Guild Wars 2

Tine, if you could please edit your list accordingly with the additional items provided. I think this will help the devs see everything in one location.

I also recommend overclocking the q6600 or any Core 2 processor but take the necessary precautions to do it right:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/259899-11-core-overclocking-guide

http://dulfy.net/2012/07/21/gw2-armor-previews/

That is correct Esya. The guildwars2roleplayers.com community chose Tarnished Coast prior to release. There are many RP/PvE guilds.

It may have been a coincidence but a couple days ago I unchecked the ‘High-Res Character Textures’ box and since then I’ve had much fewer invisibility issues. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a major issue but better! The two nights prior to that was unbearable, I often didn’t see my own teammates even in quieter wvw situations.

See if it helps you…

This serves two purposes: A money sink for players & avoids ridiculously outfitted keeps/towers over time.

But if they did take this out it would be pretty funny to see… imagine the amount of accumulated siege. lol

Arrow carts are cheap and only 30 supply. It just means the defense needs to be ready to react/build on the fly. Adds to the challenge of it all.

I also experienced extreme anomalies after last night’s patch. For the first time I was not seeing my own team. Rarely saw an enemy player. This initially occurred in the EB western keep (DB) as all outer and inner gates along with 1 wall were down for an hour or so. All 3 servers were going at it All I could do was look at my mini map and AE. It was a massive, ghost-town zergfest!

But even later I went to more remote areas and still did not see teammates (at all) and again rarely the enemies. If I clicked on the screen occasionally I would target something that was invisible.

I’m really hoping that goes back to normal before tonight. I’ve experienced Culling on a large scale with enemy forces, but this was much much worse since the patch.

Agreed with OP… in WvW you’re almost always on the move, little time for looking for tiny little bags. This needs an adjustment.

The most common and detrimental scenario is when one Zerg jumps in on another Zerg. It becomes an invisible battle where typically the surprise attack is successful since they have a better idea of the destination and situation, where to AoE, etc.

Culling still needs a role in this game in order to alleviate performance issues. We want more people playing the game which means being able to support a variety of client computers…

The GW2 team needs to come up a clever solution, such that gives added flexibility in the graphics options menu. Ideally, in a way that does not give unfair advantages.

Culling level: Off, Minimum, Medium, Maximum. This defines the level (of culling), how many character models to load per interval and an adjustment to the maximum character models at any given time and range. Off equates to no culling at all and can be extremely system intensive. Maximum culling is for low end machines.

Type of culling: Invisible, Name Tags Only, Pacman Models, Low Detail, Medium Detail. This allows the user to customize the culling so that the battles can still be meaningful in extreme situations.

Last night i noticed the ram I was using was hitting a tower door for roughly 6k every 5 seconds iirc. Pretty sure the tower door was not upgraded since the tower ownership was back and forth. That comes to roughly 72k per minute. With two rams and about 20 players the wall was breached in approximately 4 minutes.

Obviously, with so many unknowns it is difficult to get a solid estimate but based on that info I’d estimate a basic Tower door has:

72k x 2rams x 4minutes x 1.3 (roughly the ram/player dmg adjustment) = 750k hitpoints

Sounds good… Include Win7 64bit OS in your plan… 32bit does not support 4GB. Also, recommend a cpu cooler, it’s not expensive and will make overclocking a breeze.

SGTxKracckher.9526:

What do you think has the biggest impact im gonna piece it together with each paycheck
Bein most important first
I will get the cpu mobo and ram all at once and prolly the cooler

The GTX 260 is about on par with your CPU, so… I’d recommend piecing it all together into one new system.

New CPU requires new Motherboard. New Motherboard requires new DDR3 memory. New GPU requires new Power supply (what model is your current PSU?). So you can kinda see how everything ties together.

Things like harddrive and optical drive can be maintained, perhaps your computer case if it has reasonable airflow and space.

AMD CPU, GTX260 and 32bit OS has to go…

i5-2500k (overclock me!)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Radeon 7870 or better
8+gb ddr3 ram
Win7 64bit
600+w bronze certified or better psu
Compatible motherboard

Good luck Defiance! I personally enjoyed playing with you guys on TC and did consider joining the team. In my experience you embraced the server, even dabbled with some light RP, and overall were mature and friendly.

One request, please continue to stay on SoS; coming and going with mass recruiting can be very disruptive to any WvW community. TC will be fine but obviously it is not ideal for any server.

Night capping: It is a part of the game, and we accept it. However, one does not have to stretch far to see that it is an unfair advantage unless you are matched with two other oceanic servers. I suppose that is the nature of WvW, where there are numbers there is strength. The best solution would be for GW2 to open several oceanic servers… a possibility.

The other interesting thing to note with joining an oceanic heavy server is that if you are evenly matched with a Top 5 non-oceanic server you will get severely railed during American evenings. The scoreboard would suggest it is a close match however. That is why I’m sticking here, well that and my wife is heavy into RP…

Best of luck and we look forward to the added competition!

The i5 2500k was born to overclock. Kinda like obtaining an uber weapon but only using it for cooking. Google an overclock guide for that chip.

Agree with comment to buy a $25 cpu air cooler and overclock to at least 3.0ghz. A common overclock for others with the q6600. You might consider overclocking the GPU with AMD’s control center. Always monitor temperatures and read up what is safe.

A similar article gives the same information but they excluded the mention “dual core” which at first was confusing since the AMD Bulldozer processors span from 2 to 8 cores.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594

Here is an interesting Windows 7 hotfix from Microsoft which directly addresses known core parking issues with certain AMD processors.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2646060/EN-US

@support.microsoft.com

Currently, the CPU Power Policies that are used by Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are not optimized for the dual core AMD Bulldozer module architecture. This architecture is found on AMD FX series, AMD Opteron 4200 Series, and AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors. This can result in decreased system performance with multithreaded workloads in lightly-threaded environments.

When this update is installed, Bulldozer modules will be less likely to achieve the C6 power state. This potentially results in increased power consumption in more lightly-threaded environments.

Well it may depend on what city and what resolution on your laptop. I’m not talking about other games, but for GW2 if you want an overall playable experience in all gameplay situations (busy events or wvw sieges) you need at least a GTX 550/650 Ti or an HD 6770/7750. This is based on all of the experiences I’ve encountered.

But that is true I would expect better performance, rarely on the order of 53% unless you’re talking about 6 fps vs 4 fps.

Try searching these forums and other gw2 forums for 6670 and make note of other users specific experiences.

GT 640 is low end gaming graphics card comparable to the Radeon HD 6670.

Assuming your CPU or RAM is not a bottleneck I’d expect 20-35 fps in light gameplay, 5-20 fps in cities and 0-15 fps in large events or wvw battles. Those numbers with Medium/Low settings and 900p resolution.

Benchmarks using a top end CPU: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-640-review,3214.html

A common problem on these forums is that when someone mentions XX fps it means nothing in and of itself. They could be staring at a wall in a quiet area, virtually any gaming system will give you 30+ fps somewhere. Conversely, it could be during a wvw siege with 60+ players.

Everyone should mention what situation the fps is recorded at. A quiet PvE fps and a 30+ player event fps or perhaps a Lions Arch at prime-time.

Also, mention the graphics settings including resolution. Otherwise, it will be most likely be misinterpreted or uninformative.

In all honesty, some of the reactions to 2200 was a bit rude. I will admit though that the price is surprising.

Back to the original question, a 7350 is not really a gaming GPU. It may run the game and perhaps well for casual gaming in quiet areas but once you go to a really busy area … hello slideshow.

If you can tell us your Power Supply model we should be able to recommend a nice upgrade anywhere from $100 to $500.

Thanks for the tips! I’m tempted to check it out even though I’m content overall, sieges do dip to 18fps at times… however my system is starting to be a bit dated.

When you say 58 fps in wvw, are you talking during sieges or just an overall average?

It will be interesting to see if this helps the other users with monster systems but running poorly!

I don’t mind the 4 digits in the forums, it is no different from websites that require a unique username.

However, i fully agree that the same account name should not be publicized in game.

I do like the fact that guild members join on an account basis not each individual character. This reduces a lot of confusion of who is who and much easier transitioning to and from guilds.

Perhaps allow a separate account based username in-game… something along those lines.

Correct, a workmate of mine plays GW2 is quite pleased with his 7870, he has a first gen i7. If you wanted to go one notch better go with the GTX 670. As for the i5-2500k and a decent air cooler you can easily go from 3.3GHz to well over 4GHz while maintaining safe temperatures. Look up a couple guides on Google if you’re interested.

This is what I would pick that is a combination of recommended parts and decent deals.

But uhhhh…. it is @ almost 10000 pounds (i.e. $16000). In the USA I would expect to pay about $1000 for that system (600 pounds).

Your new system consists of:
Components:
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30 GHz (4 Cores – 4 Threads) [Sandy Bridge] [Multiplier Unlocked]
CPU Coolers: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-M [Ivy Bridge]
Memory: Kingston DDR3 – 1600 MHz – 8GB (2 × 4GB) HyperX (gray series)
Graphics: ASUS HD7870-DC2-2GD5
Hard drive 1: OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120GB
Hard 2: Seagate Barracuda – 1TB
Optical Drive 1: Samsung SH-222BB DVD ± RW Black
Housing: Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Midi Tower
Power supply: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2
Software packages:
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 64bit (Danish) OEM

Also, a Radeon HD 7950 is right around $300 at this time – that is a great card.

i5 2500k is a great choice, plus very overclock-able. i7 would be faster at stock settings but if you choose to overclock then the i5 will give nearly the same results for $100 less.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=57962&vpn=BX80623I52500K&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1375
CPU Cooler: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002G1YPH0/?tag=pcpapi-20

GPU – Best bang for your buck for your price range is a Radeon 7870. A GTX 660 Ti is also a worthy recommendation.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007MUKAMO/?tag=pcpapi-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008Y65MUA/?tag=pcpapi-20

Drop Shadows to none in WvW, that will give your CPU some breathing room.

Confirm Catalyst control center settings have AA/AF set to application controlled.

Some have recommended running in Windowed Fullscreen mode for best performance.

You might play with vsync, in some scenarios it will drop my FPS from 45 to 30 but in others it actually raise it.

In Catalyst Control Center with my 5870 I tested maxing out the settings in Overdrive and run the several minute test, also in game I monitored the GPU temperature which stayed comfortably low (under 60c). I believe it’s 900/1300mhz is the max in the 5870.

The 965 does not overclock well, but that would be the primary bottleneck when there are many players on the screen.

Alrighty, good luck Feel free to post what you’re thinking of grabbing.

For starters in Catalyst control center set everything to defaults.

Well if you’re stuck with what you got…

I’m assuming you dropped all eye candy to low? Your resolution to low? Shadows off… Shaders low. NVidia options on lowest or application controlled. Confirm background programs on your desktop are removed (Start menu > Run… > Enter “msconfig” to disable extra junk that runs).

Carefully research overclocking CPU/GPU. For an older system it’s always good to clear dust which can make cards overheat and throttle to slower speeds. Oh, and you don’t need 1kw PSU unless your going for Tri-SLI or something crazy

For example you can see the power supply requirements for the 7870 here:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/7000/7870/pages/radeon-7870.aspx#2

A poor power supply will cause you headaches, system failures, under performing hardware, trust me. Corsair is good excluding their new economy CX models.

Where are you planning to buy your parts/system?

Sandy bridge is the generation of processors, Intel in this case. 3570 is the model number. K designates unlocked overclocking capability. MHz is important but not useful when comparing different CPU models.

If you want to overclock I5 2500K I recommend. For GPU the Radeon HD 7870 is a great deal as well for it’s performance. GTX 670 is more powerful but way more expensive. Memory is cheap, go with at least 6GB, recommend 8GB ddr3. Lastly, don’t go cheap on the power supply or motherboard.

Your bottleneck would be in the following order:

Video Card and CPU (a tie)
32bit OS (32bit has issues in GW2)
Memory (at least XP is low memory)

What is your budget? What model power supply do you have? Are you open to swapping parts/building your own?

Yep, it’s time for a completely new system. Recommend Intel i5, 8GB RAM, HD 7850/7870 GPU with a bronze or better 600w power supply…

Edit: oh and windows 7 64bit of course.

3dmark score is a bit low for that rig. But I’ve never seen GW2 fps degrade with time like that.

It you run the game with the -perf you can monitor memory usage and fps. You might try -nosound setting to see if Audio is the cause.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments

VirtualBS.3165:

Get that AMD X4 FX-4100 overclocked to 4+GHz and you’ll notice a huge difference.

Agreed. Apparently, the FX-4100 is quite overclockable as per overclock.net. You may want to grab a cheap $20 CPU cooler to keep the chip temps down. Do a bit of reading and get it to 4+GHz and you should stay above 10fps in everything which is still playable.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1225268/amd-fx-4100-overclocking

Oh, and turn off shadows as they are CPU intensive.

FYI – For a smoother experience, you would probably want at least a GTX 560 or HD 7850 and a new Intel i5.

lol, i couldn’t resist. Good luck sir!

AMD X4 965 will definitely help. During WvW sieges you’ll likely see sub 10fps still due to the (AMD) CPU.

Regarding the RAM, just alt-tab to windows Task Manager and check whether you have memory available. I run on 4GB with at least 800MB free with Google Chrome and a couple extras running.

Option #1: Spend $90 for a better experience but still not 100% playable. Option #2: Spend $250 on a new i5/mobo combo. But then the 550Ti will be the bottleneck, you should stay above 10fps in sieges.

It is most likely your Internet Service Provider. I was averaging 5MB/s (40Mbs), took under an hour but I did do it before launch.

If you go to speedtest.net what does it say your download speed is at if you choose Austin, Texas location?

If you read a lot of these forums most folks agree that games do not generally peg the CPU to 100% when running full load.

Reize.2176, you have a great CPU/GPU, have you checked their temperatures during game play? It could even be the 850w PSU is faulty. How does the system benchmark using passmark for example? And how’s the memory looking during gameplay?

The GT 420 is at or just below minimum requirements. The processor is slightly better than minimum requirements. You may be able to craft or something…..

Every time I see laptop + gaming I cringe. I mean seriously, what is the point? Double the cost, half the value, no upgrade options. I struggle to come up with a good reason. Laptops have their place but not gaming……

Try also turning off Anisotropic Filtering (AF) – application controller. If that doesn’t help, go with all default options in nvidia settings.

ZaxanRazor.6235:

I’d agree with that, Swedemon, except for the CPU. Remove that AMD from there.

Agreed, on paper and using passmark benchmarks they look solid but I’ve heard a lot of complaints on these forums. I’ll edit above.

And for a “nicer” experience…

Minimums of 20+ fps, 900 or 1080p and some eye candy during extreme sieges:
- Windows 7/Vista 64bit OS (will support directx11)
- 4GB RAM (keep computer clean of background extras, use gamebooster or increase RAM)
- Quad core: Second generation Intel i5 or better, first generation i7
- Graphics card by generation: GTX 470, GTX 560, GTX 660, HD 5870, HD 6870, HD 7850

This is all based on benchmarks and people experiences…

They should provide Minimum Requirements specifically for major WvW sieges. If I were to suggest I’d say…

Minimums for extreme sieges, not really great but barely playable with an average of 10+ fps, below 1080p resolution and minimal eye candy:

- Windows 7/Vista 64bit OS (will support directx11)
- 4GB RAM (keep computer clean of background extras or use gamebooster)
- Quad core: i5 or better Intel CPU (Core 2 quad core q9550)
- Graphics card by generation: GTX 280, GTX 460, GTX 550Ti, GTX 650Ti, HD 4870, HD 5770, HD 6770, HD 7750

I’m not sure whether an i3 dual core with hyper threading would do it. Similarly, AMD’s best quad cores are questionable based on user experiences.

Your graphics card is not listed, but as you can see your RAM/CPU/OS are well below what I would call minimum requirements. If you want help choosing upgrades let us know your budget/goal.

Izziee.8392:

Both windows 7.

and it is an i5 quad core-2320.

Windows 7 64bit? If so, upgrade the RAM to at least 4GB total (it’s cheap). Upgrade the video card :/ If we knew your power supply we’d know what you can buy, but also depends on your budget. The HD Radeon 7770 is a good starting point.

But to answer your original question the reason the 6670 didn’t help much is because of the RAM and the fact that the 6670 is nothing special. You might try a lower resolution for kicks.

The CPU is decent, at least it’s hyper threaded. Of course a new i5 would be much better. I’d wage the 550ti is the primary limiting factor despite the lack of improvement from adjusting settings.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+550+Ti
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i3-2120+%40+3.30GHz