Computer is really slow, need advice!

[triflindrew]

Hey, I have an Acer Aspire laptop. I'm not expecting much but it is running slow with everything as low as it goes or off.

I have an Intel i5-480m. Intel HD graphics. 4GB DD3 memory. 640 GB HDD. Is there anything that I can do to improve the quality of gameplay? Thanks

[Sacrmeno]

Try putting it on the lowest graphics setting, and try directly connecting it to the router. It won't have normal connection speed but should be playable. It will be super laggy in warzones, and open world. But should be decent in normal PvE. I also have a very slow computer, but I make due. Edited August 19, 2012 by Sacrmeno

[Skodan]

Go to the Windows Task Manager

Click the Processes tab

Click the button "Show Processes from all users" near the bottom left (if its there)

right click the two swtor.exe processes

slide over the "Set Priority"

Change to "realtime", "high", or "above normal"

 

 

i set mine at realtime. this has to be done everytime the game starts, but its well worth the 30 secs of changing the priorities

[mathisk]

Make sure that Windows has its power settings set to "High Performance" or else the computer probably won't be running with the CPU at full speed. (lower power settings let Windows reduce clock speed to reduce the power usage and increase battery life). Also make sure you have the computer plugged into AC power when playing games.

 

After that, the Intel HD graphics chipset is going to be a major bottleneck. That chipset isn't designed for gaming graphics, so it doesn't support a lot of the DirectX features natively. That means the CPU has to emulate them in software, which severely slows things down. It wasn't until the HD 4000 series, that Intel started incorporating more graphics features.

[triflindrew]

Thanks for the advice, I will try what you guys said

[Gidrea]

When you're turning your graphics down low, be sure you turn off shadows completely, uncheck Bloom and Conversation Depth of Field,. Turn down the Grass Quality and Tree Quality sliders, and set your Visible Character Limit to Low.

[anthemambient]

When you're turning your graphics down low, be sure you turn off shadows completely, uncheck Bloom and Conversation Depth of Field,. Turn down the Grass Quality and Tree Quality sliders, and set your Visible Character Limit to Low.

 

Shadows plays a huge factor!

[bahdasz]

Probably key above all else is turn off everything that's running in the background that you don't need. My friend was crying about his "hot machine" being slow and when he went into task manager he had like 50 processes and 15 applications running in the background. When you're playing this game on an old or low-grade computer all you need running is the stuff that keeps windows alive, your anti-virus, your video card drivers, any control pad drivers (if you choose to run a pad) and the game. That's it. 1 app, about a dozen processes, that's it. The more stuff sucking on your processor the worse it will be.

 

This game is a resource HOG, you have to feed it, don't be wasting memory on anything you don't have to. Even on a good gaming machine this game will lag if you run a ton of stuff in the background. Get in your start menu and start turning all the stupid unnecessary stuff off.

[Skodan]

My friend was crying about his "hot machine" being slow and when he went into task manager he had like 50 processes and 15 applications running in the background. When you're playing this game on an old or low-grade computer all you need running is the stuff that keeps windows alive, your anti-virus, your video card drivers, any control pad drivers (if you choose to run a pad) and the game. That's it. 1 app, about a dozen processes, that's it. .

 

i think the thing is most people dont know what can be turned off and what needs to be left alone, like me i dont want to end a process because im unsure if it will screw up my game.

 

here is a screenshot of all my processes, would you mind helping me and telling me which ones i can take out, because when i see it im all