Will a new GPU help me, or is it time for new Mobo/CPU?

While in a lot of cases I find myself running happily at 60FPS in most zones, during events and when there's a lot on the screen I find myself dropping low. Not unplayable slideshow low, but low enough that I find myself thinking "god, this would look so much better at 60"...

I currently have a i7 4970K, which is the best CPU my motherboard will take.16GB RAMAMD Radeon R9 200 series graphics card

The game's installed on a Samsung SSD, if that provides any useful information.

I know that typically MMOs are more CPU-heavy, but while running NZXT CAM I'm noticing that my GPU is hitting 100% more often than my CPU. So while both are about the same age, I'm leaning towards a GPU upgrade.

Is it possible to get 60FPS in decent settings (around medium/high) during world events like Tequatl, Triple Trouble, Shatterer etc without me overhauling my system in a major fashion?

What kind of motherboard do you have?

@"Ghos.1326" said:What kind of motherboard do you have?

Z97X Gaming 3

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-3-rev-10#support-cpu

Might not be a 3, might be a later one. But it's a Z97X.

and exactly what gpu do you have?

@Ghos.1326 said:and exactly what gpu do you have?

They don't make the R9 200 series easy to identify, do they? Been a few years since I bought it, but I think I got it correctly ID'd as an MSI R9 290X. 4GB DDR5 memory.

Try turning down your post processing setting, and see if that helps any. if i'm not mistaken, it really only effects things like lighting and wind (maybe?) effects.

If that doesn't work, then get a second gpu and pair them together. That should fix everything.

I've had a GTX 970 with an i7 CPU for a long time, probably will upgrade soon.

The best I can give you at the moment are the settings I use in GW2. Keep in mind these settings are made for gameplay purposes, not looks.

General options

• Collision sensitivity: Lowest
• Field of view: Default

Graphics options

• Animation: Low
• Anti-Aliasing: SMAA Low
• Environment: Low
• LOD Distance: Low
• Reflections: None
• Textures: Low
• Render Sampling: Native
• Shadows: None
• Shaders: Low
• Post-Processing: None
• Character Model Limit: Lowest
• Character Model Quality: Medium
• Ambient Occlusion: Disabled
• Best Texture Filtering: Disabled
• Depth Blur: Disabled
• Effect LOD: Enabled
• High-Res Character Textures: Disabled
• Light Adaptation: Enabled
• Vertical Sync: Disabled
• Motion Blur Power: Lowest

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:AMD Radeon R9 200 series graphics card

Yes, need to get a modern GPU, unless you turn every GPU based graphics setting to the lowestPoF sent my GTX 780 to the recycling bin, which was doing perfectly fine before ~65% usage

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:The game's installed on a Samsung SSD, if that provides any useful information.Just helps with load time when loading into maps

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:Is it possible to get 60FPS in decent settings (around medium/high) during world events like Tequatl, Triple Trouble, Shatterer etc without me overhauling my system in a major fashion?

Nope, unless there's barely anyone around you, and the boss doesnt have any CPU intensive abilities (i.e. Frozen Maw's blizzard storm)even my 8700K and 1080 Ti with player model limit set to the lowest, on a populated Teq map i get ~35fpswith MMOs, during massive battles, just be glad it can hit the playable 30 fps

The i7-4790K is still a beast CPU and it would be a waste to buy something newer just for GW2, also the R9 200 are re-releases of the 79xx series and while these are old they're still adequate for GW2 provided you're not running everything at max details.

As for Large events, I don't think there are many systems that can handle those at 60 fps, most of the graphics settings won't matter much but make sure to set Character Model Limit to lowest and Quality to Low. It won't give you 60fps but should keep you in the 40's fairly well.

@Hoodie.1045 said:I've had a GTX 970 with an i7 CPU for a long time, probably will upgrade soon.

The best I can give you at the moment are the settings I use in GW2. Keep in mind these settings are made for gameplay purposes, not looks.

General options

• Collision sensitivity: Lowest
• Field of view: Default

Graphics options

• Animation: Low
• Anti-Aliasing: SMAA Low
• Environment: Low
• LOD Distance: Low
• Reflections: None
• Textures: Low
• Render Sampling: Native
• Shadows: None
• Shaders: Low
• Post-Processing: None
• Character Model Limit: Lowest
• Character Model Quality: Medium
• Ambient Occlusion: Disabled
• Best Texture Filtering: Disabled
• Depth Blur: Disabled
• Effect LOD: Enabled
• High-Res Character Textures: Disabled
• Light Adaptation: Enabled
• Vertical Sync: Disabled
• Motion Blur Power: Lowest

Really? What's that for 120 FPS? Those are the settings i used on my old 2008 PC...I have the same CPU as OP and same Graphics as you and i run everything pretty much maxed (except other player models and quality, which are in the medium zones) and have 60fps capped, dropping to 40-30 in boss fights and such... Which honestly, you'll hit that point every time because that's GW2.

Really? What's that for 120 FPS? Those are the settings i used on my old 2008 PC...I have the same CPU as OP and same Graphics as you and i run everything pretty much maxed (except other player models and quality, which are in the medium zones) > and have 60fps capped, dropping to 40-30 in boss fights and such... Which honestly, you'll hit that point every time because that's GW2.

The settings I provided for the OP and others are meant for high FPS experience. I've been using these settings on my PC for years and I've never had any FPS issues. Even in boss fights there are very few FPS drops.

actually, the only settings making any difference for me are antialising. model count, high quality model count.

And the second and third are definetly CPU bound.