Guild Wars 2

Gigabyte GeForce GT 630 2GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI-I/D-SUB/HDMI Graphics Card GV-N630-2GI

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Express-Graphics-GV-N630-2GI/dp/B0089NPK28

Other specs generally are quad core, 4gb ram.

Currently using a GeForce 8500 gt 512mb, that the other card would be replacing.

Please help!

What CPU exactly do you have? becouse GW2 takes alot of performance from your CPU.

As for the 630 ..to be blunt its not a gaming gpu ..i dont even recommend a 650 (non ti) ..so there rly isnt much i can say about the 630 ..it will strugle greatly ..you will be lucky to run medium settings, most likely will have to run low setitngs. .even then you probably wont get high fps. Minimum you want is a 650ti or 560ti or 460 ..or ATI equivalent.

560ti can run the game on almsot max same for equivalent 7850 from ati ( which i dont recomend cuz of kittenload of bugs with drivers,artifacts etc). 630 will give you low settings and not full hd for sure.

GT630 will not run med/high settings well. More likely get low/med.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GT+630

Look at this chart http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html you will need a score of about 2500 or higher to start getting medium/high settings, depends on what resolution etc you are running.

But remember FPS performance isn’t derived solely from a GPU, a CPU is just as important and in GW2 its rather more important. (See Q4 here for explanation)

See this post here to find out what FPS other people are getting with the computer specs.

kirito.4138:

GT630 will not run med/high settings well. More likely get low/med.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GT+630

Look at this chart http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html you will need a score of about 2500 or higher to start getting medium/high settings, depends on what resolution etc you are running.

But remember FPS performance isn’t derived solely from a GPU, a CPU is just as important and in GW2 its rather more important. (See Q4 here for explanation)

See this post here to find out what FPS other people are getting with the computer specs.

This is where my confusion comes in… I’m working with the Geforce 8500.. ancient card. lol I get low/med, running at around 20fps which is well playable… is the 630 NOT a large improvement over the 8500?

Those are both very weak cards, but you seem to be correct the 630 by comparison is stronger then the 8500. But both are well under the standards of the cards most people discuss. I think it once again will speak how much this game is really driven by the cpu.

Put it this way the 630 is in the ball park of an Intel HD4000 chip. I’m thinking you’ll be in the same settings at about the same place, find out the CPU is driving you, not the GPU. I could be wrong.

jackiebones.7431:

This is where my confusion comes in… I’m working with the Geforce 8500.. ancient card. lol I get low/med, running at around 20fps which is well playable… is the 630 NOT a large improvement over the 8500?

The 8500 may be old, but it’s a mid-range card. The 630 is a low-end card. As in designed-for-video-playback-not-games low end. Hence only a small improvement.

Horrorscope.7632:

Those are both very weak cards, but you seem to be correct the 630 by comparison is stronger then the 8500. But both are well under the standards of the cards most people discuss. I think it once again will speak how much this game is really driven by the cpu.

Put it this way the 630 is in the ball park of an Intel HD4000 chip. I’m thinking you’ll be in the same settings at about the same place, find out the CPU is driving you, not the GPU. I could be wrong.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Quad+Q8400+%40+2.66GHz

I believe I have a Core 2 quad core q8400. Nothing like an i7, but still quick.

I have run it on a Q8300 with a 460, which is a fair notch above the VC’s you mention. On highest settings 1680×1050, you’ll get 45’ish in the fields, towns will vary 25-30’ish, playable. I still feel the performance wasn’t being held back by the VC but the proc, so your choice of VC may squeak by.

My old rig which is still in use has a Intel QX6850 OC 3.7ghz cpu and a OC 460 GTX gpu.
In WvW it goes down and below 10fps. Its heavily CPU bottlenecked.

You really need a up to date Intel CPU to be able to enjoy GW2 to the fullest.

Yup Gw2 is very CPU-bound. I have a Core 2 Quad Q6600, but overclocked to 3.2ghz. I get 40-60FPS in PVE. I now have second desktop 3570k and its night and day difference especially in crowded areas. If you can’t afford upgrading now, do some Overclocking if possible.

Yes, the GT630 (697 score) is better than the 8500GT (159 score), but its still about the same level as integrated HD4000. Since you said you are fine playing at 20fps with the 8500GT, then the GT630 can probably run med/high if you want to keep playing at 20fps.. But… most people prefer not playing at 20fps they strive for 30fps min and 60fps avg.

Never spend $ to upgrade small. Go ahead and save more money and do a good upgrade or you will spend the same amount the next 3 of 4 times to get one good upgrade and end up spending alot of money.

I was first focusing on the video card, due to my need to have a HDMI port (I’m currently running hdmi to dvi which is fine and looks brilliant… but isn’t the same and processes differently.)

I run dual monitors, too and think that a card with more Vram would better handle that would it not? Along with getting me from LOW to MEDIUM, perhaps?

I DO agree that I need a better processor (I’d like an i7) but that has to wait for a bit.

How about THIS card, for a mid range improvement? ^.^ Then when I DO want to spend more I could simply crossfire them and keep the system low profile (after getting a new cpu). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161396

I think the 6870 will be enough to play on medium, maybe even some high settings ..but without a good cpu you probably wont see all that the card can do. Crossfireing them would work but GW2 doesnt like SLI or Crossfire from what iv heared. Not only that, waiting longer, and buying a more expensive single card is better than using 2 slower ones.

I think what most of us would advise is that you to save your money for a longer period and then upgrade with higher performance parts. From what i can see, your trying to make a low tier gaming rig with only enough money to make a media rig. It doesnt match up.

Since your on a budget of under $200 by your posts of cards, here are cards for under 200 dollars that perform better that the 6870’s, 2540 benchmark rating,

1. Radeon HD 7850, BM: 3,695 , $169.99, Rated #3 for best value.

GeForce GTX 560, BM: 3,052, $179.99, Rated #10 for best value.
GeForce GTX 650 Ti, BM: 2,727, $139.99, Rated #11 for best value.
GeForce GTX 460, BM: 2,692, $139.99, Rated #12 for best value.
Radeon HD 7770, BM: 2,583, $119.79, Rated #6 for best value.

Source of Info:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/
http://www.newegg.com/Video-Cards-Video-Devices/Category/ID-38

Thinking about picking up a Radeon HD 7850 myself now after looking at the data for you. At that price and performance level it’s a nice boost to a PC with minimal investment.
I use a Radeon HD 6950 $249.99 which has a Benchmark of 3,142.

Can talk about this and that all we want, but until the code is fixed up to deal with performance issues, doesn’t matter what we have in our systems.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FPS-and-Performance-based-issues-1

A $500 and a $5,000 PC runs Guild Wars 2 about the same. Yes the PC with more power will get you some more Frames Per Second (FPS) when idle, but when the actions starts it’s all the same issues.

As others mentioned the video card is just fine if you want to stick to PVE. Once you get into WvW the cpu will be your bottleneck.

i can run max settings – aa and Vsync with 25 fps in PvE with the pny gt630. I dont mind that fps, but some do, so its up to you