18 replies to this topic

[Kirk]

Hi,

I'm wanting to upgrade my CPU as I sometimes get 15fps or less in WvW when there are dozens of people in the screen at once which of course will affect my experience.

So I was hoping I could get some help picking a new CPU, now I have an AMD board and my current CPU is:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4Ghz

It has been generally a good CPU, until guild wars 2 my performance has been amazing and I've never had frame rate issues on any new games.

I've got a CPU in mind and that's this one:

AMD FX-Series FX-4170 4.2Ghz Quad-Core

Now I've been looking into Octa-core processors, of course I'd like to upgrade as much as possible if it's not going to cost me too much more, would an Octa-core even be beneficial at all? I'm thinking not but I may be wrong as I don't have too much knowledge with components.

Anyway, help will be appreciated!


Edit:

Socket type for my motherboard is AM3+

I'll add more info as I may also need to upgrade my PSU but I'm not sure.

GPU: - XFX HD 6950 DD 2GB DDR5
PSU: - Be Quiet 530W Pure Power
RAM: - G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24)

Edited by Kirk, 09 November 2012 - 06:07 PM.

[Mireles]

What kind of socket is on your motherboard AM3 or AM3+?

[Kirk]

Mireles, on 09 November 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

What kind of socket is on your motherboard AM3 or AM3+?

Should have mentioned that, hah. It's AM3+.

[Mireles]

What makes this game so CPU heavy is the multiple physics calculations running at once... you defiantly have alot to gain by upgrading the amount of cores in your system more than you would have to gain simply by increasing the speed, and you can always overclock it, you can't however add more cores to a processor.

I have a AMDs 6 core processor running at 3.5Ghz and I never drop below 30fps in supersample.... unless its opening day for Halloween in LA.

Just my two cents.

Edited by Mireles, 09 November 2012 - 06:16 PM.

[Zerk2012]

Mireles, on 09 November 2012 - 06:14 PM, said:

What makes this game so CPU heavy is the multiple physics calculations running at once... you defiantly have alot to gain by upgrading the amount of cores in your system more than you would have to gain simply by increasing the speed, and you can always overclock it, you can't however add more cores to a processor.

I have a AMDs 6 core processor running at 3.5Ghz and I never drop below 30fps in supersample.... unless its opening day for Halloween in LA.

Just my two cents.

He has nothing to gain by adding more cores GW2 uses 2/ 2.5 cores and he already has 4 cores. The CPU he has is better than the FX series his best option is to overclock his CPU or go Intel.

[Life_Infusion]

Grab a Piledriver. FX 8320/FX 6300 ?

Your other option is to swap to a dead socket 1155 and drop $150+ on a i5 and another 50+ on motherboard.

Edited by Life_Infusion, 10 November 2012 - 04:15 AM.

[Kirk]

Zerk2012, on 10 November 2012 - 01:35 AM, said:

He has nothing to gain by adding more cores GW2 uses 2/ 2.5 cores and he already has 4 cores. The CPU he has is better than the FX series his best option is to overclock his CPU or go Intel.

I would overclock however my current CPU enjoys heat so I'm a little worried, it's at 40c idle and max load is like 70c

Life_Infusion, on 10 November 2012 - 04:13 AM, said:

Grab a Piledriver. FX 8320/FX 6300 ?

Your other option is to swap to a dead socket 1155 and drop $150+ on a i5 and another 50+ on motherboard.

I just bought this motherboard!

I think I'll persevere or risk overclocking.

Cheers guys.

Edited by Kirk, 10 November 2012 - 09:04 AM.

[Baldur The Bold]

The massive problem with WvW is that is overdependent on cpu usage. Besides a massive update from Anet(of which there have been 0 regarding performance) I would hold your horses.
In otherwords, dont spend any money....$0. until they fix their engine.

You could have a 4k pc and still be disappointed by this games' optimization.

[Zerk2012]

Kirk, on 10 November 2012 - 09:04 AM, said:

I would overclock however my current CPU enjoys heat so I'm a little worried, it's at 40c idle and max load is like 70c



I just bought this motherboard!

I think I'll persevere or risk overclocking.

Cheers guys.

Add a CPU cooler, it's up to you to make sure it will fit in the case and clear the ram, since you did not list what PC case you have and motherboard. It should overclock to 3.8 fairly easy (just changing the multiplier).  DO NOT try this unless you upgrade the CPU cooler. Most motherboards have overclocking utilities that are good enough to do a fairly good overclock.
http://www.overclock...rclocking-guide
http://www.overclock...lack-edition/90
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835103099
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835100007

Edited by Zerk2012, 10 November 2012 - 02:31 PM.

[Alex Dimitri]

If i say that 550$ machine and 2.5k $ one act almost the same in GW2, i wouldn`t be too far from truth.
While this is cool for people with "cheaper tickets" it`s very annoying for those who unleashed serious cash for their PC`s !
I can tell you freely now that Anet will not "fix" this issue, simply if you use common logic, most of the people have crapy PC`s and game company will always aim to please majority of people !!!
After all anyone who gave 2k + $ or Euros for a PC deserves some kind of bad karma for it. Hardware industry barely have any useful advances on their field but manages to raise prices on their products by hefty 20-30% every year !?!

[typographie]

Mireles, on 09 November 2012 - 06:14 PM, said:

What makes this game so CPU heavy is the multiple physics calculations running at once... you defiantly have alot to gain by upgrading the amount of cores in your system more than you would have to gain simply by increasing the speed, and you can always overclock it, you can't however add more cores to a processor.

I don't think this game has a physics simulation, so to speak—at least I can't think of anything that actually seems to use dynamic, calculated physics.. i.e. no ragdolls, things don't really bounce around, etc. What hurts performance is the sheer number of players that may be around at a given time, and the various things they may be doing.

I'm not so sure there's much to gain from going from a PII X4 965 to any of the FX-series chips. The Phenom II's were often beating the Bulldozer chips in most games, and Piledriver seems only incrementally better in most trustworthy benchmarks I've seen. At least, I'm not sure the performance difference justifies the price of the upgrade, anyway.

They say LGA 1155 is a dead socket, but here I am still happily using LGA 1156, waiting for an upgrade that is worth the money. Point is, if an i5-3570K is good enough to last you several years, does it matter if its a "dead" socket?

Edited by typographie, 10 November 2012 - 04:15 PM.

[Essence Snow]

typographie, on 10 November 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

They say LGA 1155 is a dead socket, but here I am still happily using LGA 1156, waiting for an upgrade that is worth the money. Point is, if an i5-3570K is good enough to last you several years, does it matter if its a "dead" socket?

This^^

Anything that'll last a few years in terms of comp tech is just fine. By the time one component needs replacing...chances are just due to the nature of tech..you'll want to replace everything.

[Quaker]

I think that, at this point in the evolution of computer parts, the concern about a 'dead' socket is meaningless. If you have a relatively high-end CPU, such as an i5-2500/3570, etc, you can pretty well figure that any time you do a significant upgrade to your CPU, it's going to involve a motherboard, and possibly RAM, as well.
The only time this might not be a factor would be if you have a very low end CPU on a new socket - such as upgrading a low end, socket 1155, Pentium to an i5 or i7.

@OP - Going from a Phenom 965 to an FX-4170 would increase performance, but I'm not sure it would be enough of a increase. You might only go from 15 fps in WvW to 18 fps. You might consider going to the new FX-8350, but I don't yet know how that compares to the 4170.

[Vayra86]

It isn't worth it.

Consider giving Anet time to optimize their code instead of throwing out your money for this minimal upgrade.

[Kirk]

Zerk2012, on 10 November 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:

Add a CPU cooler, it's up to you to make sure it will fit in the case and clear the ram, since you did not list what PC case you have and motherboard. It should overclock to 3.8 fairly easy (just changing the multiplier).  DO NOT try this unless you upgrade the CPU cooler. Most motherboards have overclocking utilities that are good enough to do a fairly good overclock.

I live in the UK so I can't use newegg but i've never used a stock cooler. I bought this one a while back but it made no difference in temps and I used the paste you suggested too.

I have 4 fans, 2 intake (Front + Side) 2 exhaust (top + back) but I seem to get no air flow even though all my cables are tucked behind the board so there's room for air flow but my fans don't seem to do anything, I think they're only 1000rpm which is probably why.

My idle temps are 40c and I can sometimes although rarely hit 70c under load, it's usually around 67c, I would overclock rather than upgrading if I could get my temps down but I've had no luck.

Thanks for the replies guys, I think I'm going to give upgrading a miss and attempt to lower my temps and hopefully overclock it so if anyone could offer some advice on lowering temps I would be even more grateful.

Edit:

I'm gonna RMA my fans as they're not working correctly so I took 3 of them out as the front one came with the case, I took them out and temps DROPPED by 10c...

Edited by Kirk, 14 November 2012 - 03:44 PM.

[Zerk2012]

Kirk, on 14 November 2012 - 01:30 PM, said:

I live in the UK so I can't use newegg but i've never used a stock cooler. I bought this one a while back but it made no difference in temps and I used the paste you suggested too.

I have 4 fans, 2 intake (Front + Side) 2 exhaust (top + back) but I seem to get no air flow even though all my cables are tucked behind the board so there's room for air flow but my fans don't seem to do anything, I think they're only 1000rpm which is probably why.

My idle temps are 40c and I can sometimes although rarely hit 70c under load, it's usually around 67c, I would overclock rather than upgrading if I could get my temps down but I've had no luck.

Thanks for the replies guys, I think I'm going to give upgrading a miss and attempt to lower my temps and hopefully overclock it so if anyone could offer some advice on lowering temps I would be even more grateful.

Edit:

I'm gonna RMA my fans as they're not working correctly so I took 3 of them out as the front one came with the case, I took them out and temps DROPPED by 10c...

http://www.scan.co.u...155-1156-1366-a
It's 22mm taller than what you have so make sure it will fit.
Good case fans with decent airflow 69CFM comes with 3 pin connector and a 4 pin molex adapter. Only comes in red and blue LED's
http://www.scan.co.u...-quiet-case-fan
I would mount one in the front one in the back mount your front case fan in the top, and i'm not a big fan of using the side mounted fans.

[Quaker]

Kirk, on 14 November 2012 - 01:30 PM, said:

I'm gonna RMA my fans as they're not working correctly so I took 3 of them out as the front one came with the case, I took them out and temps DROPPED by 10c...

This sounds like a problem with the installer rather than the fans. The only way I can see the temps dropping is if the fans were installed incorrectly, such as all of them blowing into the case, or all blowing out, etc.

Generally speaking you want the fans in the front, side, or bottom, blowing IN, and the fans in the rear and top blowing OUT. Also, you want the CPU fan(s) to be either blowing down on the cooler like the stock fan, or blowing toward the rear or top of the case.

Note - there are arrows embossed into the frames of most fans to indicate the direction of air flow and fan rotation.

Edited by Quaker, 15 November 2012 - 07:06 PM.

[Kirk]

Quaker, on 15 November 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

This sounds like a problem with the installer rather than the fans. The only way I can see the temps dropping is if the fans were installed incorrectly, such as all of them blowing into the case, or all blowing out, etc.

Generally speaking you want the fans in the front, side, or bottom, blowing IN, and the fans in the rear and top blowing OUT. Also, you want the CPU fan(s) to be either blowing down on the cooler like the stock fan, or blowing toward the rear or top of the case.

Note - there are arrows embossed into the frames of most fans to indicate the direction of air flow and fan rotation.

I reinstalled them as side, back and front intake (Back intake was suggested by the RMA guy, I didn't really think it was a good idea.) and top exhaust, things seem a bit more stable temp wise but I haven't really dont extensive testing.

These fans are just bad fans, the 140mm runs at 700rpm max and the 120mm runs at 1000rpm max I mean what good is that? Apparently they're the intended speeds too.

Zerk2012, on 14 November 2012 - 11:47 PM, said:

http://www.scan.co.u...-quiet-case-fan
I would mount one in the front one in the back mount your front case fan in the top, and i'm not a big fan of using the side mounted fans.

I'll probably end up going with those fans, they're plenty faster than my current ones and they'll match my front fan.

Cheers guys.

[Quaker]

Kirk, on 16 November 2012 - 08:16 AM, said:

These fans are just bad fans, the 140mm runs at 700rpm max and the 120mm runs at 1000rpm max I mean what good is that? Apparently they're the intended speeds too.

They're no 'bad' because they run at low RPM. They run at lower rpm so as to reduce noise. But, if you want your PC to sound like a jet engine, go for faster fans.
Generally, to reduce noise you use more, larger, slower fans rather than fewer, smaller, faster ones.

Depending upon what sort of CPU cooler you have, and how it's fan is oriented, you could get all sorts of airflow problems by having a rear fan blow into the case. That cooler you linked probably blows towards the rear - it wouldn't help airflow to have the rear case fan trying to blow the hot CPU air back into the case.

Edited by Quaker, 18 November 2012 - 03:49 PM.