Guild Wars 2

Cool, I’ll give it a shot!

Same here, stuck at 10/13 even though I’ve done all maps, most of them multiple times.

660 = low end card? Man, don’t make me feel bad. I’m so excited that my 650 Ti Boost will arrive next week.

From what I’ve seen in Europe (dunno if Denmark is an exception) pre-built PC’s are considerably more expensive than buying the parts. This is totally your call though. There are many helpful people here who could give you advice, no matter how you want to buy you PC.

What you need to know is that GW2 needs a very good CPU to run smooth. In my opinion, those two are not good enough, especially the second one.

Telling us your budget would make it easier for us to make suggestions.

Ilithis Mithilander.3265:

I’m very cautious around second hand stuff just because you don’t know what has happened to it. I’d make him run through stress tests, Prime95 and some GPU benchmarks and make sure everything is within spec. I don’t think I would ever recommend getting something older than the previous generation (Ivy bridge at this point) simply because it’ll be out of date that much sooner.

Especially that the 2500k is like 5 bucks cheaper than the 3570k.

Another important factor is whether the OP plays any other games besides GW2. If not, there is no reason to have such a strong GPU. And 650 euros could easily buy a decent new 3570k-based PC.

God Of Fissures.8627:

I’ve heard bad things about the XFX 7970 DD. Get a Sapphire 7970 VaporX 3GB.

It’s a complete second hand rig he’s considering buying!

2500k overclocks fantastically, it should handle GW2 fine, the GPU is great, even overkill if GW2 is the only game you play.

As a fellow european I can confirm that the rig would cost around 1000 euros new. Whether it’s a good deal or not really depends on the shape of the PC.

ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI all have excellent, quiet 650 Ti Boost GPU’s, going with ASUS because more people recommended it, and because I get a decent free SD card from a store here, lol.

Decided to go with the mATX version of Asrock Extreme4, because in Hungary it’s $70 (no joke!) cheaper than the ATX version. The Gigabyte motherboard would be a good second choice, but the Asrock seems to have more extra features. (MSI gaming mobo is not even available here ATM…)

The 600W PSU may seem too high, but I really wanted Corsair, however I don’t really trust the Builder series. Also, if for some reason I decide to go SLI, it’s safer choice. (Plus GS has blue LED, I mean come on!)

Ordering the parts in a few hours, but if anyone has any last advice, I’d love to hear!

Danno.5269:

Okay i altered. What are y’alls thoughts on this one. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1aYIs

You are getting a 320GB Caviar Blue with 16MB cache for $60, when you could get a 1TB Caviar Blue 64MB for only $65.

PCPartPicker - Use the BBCode button here, it’s so much easier.

750W PSU is overkill, and you probably need better CPU and GPU for 60fps.

If you want the best bang for your buck, you should get PC that you can overclock. I don’t see any other way to achieve your FPS-goal within you budget. You should probably get a 3570k (only $5 more than a 2500k!) and the cheapest, decent Z77 motherboard. Use PCPartPicker to find combo deals. Also get a good, cheap CPU cooler for OC’ing, like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO.
If you don’t want to OC, you can save a few bucks, but you will definitely not reach your FPS-goal.

I think even a 120GB SSD is out of the question for now. I’m building a $800 rig and still decided to postpone buying one for budgetary reasons.

Based on your OP, I’m assuming that you have a PSU (gonna need at least 500W), a case, and an HDD. So whatever money you have left will decide what GPU you should get.

Thanks again for all these replies, everyone!

Only 2 dillemas left (hope I didn’t make any mistakes):

1.) Not sure if I should go with the Asus or the MSI, leaning towards ASUS though.
2.) I really like the idea and extra utilities of a gaming motherboard (MSI Z87 G-45), but according to an expert’s review both the ASRock Z87 E4 and the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H perform better…

If anyone has any idea about these, don’t hesitate!

If all goes well, I’ll order the parts today/tomorrow.

Hi Danno,

As you can see, I am also in the process of building a new gaming PC, and I can tell you the people here are very helpful.

However, you will need to give us more information about your goals. What’s your budget? What will you use it for (other games, video editing, etc)? Do you want to overclock? Are you ok with upgrading the PC in 1-2 years or do you want it to last for 5 years?
Anything you can tell us helps, however @Avelos gave you an excellent $800 configuration (similar to what I’m getting), you can use that to decide where you wanna go from there.

Since you also requested links, here are a few websites I found really useful:

PCPartPicker -If you are lucky enough to live in NA, you can find the best deals here. Also, it’s really handy that you can just copy links to all the parts here (BBCode) or on Reddit.
Build a PC subreddit - Speaking of Reddit, this is a huge source of comments on basically all kinds of PC configurations. Of course these are not professional review, but for newbies like me, they provided some useful tips.
Tom’s Hardware - I admit I’m biased, but this is probably the most useful site. The reviews and charts are great, and I’ve found dozens of forum topics containing the same questions I had, answered by trusted experts.
AnandTech - Good benchmarks, easy way to compare 2 similar CPUs/GPUs.
TechPowerUp - Also a great source for reviews.

Of course this is very arbitrary, and I probably left out some important ones, but you will stumble across those anyway.

Good luck!

@Solar
I did my best to consider all those things while choosing the mobo, but I have to admit my capabilities in the field are very limited. Still, it seemed that the Z87-G45 was ideal for gamers (what a shock, considering it’s sold as a gaming mobo!).

Yeah I wrote the same about new processors requiring new motherboards. That is exactly why I only choose to buy CPU’s with that magical ‘k’ letter.

@Filbo
Yup, Caviar Blue is fine, I hear the latest 7200RPM, 64MB version performs just as well as the Black, only a lot less noisy. I plan to buy an SSD for the OS/games later on, so the Blue will suffice until then.

I’m still going to get the 650 Ti Boost, if it proves to be too weak, I’ll get another one for SLI. Right now I’m trying to decide between the versions of EVGA, MSI and ASUS. From what I’ve read, EVGA is loud in idle and hot under pressure. MSI’s TwinFrozr and ASUS’ DirectCU II heatsink both seem excellent.

@Ricky
Indeed, there are some very helpful and knowledgeable people around.

As for the motherboard, good point! I happened to stumble upon MSI’s Z87-G45 Gaming motherboard, and I must say it’s very convincing. It costs the same as the ATX version of the ASRock E4, only it’s a little hard to get in Hungary at the moment. Still, I fell in love with it, and decided to get that instead. (The problem with upgrading builds around an expensive mobo is that new processors often come with different sockets, which means you have to upgrade the motherboard as well.)

EDIT
Throwing in an Arctic Freezer Pro 7 Rev. 2 or CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO cooler would still allow me to reach my budgetary goal and overclock if necessary.
In next months/years, I can upgrade the PC with an SSD and an additional GPU.

OP updated to reflect the changes in plan.

@hoegarden
The Mark/$ chart only confirms that the 4670k is a great choice (just like the 3570k). The CPU you suggested is also good, but I’m willing to pay more for a better one, since GW2 is a CPU-heavy game.

@DJRiful
Believe me, I’d love to get one of those but since I’m building this PC from scratch and on a budget, it’s just not an option.

Behellagh.1468:

As Intel keeps lowering the power use of their CPUs, OCing headroom seems to be going away as well. And I can’t find any game comparisons between the i5-3570K and the i5-4670k at my usual chart laden sites. I can’t imagine any game that will be optimized for a Haswell core. The i7-3770K Vs i7-4770K yielded a few % points at most in games at stock speeds so I imagine the comparison between i5s would be similar.

The switch comes out to around $30 between the CPU and motherboard. And overclocking may be “more mature” with the older ivy bridge CPU. Haswell changed up the OC rules again.

It’s not decided yet! I edited the OP hoping that people will react to that configuration as well.

From what I’ve read, there is a noticeable, but small difference between the 3570k and the 4670k. I would say the small price difference reflects this perfectly. Also, the 4770k/4670k didn’t perform well in OC tests. (I feel there’s a tendency here, I remember people complaining about the 3570k performing worse than the 2500k.)

To be honest, the price difference in Hungary is $20 including the newer motherboard. So it’s not really a question of money, but a question of getting the best performance in the next few years. (Also, I’m not an OC maniac, I just like to keep the door open.)

Wow, thanks for all the fast and informative replies, you guys are awesome!

@Filbo
I live in Hungary, and unfortunately the cost of PC parts is nowhere near Newegg’s or even Amazon’s prices. The $800 config in the OP costs about $200 more in Europe. So to be exact, when I used PCPartPicker I drew the line at $800. (I already have a case, an optical drive and an OS.)

@SolarNova
Going with the 4670k is indeed a possibility. I’ve read very mixed review on the matter, many people say that the 3570k is a better deal, especially regarding overclocking. On the other hand my instincts tell me to go with the newer technology, might be smarter on the long run.

@Behellagh
You convinced me (plus others confirmed) that ditching the SSD and getting a better GPU is a good idea, so I’m probably gonna do that. Should I go with the 650 Ti Boost or is the regular 660 worth the extra $40?

EDIT: (just read Behellagh’s new post)
From what you’ve wrote, the 650Ti Boost appears to be the better choice, but I’ll wait for Solar’s reply, since your discussion is so informative.

EDIT2: OP is now up-to-date, this is what I plan to get ATM. Ditching the SSD allowed me to go with the 4670k (and the Z87 version of the mobo) and the 650Ti Boost.

Hey everyone,

Until now my girlfriend and I have been playing GW2 on my laptop, but now we’ve finally decided to get a gaming PC.

This is what I’m currently planning on getting:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 × 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card
OR MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair Gaming 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply

I would like to know what you all think! Any kind of advice is appreciated.
(Please note that this config is already pushing my budget, which is around $800 or $1000/€770 when you look at EU prices…)

Thank you in advance!

My girlfriend noticed a couple of warrior bots in Metrica killing Skritt – explains the spike in the volume of Skritt bags. Reported them, dunno if they are still around.