SWTOR The Hardware Killer

[Roechacca]

I just crashed...again.

[Onyx]

What do you mean. The game is running as icon, temp are low and with full screen is high. Guest where is the issue, in cooling? Are you kidding me?

 

'nuff said . . . .

 

LOL

[Iliena]

If there were some case cooling issues or cpu or gpu, that must be a higher temp with other games to. That's not the case.

A general temp issue can you see even if the system runs idle. There is not the case. So don't try to tell me bs.

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp7dpe3o.png

 

I play SWTOR with settings of High, DX11, ALL Enabled.

 

 

When I got my 6950’s I unlocked the extra sharders and OC’ed them to stock 6970 speeds, I used Furmark http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ to test stability, it max’s out every aspect of the graphics card and will find any weakness with your cooling or overclock, I left to loop for hours and my temps didn’t get as hot as your single card! So I will state it again - your cooling isn’t doing the job!

[Arkerus]

Gaming on laptop = bad idea.

 

 

Original poster? Game running as icon? Cmon. I have a dell (OMG RIGHT) and mine isn't exploding. I don't have any extra cooling either.

 

This whole "SWTOR ruining systems" is a bunch of BS.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Arkerus

[Datku]

your screens only show your really bad keybindings. maybe if you fully used your keyboard and mouse to preform attacks, your computer wouldn't be so sad that it has such a suboptimal user as its master.

 

Key bindings mean jack really without knowing their lay out. I use a merc stealth keyboard that has the game pad area to the left. So you look at one of my screenshots and see my second row and go *** but for my keyboard layout the keys are easy to reach and sequence together well.

[hurriedcorgi]

I have a pretty beastly desktop (that is only 2 months old) with pretty much all top-end hardware and liquid cooling to boot. I will say - this game pushes my computer harder than it should which I imagine has something to do with either a) the coding or b) the engine behind the game just being not up to par with what BW is trying to pull off with it; but, I don't think it's going to kill my computer. I guess one could make the argument that the unnecessary increased stress is taking time of the usable life of my PC but I'd imagine it is negligible.

[iResist]

Amazing

I'm Network Engineer and IT Technician since 1995 and you are telling me that I'm a n00b. Sincerely I never had the opportunity to read such comments as here.

 

Everything and everybody just BW not. That's enough for me guys, you just deserve the game

 

 

It's funny that you have all this "knowledge", yet you don't realize that you need to stress test your components for any heating issues. Use prime95 to stress your CPU to 100% and another program to stress test your GPU at 100% and watch your temps. If the temps don't stay nominal, then you have a heating issue.

 

It is not the software, but lack of heating control.

 

Your GPU will be just fine if it's runs at 100% and your temps stay nominal.

[Malastare]

If there were some case cooling issues or cpu or gpu, that must be a higher temp with other games to. That's not the case.

 

Not at all.

 

Not all games behave the same and not all heat sources produce the same effects. As many, many people have stated numerous times: Most FPS games stress the GPU but not the CPU. RTS games tend to stress the CPU but not the GPU. Modern, single-player RPGs (Skyrim, Dragon Age) tend to be GPU heavy, with moderate CPU use with occasional spikes, which tend to be associated with drops in GPU use.

 

All of those tend to stress just one of the major heat generators in a system.

 

MMOs and modern TBS games (eg: Civilization V, Shogun II) simultaneously load the CPU and GPU, usually with load peaks occurring at the same time. This is basically a worst case scenario for system cooling.

 

And all of that can be further hurt if the PSU is inefficient, as the higher power draw is going to start generating a significant amount of heat (quick math: a 400W power draw at 80% efficiency is generating 100W of heat, as much as a fully loaded CPU). This is why the PSU should not be used (or at least ignored) as a case exhaust.

 

A general temp issue can you see even if the system runs idle. There is not the case. So don't try to tell me bs.

 

No.

 

That's not a statement you can actually support. Cooling issues can manifest in many different ways. You can have systems that run hot at idle, but not overheat under load. You can have a system that runs ice cold at idle, but overheats under load.

 

My system is currently designed to run cool and silent at idle, run warm under load, but cool aggressively on return to idle. Like so many other things, an experienced builder can control these things and design a cooling profile to fit a certain behavior.

 

One of the easier and more common behaviors for cooling is to have a system which runs (very) cool at idle, and handle one hot component well, but fail when multiple components heat up. The easiest way to achieve this is to stifle either intake or exhaust. More commonly, people build systems with confused airflow that causes inefficient behavior under load. This is where fans in the side and bottom can actually make things worse.

[Romiz]

In no way is the game damaging you hardware. This game makes hardware work the way it was meant to work.

 

If your system is damaged is something you are or are not doing correct.

 

 

Like I one of the hottest ATI DX11 Video card the 5970. This game even with Vsync off only runs temps to 78c and get 100-120 FPS. Now if you turn vsync on that temp lowers to 62c. My worst case is DX11 games that max the GPUs power and they run at 92c. So SW:TOR is not stressing the GPUs bad at all.

 

Also looked at a review of the 590 and you have something wrong to get temps you are showing. The default card with no OC runs 79c.

 

Now one thing see that is not good both the video card and CPU fan dump there heat in the case. You do have a proper case for these hope. Modern one that has a top with a grill on it So all heat can get out.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Romiz

[PostalTwinkie]

Not at all.

 

Not all games behave the same and not all heat sources produce the same effects. As many, many people have stated numerous times: Most FPS games stress the GPU but not the CPU. RTS games tend to stress the CPU but not the GPU. Modern, single-player RPGs (Skyrim, Dragon Age) tend to be GPU heavy, with moderate CPU use with occasional spikes, which tend to be associated with drops in GPU use.

 

All of those tend to stress just one of the major heat generators in a system.

 

MMOs and modern TBS games (eg: Civilization V, Shogun II) simultaneously load the CPU and GPU, usually with load peaks occurring at the same time. This is basically a worst case scenario for system cooling.

 

And all of that can be further hurt if the PSU is inefficient, as the higher power draw is going to start generating a significant amount of heat (quick math: a 400W power draw at 80% efficiency is generating 100W of heat, as much as a fully loaded CPU). This is why the PSU should not be used (or at least ignored) as a case exhaust.

 

 

 

No.

 

That's not a statement you can actually support. Cooling issues can manifest in many different ways. You can have systems that run hot at idle, but not overheat under load. You can have a system that runs ice cold at idle, but overheats under load.

 

My system is currently designed to run cool and silent at idle, run warm under load, but cool aggressively on return to idle. Like so many other things, an experienced builder can control these things and design a cooling profile to fit a certain behavior.

 

One of the easier and more common behaviors for cooling is to have a system which runs (very) cool at idle, and handle one hot component well, but fail when multiple components heat up. The easiest way to achieve this is to stifle either intake or exhaust. More commonly, people build systems with confused airflow that causes inefficient behavior under load. This is where fans in the side and bottom can actually make things worse.

 

 

Mala, just stop....let it go my friend. There is no helping the OP at this point.

[Aussiedroid]

Well this is a PC game and not a console port so it is pushing your hardware a lot harder than most games. Some improvements in the engine, better drivers from NVidia/ATI may help but the way I see this is that I finally have a game that is using my PC to its full potential.

 

Graphic cards are being pushed, and will run hotter and louder. There are ways around this to lower the sound. I use an aftermarket cooler for a while now (not just for this game as I noticed the sounds on current gen graphics cards are noisy period).

 

These (below) are so quiet, my 6970 runs at full capacity in SWTOR at temps around 70 without even pushing the fan past 50%. Drops to 60s if I run the fan at 100% on the cooler but you still wont hear it.

 

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/376/accelero-xtreme-plus-ii.html

 

Even CPU side, this I can see is being utlised much more than most games for whatever reasons, but again running an i7 the stock fan remains pretty quiet. Although I think I will personally upgrade to a water cooler soon just to be a notch quieter.

 

If you are running lower PC specs then I would expect that the system is being pushed even hard ... all that work produces heat and increases your fan sound.

 

EDIT: The temperatures mentioned in the thread seem fine to me and see no way how it could damage your hardware. Most GPU/CPUs will shut down anyway before damage is done. Sounds (excused the pun) simply like its a noise issue - game running fine but pushing machine resulting in unacceptable noise.

 

Just my 2 cents ....

Edited February 24, 2012 by Aussiedroid

[StrangeShay]

If your card is overheating at 100% than your cooling is inefficient in one way or another. It honestly doesn't matter what application is running when it happens.

 

I have been building computers for a long time and any time you do a stress test and the temps rise too high even after multiple hours of being at 100% cpu/gpu stress you need to fix your cooling/airflow.

 

There is no discussion, what causes the stress is immaterial to the fact that your card is overheating at 100% stress. A properly cooled system should be able to run flat out for hours and stay within acceptable temps.

Edited February 24, 2012 by StrangeShay

[mufutiz]

There is definitely something fishy going on.

 

 

No other game is stressing my hardware as much as this one.

 

I am running an overclocked i5 @4.5 ghz and a msi gtx 560 448 TF3 @ 835/2000 mhz. Swtor brings my CPU temps up to almost 60°, a good 5-10 degree higher than any other game I ever play. My GPU temps go up to 60°, even Arkham city with high physics and DX11 activated doesn't go above 58 except for the most tesselation heavy scenes. Most games get around 53°-55°.

 

not really overheating per se, but still obvious something is not right at all.

Edited February 24, 2012 by mufutiz

[RohanEagle]

It's funny that you have all this "knowledge", yet you don't realize that you need to stress test your components for any heating issues. Use prime95 to stress your CPU to 100% and another program to stress test your GPU at 100% and watch your temps. If the temps don't stay nominal, then you have a heating issue.

 

It is not the software, but lack of heating control.

 

Your GPU will be just fine if it's runs at 100% and your temps stay nominal.

 

I have no issuese with dedicated stress tools such Prime95 and others...but just take a look how many Guru's are here.

 

My system has a bad cooling and I'm a n00b. Okay.

But how is with this SOFTWARE ISSUE?

 

I'm playing all the games in Windowed Mode. As in Windowed Mode the SWTOR doesn't enable the Vsync, your FPS runs over 100 and more. That's bad, that's the issue of hot GPU's.

 

As soon as I could enable Vsync (Fullscreen and then switch back again to Windowed Mode) and limit the FPS to 60, all runs as intended.

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp8e6zjp.png

 

Congratulations to all experts which very large hardware knowledge here

[fatninja]

Be a man, and watercool your ****.

[Zhit]

According to GPU-Z--TOR runs significantly hotter on my video card (An nVidia ti560). I see temperatures 10c to 15c higher than other games. (Batman, Crysis, BF3, COD4, WoW)

 

I wonder if the folks saying they aren't seeing over heating are truely running in the normal range, don't know what hot is, or simply don't know at what temperature their video card is running.

 

Bottom line--folks have been told. I suspect we'll see more and more--TOR cooked my $250 graphics card posts as we head into warmer temperatures. Just when your stuff melts down--don't start whining--you've been informed.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Zhit

[Red_Vs_Blue]

Maybe your friends laptop just sucked? My computer isn't dead yet, far from it. And my hardware is still sound. Maybe you should invest in good quality stuff, not some contraband goods from China. Just saying.

[Laskal]

I dont know anything about computers but I dont think anyone's point is that it is not making it work harder but that for the card to actually die you have done something wrong

[Zhit]

I dont know anything about computers but I dont think anyone's point is that it is not making it work harder but that for the card to actually die you have done something wrong

 

If by doing something wrong--you mean playing TOR--then you are on to something. Hardware does not like to run at 200degrees fahrenheit. When it does for extended periods semi conductors and solder connections begin to fair. You'll first notice graphics flickering, then you'll see artifacts on the screen, eventually you'll have bands of artifacts and/or no usable video.

[StrangeShay]

If by doing something wrong--you mean playing TOR--then you are on to something. Hardware does not like to run at 200degrees fahrenheit. When it does for extended periods semi conductors and solder connections begin to fair. You'll first notice graphics flickering, then you'll see artifacts on the screen, eventually you'll have bands of artifacts and/or no usable video.

 

And if SWTOR can make your hardware run at those temps the problem is your cooling not SWTOR

[RicoFrost]

And if SWTOR can make your hardware run at those temps the problem is your cooling not SWTOR

 

Spot on, your system is running hard if you don't cool it properly what do you expect? Other games don't make your system run as hard so it doesn't run as hot.

 

I run my GPU at 80% fan speed and i sit on 57-61C and 67C on hotter days.

 

I know wow is more CPU intensive then GPU.

 

People reported overheating with BF3, I believe most of those users were 560 users. Whats the bet its the 560's with single fans

Edited February 24, 2012 by RicoFrost

[Zhit]

And if SWTOR can make your hardware run at those temps the problem is your cooling not SWTOR

 

So strange that no other game--and I've played and checked the temperatures of BF3, Crysis 2, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft--all of them run below 70C. Most run under 65C. But fire up TOR and temps will skyrocket to 90C in a relative short period. If TOR had the graphics of Crysis 2 or any of the other game, I wouldn't be shocked. But TOR's graphics look to be half a decade old--yet TOR pushes the video card hotter than the newest game?

 

State of the art graphics--I think not. Bad coding? From the team that couldn't deliver a combat log or /roll at release--yeah I'll go with bad coding. (Why do you think AA was removed for launch?)

 

There is a fix--search my earlier posts. Most folks are happy to keep playing with no clue. As I said--you've been told some folks are having heat issues. Glad you are not. And if you video card does cook--just remember a few fellow players tried to save you $250.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Zhit

[NumberSix]

I'm not sure if the OP is having temp issues during gameplay, but I had and still have a similiar issue with the character loading screen. See my original post here

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=281291

 

I suspect the game and/or drivers. I tried the beta nvidia drivers and the recent one that came out (295.73). I just tested again tonight after updating my drivers, the character screen still causes a major GPU temp jump within 20 seconds. Gameplay is not the issue for me, my GPU temps actually decrease and hover around 130 F each (SLI).

 

This sounds like it isn't effecting everyone so it is obvious certain hardware / driver configurations. There *IS* something connected to TOR which is causing this. None of the other GPU heavy games I play cause my fans to ever run past 30%. It is almost comical, because I can start TOR minimized, then alt-tab back to the character screen and hear my GPU fans start to rev up almost *instantly*.

[Malastare]

So strange that no other game--and I've played and checked the temperatures of BF3, Crysis 2, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft--all of them run below 70C.

 

No. That's not strange at all.

 

Again, you are comparing a CPU-Heavy MMO to FPS games and an MMO that is old and has drastically lower requirements. This has been pointed out to you many times now.

 

Not all games are the same.

 

I don't know how many more times this needs to be said. However, considering how many times you've ignored it, I guess the answer is: None. You simply don't want to listen. You're just here to complain and advocate your poor solution that is based on a misunderstanding of how computer hardware works.

 

But TOR's graphics look to be half a decade old--yet TOR pushes the video card hotter than the newest game?

 

Shocking news: GPUs don't care what sort of work you give them, just how many cycles they spend doing it. Drawing 40fps of photo-realistic jungles produces just as much heat as 600fps of a flag waving.

 

Except, of course, that the 600fps is going to stress some parts of the card not normally stressed in other games.

 

State of the art graphics--I think not. Bad coding? From the team that couldn't deliver a combat log or /roll at release--yeah I'll go with bad coding.

 

You don't actually even know how to code do you?

 

As for /roll and combat log... they've explained why they didn't exist, and to be completely honest, I don't want them to add a combat log. I couldn't really care about /roll. Regardless, the existence or non-existence of these features says absolutely nothing about the quality of the rendering code. Your suggestion of any linkage or correlation just highlights a lack of experience in coding.

 

(Why do you think AA was removed for launch?)

 

Because it isn't fully implemented and fails in some situations when trying to antialias shapes that receive shadows from two different sources?

 

Oh, sorry... that doesn't fit into your novice, tinfoil-hat view of gaming, does it?

 

There is a fix--search my earlier posts.

 

Your fix is a heavy-handed patch job that ignores the actual problem.

 

Let me say this for the hundredth time: A well-built system should be able to run the video card at 100% utilization for hours without overheating. If you cannot do that, then the fault lies with your systems cooling. Software plays no part in this.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Malastare

[Quantum]

Some Screens, why SWTOR is the most Hardware Killer Application, named MMO you ever see.

 

First off all, the first screen proofs, that already on the Login Screen your Hardware goes in stress mode.

 

http://www.swtor-mmorpg.com/img/gpu_temp2.png

 

The second screen shows you that there is enough only to make SWTOR to run as Icon, that the temps goes instant down to the normal.

 

http://www.swtor-mmorpg.com/img/gpu_temp3.png

 

The third screen shows you, how SWTOR will kill your hardware in not very long time, as my friends Laptop Toshiba Qosmio X300-15Q (2.500$] was killed in only 3 Days.

 

http://www.swtor-mmorpg.com/img/gpu_temp4.png

 

 

Compare with another MMO:

 

Aion

 

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp5aaulr.png

 

Lotro

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp6icxji.png

 

Videocard:

 

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC - Grafikkarte - GF GTX 560 Ti, V238-248R

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1297685175JTkEbytVuw_1_2_l.jpg

 

 

CPU Cooler

Noctua NH-D14

 

http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=21175

 

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp2sd11j.png

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp3ee35v.png

http://www.abload.de/img/gpu_temp4913w0.png

 

No problems here.. I built this PC after I noticed my old one while able to play SWTOR just didn't have enough "Umph!".

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f111/Cronjo/CPUTEMP.png

 

Air Flow is KEY, and unfortunately nVidia chipset users are not really doing a great job of stock cooling options especially with how they love to dump heat into the Tower along with today's modern often hotter running CPU's

 

I use a water cooler on my CPU, it rarely hits 40 degrees C, my Video Card exhausts directly out of the case, I have 5 120mm fans running, 3 pulling cool air into the case, 2 exhausting it. If you are having a serious concern about heat, then you need to look at better cooling methods, and possibly better cable management to increase air flow through your tower.