Laptop Upgrade / Guild Wars 2

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leo0787sx

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Topic # 108487 30-Aug-2012 10:03

Hello,

I'm new here and have been reading around for a while and finally had a question to ask so joined :)

I have bought Guild Wars 2 and it runs fine 30 fps on lower settings. I would like to try and get more out of it and see if I can get better performance.

I currently have a HP Pavilion dv6-6104AX Notebook
- AMD Dual-Core A4-3300M Accelerated Processor (2.5GHz/1.9GHz)
- 2GB (Might be 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz
- ATI Radeon™ HD 6750M Graphics 1GB Graphics
- Windows 7 Ultimate

The options I were considering are upgrading the memory if I do only have 2GB but mpore than 4GB from reading doesn't seem to make much difference to Guild Wars 2.

I'd like to upgrade the processor but most Laptop seem difficult, is there any options perhaps to swap the processor?

The other option is to overclock (I've seen some overclock to 3GHz) but I'm worried about the heat as it is a laptop.

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

ChevronX

275 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679158 30-Aug-2012 10:25

Unfortunately laptop upgrades pretty much consist of RAM upgrades, some you can upgrade the processor of but it requires most of the laptop to be taken apart and will most likely break any form of warranty you have (you could check Youtube on instructions to do this). First off I would try to download the latest graphics drivers. My friend has a Core 2 Quad (upgraded to 4ghz) with a reasonable new (last 1-2 years) card and it is running at 30 FPS as well with everything on high.

"The Atlantis base, brings greetings from the pegasus galaxy, you may cut power to the gate!."- Dr Weir (Rising) New Zealand · Luke.Geek.NZ

leo0787sx

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Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 679183 30-Aug-2012 11:02

When you say "My friend has a Core 2 Quad (upgraded to 4ghz)" You mean overclocked?

ChevronX

275 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679186 30-Aug-2012 11:03

leo0787sx: When you say "My friend has a Core 2 Quad (upgraded to 4ghz)" You mean overclocked?

Sorry, yes overclocked.

"The Atlantis base, brings greetings from the pegasus galaxy, you may cut power to the gate!."- Dr Weir (Rising) New Zealand · Luke.Geek.NZ

xpd

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Reply # 679189 30-Aug-2012 11:09

You'd be better off buying a desktop unfortunately.

Laptops are usually pretty locked down when it comes to overclocking and as you mentioned, heat is an issue.
You'll probably have 4GB (our similar laptop at work came with 4GB standard) so RAM isnt an issue.

To replace the CPU, its not worth the hassle or may not even be possible, as those chips appear to have a lot of stuff onboard.

XPD / @DemiseNZ / Gavin

Corsair Carbide SPEC-02 / Corsair VS550 / G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB / Zotac 760GTX AMP! / ASUS H81M-E / Intel Pentium K Anniversay G3258 @3.9Ghz

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Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679595 31-Aug-2012 09:49

What happened to GW2 chat! its dead you play in silence now. Crafting im pretty much staying away from this, grinding no thanks i did enough of that in WoW. Dynamic events are a welcome & personal story. Game plays smooth no lagg whatsoeva gfx looks great for an mmo. On US Dragonbrand server.

@OP get a cheap Desktop with a video card no lower than a 9800GT 512ram or GTX. 4gig ram. CPU Dual @2.0 x2 or higher You could pick up one of these of TM cheap. Specs is enough to play GW2 smoothly while still looking good.

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ChevronX

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679602 31-Aug-2012 09:56

I quite enjoy Guild Wars 2, trying to craft but need more materials!

"The Atlantis base, brings greetings from the pegasus galaxy, you may cut power to the gate!."- Dr Weir (Rising) New Zealand · Luke.Geek.NZ

xpd

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Reply # 679609 31-Aug-2012 10:11

On the subject of GW2, I was a GW player but didnt get into it as I enjoy the social side of games, and liked helping players out while roaming around, but in GW you couldnt do that, once you left the city , you were on your own unless you were already in a party..... so I switched to WoW...

I take it GW2 has changed this model more in line the way WoW is ? I like to be bit of a loner but dive in and help people out when they need it without having to be in party etc...

XPD / @DemiseNZ / Gavin

Corsair Carbide SPEC-02 / Corsair VS550 / G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB / Zotac 760GTX AMP! / ASUS H81M-E / Intel Pentium K Anniversay G3258 @3.9Ghz

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ChevronX

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679611 31-Aug-2012 10:13

xpd: On the subject of GW2, I was a GW player but didnt get into it as I enjoy the social side of games, and liked helping players out while roaming around, but in GW you couldnt do that, once you left the city , you were on your own unless you were already in a party..... so I switched to WoW...

I take it GW2 has changed this model more in line the way WoW is ? I like to be bit of a loner but dive in and help people out when they need it without having to be in party etc...

Yeh you meet people and join in on events around the area. You can ress them if they are down stuff like that and earn achievement points and experience, I fully agree playing an MMORG should be about the people.

"The Atlantis base, brings greetings from the pegasus galaxy, you may cut power to the gate!."- Dr Weir (Rising) New Zealand · Luke.Geek.NZ

Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679711 31-Aug-2012 13:05

Yeah what ChevronX said. Plus you are only on your own when you do the personal story where the mailbox will light up at certain levels telling you to go meet so and so to carry on with the story, otherwise most of the time you are playing with everyone else and its quite fun don't know if you have played Warhammer online but its like that run around nek minute over yonder see a group fighting it out, head over to join them or leave them to it and go do something else.

I'm only lvl 10 thief atm just got it on Wednesday but im planning giving wow a miss tonight and heading into GW2.

Worst Response To A Crisis:
From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

leo0787sx

406 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 679721 31-Aug-2012 13:19

Guild Wars 2:
I love Guild Wars 2, the fact you don't have to spend time making parties, most of my life in Guild Wars 1 was spent spamming to join groups or selling items, now theres an auction house (Once it works) and you can meet people random, way better.

Original Topic:

So far I've found these for sale, what do you think? I would probably upgrade a little, most likely the Graphics unless I built my own I've priced up:

Processor: 2.9GHz (x2) - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Motherboard: AM2 - Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 Micro-ATX
Memory: 4GB - Kingston 2x2GB DDR2 800MHz
Graphics Card: 9800GT - Galaxy GeForce 9800GT 512MB GDDR3
Harddrive: 250GB - Samsung SP2504C 7200RPM 8MB SATA2
DVD Drive: 18x - Pioneer DVR-212
Power Supply: 500W - Enermax NAXN Tomahawk II ENP500AST

Or this but little information:

CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz
Memory: 2 GB
Hard drive: 1 TB

Or but its really dated:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
RAM: 1.00 GB Single-Channel DDR @ 167MHz (3-4-4-8)
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. K8VSEDX (Socket 754)
Graphics: 128MB RADEON 9800 PRO
Hard Drive: 149GB Western Digital WDC WD1600AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device (PATA)
Optical Drives: JLMS XJ-HD165H ATA Device, PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-108 ATA
Audio: VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller

Or I priced this but I would need to save up:

Intel Core Sandy Bridge i3 2120 3.3GHz LGA1155 - $189
Gigabyte B75M-D3H LGA1155 MATX Motherboard - $139.00
SKILL Ripjaws X 4GB Gaming DDR3-1333 Desktop Memory - $59
Sapphire HD7750 1G GDDR5 PCI-E Video card - 189
OCZ Agility3 60G 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Drive - $139.00
Cooler Master 500W Extreme Power Plus PSU - $99.00
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Case - $139.00
CD drive - $50

Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679727 31-Aug-2012 13:39

^ avoid the dated PC. 128MB video card is trash these days but yea you could replace it i suppose, but the cpu would have to be replaced as well if you want to play GW2. Single core not good.

Any of the other two is fine, no problem playing GW2.

Worst Response To A Crisis:
From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

leo0787sx

406 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 25

Reply # 679743 31-Aug-2012 14:24

Just compared this desktop:

Processor: 2.9GHz (x2) - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Motherboard: AM2 - Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 Micro-ATX
Memory: 4GB - Kingston 2x2GB DDR2 800MHz
Graphics Card: 9800GT - Galaxy GeForce 9800GT 512MB GDDR3
Harddrive: 250GB - Samsung SP2504C 7200RPM 8MB SATA2
DVD Drive: 18x - Pioneer DVR-212
Power Supply: 500W - Enermax NAXN Tomahawk II ENP500AST

With my original laptop and on passpark and it scores a lot less. I wouldn't even be able to upgrade the cpu on the desktop as the phenom fx aren't sold anywhere.

xpd

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Reply # 679959 1-Sep-2012 00:12

Core 2 Duo will kick the AMD X2 any day....

XPD / @DemiseNZ / Gavin

Corsair Carbide SPEC-02 / Corsair VS550 / G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB / Zotac 760GTX AMP! / ASUS H81M-E / Intel Pentium K Anniversay G3258 @3.9Ghz

New ! Retro gaming / emulation forums - http://www.xpd.co.nz/

Internet provided by : Voyager - VDSL 65/28 - Musical Support by : Like A Storm - Visual Entertainment by : Plex and Steam and Overwatch