Bioware, your game runs too hot. My solution.

[The_Old_One]

This game heat up mu computer so much as well. I have to open up the case and have a small fan aiming at the video card. No other games burn my computer this much.

[PJEBarlow]

Just out of curiosity for those that DO have heat issues (and don't run on a notebook):

 

-What video card are you using?

-Did you overclock any components?

-How many/what kinds of system fans do you have?

-Can you hear the GPU fan running faster when you have issues?

-Have you disabled vsync (and if so, do you have any idea why that is generally a bad idea)

-Did you use a stress test like Furmark to assure sufficient cooling of your machine?

 

- Geforce GTX 580

- No overclocking

- Two 120mm Noctuas

- Much faster, near 100% after some time

- I have unchecked vsync, this isn't a bad idea when you have a 120hz monitor and no tearing

- I have run Furmark without instability or artefacts

 

Not making any wild assumptions, just working via process of elimination, so I'll skip the next section.

Edited January 10, 2012 by PJEBarlow

[jeepoverland]

I have a machine I built for Age of Conan more than 3 years ago.....no upgrades since....

2.6 Ghz Quad Core

4Gig Ram

NVidia 280GTX 1gig GPU

 

 

I have no such problems whatsoever.

[Zero_Alignment]

Seems kind of ridiculous that those of us who don't have high-end machines, but are still well above the system requirements have to now be worried about upgrading things in our systems after every patch.

 

My game, like many others, ran fine (more or less) before this patch. Now I'm getting crashes because of overheating issues, and even worse FPS which I'm thinking is because of it.

 

Already put enough money into this game, and unfortunately I'm not seeing it as worth it to run out and buy an entirely new PC just for it.

[Chaffery]

It is not your PC, game needs to be fixed. It's running on my old POS laptop.

But 1 thing what you could do is install MSI Afterburner and lower mem clock buy 50-100Mhz.

If you getting a lag, I'm suspecting that your GPU dropping clocks in to safe state as mine did.

Also with MSI Afterburner you could increase fan spinning speed and increase cooling effect.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Chaffery

[Toweleeeie]

Heres my solutions: Buy a window box fan. Take off the side of the case and put the fan right on it.

I overclocked for years with this method. I currently am liquid cooled.

[Kashaan]

It is not your PC, game needs to be fixed. It's running on my old POS laptop.

 

 

The problem is that it is AND it isn't. The mere fact that there are plenty of us who have very similar (or even the same) systems and are having no issues means it's not entirely TOR's fault.

 

It's quite possible that the last patch had some errors that cause redundant processing. But it's not happening in a consistent manner to all machines. So a common denominator needs to be found. As of now, we haven't found that.

 

 

I might suggest that people who are having issues uninstall and reinstall during the maintenance period. When you do so, make sure to wipe all folders related to the game when you uninstall.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Kashaan

[Chaffery]

Actually I already uninstalled and installed after patch, no effect at all. Lowering mem clock with Afterburner and running in XP SP3 compatibility mode helped. Also tested with Kombustor (burn in test, coming with Afterburner) make sure GPU is stable.

[PJEBarlow]

I might suggest that people who are having issues uninstall and reinstall during the maintenance period. When you do so, make sure to wipe all folders related to the game when you uninstall.

 

I've tried that, unfortunately. The only thing I feel like I've not tried is a full system re-format and I'll just be too busy to do that until later in the week.

[Kashaan]

I've tried that, unfortunately. The only thing I feel like I've not tried is a full system re-format and I'll just be too busy to do that until later in the week.

 

 

That's very, very strange.

 

If it started after the Jan. 6th patch, then there's obviously some redundant processing or other form of poor optimization that happened. But it's disturbing that people with the same configurations are getting different results.

 

 

Try turning on Vsync and turning off Bloom to see if that has an effect.

[PJEBarlow]

That's very, very strange.

 

If it started after the Jan. 6th patch, then there's obviously some redundant processing or other form of poor optimization that happened. But it's disturbing that people with the same configurations are getting different results.

 

 

Try turning on Vsync and turning off Bloom to see if that has an effect.

 

I just gave vsync a go and it didn't actually do anything, my in-game FPS didn't change and Fraps was also recording the same old 85-110. I'll check the .ini file later today to see if the setting is actually enabling, and I'll also try bloom.

 

It's also worth noting that this problem has been going on longer than since the 6th for me.

Edited January 10, 2012 by PJEBarlow

[Kashaan]

I just gave vsync a go and it didn't actually do anything, my in-game FPS didn't change and Fraps was also recording the same old 85-110. I'll check the .ini file later today to see if the setting is actually enabling, and I'll also try bloom.

 

It's also worth noting that this problem has been going on longer than since the 6th for me.

 

 

I have heard that people have had to force Vsync outside the UI, so you're right to try that.

 

You are now our main anomaly, since everyone else that has reported problems has claimed it started after the Jan. 6th patch.

 

 

Can you monitor your GPU temp with Realtemp and tell me what it reaches at peak playing the game? Also, the fact you have variable fan speed implies you have a fan-control software installed. What do you use? For example, I use EVGA precision.

[talligan]

GDit Bioware, because of your terrible coding I had to download more RAM just to get the game to run and now its overheating. Why don't you fix this problem already?!?!!!1

[skyvortex]

Ok something happened in the last day or two and suddenly i have this issue. Checked the fans, drivers, ...wait....my system hasn't changed and the problem is new.

Hmmmmmm

[skyvortex]

GDit Bioware, because of your terrible coding I had to download more RAM just to get the game to run and now its overheating. Why don't you fix this problem already?!?!!!1

 

Troll

[Evilidea]

Core2 Duo E6750

4GB Ram

GTX 460 1GB

10k rpm Velociraptor

 

No heating issues, no black screen, 2 count em 2 crash to desktops since beginning of Nov.

 

I can't bring myself to take OP's point seriously when I have no issue on an ancient by gaming standards machine.

[lollie]

Core2 Duo E6750

4GB Ram

GTX 460 1GB

10k rpm Velociraptor

 

...I can't bring myself to take OP's point seriously when I have no issue on an ancient by gaming standards machine.

 

It's because you have a slow computer that doesn't produce much heat, and can't be forced to work hard because it's so slow, that you aren't getting this.

 

Harder work + fast computers = heat. There's also some mystery factor in this issue as well that's triggering this whole thing. Even people with nice cooling are seeing this heat issue.

 

You'll notice most of the people reporting this have really nice computers, unlike what you're running there.

Edited January 10, 2012 by lollie

[TRONEON]

Gentlemen, it appears were are the ignored and the forgotten.

 

The reason why GPUs are overheating is because of bad coding. All it takes is somebody checking to see what commands and instructions are being sent to the GPUs. I am not an expert, but it seems like Bioware doesn't have anybody willing or competent to even look into this severe, deadly problem.

 

Some guy I don't even know lost his computer last night. He is an associate of my friend's wife. "Yeah, I was playing TOR and my video card fried out."

 

Inexcusable.

 

 

You want candy. You take a bite. You burn your mouth due to excessive heat.

 

You buy a car. You put gas into it. Your car explodes. How is that YOUR fault?

 

You install SW:TOR on a gaming machine....you need to WATCH OUT and play Star Wars: Temperature Monitor Control.....BOOM.....fried computer due to excessive heat.

 

My machine doesn't even struggle to run this and it's hotter than Jessica Alba on a summer day.

 

SOLUTION:

 

LOWER YOUR FPS. LOWER YOUR FPS. LOWER YOUR FPS.

 

LOWER YOUR GRAPHICS CARD 3D SETTINGS TO WALMART QUALITY.

 

Use a program like Bandicam and limit your FPS to 30, hell 20 just to be safe. I certainly don't want to lose a GAMING MACHINE to one *********** game.

 

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD *TRY* OR *ATTEMPT* TO SEE, THEN *FIX* THIS PROBLEM BIOWARE.

 

It's a sad day when a million voices suddenly cry out....then are silenced...........

 

Agree with OP 1000000000%, Bioware should be fricking ashamed right now. So many issues with the client performance and coding that no matter what anyone say's is caused by the client and is causing hardware to overheat.

 

I won't be playing until they fix the performance issues, having a high end rig and still having over heats, bad fps and performance issues is just terrible planning and piss poor performance by bioware. There job to fix it if they want to keep players playing.

 

Until then im playing other games, not risking thousands of pounds of equipment for a single player game with co-op.

Edited January 10, 2012 by TRONEON

[talligan]

Troll

 

You don't say.

[Drayzen]

Let me drop some knowledge for all those people saying that V-sync lowered their GPU heat.

 

Here is why enabling V-Sync lowered your CPU Heat.

 

 

• Your GPU no longer has to "push" itself to render the extra frames over 60.
  

 

 

Leaving VSync off tells your GPU that you want to uncap the maximum graphics FPS, similar to a "benchmark" whereas 3d images are ran across your screen at an uncapped FPS to measure how many frames you can display on an average and steady basis.

 

This is why you are having issues with the game heating up your GPU. Enabling vsync produced better results for my GTX 580, as it no longer had to stress about going over 60 FPS. While coding and optimization can ALWAYS be better, you should be advised that your quest for a large number, more horsepower if you will, is causing your GPU to overheat.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Drayzen

[ajjw]

While the game cannot directly cause your graphics card to overheat (and by overheat, I mean reaching the maximum safe working temperatures), it does seem to have an issue where it runs hotter than other games that are more graphically demanding.

 

Idling in the Fleet my card sits at about 68*C. Running around worlds doing Quests it'll settle at around 72*C. This is all fine.

 

However - When in a Conversation with an NPC, this is where things get interesting. The 86*C peaks I've been seeing (that I mentioned earlier in the thread), appear to be happening only in these Conversations.

 

Anyone else only seeing large rises in card temps during Conversations?

[BizzyBonez]

Wow O.o...Some epic fail posts here....OP too...

 

I use MSI Afterburner on a GTX 560 TI (2gb)

On top of that its running at 920 Mhz, you can do the homework on what defaults are...

 

Max Temp after 2 hours of SWTOR is 72c

Avg temp 69c

 

 

This is on the new Beta 290.53 Drivers (Yup i am a Skyrim Junky)

 

Oddly enough...Skyrim puts me to 79c avg...81 max ( Still fine, It can take it up to 95c, and 105 before it starts falling apart)

 

SWTOR overall is pretty light? All Max + .ini tweaks? I dunno why you guys are complaining? Get better cooling? Get a better Gfix card? Clean out your fans? Stop crying?

 

 

I run the same card but more fans in my rig so its around 55c at max settings. No issues at all on the game. I had issues before but i simply replaced a fault fan or 2 and bam back 100%.

 

Geforce GTX560, 8 gigs of ram, Quad Phenom at 3.4ghz.

 

Max seetings no lag unless internet related.

[KlintusFang]

While the game cannot directly cause your graphics card to overheat (and by overheat, I mean reaching the maximum safe working temperatures), it does seem to have an issue where it runs hotter than other games that are more graphically demanding.

 

Idling in the Fleet my card sits at about 68*C. Running around worlds doing Quests it'll settle at around 72*C. This is all fine.

 

However - When in a Conversation with an NPC, this is where things get interesting. The 86*C peaks I've been seeing (that I mentioned earlier in the thread), appear to be happening only in these Conversations.

 

Anyone else only seeing large rises in card temps during Conversations?

 

I do not see temp rises during conversations. But I do see that my FPS is much higher during conversations, which does mean my card is performing better at those moments, likely because there is very little dynamic data to be loaded during a cut-scene. And I could see where that might mean higher temps if the card is one that tends to run on the hot-side already (like the 8800s were, for example, or if one is over-clocking).

 

On a side note, (I know yours may not be an 8800, but some people posting here said they are using the old 8800), i'm a little surprised there are any functional 8800s left out there. Those things ran so dang hot, they had a tendency to burn out quickly even under light use.

Edited January 10, 2012 by KlintusFang

[rfatcheric]

You should get better cooling, those temps are eating the life of your system (just saying) yes they are not the max it can handle but a healthy system should be running 25-35 idle and under 60 on high demand. While it's not going to burn at the temp you're running, it will most certainly degrade the life span of your equipment. May want to adjust the fan speeds or get some liquid cooling

 

COMPLETELY INCORRECT.

 

Nice try though. Might want to learn about modern GPUs buddy.

[KlintusFang]

COMPLETELY INCORRECT.

 

Nice try though. Might want to learn about modern GPUs buddy.

 

A bit off topic, but...

 

While you are correct that some modern GPUs tend to run hot, particularly when the GPU companies release their first iteration of a new architecture. And they are often designed on the assumption that they will run hot. That said, the thing you may not realize is "designed by the manufacturer to run hot" also means "designed by the manufacturer to not last very long".

 

Because the guy you are replying to is also correct: hotter temps do translate directly to the lifespan of the silicon. Hotter temps means more electrons borrowing into the substrate over time, leading to residual charge accumulating in places it shouldn't really be, gradually leading to loss of signal integrity (bits that are supposed to be 0 being interpreted as 1s and visa versa), increase in random errors, and eventually, loss of functionality.

 

Modern GPU manufactures have a tendency to accept that sort of error accumulation in their silicon as part of their business model. But that doesn't change the fact that the lifetime of a piece of silicon is always directly proportional to the temperature it runs at.

 

That said, i don't recommend liquid cooling for anyone. I accept this as a way of life in the GPU world.