Guild Wars 2

Alternativly you can download EVGA precision. I use this program for my custom GPU fan speed but you can also use it to set ‘target framerate’ Just like the GW2 ingame one but it has a higher cap.

To be honest though you shouldnt need to use the framerate cap. Just turn on Vsync ..it will cap it to your monitor/TV refresh rate ..which is usualy ether 60 or 120.

You might find G.Skill RAM cheaper than corsair. other than that ..dont forget to get a CPU cooler.

That CPU at stock settings should run GW2 fine, you will probably find your GPU bottlenecking before you need to OC the CPU. Which you would have to do if you upgraded your GPU to a modern one.

I dont know anything baout AMD’s upcoming CPU’s tbh. BUT unless they come up with somthing dramically different and better than what they currently have. I still say you should go with intel.
You can get a OC’able intel i5 for around £175 or a non K version for around £150.
Add on the price for a budget motherboard around £85 , 8gb ram for around £35, and a cooler maybe £35 to £50 ..and your sorted for some where in the region of £300 to £350 which isnt bad really.

with a OC’d 560ti you should be able to run at 1920×1080 max/ultra on al apart from supersampling ..i have that on native myself. And you should get 30+fps in all situations in pve with the fps usualy being 60 or there abouts most the time.

Atleast thats what i get ..granted my 560ti is slightly higher clocked than the Asus ..but theres a reason gigabyte dont sell them anymore :P ..itsa really high OC to sell as a factory OC :P (950mhz GPU clock, and 2290mhz(4580mhz effective) memory clock)

It is ‘mostly’ true that hyperthreading isnt used by games….at the moment.
BUT.. keep in mind that with a hyperthreading capable CPU, the CPU has the capacity to run other programs and windows processes on those threads aswell as run GW2.. its always nice to have that extra headroom in terms of performance.

The performance increase isnt vast ..but it is there, and atm its likely there not due to the game using hyperthreading ..but becouse other processes are using it, freeing up the cores/threads that the game does use.

its not cost effective atm ..but if you have the money ..its a nice bit of ‘future proofing’ ..granted ‘future proofing’ never really works 100% lol..but it will add to the usuage lifespan of your computer before you need to upgrade again.

Just think ..you would be kicking yourself if you bought a 2500k instead of a 2600k or 2700k then in 2 years games started using hyperthreading and actually ended up needing hyperthreaing for high performance.

Any chance it might be your CPU ?
In your bios is it runnign the CPU at any default OC at all ?

Just to make sure it isnt a CPU issue you could run Prime95 on a custom blend test(change 4gb ram to 14gb ram in your case) for 12hours to make sure your CPU isnt causing errors.

i only bring it up since its a 2500K and on a gigabyte mothebroard which tends to have inbuilt OC profiles. Also a full OS reinstall tends ot rule out software issues ..usualy.

If you still have the issue OP. Download Prime95 and run a custom blend test (just change the memory used to 14gb) Since you have 16gb you want to stress it but leave enough for idle windows processes.

leave this running for a minimm of 12 hours to ‘FULLY’ test your system. This will let you know if you have a issue with your CPU or RAM. (mainly cpu).

Now obviosly your not expected to sit infront of your computer for 12 hours ..so just make sure that whilst this is running (say after 20 mins or so ) that your temperatures are not to high. If your temps are fine after 20-30 mins then its highly unlikely you will have anything to worry about. ( Prime95 will max your processor out ..hence the temperatures)

if Prime95 comes across an error, the thread that error occured on will shut down and the other threads will continue. In your case you have 4 cores 8 threads.
If there is an arror its likely due to having to low a voltage going to your CPU and this ‘could’ be causing your lockups.

if there is no error, then atleast you have completly rulled out a CPU problem

Dabs currnetly has a good offer on a 560ti from EVGA

http://www.dabs.com/products/evga-geforce-gtx-560-ti-900mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-superclocked-7VQG.html?refs=465340000&src=3

Aye that does resemble a failing GPU. Chances are its overheated. And GW2 does tend to stress Graphics cards to the Max it seems. However Graphcis cards a designed to handle it so it may have been down to age or dust buildup or somthing… ether way ..you could try taking the card out and putitng it back in again just incase. If it still does it then you will most likely need a new card.
When you get your new card though make sure you have enough cooling from your case and keep a temperature monitoring program running at all times.
I personaly use Aida64 and have the readout on my LCD display on my keyboard.

As for which GPU.. well i would go Nvidia, they perform on average better than AMD BUT they do cost more. That said since your on a budget i’d recommend a 560ti and get ether the Asus OC’d one or the EVGA one. They cost around £160

Indeed your RAM is probably causing your slight freezes as information has to be pulled directly form your hardrive instead of the RAM.

Do note however when i said “your computer isnt up to the task” i meant that it wouldnt be able to keep a sustained playable frame rate, and “playable” is down to personal opinion, i personaly see it as being as close to 60fps as possible.

Chances are if you can sqeeze as much performance out of your computer as possible (once you get more RAM that is) you could potentialy get 30ish FPS out of it on absolute minimum settings. But it likely wont be ‘smooth’ you may still get instances were the frame rates drop dramticaly under heavy load or loading up new areas when panning the camera. (which will be down to the CPU and GPU being slow)

To help with your RAM usage you can disable all NON windows functions by using msconfig.exe and going to ‘Services’ tab ..check ‘hide all microsoft services’ so you cant see them on the list, then hit ‘disable all’ . now all you need do is reactive those few things that you may need, things that control any performance orientate settings like Catalyst control centre ..any sound driver Ui you may use and such.

I also beleve you can download a program that can do this for you but i personaly think you should do it yourself to get best results.

Once you have done that you could also look into OC’ing your CPU a tad. maybe to 3ghz. You would have to check your BIOS to see if your motherboard allows any tweeking. If you can, then do make sure you have temperature monitoring software installed beforhand to make sure what ever cooler you have is up to the task.

its a shame this has to be explained so often but.

Minimum requirments are there to say “this game will ‘run’ on your computer”
It is not “this game will be ‘playable’ on your computer”

Your requirments may beat the stated minimum needed to ‘run’ the game, but it is not by much.

Going down the list.

The old Core 2 Duo’s/Quads/Extremes, are all outdated and will strugle with GW2 unless OC’d to VERY high levels. The base Architecture of the CPU is not fast enough to handle a game as CPU dependant as GW2, so even OC’ing will only help slightly.

RAM, it says 2GB minimum, thats ..ambitious… Adittionaly, you need to understand that memory does not come in ‘exact’ numbers. A 1GB stick for example is not 1000mb .its actualy around 1024mb. meaning depending on the software it will read 2gb as ether a flat 2gb or 2048mb ..if its rounded it may well register as 2.1gb ..there for you have the minimum ..not above.

Your OS is Vista, Vista is not a very good OS when it comes to gaming, its rather slow and uses alot of system resources.

Your GPu, now im used ot nvidia cards ..but i belve the 6670 is equivlanet to a Geforce 9800, which again is OLD. it WAS a very good card back in its day, but today its nowhere near enough to play demanding games.

Now finaly. You say ‘Lag’ ..do you actualy mean ‘Lag’ as in latency from internet connection.. i.e you do somthing like press a skill and it isnt instant… or like in a FPS game where you shoot and it takes second or 2 for actually shoot.
or do you mean low Frame rates ?

if its frame rates, then im afraid theres not much you can do, your computer just isn’t up to the task. if its actually Lag, then that could indicate a connection problem, in which case you should go to speedtest.net and see what your speed is, you can also go to pingtest.net to check your ping.

The 620 GPu is not a gaming graphics card and will struggle to give even ‘playable’ fps at any setting i would think.
Ontop of that you have a Slow 2.3ghz CPU that also happens ot be a AMD which atm GW2 hates.

So in short i would have to say ‘No’.

The final thing you can do to try fix this is to completly format your hardrives and re instal lwindows + up to date drivers + GW2 ..and then try.
If it works ..start installing your other programs and games 1 or 2 at a time and try GW2 again for a day.
Keep going and you will ether find somthing that clashes with GW2 ..or nothing ..and it was likely just a bug in your OS.

In short .. No

You could OC, but the only time iv seen good OC’s on those cpu;s is when people are going mad ..modifiying new coolers to fit their old cpu’s and ramping the voltage up to insane levels getting it to run at over 4ghz even 5ghz ..just for kicks :P

Chances are though since its a Dell computer. . the mothebroard wont allow you to OC alot ..if at all ….So im afraid your stuffed :P

Is your GPU overclocked (custom or factory OC) ??

If it is ether type of OC, try downclocking slightly. What can happen somtimes even with facotry OC’d GPU’s is that a game will come along that pushes a combination of components on the board harder than what was used to test the OC, resulting in artifacting or crahsing.

have any of you ried the ‘last resort’ of completly formating your hard drives and reinstalling Windows + drivers + Gw2 only. ?

On my old 5year old Q6850X CPU rig i used ot get random freezes exactly as you lot re describing ..though this wasnt on GW2 sincei t wasnt out at the time.
i tried everything i could think of short of reseating the CPU.

In the end i reformated my drives, installed windows ..up to date drivers. .and installed the games i was playing . .And vwala no more crahsing.

That link gives an empty basket for me.

Also note that scan tends to be more expensive on alot of things. .not all .but alot ..and they charge delivery.
Novatech.co.uk has free delivery and has low prices. If you buy enough items and spend enough you may even be able to get a little off the price aswell if you contact them.

I myself spent exactly £1,000 with them a few months back which would have cost just under £1100 if i had not got in contact with them by email to secure a deal. I wont guarantee they will do the same for you, but its worth a try. At the time i was trying to contact 4 retailers, 3 replied and only 1 (novatech) was willing to make a deal, so i give them props for customer service

Its normal.. Its called ’cliping.

Since GW2 doesnt have complex physX .items like weapons do not interact with armor. This means in your case the sword is going through the flared cloth armor.

i have this happen with my mesmer, her staff and GS both go through her massivly flared armor ..you just have to put up with it unfortunatly.

That laptop will most deffinatly be maxing out playing GW2 ..both CPU and GPU, chances are its overheating. if you have had it for a long time and havnt done so already…give it a clean inside. Even a little dust can cause heating issue wiht a laptop. But tbh ..even after the clean im not sure that will stop it. That spec does not look like somthing designed to run full bore for very long.

Graphics cards are designed to stay cool even at 100% load with everything on it being used to the max. So if somones card is overheating, its generaly ether the users fault i.e not enough case cooling and/or dust, or a manufacturing fault.

Its like when you OC somthing , you dont OC then test it out on 70% load. Becouse if at anytime said component reaches 99%, its most likely going to overheat. Instead you make sure you stress it as hard as possible to make sure it has no chance of overheating. The sensable person also leave headroom ..just incase.

My CPU barely reaches 20% usage at any given time on anygame including GW2. Its temps reach maybe 60c. Yet if for any reaosn it hits 99% load i’ve got it set to only ever reach around 75c. I could OC even further to maybe 4.8ghz if i only tested it at low loads like 20%-50..but that would be dangerous for when it does hit 99%. It would deffinatly overheat.

So anyway if you GPU is overheating ..downclock it/clean it/reseat the heatsink/check case cooling. it can be fixed.

ok so jus the main computer then. Hmm well since there aint no deffinative figure to stick to ill try my best to keep the price down.

Asuming your keeping things like the cd rom and hard drives from your old computer,

CPU/Motherboard/Ram/Heatsink = £300
GPU = £160
PSU = 70
Case = 70
Total = £600

Specific recommendations.
Intel i5 3470 ~£150
Any suitable ~£85 mothebroard (sugest a Asus or Gigabyte)
8GB duel channel Ram 1600mhz ~35 (sugest G.Skill)
CPU cooler ~£30 (probably a coolmaster)

Nvidia 560ti (any factory OC’d one, Asus or EVGA) £150-160

Corsair PSU TX550 or TX650 ~£70

Coolermaster Enforcer Gaming case ~£70

Now thats roughly £600 give or take. And asuming you have thigns like Cdrom and hard drivses to use form your old computer. If you need those aswell ..you can probably add another £75 ish ontop.

The limiting factor for playing GW with that setup is the cpu .. its a non K version meaning it has little OC ability and is stock at 3.2ghz turbo to 3.6ghz.
For a better cpu you would probably want to go up to the 2550k and spend more on a better cooler so you can overclock it to around 4.5ghz..So thats roughly £40-50 extra (25 extra for the cpu and another 25 ontop for a better cooler (Noctua).

@ OP

You could try mesmer.

I played a guardian to 80 and warrior to 30 so far. I’ve now got a mesmer to 36 and im loving it. its much harder to player, simple skill rotations actually requir weapon swaping and managing your clones. It really requirs you to think, and you get heavily penalised if you use the wrong weapons and trait setups.
Took me a little while to figure out which weapos and such to use for best performance, once i did though.. the class sudenly came into its own.

Well first of, Think of a number for your budget then add about 14-20% ontop. Chances are the number you think of first will stradle performance lines. Always does when i look for upgrades lol.

Anyway after that i can help.

Also does she need a whole new pc ..or just certain parts. Do you need keyboard & mouse ..speaker. .monitor etc ? And will you be able to put it together yourself ?

The amount o RAM you have makes little difference tbh. Anything above 4gb is more than enough asuming you dont have a rediculous amount of programs running in the background.

For example my old man uses an old C2E rig with 8gb DDR2 800 RAM ..he just lost 2gb of that due to hardware failure ..but hasnt noticed any difference what so ever now he’s runnign at 6gb.

In GW2 FPS can only really be affected by 3 things. CPU, GPU, Software.

Oh for crying out loud ..i really wish people would stop spurting the same nonsense about what the human eye can see in terms of FPS.

There is no need to tell people what you ‘think’ the human eye can see. They can test it themselves with an old game(for performance sake) and a frame limiter.
Set frame limiter to 20 .. play game ..then 30 ..play game ..then 40 ..play game and so on up to your screens refresh rate (usualy 60 or 120).

My TV goes to 60. And i can see a noticable difference all the way up to 60 easily.

Ah ok .. EVGA cards ?

Well ether way, i think your next best option is to ether put up with higher fan speeds or re-apply the heat sinks using new thermal paste and hope for better temperatures.

As i write this i am testing it.

LA loading times was 17 to 21 seconds depending on time of day.
It is now……. 13 seconds as of 17:35 UK time.

I’ll update again during peak hours if i remember :P

EDIT: 22:15 Uk time: Load time LA still 13 seconds.

Im with you on the 70 0series iSmack cant wait for the ‘real’ 680 to be released (as the 780 probably)

As for heat, im running a single Gigabyte 560ti Super OC edition (950mhz core, 2290mhz memory (4580mhz effective)) 384core version. Its factory OC’d i havnt touched it.

Only thing i have done is installed EVGA precision and created a custom stepped fan curve to keep my temps below 75c at all times. The fan hits 80% speed at 75c which it does hit now and then in Gw2, but most the time its between 68-74c which has the fan running at ether 65% or 70%.

So with that said i beleve it must be due to a physical fault with your cards, be it them being dirty or the conection between core and cooler has degraded.
It could also be due to the SLI setup, how close are your cards to each other ? do they have enough room between them to vent the heat ?

You dont HAVE to OC an i5 or i7 .. its just what you do though. Buying one and not OC’ing it is a waste, they have so much potential power being unused when they are not OC’ed.

it just so happens that games that are cpu bound.. like GW2. .also end up running faster.

Well if you do intend on OC’ing properly, then i sugest getting a sandybridge bassed CPU, they OC much better than Ivybridge.
But only get one if your going over 4.3ghz OC’s, since ivybridges r ever so slightly faster clock for clock, but can only reach on average around 4.3ghz on top range air cooling. Sandybridge however can easily reach 4.5ghz and even go as high as 4.7ghz on air cooling if your lucky. So bassicaly your choices then would be (cost lowest to highest)a i5 2500k, i7 2600k, or i7 3930k

If you go Ivybridge i5/i7, the highest air cooled overclock you ‘likely’ to get is 4.5ghz, depending on which cpu you go for some can only go to 4.3ghz.
If you want an easier 4.5ghz OC or want to go higher then you will need to go Sandybridge which tend to be a tad more expensive. (i5 2500k or i7 2600k)

Also note clock for clock ivybridge are ever so slightly faster BUT sandybridge can reach higher OC’s so at the top end Sandybridge are faster.

With a 4.5ghz to 5ghz i5 or i7 you shouldnt have any problems in the cpu department. You just need to make sure your GPU’s can keep up.

Those screenies indicate your cpu bottlenecked with GW2. You GPU is not maxing out but your CPU usuage is high , specialy on 1 core.
not only that your cpu is AMD, AMD+GW2 = bad performance… they just dont like each other.

IS your GPU overclocked by any chance. if it is, downclock it a bit and try again.

Oh and btw, when ever you ask for technical help, its bets to give your system specs so we dont have ot ask for them later …like now :P

I personaly have vsync on no matter the fps. Screen tearing occurs even with fps below your screens refresh rate..granted its harder to see but i cant stand it.

I get fairly smooth fps most the time, i wont say its perfect becouse i like pushing all the shiney gfx options up to max, im currently running with eveyrthing on ultra/max except supersampling (its on native) at 1920×1080 res and i get between 40 and 60 fps in all pve environments.
I could easily get better fps by turning down the settings but i need the game to look good. Poor quality graphcis on a 42" screen looks really really horrible.

Then why have stats on them at all :P

Some armors and weps in GW2 are really pointless. If they are going to be for cosmetics, then 1) price them accordingly 2) dont give them stats.

I personaly find MMO’s to easy at the best of times and groups just make it even easier. And it becomes annoying when a group is ‘needed’ becouse you cant solo, but a 5 man group makes to way to easy, and those are your only 2 options. This is why i like GW2 everything bar champions and dungeons (which are pointless as loot is crap for both) is soloable and you can make it challenging by simply making sure you slightly underleveled.

I understand some people find it boring going solo and want to play a mmo for the multiplayer experiance. but for that, the game needs to be suitably difficult and/or have good scailing depending on number of people in a given area. Atm GW2 has nether of these.
I have a 80 Guardian using level 76 rare armor and a 80 exotic wep and it plows through everything with ease.
Im now lvling a mesmer (currently lvl 30) simply for the fact that it seems to be, imo, a much more complicated class to play. Much more reliant on traits, a simple skill rotation requirs weapon swaping, and kiting is essential.

As for lfg, well there is a window for lfg, but it ether doenst work or no1 uses it becouse its constantly blank for me. Anet really need to impliment a Asian mmo style lfg where you post your charatcer/group up with a title like lfg for X .. or lfg 2 mroe for X .and you can broadcast it and peopel and click and apply to join.
What Anet should NOT do is put in a Auto LFG/Dungoen finder system like Rift, Wow, etc etc. They make communities crumble.

The old C2D/C2Q/C2E cpu’s have a real hard time with modern mmo’s. Specialy GW2 which is so cpu bound.

Even if you are not seeing 100% cpu load, that does not mean your cpu is not slowing your system down. The way old cpu’s process data compared to new cpu’s means that they may not be fully loaded, but they still process the information slower than a new cpu.
Any old cpu that tries running GW2 and has over say ..70% usuage ..or there abouts, is bottlenecked. This can be proven further more by looking at GPU usage ..if your fps is under your vsync (60fps usualy) and your gpu usuage is UNDER 99%, that means its being slowed down by somthing, and in 90% of cases thats your cpu.

You can help reduce this bottleneck with overclocks, but it will still end up being bottlenecked in the end becouse the architecture of the old cpu’s just cant cope.

My last computer was a C2E (QX6850) which was OC’d from 3ghz to 3.66ghz (couldnt go any higher due to crappy Motherboard and cooling). Going from that to my current rig, using the same graphics card, i saw a MASSIVE improvment in fps in MMO’s (not in GW2 i got new comp b4 that).

So in the end ..yes your high cpu usuage is normal for your cpu, yes you can help increase fps with overclocking, but only marginaly. yes you need to upgrade. Recommend a i5 3ghz+ rig to play comfortably. (note my idea and another persons idea on comfortably may be different)

My GTX 560ti Gigabyte Super OC edition runs at 99% usuage much of the time, i run on 1920×1080 res on max(ultra) settings on everything apart from sampling which is on native. I get good FPS between 40+ all the time (pve fights included) and 50+ frequently. I havnt tried WvW yet due to the hacks and cheats still running amock.

My temperature at max hits 75c but usualy hovers around 65-70c.
I use EVGA precision for a custom ‘steped’ fan speed curve.
It runs at default 40% speed till temps reach 55c then fan goes to 50%, then at 60c it goes to 60%, 70c to 70%, 75c to 80%, after that its just a precaution i have it set so at 80c it goes to 100% (which it has never done)

Now if your 580 is a standard Nvidia one, then that would explain the high temperatures. if its from another make.. like gigabyte or MSi, asus etc, then it should be able to run cooler. Maybe you should give it a clean, chances are it could just be dust buildup on the fan, vents, and/or heatsink.
To be honest though i would only start worrying if the temps went above 85c. These gpu’s are rated for more, but i personaly dont like high temps.

“Budget is not a problem” that statement is usualy said by those who, in all honesty, dont know how expensive computers can become, Ether that or your loaded :P

Ill asume you not loaded becouse you can spend £5000 easy on a rig, ..thats roughly $8000 i beleve.

So a high quality gaming rig for a reasonable price.

i7 2600k + Mothebroard + 8 or 16gb 1866mhz RAM
Noctua NH-D14 cooler (best air cooler) then OC the hell out of the CPU
OC’d GTX 680
750W or above Corsair Powersupply
128gb or more SSD

That there will cost you a fair chunk.

If you want more perfomance then you could go SB-E (2011 socket) and get a 3930k. (ignore the 3960X its a total waste of money)
But it is harder to OC due to the extra cores… so you might want to get a good water cooler. Somthing better than a Corsair H100.
then ontop of that you could ether go SLI 680 or single 690.

I havnt mentioned ivyBridge CPU’s becouse if you have the money, you go Sandybridge for the better OC’s.

Another note on graphics cards. You have 3 choices. 500 series.. 600 series ..or wait till the REAL 600 series is released (as the 700 series) early next year. Nvidia renamed their orignal 660ti to the 680 (what is available now) the original 680 will come out as a 700 series with the GK110 chip. This was due to lack of competition from AMD, Nvidia had no need to release their best GPU’s when they could sell their lesser ones for the same price.

To everyone coming here stating they have bad fps.

Please give us CPU and GPU usuage readings for when you have bad fps.
Download some monitoring software to do this. I personaly use Aida64.

With the usuage readings we can usualy tell you whats up, ether one could be bottlenecked, and if nether are, then its likely to be software or hardware compatability issues.

Go Intel, they currently work better with GW2, and as you stated with the tomshardwear benchmarks .. Intel has been owning AMD for the past couple years and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

I recommend getting a standard intel i5 cpu 3ghz+ ether sandybridge or ivybridge, you will need a new mothebroard ofcourse, and DDR3 ram (i reccomend 8gb min).

You should also upgrade you GPU since an 8k series is rather dated and would really really bottleneck an i5 build. So i sugest a 560ti, they were best bang for buck when 500 series was top, they are still best bang for buck when your on a budget that cant afford a 600 series

Asuming your PC Case/box is compatable with ATX motherboards you should be fine.

if the cpu mothebroard ram and gpu are theo nly thigns that you need to buy. ithink $500 should be enough (though im from England so i cant be 100% sure on the prices in America)

Indeed

people who get bad performance when having Overlcoked cpu’s have this performance becouse even though the cpu may be stable in terms of BSOD’s ..it could still be causing computing errors due to insufficent voltage.

The best program to use when testing overclock stability is Prime95, which tells you if you getting computing errors. BUT you have to run it for a minimum of 12 hours, so your overclock must be ‘Heat stable’ under 100% load for long periods.

Once it passes that, you should be sorted.

@Squall Leonhart: Gunblades FTW ! :P

My rig is in sig ..GW2 on SSD.

LA loading time 18seconds. Not exactly fast but im ok with it.

Problem is aslong as a loading screen isnt unbarably slow, i never really notice them.. so i cant remember how fast it was before the patch :P

Im thinking it may be a networking problem between Anet servers and certain areas. Since like i posted, i get roughly 18second loading times for LA, which while not fast imo, is much better than what you all are stating.

my location is southeast England. I sugest every here who has slow loading times 30second+ should state there location aswell.

Kjeldoran

You need to read up about i3,i5,and i7 processors when comapred to old C2D or C2E (core 2 Duo/Extreme)

The architecture upgrades mean that newer CPU’s can run faster at lower clock speeds. You REALLY need to stop kidding yourself into beleveing your computer if fine. Its not fine for GW 2, infact your persistance in saying that your cpu should be fine for GW2 is leading me to beleve your just trolling.

You’ve been told by everyone here. So ether take the advice ..or leave.

That processor upgrade will do fine. As others have stated, dont go AMD atm.

As for PSU, 600/650 minimum if your overclocking your CPU only and have a single Graphics card.
If your going SLI and NOT overclocking your cpu, then 750w should be enough.
If your OC’ing your CPU AND going SLI then you should play it safe and get a 800w or above.

My cpu alone OC’ed to 4.6ghz and on 100% stress test load can spike now and then close to 300w, so dont underestimate the power draw of OC’ing. (granted mine is 6core SB-E, IB uses less power)

Remember with a PSU you always want more than you need not only for future headroom, but also so the PSU is not constantly runing at or close to max all the time.

Lions Arch takes me roughly 18 seconds to load uisng rig in my sig (GW2 on SSD)

@OP

Your computer IS the problem.

Your CPU is old architecture and slow speed.

To be safe you need a i5 3ghz+ to get acceptable fps at all times regardless of settings.

Your gpu usage is not maxing out, this means its being hold back by your CPU.
Even though your CPU is on 60% that does NOT mean it isnt maxing out… what it means is, it is not capable of processing the information fast enough.

Think of a river filled wiht water ..the water is very fluid and runs through nice and fast. Your cpu is like a river of the same size and dimensions but filled with syrup which flows slower. Both rivers have high banks and have room to hold more contents but the one with water can flow faster. (this is the best way i can describe it)

Does your computer beat minimum requirments ? YES ..but as stated by others, this just means you computer can run the game. It doesnt mean it will run it well.

Low minimum graphics settings have no relivance on your performance when your CPU is whats slowing down your game.

Aye depending on network traffic ..time of day (number of ppl in lions arch), and computer speed, you should be getting between 10 and 20 second load times.
nearer 10 seconds during quiet times, nearer 20 during busy times.

Ok for me after turning my computer on 1st time 2day, reading through forums, then seeing this.. i turned on guildwars and logged into my character in Lions arch.. took about 17 seconds to loadup.
So it isnt somthing on Anets side.

3 things i think can be you problem.
1) Slow CPU
2) Slow HDD
3) Slow Internet connection.

If you have a CPU that runs under 3ghz, try OC;ing it.
If you have a SSD, move GW 2 to your SSD.. it helps.
If your Internet is slow ..well you cant really do much but upgrade if its available to you.