Guild Wars 2

spawnlink.1856:

Min requirements for GW2

Windows® XP Service Pack 2 or better
Intel® Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3 OR AMD Athlon 64 X2, or better
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800, ATI X1800, Intel HD 3000, or better (256 MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)
25 GB available HDD space
Broadband Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse

LOL. Is that what Arena net states as min?

TDLR: Ignore what any software maker says is MINIMUM required. DO your research, and figure out what the recommended system is. Match hardware to software requirements not the other way around.
…………………….

I would suggest anyone that is planning on playing any game this involved (graphics wise) to ignore any such postings by game makers.
ALways try to find SUGGESTED system. That minimum they list above would lead
one to a sad face and a angry pocket book.

A sane Suggested minimum, which I will pull out of mykitten and based on my own system specs and noted by self game performance) would be:

Intel i5 2500k
8 GB RAM Windows 64 BIT Vista or 7.
Video cards. Something equivalent of Nvidia 560TI performance level

Link to what I’d consider bottom end for SATISFACTORY baseline CPU
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-2500K+%40+3.30GHz

(for this game)
ANd for a Vid card a baseline SENSIBLE minimum IMO would be:
Nvidia GTX 560 TI
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/372

As a reference the CPU Arena net as listed as bare minimum is listed here:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html and while they (Intel core 2 DuOs had their hey day that is long past. That is VERY low end for a real game rig these days. I relegated mine to the living room general purpose PC 2 years ago. It was a fine gaming rig in its day, no longer. TIme to move along.

WARNING to you new people new to PC gaming. When a company lists MINIUMUM that does not mean you will see acceptable gaming performance. That is what is just
barely required to run the game at all at the lowest possible settings and not very well.
Take it from a PC gamer doing gaming since the mid 1980’s that I know WTF I’m saying. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Final note. That card I listed isnt’ what I’d buy today. That is just a reference number
that one can eyeball on a chart. This is just my opinion based on real world numbers not some marketing jack kitten stuff.

My system :
Win 7 64 | 8GB RAM, Asus MB P8Z68-V2 PRO,
CPU: Intel i7-2600K @ default clock
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 no o/c, Drivers 306.23
Display: Dell U2410 1920×1200,
Runs the game fine but in massive battles WvW I see frame rates drop as low as upper 20’s. That is DANGER zone but playable. (60FPS in PVE at max graphics)

As you can see the system here is stressing in WvW I hate to think what the hell
a core 2 duo would do. Probably make any player rage quit/

Typing this as I watch a slow moving monday night football game.

spawnlink.1856:

Min requirements for GW2

Windows® XP Service Pack 2 or better
Intel® Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3 OR AMD Athlon 64 X2, or better
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800, ATI X1800, Intel HD 3000, or better (256 MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)
25 GB available HDD space
Broadband Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse

LOL. Is that what Arena net states as min?

TDLR: Ignore what any software maker says is MINIMUM required. DO your research, and figure out what the recommended system is. Match hardware to software requirements not the other way around.
…………………….

I would suggest anyone that is planning on playing any game this involved (graphics wise) to ignore any such postings by game makers.
ALways try to find SUGGESTED system. That minimum they list above would lead
one to a sad face and a angry pocket book.

A sane Suggested minimum, which I will pull out of mykitten and based on my own system specs and noted by self game performance) would be:

Intel i5 2500k
8 GB RAM Windows 64 BIT Vista or 7.
Video cards. Something equivalent of Nvidia

Link to what I’d consider bottom end for SATISFACTORY baseline CPU
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-2500K+%40+3.30GHz

(for this game)
ANd for a Vid card a baseline SENSIBLE minimum IMO would be:
Nvidia GTX 560 TI
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/372

As a reference the CPU Arena net as listed as bare minimum is listed here:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html and while they (Intel core 2 DuOs had their hey day that is long past. That is VERY low end for a real game rig these days. I relegated mine to the living room general purpose PC 2 years ago. It was a fine gaming rig in its day, no longer. TIme to move along.

WARNING to you new people new to PC gaming. When a company lists MINIUMUM that does not mean you will see acceptable gaming performance. That is what is just
barely required to run the game at all at the lowest possible settings and not very well.
Take it from a PC gamer doing gaming since the mid 1980’s that I know WTF I’m saying. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Final note. That card I listed isnt’ what I’d buy today. That is just a reference number
that one can eyeball on a chart. This is just my opinion based on real world numbers not some marketing jack kitten stuff.

My system :
Win 7 64 | 8GB RAM, Asus MB P8Z68-V2 PRO,
CPU: Intel i7-2600K @ default clock
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 no o/c, Drivers 306.23
Display: Dell U2410 1920×1200,
Runs the game fine but in massive battles WvW I see frame rates drop as low as upper 20’s. That is DANGER zone but playable. (60FPS in PVE at max graphics)

As you can see the system here is stressing in WvW I hate to think what the hell
a core 2 duo would do. Probably make any player rage quit/

Typing this as I watch a slow moving monday night football game.

Just to chime in in a general way.
I too noticed a FEW areas in PVE environments that frame rate dropped to something
that caused me to notice the drop. I never bothred to check the real frame rate at those times but I suspect it was in upper teens or lower 20’s as it was enough to bug the hell out of me.

Normally my rig runs the game in 60 FPS in PVE. (using logitech keyboard display to monitor when not monitoring MUMBLE for voice comms).
WvW is another story, upper 50s typical to 25 to 35ish depending on hugeness
of the keep / tower assaults.

Yah, so some areas are glitchy for sure. I will try to pay attention to exact areas and take notes.
Oh, for the record system is:
Win 7 64 | 8GB RAM, Asus MB P8Z68-V2 PRO,
CPU: Intel i7-2600K @ default clock
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 no o/c, Drivers 306.23
Display: Dell U2410 1920×1200, with game graphics maxed , MINUS ambient occlusion which is not workign right with current drivers.

I read your post and at first was flummoxed why such a system would perform less than what I see here.
Took a bit of research to find what I suspect is the cause . I think it is your Intel i7 920 (I had to presume that as I used google to look up what you provided 2.67Ghz.

At this site: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+920+%40+2.67GHz

I compared what they list there to what they show for my Intel i7 2600K series at
default clock of 3.4Ghz.

Perhaps that is the core of why your system with what should be a fine Video
card is doing so poorly.

I see 60 FPS solid in virtually all PVE environments with very occasional drops
in rare instances in PVE that I knock up to poor coding in the client in those areas.
In typical WvW performance is less in the 50’s and in very heavy WvW encounters
drops to 35ish to even as low to upper 20’s in extreme heavy battles at keeps,etc.
This is at balls to the wall full effects in options (not using occlusion I disabled that in Nvidia control panel ) and at 1920×1200 resolution.

Win 7 64 | 8GB RAM, Asus MB P8Z68-V2 PRO,
CPU: Intel i7-2600K @ default clock, 3.4
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 no o/c, Drivers 306.23
Display: Dell U2410 1920×1200,

I suspect that card is being throttled by that CPU/mobo you run.
Which would hurt cause I expect that CPU and mobo had cost you more
than what us late comers paid for the later generation i72600k.

For what it is worth, if you determine that is the cause. IMO, the best bang
for the buck is the i5 series for gaming. I went with the i7 2600k for reasons other
than games and the extra cost I justified. Otherwise performance is identical .
Anandtech.com has great charts. If I had to redo a game system this year I’d
have to re-investigate to see if the i5 2600 and similar are the best bet. My info is
dated, as I did my research a year ago for this system I have now.

Just to chime in as a GTX580 user.
I installed that driver a few days ago, the new WHQL one, upgrading from
the driver series from some months ago. No issues noted with drop in frame rate on
this system in regards to the new driver. However I’ve not been in heavy WvW since his driver install (see below for more comments).

The only issue was the ambient occlusion causing the ‘flickering’ you describe.
Flipping that off in Nvidia Control Panel for the GW2 application fixed it. Rest was
pretty much default for the GW2 application.

Win 7 64 | 8GB RAM, Asus MB P8Z68-V2 PRO,
CPU: Intel i7-2600K @4.2 Ghz o/c
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 no o/c, Drivers 306.23
Display: Dell U2410 1920×1200, Mouse: Logitech G5 (the old good one)

Game runs in full screen mode here. at screen res listed above.

Typical in game FPS is 60 for me pretty much all the time.
Notable exception is in HEAVY WvW battles when I’ve noted a drop to 30’s and sometimes perhaps lower. All was sufficient for play.
On rare occasions in some PVE environments (sorry I forget where) the drop appeared
to be in the teens. I knocked that up to a coding glitch for those areas as there was
now apparent reason for my GTX to drop so far (no crazy particles, massive populations).

At this stage this sort of thing evolves into what is known as a game ‘feature’.

No longer a bug.

Think, FEATURE.

Sort of like driving by a car accident and rubber necking. Best not to do it , but you do it anyway.

Doubt that.
Unless they changed something in the past week or two.
I was in a group in a dungeon where one of us lost connection for a good 10 minutes.
The server did not boot anyone.

I’d knock it up to a server glitch /bug/ burp.

I can’t confirm it but there may have been a issue the other day. I recall some guildy
having the same issue with reporting bugs in game.

you should probably mention which server you are using.

I think I just completed Warmaster Yulia but this was on Yaks Bend server.

As for Defend the Merchant Caravan, it was stuck on Yak’s Bend as well with
the caravan at step two I think. Waited around for a few minutes and no waves of attackers came.

Same location I think. On some small bridge.

I would encourage all that reply to this thread with either issues or NOT to include
system specs and detailed description of the problem as it occurs on your system.

Failure to include system specifics is a total FAIL on your part as it does nothing to help
nail down the central cause of these events.

In that spirit I will post mine.
Game System:
Win 7 64 | 8GB RAM, Asus MB P8Z68-V2 PRO,
CPU: Intel i7-2600K @4.6 Ghz o/c
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 no o/c, Drivers 306.23
Display: Dell U2410 1920×1200,

I do NOT have the issue described in the OP . I have noted I get dumped to desktop on occasion
for unknown reasons. I run the game fullscreen. The game does not crash and I can
get back to the game via usual means as a system task on the task bar or tab to it.

I’ve never had the issue of the black screen arise on this system, and the game
runs wonderfully well (60fps PVE and WvW typical with drops to 30;’s in heavy WvW situations). No crash issues as of yet been playing since early launch.

After a quick gloss of this thread it APPEARS to be more of a SLI issue with exceptions, that need to be hunted down. Please, people take the time to post system info or you do not hing to help Arena net or others afflicted.
Again, it is also helpful for those without the issue to post that info as well.
This could well be a esoteric software—hardware conflict that is not immediately obvious. DXDIAG is probably the most useful.

I dunno specifics in the case here.
What I do know is forum after game forum (different games) AMD CPU systems users
are the ones barking about poor performance. I can cite one recent example as it is
fairly fresh in my memory , Saints Row the Third.

I would caution ANYONE thinking of building a nice new shiney GAMING centric
PC to think hard before going with AMD CPUs.

I"m not a AMD hater. I have two other PC"s in this house that have AMD CPU’s. One is a laptop, not used for gaming other than solitare like things, and a bedroom PC who’s main job is multimedia and recording of cable programs. AMD works fine there, quite happy with it.

For my gaming PC I did the leg work years ago to learn which was best. I made the switch to Intel on those machines not long after the years of the 486 architecture years.
Latest Intel I5 and later series just a flat out far superior for a serious game machine.

Yes, feel free to disagree. Feel free to pay attention to hundreds of game forums and find like me, who is it that seems to have the most problems when it comes to poor
game performance as it relates to the CPU. AMD.

I hope Arena Net can nail it down for you that have the systems. I really do.

Saints Row Three developers never did, nor have other game companies. I can’t begin
to characterize why that is, it just is.
There is only one thing in common in the cases I’ve seen, and it isn’t Intel gaming grade CPUS.

As much pain as I am suffering with the Trading Post being down I must
decline to whine overly much.

See, I am now thinking of the fiasco and total cluster (cough) Diablo 3 auction house was, not to mention the other things not worthy of mention here…..

I’m as happy as can be here despite issues, as that other game was so horrid this garden with manure smells so sweet to me. The manure isn’t that bad and is nearly
fully composted.

Muhahahahaa.

Looking forward to more of that data. Good effort!
Informative thread here.

you should post system info always when posting on issues like this. Vid card, drivers, op sys. etc.

See if your vid driver has setting for ambient occlusion in driver control panel , if so. Disable that for this game.

Yep, same here with GTX580 win7 64bit and the latest WHQL Nvidia release.
306.23 release.
Disabling ambient occlusion as stated above seems to cure it.

Otherwise all is good.

Agreed on not using Twitter.
I find the practice of companies using that as a means of communications for important
updates highly annoying.
Forums exist for that. Subsections with system update info is the proper place. Twitter should only be used if for some reason the forum system crashes not as a replacement for proper informational updates on forums.