Playing the game on high settings?

[Gingermobile]

Hi

 

I've never done it before but i'm looking at building my own computer for playing swtor, my current computer is quite outdated now.

 

Current spec i was looking at is:

 

asus p8zg8-v/gen3 motherboard

intel core i7 2600 3.4GHz 8MB Cache

Nvidia GTX 560 ti 2GB DDR5

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

 

Would this be enough?

[Ozzone]

Hi

 

I've never done it before but i'm looking at building my own computer for playing swtor, my current computer is quite outdated now.

 

Current spec i was looking at is:

 

asus p8zg8-v/gen3 motherboard

intel core i7 2600 3.4GHz 8MB Cache

Nvidia GTX 560 ti 2GB DDR5

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

 

Would this be enough?

 

I just upgraded my PC last December and decided on a little different makeup. I went with the I5-2500K (save about $80?) and similar board and graphics card. Same ram but I got 16 gig instead (I know it sounds like overkill but 8 more gig was not that much more money and it gives me the opportunity to play around with a ramdrive with sufficient space to do anything).

 

However, one thing I would suggest to you is seriously look at the SSDs to run your operating system on. I got the Corsair Performance Pro 128g and absolutely love it. Speed overall on everything is dramatically increased. I have a dual-boot system and Windows 7-64 loads amazingly fast with the SSD vs. a HD. In addition, I installed SWTOR fully on the SSD and zoning is super fast. I am usually always the first person to enter a warzone and just zoning in general.

 

To be honest, I think the I7-2600 is not going to be very noticeably faster (for gaming anyway) than the I5-2500K but feel free to do your own research.

[Mandrath]

I just upgraded my PC last December and decided on a little different makeup. I went with the I5-2500K (save about $80?) and similar board and graphics card. Same ram but I got 16 gig instead (I know it sounds like overkill but 8 more gig was not that much more money and it gives me the opportunity to play around with a ramdrive with sufficient space to do anything).

 

However, one thing I would suggest to you is seriously look at the SSDs to run your operating system on. I got the Corsair Performance Pro 128g and absolutely love it. Speed overall on everything is dramatically increased. I have a dual-boot system and Windows 7-64 loads amazingly fast with the SSD vs. a HD. In addition, I installed SWTOR fully on the SSD and zoning is super fast. I am usually always the first person to enter a warzone and just zoning in general.

 

To be honest, I think the I7-2600 is not going to be very noticeably faster (for gaming anyway) than the I5-2500K but feel free to do your own research.

 

 

I'll second this post! Go for the i5-2500K unless you do video editing, folding or other number crunching intensive tasks on a regular basis. The only real difference between the two is the i7 has Hyperthreading which basically turns 4 cores into 8.

 

You'll have no problems running this game with your listed components. I'm currently running the following:

 

i5-2500K @ 4.4Ghz

8GB DDR3-1600

HD5850 @ 825/1150

2x 2TB 7200RPM HDDs (1 - OS/Data, 1 - Backup and Swapfile)

 

You don't need SSDs if you get either 7200 or 10K RPM drives, just make sure to get two drives. Setup one for the OS on a dedicated partition, partition the rest of that drive to be your primary data storage. Setup the second drive to be a backup target and the location of your Windows swapfile. You will get much better performance with your swapfile on another physical drive rather than on the OS drive. A different partition on the same drive won't make a difference.

 

Also, when setting up your system the first time, make sure your BIOS is set to AHCI mode for disk access as opposed to IDE Legacy.

[Seifz]

I'll second this post! Go for the i5-2500K unless you do video editing, folding or other number crunching intensive tasks on a regular basis. The only real difference between the two is the i7 has Hyperthreading which basically turns 4 cores into 8.

 

Hyper Threading is awesome. It might not matter too much for SW:TOR, but I'd imagine that the OP will use his computer for other tasks, too. Besides, SW:TOR can use four cores. If you only have four cores, then SW:TOR will use all of them and anything else running simultaneously will be competing for resources. Boo to that!

 

2x 2TB 7200RPM HDDs (1 - OS/Data, 1 - Backup and Swapfile)

 

You don't need SSDs if you get either 7200 or 10K RPM drives, just make sure to get two drives. Setup one for the OS on a dedicated partition, partition the rest of that drive to be your primary data storage. Setup the second drive to be a backup target and the location of your Windows swapfile. You will get much better performance with your swapfile on another physical drive rather than on the OS drive. A different partition on the same drive won't make a difference.

 

Also, when setting up your system the first time, make sure your BIOS is set to AHCI mode for disk access as opposed to IDE Legacy.

 

You use an entire drive for the swapfile and backup? Really? Just turn off the swapfile. You really don't need it with 8GB (or 16GB) of memory. I haven't used a swapfile in at least four years, now.

 

Anyway, the multi-disk idea is overall a good one. Normally, I'd say that SDDs are a waste of money, but HDDs are expensive right now (thanks, floods!), so SDDs are more competitive. It might not be a bad idea to get a decently-sized one (128GB) for your OS and games. Then, you could just buy a single 2TB HDD for data, etc.

 

I did something a bit different. My motherboard supports RAID5, so I just bought three 1TB disks (this was about three years ago!) and stuck them into a RAID5 configuration. Intel Storage Matrix isn't as good as a dedicated RAID controller, but it's actually pretty awesome. My disk read times are similar to a SSD and I got more storage space for less money.

[PostalTwinkie]

To be honest, I think the I7-2600 is not going to be very noticeably faster (for gaming anyway) than the I5-2500K but feel free to do your own research.

 

It really isn't. The only time the i7, with its hyper-threading, would be an advantage is if you have a massive number of other processes running. Say while gaming you are encoding/decoding a movie, which I don't know many people who do anything other than game when gaming.

 

From a pure gaming aspect, the Core i5 is the way to go, save the few bucks as it will keep up with the i7 no problem. Again, this changes if you are HEAVILY multitasking while trying to game.....

 

As for other input....

 

I just built another system for my brother in-law that utilizes the Core i5 2500K with an ASUS P8P67 Pro rev. 3.1 motherboard, and 8GB of Mushkin Enhanced Red Line. On air I have him sitting at 4.37Ghz. Once again the Core i5 shows through with how amazing it is for the money.

[Anzel]

I only have a dual core processor in my current rig and the game runs fine. Adding memory (8 GB) helped a bit but going for a bigger Video Card made all the difference in the world.

 

I regularly see my processor spike up to 80 or even over 90% but with the new video card I can play with everything turned up. Even on PTS.

 

I have a nVIDIA GTX 570. Best $300 I ever spent

 

Keep an eye on this site for good comparisons of high end video cards:

 

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

[Jett-Rinn]

These are my specs

 

CPU TYPE:

AMD FX-8120 Eight-Core Processor

CPU SPEED:

3.16 GHz

SYSTEM MEMORY:

16.00 GB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 superclocked

VIDEO CARD MEMORY:

4.00 GB

 

Play the game on high settings zero lag no matter where am at.

 

I added a ASUS VG Series VG278H Black 27" HDMI Widescreen Monitor with a built in 3D emitter The system runs rings around anything Digital Storm or Alienware produces and I did it for under 2K

Edited March 20, 2012 by Jett-Rinn

[PostalTwinkie]

I only have a dual core processor in my current rig and the game runs fine. Adding memory (8 GB) helped a bit but going for a bigger Video Card made all the difference in the world.

 

I regularly see my processor spike up to 80 or even over 90% but with the new video card I can play with everything turned up. Even on PTS.

 

I have a nVIDIA GTX 570. Best $300 I ever spent

 

Keep an eye on this site for good comparisons of high end video cards:

 

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

As far as dual core processors go, the Core i3 is a steal at just over $100 and games very well.

[Valkirus]

Hi

 

I've never done it before but i'm looking at building my own computer for playing swtor, my current computer is quite outdated now.

 

Current spec i was looking at is:

 

asus p8zg8-v/gen3 motherboard

intel core i7 2600 3.4GHz 8MB Cache

Nvidia GTX 560 ti 2GB DDR5

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

 

Would this be enough?

 

Those sound really good OP. I would go with the i7 2600, true no game use the Hyper Threading it has, but who can say they will not a couple years down the road?

 

My system is not a super computer, i7 2600, 10 GB ram and a Radeon 6850 and I run the game with max settings fine.

[Mandrath]

Hyper Threading is awesome. It might not matter too much for SW:TOR, but I'd imagine that the OP will use his computer for other tasks, too. Besides, SW:TOR can use four cores. If you only have four cores, then SW:TOR will use all of them and anything else running simultaneously will be competing for resources. Boo to that!

 

 

 

You use an entire drive for the swapfile and backup? Really? Just turn off the swapfile. You really don't need it with 8GB (or 16GB) of memory. I haven't used a swapfile in at least four years, now.

 

Anyway, the multi-disk idea is overall a good one. Normally, I'd say that SDDs are a waste of money, but HDDs are expensive right now (thanks, floods!), so SDDs are more competitive. It might not be a bad idea to get a decently-sized one (128GB) for your OS and games. Then, you could just buy a single 2TB HDD for data, etc.

 

I did something a bit different. My motherboard supports RAID5, so I just bought three 1TB disks (this was about three years ago!) and stuck them into a RAID5 configuration. Intel Storage Matrix isn't as good as a dedicated RAID controller, but it's actually pretty awesome. My disk read times are similar to a SSD and I got more storage space for less money.

 

Yes, I use an entire 2TB drive for backup, I have a lot of ripped DVDs for streaming and don't want to lose them! As for the swapfile, I realize you don't really need it anymore, but the OS enables one by default. It's usually easier to get people to move it than to convince them they don't need it. I still run one out of habit.

 

As for the i5 vs i7 debate, yeah Hyperthreading might be awesome for some tasks, but I don't see a difference. I run three VMs in the background and game on SW:TOR with graphics on High. Of course, I'm running at 4.4GHz which helps.

[Darth_Gao_Gao]

yeah you should upgrade your computer so you can take full advantage of the terrible AA the game has. it's awesome.

[iconchrono]

I just completed a system last night built specifically for ToR on a budget and I was blown away honestly.

 

Normally I aim for framerates in the 30-40fps range, and for as long as it's been around I've always disabled both shadows and Anti-aliasing in every game I play. However, this systrm is the first one I've ever managec to build on a budget that I can run with both shadows AND anti-aliasing, and not only that I'm never dipping below 50fps, and generally average 70-75fps at 1920x1080!!!

 

I realize to many that may not be a big deal, but I don't exactly make alot of money so this is a really big deal and a first for me, lol.

 

Here's what I built:

AMD Phenom 2 X4 955

Galaxy GeForce GTX 570 1.25gb

8Gb Corsair DDR3 (2X4gb dual channel) w/ 9-9-9-24 timings at 1600mhz

Cheap 1tb 7200 rpm hard-drive

Cheap Antec Earth power 650w power supply

 

Also I should mention that the only thing overclocked was the ram (in order to use ddr3 ram above 1333mhz you technically are overclocking, but I simply used the stats the ram was tested at, nothing more)

 

Total cost of the system for an average American shopping for deals/online should be about$600-700 not including peripherals, monitor, or case.

 

Also the hard-drive was about half-full, it's never been defragmented, BUT I was running on a clean install of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and on my 2 other systems Windows 8 CP has given me an average gain of about 7fps over Windows 7.

[Gingermobile]

Sorry forgot to add, i've already bought a HDD that was 2TB SATA III 7200RPM. I got my ram for 30 pounds so with the motherboard having quad channel memory i may as well up it to 16gb ram while it's not breaking the bank.

 

I'm not very experienced with all of the business on processors but i want to make sure that if i'm spending as much as I intend, the computer will be relatively good over time.

 

Is the graphics card ok enough? Does anyone have recommendations on alternatives? That particular one i originally posted is a little bit expensive...

 

At the moment i've been playing the game on my TV in my room, its a samsung 40" UE40D5520, just so you have all info on what i'm working with.

 

p.s. ty for all the quick responses

Edited March 20, 2012 by Gingermobile

[JaggedOne]

I had a Digital Storm system built last Nov. specifically to play SWToR. My system has an i2600K, 8 gigs RAM, HD 6950 vid, and a single 1 TB HDD (this was before the flood affected price and availability). I play on a Dell 23.5" UltraSharp monitor. I get 110 FPS most of the time, it does drop to 55-75 in the Fleet but still eminently playable, and I don't suffer from any of the *alleged* mouse lag.

 

I am totally happy with this system. I declined to go with an SSD to keep the overall price down, but with the impact of the flood on HDD price and availability, you might wanna give SSDs some thought now.

 

Also, although Ivy Bridge is supposed to "launch" this week, it will not actually be available until May (April 29, so they say), and no one in their right mind would buy a newly-released CPU (or OS, for that matter), so Sandy Bridge is the only CPU choice for the present IMO. The i2600K is the way to go, again IMO, the extra hundred bucks or so is money well spent, and it is easily OC'able (DSO bumped mine from 3.4 to 4.2 gHz for free, and they will go to 4.8 for $49, and warrant the system). Since AMD can't come close to the Sandy Bridge CPUs in price/performance ratio, they are pretty much only used by Intel haters nowadays.

[Chelict]

Hi

 

I've never done it before but i'm looking at building my own computer for playing swtor, my current computer is quite outdated now.

 

Current spec i was looking at is:

 

asus p8zg8-v/gen3 motherboard

intel core i7 2600 3.4GHz 8MB Cache

Nvidia GTX 560 ti 2GB DDR5

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

 

Would this be enough?

 

This is almost exactly what I have, except I have the i7 2600k. (The K skus are unlocked multipliers, which allow you to overclock them). Personally, I only got the 2600k because I got a STEAL on it from Intel - only $105 !!! Save yourself some money and go with the i5 2500k - which you can still overclock to about 4.7Ghz easily. I play on all high resolution, with verticle sync enabled, at a constant 60 fps. The human eye can only see about 30 fps anyway .

 

MAKE SURE you get the 2nd Gen GTX 560ti - it has a bigger data bus, and 448 cores instead of 348. Basically, it will perform the same as the GTX 570, just cheaper. Here is a link to the card im talking about - CLICK.

 

That's an extremely good motherboard, except you most likeley won't take advantage of the SSD cache and DEFINETLY not the onboard video output. Just as another option, check out the Asus P67 Sabertooth. The board you have chosen is fine, this is just another option for you.

 

The ram is perfect. Leave it at what its at. Corsair is a great brand, 1600Mhz seems to be the sweet spot for speed, unless you are going to go WAY overclocking the CPU. 8 GB is PLENTY! Unless you are running like 6+ VMs while playing.

 

Just in case you are looking into getting a solid state drive, some SSD's will NOT increase gaming load times. If you do want an SSD to make the game run faster, check out the Crucial M4 which was practically meant for game load times.

 

Cases are a very important part of a new build, the airflow must be adequate for all of this powerfull equipment. You don't have to go extreme, but check out the Cooler Master HAF X. Or if you want something cheaper, NZXT makes great cases, too.

 

If theres anything else you want to know / need help on, PM me. I'm always more than happy to help

 

EDIT- Keep in mind, frame rate depends on the MONITOR you are using as well. I get 60fps because I have a monitor that refreshes at 60hz - so I have maxxed out its capacity. Using my TV (120hz) - I can cap about 75fps.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Chelict

[Zarrot]

I'm using that card with an older quad core and 4 GB RAM and I run the game full out without an issue. Edited March 20, 2012 by Zarrot

[Orizuru]

I would recommend reading this article and few others like it around the net before choosing an AMD cpu. They will continue to provide cpus for desktops, but don't expect them to even try to come close to an intel chip performance-wise. Sandy Bridge has nearly pushed them completely off the map. Anyone who builds around an AMD chipset could end up having to deal with dated technology that will continually be a few years behind the competition for quality and performance.

 

http://flyingsuicide.net/news/amd-no-longer-competing-with-intel/

[Gingermobile]

Wow! I've been pricing up the i7 2600k and its £200

 

Any links to good hardware suppliers would be brilliant too, preferably UK ones so i know it'll actually get to me

 

I'm currently looking on scan.co.uk as they have a store near to me and i don't get delivery charges every penny counts.

[Xneco]

i5 2500 is more then enough to play SWTOR at max settings...

[iconchrono]

As an aside' CAS latency, timing, and reliability of your RAM are VERY important, the importance can't be understated really, and unfortunately very few people realize it.

 

Generally the lower the timing numbers (these are the 9-9-9-24 in my post above) are better. CAS latency should be no higher than 9 for gaming performance, if you can find reliable CAS 7 for a good price jump on it, and I've never seen lower than 5, just to help give you a bit of a sense of scale.

 

Also don't forget when using DDR3 above 1333 mhz, you generally have to manually set the appropriate RAM speed in the BIOS yourself, or else it will default to an underclocked state of 1333mhz or even 1066mhz depending on motherboard.

[PostalTwinkie]

I would recommend reading this article and few others like it around the net before choosing an AMD cpu. They will continue to provide cpus for desktops, but don't expect them to even try to come close to an intel chip performance-wise. Sandy Bridge has nearly pushed them completely off the map. Anyone who builds around an AMD chipset could end up having to deal with dated technology that will continually be a few years behind the competition for quality and performance.

 

http://flyingsuicide.net/news/amd-no-longer-competing-with-intel/

 

This wasn't surprising after Bulldozer, and really after the last couple of years of what we have seen from AMD. While they still are great in that "budget" segment, they really can't compete on any other level with Intel.

[Gingermobile]

Seems like the i5 2500k is the better option for me, thats a good £70 saving on the initial pricing.

 

Cheers

[iconchrono]

I would recommend reading this article and few others like it around the net before choosing an AMD cpu. They will continue to provide cpus for desktops, but don't expect them to even try to come close to an intel chip performance-wise. Sandy Bridge has nearly pushed them completely off the map. Anyone who builds around an AMD chipset could end up having to deal with dated technology that will continually be a few years behind the competition for quality and performance.

 

http://flyingsuicide.net/news/amd-no-longer-competing-with-intel/

 

This article is completely backwards, outdated and incorre t. Intel has now stated they are no longer focused on being performance leaders, instead they believe power efficiency will be the most important factor to focus on for the future. This information is all over the internet, here's some good reading with lots of supporting links to clickk through

 

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2226019

 

Also, according to the latest market data and financial reports within the last couple weeks, AMD is again taking market share from Intel in the desktop PC market.

 

Not a fanboy of either, just trying to correct misinformation is all, I reccomend taking my post with a grain of salt and do your own research

[Gingermobile]

So updated spec

 

motherboard still up in the air for now...

intel i5 2500k quad core 3.3ghz processor

2tb sata III 7200rpm hdd (already bought)

8gb (2x4gb) corsair vengeance 1600Mhz ram (already bought)

nvidia gtx 560 ti

 

what kind of psu am i going to need for all this?

[PostalTwinkie]

So updated spec

 

motherboard still up in the air for now...

intel i5 2500k quad core 3.3ghz processor

2tb sata III 7200rpm hdd (already bought)

8gb (2x4gb) corsair vengeance 1600Mhz ram (already bought)

nvidia gtx 560 ti

 

what kind of psu am i going to need for all this?

 

I highly recommend the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe or Pro revision 3.1 ASUS worked very closely with Intel to develop the board and features to run optimally with the Core i3/5/7 processors.

 

Power supply wise, I would recommend something between 600W and 800W, don't need to go any more than that. Antec, OCZ, XFX, and Corsair are all good solid brands.