What GPU do you use?

[AquarIan Z.4351]

Hi there everyone!

I'm just looking for some recommendations for a new GPU. The current one I have is NVIDIA GeForce GT 710.

I am genuinely in love with the art style and graphics of this game, it's honestly what drew me in from the start. However, I play with the lowest possible graphics settings (the preset for best performance in-game) and I'm in love with how smooth everything is that way. What I want is to be able to play it that smoothly, but with the graphics up a bunch. 

I will be honest and say I'm not very familiar with computer specs or anything, I still barely know the difference between a GPU and a CPU LOL. I upgraded my RAM recently and I thought that'd fix my "issue", but I'm guessing it's the graphics card that needs a boost-- unless there's some other thing in this computer that I'm unaware of that I gotta upgrade in order to get my game to look how I want it to haha.
If you've got your graphics all the way up and your frames look amazing, what is it that you use? Thank you for all responses in advance 🙂

[TheQuickFox.3826]

The GT710 is extremely weak and not really suitable for games like Guild Wars 2. It is hard to recommend an upgrade without knowing your budget and PC specifications. You also need to know if your power supply (PSU) can give enough power for a more powerful graphics card.

 

A GeForce GTX 1650 or GTX 1660 (Ti) are very nice mid-range graphics card that will provide you with a huge improvement over your GT 710. Prices are from around € 300 to € 450. If you hardly know the difference between CPU and GPU the safest option is to let a computer shop do the upgrade for you. They can easily check if the graphics card will work with your power supply or if you also need a more powerful PSU.

 

And to answer the question in the title: I got a GeForce RTX 3070. Which is more powerful but has a way higher price point, especially now with the chip shortage and also needs more power than a 1650 and 1660.

Edited October 2, 2021 by TheQuickFox.3826

[Goettel.4389]

I'm on GTX 1070 an generally play around mid settings (dropping to low in big meta events).

Truth is that GW2 performance mainly leans on the CPU, not so much the GPU. I agree with @TheQuickFox.3826 that the GTX 1650/1660 are very nice, but even for that price you shouldn't expect miracles for GW2. The DX11 option has certainly made the framerate more stable (beta, so still buggy), but I haven't seen an actual increase.

GW2's (lack of) graphics performance has been a problem since launch, but don't let that ruin your play.

 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I use a GTX 1050.  Works great for me.  Most options on high; character model/limit and reflections on medium or low (for FPS). 

[Nash.2681]

Since I was forced to buy a new rig in January, I'm currently on a Geforce RTX 3070. Ofc totally overpowered for GW2, but especially with DX11 it runs so smooth at max. settings in WQHD, I dont want to miss it. Also I didnt play any other game yet the GPU couldnt handle

[Danikat.8537]

I've got an AMD Radeon RX 480 graphics card and an i5 CPU.

Both are several years old now (I think I got the graphics card about 4 years ago, and the CPU must be 6-7 years old) but I'm able to run the game with mid-high graphics settings and usually somewhere between 30-60 FPS. I keep antialiasing off but mainly because I prefer how it looks, limit reflections to terrain and sky and the character model limit to medium but otherwise everything is set to high.

I am planning to upgrade but I'm hoping to put it off until next year at least, partially waiting for the new graphics cards to be more widely available but also because I've decided I want a whole new machine (parts of this one are 12 years old and even the stuff which works isn't great - for example the PSU is fine but not very energy efficient) and I'd rather not have another big expense before Christmas.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Danikat.8537

[Dawdler.8521]

5 hours ago, AquarIan Z.4351 said:

but I'm guessing it's the graphics card that needs a boost

You guess correct. Go back 10 generations of Geforce graphics cards and they'll still be faster than GT710. Thats how bad it is.

Its never as simple as "just get a new" though. You need to have machine that support it, the motherboard and the PSU. If the machine is built for GT710 spec, then it wont handle... well, anything. You'd probably need a new PSU. And even the crappiest of "modern" cards (1050Ti/1650 or thereabouts) can be expensive nowadays. 

Fun fact - according to userbenchmark a 1050Ti is up to 1000% faster than GT710. An RTX3080 around 6000%. Yeah thats synthetics, but still, quite funny.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Dawdler.8521

[Tic Tac Toe.1482]

It sucks that graphics cards (and many other things) in general are expensive right now.  a 1050TI or 1650 are good mid-range options but they are several hundred.  We don't know the OP budget or power supply.

For what it's worth I run with a 2060 Super and Ryzen 3800, and it's smooth at all settings max with DX11, even if DX11 occasionally causes crashes.  Looking forward to fewer crashes as the bugs are fixed, but DX11 was the right way to go for the game.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Tic Tac Toe.1482

[Ashantara.8731]

All the hardware components need to be compatible with each other, so exchanging only one component in such an old rig won't do the trick (as mentioned above).

You usually start with the CPU and then select a mainboard that supports it. (You check the mainboard specifications to see what CPU socket it has, what RAM types it supports, etc.) Some newer graphics cards are not compatible with old boards or the old board is throttling the card, which means you wasted money on an expensive card whose full performance capability you won't be able to use if you don't have the proper mainboard.

The final thing you need to take into account is the Power Supply Unit (PSU) - there are websites where you can enter your hardware specs and they will calculate how much Watt your PSU will need minimum.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[AquarIan Z.4351]

On 10/2/2021 at 2:57 PM, TheQuickFox.3826 said:

The GT710 is extremely weak and not really suitable for games like Guild Wars 2. It is hard to recommend an upgrade without knowing your budget and PC specifications. You also need to know if your power supply (PSU) can give enough power for a more powerful graphics card.

 

A GeForce GTX 1650 or GTX 1660 (Ti) are very nice mid-range graphics card that will provide you with a huge improvement over your GT 710. Prices are from around € 300 to € 450. If you hardly know the difference between CPU and GPU the safest option is to let a computer shop do the upgrade for you. They can easily check if the graphics card will work with your power supply or if you also need a more powerful PSU.

 

And to answer the question in the title: I got a GeForce RTX 3070. Which is more powerful but has a way higher price point, especially now with the chip shortage and also needs more power than a 1650 and 1660.

Yeah I can tell it's a weak one haha. My friends gifted me with this prebuilt ibuypower PC this past June actually. How can I check what PSU I have? And assuming I'm looking at the right thing, my CPU is an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor 3.60 GHz. Are there any other specs I can give that would help you help me? Don't worry about budget, if I have to save up to get what I want then so be it. But if we're gonna put a price, then I'd prefer to use whatever comes best under $1000. 

[TheQuickFox.3826]

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a nice midrange CPU. Your GT 710 is really holding it back in gaming. When you upgrade your graphics card, you will get a great performance boost in Guild Wars 2 and other games.

 

To find the PSU type, open the case of your computer and look at the what is written on the PSU. Sometimes the exact specifications of the computer parts are also written on the invoice you got when buying the system. If you see the manufacturer and model of the PSU, you can search for this to get specifications.

[itspomf.9523]

Unfortunately @AquarIan Z.4351, I have to agree that you're using a very, very old and under-performing card.

 

Mind you, I'm going to be a contrary opinion here for you:

 

I'm playing on a GTX 1060 (6GB model) with everything save character model limits maxed out (those are set to Low) and the frame limiter set to 30 FPS (yes, I know, shudder at my casual ways), and I can hold there quite comfortably in anything but a truly massive fight using the DX11 Beta renderer, which you can find in the graphics options -- and all of that at a 1440p resolution.

 

And that in a very small ITX case with only two fans, where the GPU rarely runs its fan at more than a dull murmur while playing the game.

 

Mind you, the 1060 is not what most people call a "strong" card, and is honestly one of the last "mainstream" cards Nvidia produced (being below $300 at launch), but it still does just fine.  I actually used to run the game on High settings (and a 30 FPS limiter) on an old GTX 660 back in the day (which only had 2GB of VRAM), and it held its own fairly well.

 

However, that same GTX 660?  It's about 5x the performance of your current card while being a generation older.

 

TL;DR:  you don't need to fork over massive cash for anything to play this game.  Older cards are fine, but I highly recommend finding a more mainstream card (Nvidia's xx60 cards or AMD's x80 cards are a good start).  If you can find one at a decent price (and not above MSRP), an older card will do you just fine, like the GTX 1060 6GB I mentioned or an AMD RX 580.  They're not glamorous, they won't be astounding, but they'll be a huge leap forward for you.

 

P.S.:  If you're indeed using a motherboard that supports a Ryzen 5 3600 chip on a prebuilt system, you're 100% set and probably have adequate RAM (8 to 16GB is more than enough) and a sufficient power supply to meet demands.  500w is more than enough for your needs, and most non-OEM prebuilts use overkill power supplies already.

[wolfsblut.9435]

I play on an AMD RX480 8GB, I5-8600K 5,1 GHz.
1440p, All graphics settings ultra/high, Reflections none, Character Model Quality: lowest
Limited to 60 FPS

d9d12pxy / d11 results in an longtime average of 54.1
Hardly ever under 30 FPS

[Maikimaik.1974]

I have a 1070 GPU and a 11400F CPU but because I play in 4k I can't wait for GPU prices to drop. 

My game is running above 40 fps at max settings which I'm perfectly fine with, but other games tend to struggle a bit. 

[Randulf.7614]

Nvidia RTX 2060. Not perfect, but does the trick for what I need I guess, not that I play much at the moment on my pc

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

I use a GTX1660 from several years ago, with an i5-9600K, and I run on highest settings. I get rare occurrences of stutter, e.g., when just porting to Lions Arch and turn my character quickly. Otherwise, not really an issue when doing big metas or even WvW.

Sure, a top-end card might run like glass, but 98% glass works fine for me. :)

 

[aspirine.6852]

Gforce RTX 2070 Super. Still doing fine for me..

[Dawdler.8521]

On 10/5/2021 at 3:13 AM, fluffdragon.1523 said:

P.S.:  If you're indeed using a motherboard that supports a Ryzen 5 3600 chip on a prebuilt system, you're 100% set and probably have adequate RAM (8 to 16GB is more than enough) and a sufficient power supply to meet demands.  500w is more than enough for your needs, and most non-OEM prebuilts use overkill power supplies already.

Oh I wouldnt trust that on the PSU part. It can be some custom formfactor sub 300W crap. *Hopefully* the case is standard ATX so one can replace but one need to open and check that.

[Teratus.2859]

Nvidia GTX1070 here.

As others have said though Gw2 is way more interested in your CPU power than your GPU.

But the GTX1070 is a good enough card to play most games these days on high to ultra and max settings.
I've had no issues running any games anyway.

Though admittedly I don't play a lot of new AAA games on account of having utterly no interest in the vast majority of them lol
Indies and oldies are far more enjoyable to me 😄

Edited October 7, 2021 by Teratus.2859

[Flashfox.9753]

I'm using a GTX 1070 OC and the game plays fine. My CPU is an "old" i7 3770K Black Edition, which is over-clocked and liquid cooled. Yes, it's "ancient" by today's standards, but it works. Today's GW2 is CPU intensive and does not need that much GPU horsepower.