I bought Guild Wars 2 since day one and I have a lot of fun but my computer barely handles it so I just want to ask what kind of upgrade should I do? Running at lowest settings with 1400 × 1050 resolution. Most of the time, I get about 30-40 fps in open areas but in dungeons or inside buildings, I get like 15 to 25 fps.|

I don’t want to spend more than 300$ unless its absolutely necessary. Just want to run the game without lag and maybe crank up the graphics a little.

Here are my specs:

-Intel® Core™2 Quad CPUQ9550@ 2.83GHz
-Mother Board Gigabyte (G31M-S2L)
-RAM 4094mb
-Hard drive (primary) 465gb (WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 ATA Device) (271GB of free space)
-NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT (latest drivers 306.23)
-High Definition Audio Device
-Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Operating system
-Monitor Acer X223W
-Case: Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
-Power supply: Antec Earthwatts Model EA-500D 500W max

Thanks again!

Graphics card for sure, yours is really, really bad. Here’s a list of graphics cards, by hierarchy. Yours is literally worse than the minimum graphics card required, the 7600 GT, by a few levels. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Your Motherboard contains 1 pci-express 16x slot. Good. Get yourself a decent videocard. For example a Asus 560 Ti DirectCU II card. It values around 212 Euros.

Your motherboard also contains 4 memory slots of DDR2 1066 memory that can run in Dual Channel. Go Get 2 packs of Corsair XMS2 DHX — 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 Memory Kit (TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX) Sets. They are around 50 euros per pack.

This upgrade nets you.

1x better videocard
1x upgrade of 4gb in memory (8gb total) (4 sticks of 2 GB)

I wouldn’t bother with more RAM, Gw2 runs happily on 4GB.
Your issue is the 9400.
Get and GTX560 or maybe the new GT650, they will make your life a lot easier!

You could probably add some cooling and get that 9550 up to 3.4GHz easily, some even go 4.0GHz on them, will help a lot in WvWvW.

Hey there!

Sorry for the late reply, many thanks for the answers!

Okay, I’ve spoke with my uncle and he says that a nvidia GTX560 may be too powerful for my system to handle (told me about bottlenecking). Also, what do you mean by cooling? Do you suggest me to overclock my 9550 with a water cooling system?

Again, thanks a lot! I should buy my new components soon.

You really need a better CPU+GPU for this game. I would suggest you loot at:
System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $500 Gaming PC

Tanira.8157:

I wouldn’t bother with more RAM, Gw2 runs happily on 4GB.
Your issue is the 9400.

Win7 runs significantly better with 8GB of RAM than 4GB. With RAM as stupid cheap as it is there is no reason to be running less than 8GB with a 64-bit OS.

560 ti isn’t too “powerfull”. If you have good Power supply. I have Corsair VX550W Power supply with nVidia GTX 560 ti CU II and i have stable 60fps. And i have 12Gb RAM but game uses about 2-4Gb only. So i would recommend better Graphic card.

-Joonas

Juutas.7320:

560 ti isn’t too “powerfull”. If you have good Power supply. I have Corsair VX550W Power supply with nVidia GTX 560 ti CU II and i have stable 60fps. And i have 12Gb RAM but game uses about 2-4Gb only. So i would recommend better Graphic card.

-Joonas

Agreed.

I would actually go a step up to the Radeon HD 7870 ($260 at http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-hd7870dc22gd5v2)

Power requirements: http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/7000/7870/Pages/radeon-7870.aspx#2

Stick with your RAM, I use 4GB with same OS and with nothing else running in the background I have about 900MB to spare which leaves room for some stuff.

Look up an overclocking guide for the Q9550 and purchase a $30 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus, it supports your CPU socket. You should be able to increase from 2.83 to roughly 3.6MHz.

The best part of going with a top-line video card is you will be set for at least a couple years. Even if you get a new computer you can just plug the video card in.

You could even buy a GTX690, but with a Q9550@2.83GHz forget about it. Try fitting a Porsche engine inside a Fiat Panda, it’s the same kind of ordeal!

Well i recommend 180-200€ graphic cards. There are few to choose with not much difference… Google it.
ATI or nVidia. What feels the best for you.

In my opinion the game is both GPU and CPU bound. How can it be both? I am not an expert on 3D gaming performance, but in some cases I hit very high fps with high GPU util., and in some cases my GPU is 50% util and the fps is low…that suggests it can be both.

Which suggests that you want a GPU proven to be ok at the game ( see the Tom’s hardware article on GW 2 performance) and an i5 processor or better, preferably one allowing multiple overclocking.

That’s by best guess given what I have seen.

VirtualBS.3165:

You could even buy a GTX690, but with a Q9550@2.83GHz forget about it. Try fitting a Porsche engine inside a Fiat Panda, it’s the same kind of ordeal!

You bring up a good point, I’m just thinking down the road the lifetime of the 7870 > 560 Ti, but when paired with an old school q9550 it’s in a different realm.