Guild Wars 2

kirito.4138:

Some reason Q4-7 got deleted or removed. Reposting.

Q4: What is CPU/GPU bottlenecking
A: CPU bottleneck occurs when the CPU is too slow and unable to provide the GPU with adequate data to process.

There is a general misconception that the GPU or graphic card is what determines the FPS performance. What most people don’t realize is that the CPU is just as important. No matter how fast the GPU is the FPS will not increase if the CPU does not instruct the GPU to render. Often people would buy powerful GPU and pair it with a weak CPU and start to wonder why their FPS doesn’t change.Conversely the GPU can be the bottleneck when it can’t handle the data given by the CPU.

Q5: How do you check for CPU/GPU usage?
A: There are many programs to use. Here are some.

1. HwINFO
2. Process Explorer
3. MSI After Burner (formerly rivatuner)
4. GPU-Z / CPU-Z

Q6: FPS low or stuttering with 100% GPU usage?
A: Several possibilities.

1. GPU is bottlenecked working at its full potental. Lower graphic settings if possible
2. GPU clock speed is throttled or artifically set low by other applications or settings.
3. GPU has disabled cores, unlikely but possible.
4. Bad drivers, update or rollback version
5. Possible bios issues with the card and/or motherboard. Try updating bios, or reseating gfx card.

Go back to top Q/A list

My config:

Intel Q6850 Quad Core @ 3.00 Ghz
8 GB ram
64-bit OS Windows 7
GTX 580 (GF110) GDDR5 1.5 GB ram

My system experience this same issue…if I am in a big city or in a dragon fight (a lot of people in the area), my frame drops to 10-15 FPS. Keep in my with Process Explorer it states my system, across the board, is only at 60% with all graphics maxed. I have ran burn in tests on memory, CPU, and GPU. These all passed with flying colors.

I found another thread stating the code for this game is an overhaul of GW1. It stated the code was not designed very well and will not use the system at full capicity. Even the best i(branded proc) from Intel with 8 cores @ 4.2 Ghz does not do well with this game. The tread complete with, “Wait until Areonet fixes their code.”

There are three major Thread process it uses and does not use multi-core procs efficiently. There for, not matter what system you have, there is more than like going to be a drop in FPS in major cities and during event fights (dragons)

Here is the thread I pulled this information from (or you can read the information below)…

Look at section 4.3 and 4.4 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095406)

But, none of my CPU cores are fully loaded

What you are seeing in task manager is an average over time of the core’s usage. Threads work in short micro burst. So the core can be 100% loaded but appear to be less. Also, the OS will dynamically bounce thread work load around to different cores.
To get a better measure, you need to look at the per-thread CPU usage using tools like ProcessExplorer
GW2 actually uses about 50 threads, and uses every core. However, GW2 only has 3 threads that puts a large load on the CPU. One of those thread will be at a % just under 100/#core. (e.g 25% for quadcore) Most likely that thread is the main game loop coordinating everything.
Example: Quad core system. Each core should handle 25% cpu usage. There will be a GW2 thread on a core which has usage of near 25%, this is your bottlenecking thread holding everything down. http://i.imgur.com/L0Pom.png
Alternatively, you can test by disabling one of your CPU core. The result will be zero impact on FPS assuming you have 3+ cores, because GW2 only effectively have 3 threads actually using CPU load.

Rhyse.8176:

a FPS drop in lions arch is normal unless your computer is boss. The sheer number of characters and unique textures, etc, that have to be loaded will murder all but a major high end system.

Best workaround is to use lower quality textures, turn high-res character textures off, or lower resolution.

If it’s going on in the entire game, it’s either driver issues (if it wasn’t happening before) or graphics settings are just too high.

My config:

Intel Q6850 Quad Core @ 3.00 Ghz
8 GB ram
64-bit OS Windows 7
GTX 580 (GF110) GDDR5 1.5 GB ram

My system experience this same issue…if I am in a big city or in a dragon fight (a lot of people in the area), my frame drops to 10-15 FPS. Keep in my with Process Explorer it states my system, across the board, is only at 60% with all graphics maxed. I have ran burn in tests on memory, CPU, and GPU. These all passed with flying colors.

I found another thread stating the code for this game is an overhaul of GW1. It stated the code was not designed very well and will not use the system at full capicity. Even the best i(branded proc) from Intel with 8 cores @ 4.2 Ghz does not do well with this game. The tread complete with, “Wait until Areonet fixes their code.”

There are three major Thread process it uses and does not use multi-core procs efficiently. There for, not matter what system you have, there is more than like going to be a drop in FPS in major cities and during event fights (dragons)

Here is the thread I pulled this information from (or you can read the information below)…

Look at section 4.3 and 4.4 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095406)

But, none of my CPU cores are fully loaded

What you are seeing in task manager is an average over time of the core’s usage. Threads work in short micro burst. So the core can be 100% loaded but appear to be less. Also, the OS will dynamically bounce thread work load around to different cores.
To get a better measure, you need to look at the per-thread CPU usage using tools like ProcessExplorer
GW2 actually uses about 50 threads, and uses every core. However, GW2 only has 3 threads that puts a large load on the CPU. One of those thread will be at a % just under 100/#core. (e.g 25% for quadcore) Most likely that thread is the main game loop coordinating everything.
Example: Quad core system. Each core should handle 25% cpu usage. There will be a GW2 thread on a core which has usage of near 25%, this is your bottlenecking thread holding everything down. http://i.imgur.com/L0Pom.png
Alternatively, you can test by disabling one of your CPU core. The result will be zero impact on FPS assuming you have 3+ cores, because GW2 only effectively have 3 threads actually using CPU load.

My config:

Intel Q6850 Quad Core @ 3.00 Ghz
8 GB ram
64-bit OS Windows 7
GTX 580 (GF110) GDDR5 1.5 GB ram

My system experience this same issue…if I am in a big city or in a dragon fight (a lot of people in the area), my frame drops to 10-15 FPS. Keep in my with Process Explorer it states my system, across the board, is only at 60% with all graphics maxed. I have ran burn in tests on memory, CPU, and GPU. These all passed with flying colors.

I found another thread stating the code for this game is an overhaul of GW1. It stated the code was not designed very well and will not use the system at full capicity. Even the best i(branded proc) from Intel with 8 cores @ 4.2 Ghz does not do well with this game. The tread complete with, “Wait until Areonet fixes their code.”

There are three major Thread process it uses and does not use multi-core procs efficiently. There for, not matter what system you have, there is more than like going to be a drop in FPS in major cities and during event fights (dragons)

Here is the thread I pulled this information from (or you can read the information below)…

Look at section 4.3 and 4.4 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095406)

But, none of my CPU cores are fully loaded

What you are seeing in task manager is an average over time of the core’s usage. Threads work in short micro burst. So the core can be 100% loaded but appear to be less. Also, the OS will dynamically bounce thread work load around to different cores.
To get a better measure, you need to look at the per-thread CPU usage using tools like ProcessExplorer
GW2 actually uses about 50 threads, and uses every core. However, GW2 only has 3 threads that puts a large load on the CPU. One of those thread will be at a % just under 100/#core. (e.g 25% for quadcore) Most likely that thread is the main game loop coordinating everything.
Example: Quad core system. Each core should handle 25% cpu usage. There will be a GW2 thread on a core which has usage of near 25%, this is your bottlenecking thread holding everything down. http://i.imgur.com/L0Pom.png
Alternatively, you can test by disabling one of your CPU core. The result will be zero impact on FPS assuming you have 3+ cores, because GW2 only effectively have 3 threads actually using CPU load.