For GW2: FX-4*** @4.9Ghz -> i5 3570k OR a 2nd HD 7950

[Tsuface]

Hello dear Tom's Hardware people/readers,

I read these forums quite a lot, but this time I would like to ask a question myself.

I am looking to improve guild wars 2 performance.
I'm a bit off a sucker for AA and super-sampling by the way.

Currently I run GW2 on lets say 20 - 60 FPS (Vsync), mostly 40+ FPS on max settings (also CCC AA settings), but I want my experience to be around 60 FPS most of the time and not so low dips as I'm currently experiencing.
I play @ 1080p resolution (ideal resolution of my screen) and that is fine for me.

What should net me the most results? (not overal, but for this game specifically)

1 - Change my AMD FX-4*** @ 4.9Ghz CPU with an Intel i5 3570K (+ mobo ofc).
2 - Buy a 2nd Radeon HD 7950 (I have an Asrock 970 Extreme3).

Either upgrade will most likely cost me around 330 Euro.

Both is not really an option, dire times and all.

Many thanks in advance for your feedback!

Regards,

Roy

 

[XXStavrosXX]

Judging from this article,

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,review-32511-6.html

your 7950 must give more than 40 min FPS at 1080 p with the best appearance detail preset, so it seems that the problem lies in your CPU.

If you haven't made up you mind about the mobo I suggest this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128546&Tpk=Z77X-D3H

EDIT: I don't state it clearly but I obviously mean that you CPU needs replacing.

 

[AntiZig]

Hello,
I must say that you'll be better off upgrading your CPU.

The card that you have there has plenty of juice to run the game at 1080p, the reason it dips so much is because game is heavily CPU bottlenecked (by game engine/code, not by your hardware). Which is why you experience dips in fps even though you have such a wonderful GPU.

 

[realibrad]

The 7950 is way more than enough to run the game at 60fps. The cpu is the reason you are having lows under 60. Get the cpu, and oc it to 4-4.5ghz, and you will be at a constant 60fps.

Like Anti said, the game is harder on the cpu when a ton of people are around, and there are always a lot of people.

 

[Tsuface]

Best answer selected by Tsuface.

 

[Tsuface]

Best answer for first helpful answer, thanks all.

I went out and bought the IB i5 with an AsRock Z77 Extreme4.
Boy do these run hot!
I can easily get a stable OC @ 4.6Ghz, but it just runs too hot.
Heard about the thermal paste being used etc, but not going to 'pop the hood'. ;p
Doing perfectly fine @ 4.4Ghz, no (manual) voltage OC, nice temps, good performance.
My 7950 @ 1075 / 1433Mhz, just below what's stable in 3dMark11, as before.

It's running great guys, the performance increase in GW2 is quite significant.
I'm running up to 100fps (checked real quick with Vsync off).
Of course I still have a couple of fps dips here and there, but that looks to be mostly because of loading stuff, as they're really short.
Perhaps I can minimize that a little with an extra SSD and put them in striping config.