DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Hi all, ive posted about this issue in customer service and havnt heard anything so I will try here. Im recently upgraded my graphics card with hope that it would improve my ability to run swor but it hasnt seemed to help at all. I am running the game on all low settings and windowed with shadows off and my fps drops to 10-20 in warzones. The game is playable for pve at the moment but i have yet to reach any large instances. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve performance for this game? The new card cost me 150 and seems like a waste as I only needed it for this. Im shamefully bad with technology so please be patient if I havnt provided all the necessary info for a fair computer assessment AMD Phenom 9150 quad core proc 1.80ghzGeforce gt 545 (just purchased)4 gm ram 64 bit windows 7 op my comps windows index score is 5.9 with the lowest scoring area being my hd at 5.9 everyone else is about 6.5. Thanks in advance for any help or tips on how to improve gameplay! Edited January 10, 2012 by DekarSisk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedricshots Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Your ram is pretty low. Id say 6gigs is the minimum to run this game smoothly. Also a 1.8ghz chip is probably bottlenecking your performance big time. As for warzones even people with 3000$ rigs are experiencing fps loss its just a product of bad pvp coding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 So basically without getting a new computer im doomed to lag even at the lowest possible settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lasounds Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Hi all, ive posted about this issue in customer service and havnt heard anything so I will try here. Im recently upgraded my graphics card with hope that it would improve my ability to run swor but it hasnt seemed to help at all. I am running the game on all low settings and windowed with shadows off and my fps drops to 10-20 in warzones. The game is playable for pve at the moment but i have yet to reach any large instances. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve performance for this game? The new card cost me 150 and seems like a waste as I only needed it for this. Im shamefully bad with technology so please be patient if I havnt provided all the necessary info for a fair computer assessment AMD Phenom 9150 quad core proc 1.80ghz Geforce gt 545 (just purchased) 4 gm ram 64 bit windows 7 op my comps windows index score is 5.9 with the lowest scoring area being my hd at 5.9 everyone else is about 6.5. Thanks in advance for any help or tips on how to improve gameplay! Warzones in general seem to have low FPS. 4 GB of ram is plenty for this game. the GT 545 is not a great card. there are 2 different models of those cards as well. DDR3 and DDR 5 ver. If you spent $150 on it I would take it back. you can get a 550TI for that price. If you want to compare cards here are some links. http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gtx-550ti/specifications http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gt-545-ddr3/specifications http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gt-545-oem-gddr5/specifications just looking at the raw numbers you can see a huge difference. The 545's are not much better than a 520. also a link with current 550 Prices: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600030348%20600094002%20600122953&IsNodeId=1&name=GeForce%20GTX%20550%20Ti%20%28Fermi%29 also you may want to check your local best buy. I picked up a GTX 460 on clearance for $100 about 2 weeks ago. hope this helps ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedricshots Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 So basically without getting a new computer im doomed to lag even at the lowest possible settings? Honestly i would just say wait and see. Ive read many threads about the programming of the game not enabling 100% of GPU performance which is a software issue more than "my computer sucks" mindset. Your computer isnt terrible its probably just fine running the game but be warned that in warzones it WILL drop in fps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenalandavie Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Your ram is pretty low. Id say 6gigs is the minimum to run this game smoothly. Also a 1.8ghz chip is probably bottlenecking your performance big time. As for warzones even people with 3000$ rigs are experiencing fps loss its just a product of bad pvp coding. Reccomended RAM is 4GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedricshots Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Reccomended RAM is 4GB RAM is dirt cheap and by far the easiest upgrade when compared against a new video card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Thanks for the help and suggestions so far. Would it be worth it to upgrade my processor to a 2.5ghz? So far from what ive read online it seems to be a fairly inexpensive upgrade of 125-175 depending on where i buy it. Also, thanks for the vid card info. I think I will return this as I purchased it from best buy and can return within 30 days. Perhaps they will have one of the recommended cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedricshots Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Thanks for the help and suggestions so far. Would it be worth it to upgrade my processor to a 2.5ghz? So far from what ive read online it seems to be a fairly inexpensive upgrade of 125-175 depending on where i buy it. Also, thanks for the vid card info. I think I will return this as I purchased it from best buy and can return within 30 days. Perhaps they will have one of the recommended cards. You can never go wrong with an upgrade. Be it ram, cpu, vid card, hard drives etc. If you can upgrade your cpu for a reasonable price then i would say do it but make sure you know what youre doing. Since i dont know your tech level and experience with building computers, i wouldnt get in over my head but installing a cpu is fairly painless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubasteve Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 the game has ****** optimization (and an utter lack of customiztion in the settings), there is nothing wrong with your rig. i run on a crap laptop with a phenom triple-core, 8gb ram (which has done literally nothing since adding 4gb a month ago), and a mobility radeon 5650. i usually get 40-60fps, but as soon as i enter a room with any kind of smoke/fog/particle effects, i tank to like 10 fps or less. i can run bf3 with a pretty consistent 40fps on similar graphics settings with little to no performance drop even in heavy firefights with explosions and destructible terrain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangkar Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 You should look at the subscore. Your processor and memory should be adequate. Hard disk is not a real factor, probably longer load up time. Most important is your "Gamiing graphics" subscore. If yours is 5.x, it'll be bad. Same as my 2nd gen i3 laptop. I'm on GTX460 with a "Gamiing graphics" subscore of 7.6 for my gaming desktop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyrnine Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 i usually get 40-60fps, but as soon as i enter a room with any kind of smoke/fog/particle effects, i tank to like 10 fps or less. i can run bf3 with a pretty consistent 40fps on similar graphics settings with little to no performance drop even in heavy firefights with explosions and destructible terrain. I'm having similar issues; game will run fine (PvE) for a few mins in the 55-65 fps range and then suddenly drop to sub 10's for maybe 30s-1m and then right back to 55-65, over and over. I too have set all available setting as low as possible with no improvement (changing settings actually don't seem to matter much). This happens no matter what I'm doing (can be staring at the floor, not moving). I also have run other games that were more graphic intensive without this kind of fps issue. Is this more of a coding problem with so many people having issues? If I can't get this solved with in the next few months, I don't know how long I can put up with it. Sad, because it is a really nice game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 You should look at the subscore. Your processor and memory should be adequate. Hard disk is not a real factor, probably longer load up time. Most important is your "Gamiing graphics" subscore. If yours is 5.x, it'll be bad. Same as my 2nd gen i3 laptop. I'm on GTX460 with a "Gamiing graphics" subscore of 7.6 for my gaming desktop. Thanks for the input. How do you go about viewing your subscore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nateparso Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 When you upgraded your card did you make sure that your Power Supply could handle it? They are cheap maybe that could help you... what kind do you have now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 I only have a 300w supply but I plan on switching to 500w this week. The card I have in only requires 300w and meets the recommended requirements for the game. I was under the impression that your power supply does not effect performance as it will either be enough power or not. If having more power will "juice" up my graphics performance please confirm. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dasffion Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Not having a big enough PSU to power your GPU and computer at the same time can cause your computer to shut down, not start, or cause your GPU to fail (BSOD) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Yeah, thats what I thought but it doesnt effect actually running performance correct? My comp came with the 300w unit and ive upgraded the card but the requirements said it only needed 300. I plan on upgrading the power unit anyway just curios if I will see any performance changes in game with that upgrade alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Anyone else with any other suggestions? I find this to be extremely frustrating as I am able to run all games on this computer with the exception of this one. Im very hesitant to keep pouring money into my computer if I dont have a legit shot at fixing the issue. Also, my fps seems to stay the same even if i max the graphics out vs playing on low level. Are there any other small adjustments I might be able to make to improve performance? I read on here that people have uninstalled and re-installed to improve performance? Maybe this is an option since the game was installed before I purchased a new card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jujjan Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Go for 2 more gigs of Ram Play swtor and use chrome or something similar and som other small apps that we use.. Lie antivirus.. wait 1 hour and see how much ram u use.. im sure you are pretty close to 4 gig at that time... Go for more ram my friend... Do you know if you can get your cpu any faster??? Edited January 10, 2012 by Jujjan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 When I view the task manager and look for memory usage what is the important stat im looking for? I have kaspersky, chrome and the game running for several hours now and it says i have 66 processes running and i fluctuate between 40-60% cpu usage with 79% physical memory. Physical memory stats aretotal 4095 cached 830available 830 free 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dasffion Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I think your CPU might be your choke point. Have you looked at your FPS in game? What color are the numbers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jujjan Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) In Task managerUnder system u will find commit. How much? I have 70- 80% cpu usage in Swtor. But the game runs just fine Edited January 10, 2012 by Jujjan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swag-Attack Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Start> Right click My computer> Look at> Window's Experience. That number is rating hardware from a scale 0-7 Higher is better but it will also show you what bottle necking (slowest and needs upgraded first) I had a similar problem. My motherboard was so out of date though that it could not really upgrade past a Duel Core. I would defiantly look into a higher Prossesser (CPU) and more Ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DekarSisk Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 I just restarted the game as I was trying another solution. Right now my cpu commit is 3900 of 8100. My fps in game is green and always around 10 even when im just playing normally. The lag and poor performance gets particularly bad in warzones but is playable for pve to this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringzero Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) If I missed this, I apologize, but what resolution are you running at? You do NOT need more RAM. More RAM will do nothing for you in this game. I agree that there's a possibility that your CPU could be limiting you, but that graphics card you bought is not worth $150. And don't buy from Best Buy, because their prices are horrendous. If you're capped at $150, get one of these cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=radeon+6870&x=0&y=0 At that price point, AMD is your best bet. nVidia cards just cost way more at that level. You absolutely need a better power supply, at least 500, and a good name brand like Seasonic, Antec, or Corsair. Many companies make terrible PSUs that only pump out a fraction of the wattage that they claim. For those of you running laptops, if you notice intermittent FPS drops, it is most likely having to do with overheating. When your CPU/GPU gets maxed, your system will throttle down performance until the components cool down. Then you will get your performance back. There's really very little you can do except perhaps apply really good thermal paste to your heatsink and put a giant box fan facing your computer and turn up the AC in your room. And blow out all the dust in and around the case. Otherwise, you'll just need to upgrade. And I recommend upgrading to a desktop. Cheaper and the components can be upgraded down the road. Edited January 10, 2012 by Ringzero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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