New computer help

[LegoUniverseBC]

Hi all.

So I started playing SWTOR when it came out. Ever since then my gameplay has been laggy when I play now it looks like a slideshow (No joke), So here is where I need help: i'm looking to buy a new computer in the 1000-1200$ range and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on any good quality PCs to run SWTOR.

 

Any tips would be appreciated!

 

 

Thanks.

[Joesixxpack]

I do my own so dunno about PC brands lately, but some basic specs that run it well:

 

- Win 7 64 bit

- Intel i5 CPU or i7 (you don't need i7 features for the game itself though)

- 8 GB DDR3 Ram

- SSD is nice for load times, not necessary though.

- Graphics cards, can say the GTX 660 ti runs nice, I use EVGA brand.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Joesixxpack

[Malastare]

For $1200, the best you'll get is to build a desktop for yourself. Of course, that's not a simple task for someone who hasn't done it before, and there are loads of things that trip up even those people who have (Tip: Never go cheap on PSUs). If you want advice on building a system, then ask for that specifically. There are some people who can help you here. Better yet: Go to one of the reputable builder forums (I prefer AnandTech, Some people like Tom's Hardware, just don't let the kiddies there convince you that you need water cooling).

 

If you're not building, then you need to be more specific about what you want. $1200 will get you a mid-level gaming laptop or a decent (but somewhat haphazard) desktop that will handle SWTOR rather well.

 

Some vague pieces of advice:

• Alienware is a bad choice if you care about price. Expect any Alienware product to cost 20-40% more than other systems with the same performance. Its only worth it for the styling.
  
• Gaming laptops run hot. Dell and HP make decent systems, but their "gaming" and "entertainment" laptops generally don't have sufficient cooling systems. Heat will kill performance and reliability.
  
• Don't assume you can do a video card upgrade on any desktop you buy. If that's your plan, shop for a desktop that you know will support it.
  
• Sites like Cyberpower will help you build a desktop, however, you need to pay attention to the parts they use. They have a tendency to sell you bargain-quality parts when the brands aren't specified. Bargain-quality parts aren't what you want for a gaming PC.
  
• No, you don't need an SSD. Yes, they're nice. No, you don't need one. In most cases, you don't even need a 7200rpm hard drive, but few people will go through the effort to optimize a 5400rpm drive.
  
• More RAM is better. 4GB is a poor choice. 8GB is better. 16GB means you'll never worry again.
  
• SLI/Crossfire isn't worth the hassle. In some games, maybe. In SWTOR, No. Two cards means twice the heat, twice the power, and twice the chances of random failure. And in most games, SLI/Crossfire is much more likely to trip across graphical bugs than single cards.
  
• Water cooling is a waste of money. Yes, it works well. But current-generation hardware simply doesn't need it. A $120 water cooling setup runs just as well as a $20 heatsink and fan. In laptops it's even less useful.
  
• Yes, you should care what power supply you're using.
  
• A laptop that cools primarily by bottom-vents isn't a great choice for gaming.
  
• Whatever you do, buy a computer that you like.
  

[LegoUniverseBC]

For $1200, the best you'll get is to build a desktop for yourself. Of course, that's not a simple task for someone who hasn't done it before, and there are loads of things that trip up even those people who have (Tip: Never go cheap on PSUs). If you want advice on building a system, then ask for that specifically. There are some people who can help you here. Better yet: Go to one of the reputable builder forums (I prefer AnandTech, Some people like Tom's Hardware, just don't let the kiddies there convince you that you need water cooling).

 

If you're not building, then you need to be more specific about what you want. $1200 will get you a mid-level gaming laptop or a decent (but somewhat haphazard) desktop that will handle SWTOR rather well.

 

Some vague pieces of advice:

• Alienware is a bad choice if you care about price. Expect any Alienware product to cost 20-40% more than other systems with the same performance. Its only worth it for the styling.
  
• Gaming laptops run hot. Dell and HP make decent systems, but their "gaming" and "entertainment" laptops generally don't have sufficient cooling systems. Heat will kill performance and reliability.
  
• Don't assume you can do a video card upgrade on any desktop you buy. If that's your plan, shop for a desktop that you know will support it.
  
• Sites like Cyberpower will help you build a desktop, however, you need to pay attention to the parts they use. They have a tendency to sell you bargain-quality parts when the brands aren't specified. Bargain-quality parts aren't what you want for a gaming PC.
  
• No, you don't need an SSD. Yes, they're nice. No, you don't need one. In most cases, you don't even need a 7200rpm hard drive, but few people will go through the effort to optimize a 5400rpm drive.
  
• More RAM is better. 4GB is a poor choice. 8GB is better. 16GB means you'll never worry again.
  
• SLI/Crossfire isn't worth the hassle. In some games, maybe. In SWTOR, No. Two cards means twice the heat, twice the power, and twice the chances of random failure. And in most games, SLI/Crossfire is much more likely to trip across graphical bugs than single cards.
  
• Water cooling is a waste of money. Yes, it works well. But current-generation hardware simply doesn't need it. A $120 water cooling setup runs just as well as a $20 heatsink and fan. In laptops it's even less useful.
  
• Yes, you should care what power supply you're using.
  
• A laptop that cools primarily by bottom-vents isn't a great choice for gaming.
  
• Whatever you do, buy a computer that you like.
  

 

Wow. Thanks a lot!

The only problem I am having is i'm worried that if I choose the wrong computer and it doesn't run SWTOR well I will waste 1,000-1,200$. But thanks for the tips, with those I am sure I can find a quality computer.

[Joesixxpack]

Wow. Thanks a lot!

The only problem I am having is i'm worried that if I choose the wrong computer and it doesn't run SWTOR well I will waste 1,000-1,200$. But thanks for the tips, with those I am sure I can find a quality computer.

 

I suggest noting what individual components are in an off-the-shelf computer that catches your eye then looking them up on the interwebz for info. on reliability, performance, etc. before buying. Basically to help avoid what you said about wasting $$.

 

I've seen pre-built computers on websites or in stores with nice graphics cards and lights, screaming processors, and so forth in them to get buyer attention but other important stuff like the motherboard and power supply are cheap junk.

[Malastare]

I've seen pre-built computers on websites or in stores with nice graphics cards and lights, screaming processors, and so forth in them to get buyer attention but other important stuff like the motherboard and power supply are cheap junk.

 

This is, sadly, the general case with most pre-built systems. CPUs and video cards sell systems, so they show off their huge CPU/GPU numbers, and then give you crappy motherboards and PSUs to keep their profit margin in place and the price below what builders are using. Yes, this even applies to Dell and HP. Some of their systems are fine or even good, but some of them use trashy parts to keep prices down. And since Alienware is just re-branded Dell with bells and whistles, they're not immune to the same criticism.

[Lowyjowylof]

If you can build you own, if not I definitely would recommend Cyberpower. I bought my first gaming rig through them before I started building my own and they have quality service. I did have a meltdown and they went good for everything but shipping the Computer to them.

 

My GFs comp I built 1.5 years ago runs SWTOR flawlessly and I don't think I quite spent $1000. It has:

 

i3 2100 3.1GHZ 3MB Cache

GSkill 8GB DDR3 1333 Ram

Gigabyte Z68 Mobo

EVGA Nvdia GTX 460

Seagate 1TB 7200RPM HDD

Ultra 750W Modular PSU

 

Core Component Brands I'd recommend

MOBO: ASUS, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte

RAM: GSKILL, Corsair, Crucial, or Kingston

Vid Card: EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI

HDD: WD or Seagate (SSD: Crucial)

PSU: Corsair, Ultra, Rosewill, Thermaltake (Like the above posts, don't skimp here look for 80 Plus Gold or Platinum.)

 

The last thing I'd recommend is make sure your case can breathe. Good air flow can be the difference in parts lasting a year for 5 years.

[Malastare]

If you can build you own, if not I definitely would recommend Cyberpower. I bought my first gaming rig through them before I started building my own and they have quality service. I did have a meltdown and they went good for everything but shipping the Computer to them.

 

Er... it was great except for that total system failure?

 

My GFs comp I built 1.5 years ago runs SWTOR flawlessly and I don't think I quite spent $1000. It has:

 

i3 2100 3.1GHZ 3MB Cache

GSkill 8GB DDR3 1333 Ram

Gigabyte Z68 Mobo

EVGA Nvdia GTX 460

Seagate 1TB 7200RPM HDD

Ultra 750W Modular PSU

 

See, that is exactly the problem I'm talking about. That's a pretty good build, except for that PSU. There are some different varieties of the Ultra 750, but the most popular one I've seen, the Ultra X2 Extreme is a seriously questionable PSU, and I wouldn't use it for gaming. It is cheap though, and Cyberpower likes suggesting cheap PSUs.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Malastare

[JetAten]

Your targets should be GPU, CPU and RAM. This game is a resource pig.

[hOttFuzzz]

I had about the same budget and I'm not pc savy to put one together, so I bought my pc, 2gig graphics evga and a 800 watt power supply and had best buy put it together and I must say I'm very satisfied with it. I was very skeptical about buying a cyber pc or any kind of custom pc. Very glad I took this route. Good luck.

[hOttFuzzz]

I had about the same budget and I'm not pc savy to put one together, so I bought my pc, 2gig graphics evga and a 800 watt power supply and had best buy put it together and I must say I'm very satisfied with it. I was very skeptical about buying a cyber pc or any kind of custom pc. Very glad I took this route. Good luck.

[Malastare]

Your targets should be GPU, CPU and RAM. This game is a resource pig.

 

No more than any other MMO. Unlike shooters, MMOs stresh GPUs and CPUs, and the complexity/number of other actors means that it hits RAM pretty hard, too. And while people don't usually think about it, shooters tend to hide their lack of visual complexity with various GPU-driven tricks that MMOs generally can't use.

 

Many "expert" gamers are unable to properly analyze the hardware needs of a particular game, so they assume all games are essentially the same, and any game that stresses a different part of the system is inefficient, broken, or "a pig".

[Knockerz]

I built a water cooled computer last summer and let me tell you this. MMORPG don't really use much of gpu so don't be like me and buy the best single gpu, then realize your needs hardly utilize the gpu. However, it's nice having the option to play any game you want at high or better resolution.

 

I would go some thing like this:

 

8gb ram mmorpg are big ram hogs

ssd at least 120gb this is only good for like 1 or two games at most

650 watt power supply for a single gpu and cpu you don't really need more than this

~130-150$ motherboard boards in this range have overclocking capabilities, cheaper ones might not

~ 250-300$ gpu gpu in this range are really good, just not the very best, dependent on resolution

~ i5 processor, don't need the i7 for gaming

case you can probably get by with you existing case or buy a new one

windows 7 get the 64 bit one

gpu heat sink: This will depend on your case. If it's too small you won't be able to use the large air cooled heat sinks. Enermax ETS-T40-TB CPU Cooler or MASSCOOL 9T370B1M3 70mm Ball CPU Cooler are small heat sinks, which don't cost a lot ~30 and 20 respectively. Large air cooled heat sinks are Noctua NH-D14, which is very effective, but are huge and cost around 80.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Knockerz

[TeganKing]

Should run you about 1200 bucks and swtor will run like a gem, you can go with a cheaper mouse/keyboard to bring the price down, but I wouldn't

 

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4 GHz Quad-Core (OCed to 3.614 GHz) ($100)

M5A99FX PRO R2.0 w/ AMD® 990FX Chipset ($100)

Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR3 1866 MHz (PC3 15000) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ($100)

EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SIGNATURE2 2048MB GDDR5 ($250)

Creative Sound Blaster Z SBX PCIE Gaming Sound Card ($100)

Corsair Force GT 120 GB SATA III/6G 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive ($100)

Western Digital WD Green WD20EADS 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 6 Gb/s ($100)

SAMSUNG T220 Rose-Black 22" 2ms GTG Touch of Color ($150)

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard ($100)

Razer Star Wars The Old Republic Gaming Mouse ($100)

 

+ Tower of your choice ($100+)

Edited June 17, 2013 by TeganKing

[Malastare]

I had about the same budget and I'm not pc savy to put one together, so I bought my pc, 2gig graphics evga and a 800 watt power supply and had best buy put it together and I must say I'm very satisfied with it. I was very skeptical about buying a cyber pc or any kind of custom pc. Very glad I took this route. Good luck.

 

I'm glad that you're pleased with your PC, but for anyone else interested in this topic, I'd rate Best Buy assembled systems as a notch (or two) below CyberPower. In general, Best Buy sells pretty low quality power supplies (The wattage says nothing about quality). The only power supplies I'd use for any build are the Corsairs some of them claim to stock... and all of those are overpriced.

[Malastare]

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4 GHz Quad-Core (OCed to 3.614 GHz) ($100)

M5A99FX PRO R2.0 w/ AMD® 990FX Chipset ($100)

Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR3 1866 MHz (PC3 15000) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ($100)

EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SIGNATURE2 2048MB GDDR5 ($250)

Creative Sound Blaster Z SBX PCIE Gaming Sound Card ($100)

Corsair Force GT 60 GB SATA III/6G 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive ($100)

Western Digital WD Green WD20EADS 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 6 Gb/s ($100)

SAMSUNG T220 Rose-Black 22" 2ms GTG Touch of Color ($150)

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard ($100)

Razer Star Wars The Old Republic Gaming Mouse ($100)

 

+ Tower of your choice ($100+)

 

That's $1300 and you forgot the power supply.

 

Of course, $100 for a sound card is a bit silly unless you're an audiophile. And the Keyboard/Mouse combo is overpriced. And the SSD is unnecessary. And normally the price of a monitor isn't part of the budget because its assumed you'll use the existing one.

 

But then again, I wouldn't suggest the 965 for a CPU-intense game like this. I'd ditch the razer gear for reasonably priced stuff (save $100) and buy an actual PSU for the build. I'd take the monitor out of the budget and put the case in. Drop the SSD and the 965, replace it with an Ivy Bridge i5. All the SSD gives you is slightly faster load times, while the i5 will give you smoother play all the time. And the M5A99FX is more like $140, but the ASUS P8H77-V is $100 and has everything you'd need. Then, we drop the $100 sound card and use a Xonar for $50.

 

And drop the silly overclocked RAM (which actually costs $160) and get just 8GB of DDR3-1600 (which actually costs $70). SWTOR will never use the 8GB (I know... I've watched). The improvement from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-1866 is somewhere around 1-2%. And for that, you double or triple your chance at having memory-related failures... if your motherboard even decides to run them at 1866.

[GadgetDon]

I was playing another MMO (that was brutally murdered by its publisher hell yes I'm bitter AtlasPark33 forever) and upgraded my computer for it. I got a Dell XPS 8500 with I5 processor and Nvidea GT 640 video card (one of the options). Been using it for SWTOR and it runs great.

[morfius]

This game overload CPU in populated areas, GPU overload can be handled with graphics lowering/tuning but CPU overload cannot... delays in load screens or animations comes from HDD transfer.

 

Forget about new AMD CPUs ... my old Core Duo on 3.1 give better performance on fleet than last AMD ones.

 

Core i5 - fastest one you could buy.

At least middle ground Mainboard

8 GB RAM (more could be better for other purposes or running game files from RAM drive).

Nvidia 670 and above if you want all details on high.

At least real 700 W PSU

 

SSD is optional - reduce delay in loading.

Edited June 18, 2013 by morfius

[Lowyjowylof]

Er... it was great except for that total system failure?

 

 

 

See, that is exactly the problem I'm talking about. That's a pretty good build, except for that PSU. There are some different varieties of the Ultra 750, but the most popular one I've seen, the Ultra X2 Extreme is a seriously questionable PSU, and I wouldn't use it for gaming. It is cheap though, and Cyberpower likes suggesting cheap PSUs.

 

The system failure was because the corsair X50 took a dump and everything overheated...and the Ultra is a X4, which is the system I built, not Cyberpower. It's the third Ultra I've used in Machines and never had a problem. Only thing is it's 80 Bronze not gold or platinum.

 

The whole X50 mess was why I got smart on comps and learned to build my own. BTW, WC isn't overrated, if you got the time to keep it maintained. But you need a real loop, not the no maintenance stuff out there. Your system will run 20-25 degrees Celsius cooler than air while not sounding like an airplane.

 

Cyberpower's customer service was fantastic, for me at least, which is why I recommend them if having a computer built.

[Malastare]

Forget about new AMD CPUs ... my old Core Duo on 3.1 give better performance on fleet than last AMD ones.

 

I wouldn't be that harsh, but its not really untrue. SWTOR really only hits one or two cores hard, so performance is mostly dictated by the raw single core performance. The Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPUs, with their on-chip memory controllers, handily outperform any of the AMD cores. Overclocking cannot make up the difference.

 

Core i5 - fastest one you could buy.

 

Doesn't need to be the fastest. Even a Sandy Bridge 2500 is more than sufficient.

 

At least middle ground Mainboard

 

I suppose. You don't need anything special here, but you should never aim to buy a cheap/budget motherboard.

 

8 GB RAM (more could be better for other purposes or running game files from RAM drive).

 

Yup. Just the DDR3-1600, though. Anything more is a waste of money.

 

Nvidia 670 and above if you want all details on high.

 

The 660 Ti will give you full details, with shadows, and extra anti-aliasing support for a lower price. In truth, the 650 or 560 Ti will give you full details.

 

At least real 700 W PSU

 

For what? An i5 with a 660 Ti will pull about 300W from the wall. A 700W PSU is overkill. Get a good quality 500W PSU: Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic are recommended brands that should be easy to find and hard to screw up.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Malastare

[Malastare]

BTW, WC isn't overrated, if you got the time to keep it maintained. But you need a real loop, not the no maintenance stuff out there. Your system will run 20-25 degrees Celsius cooler than air while not sounding like an airplane.

 

WC is overrated, because it requires more maintenance, more cost, more parts, more complexity, and more room and supplies only small benefits these days.

 

Your full-loop water cooling setup likely cost you $100-$150. My air cooling setup cost $60 ($40 heat sink + 2 fans). When fully loaded with stress tests, the CPU hits 62C. The power load required for that is about 0.25A. The sound level is between 26-28dB. Even if you somehow managed to get a full-loop pump and dual-fan setup to put out less than 26dB while keeping the temperature at 40C under a stress test, the result is a little pointless. The noise floor of my living room is at 26-34dB depending on the time of day, and even at 62C, I'm 30 degrees below any chance of thermal throttling. Your low temperatures might be great for bragging, but decent air-cooling is far simpler and more efficient (labor/cost per result), and just as quiet as water cooling.

 

There was a time when water cooling was a good solution for gaming rigs. New high efficiency CPUs and GPUs have pretty much destroyed that. It's still good for showing off and a fun task for hobbyists, but the days of needing water cooling to run a high performance PC are gone.

 

Did I mention that I have my CPU overclocked from 3.8GHz to 4.5GHz? And that my intake fans are spinning at only 800rpm?

[Lowyjowylof]

WC is overrated, because it requires more maintenance, more cost, more parts, more complexity, and more room and supplies only small benefits these days.

 

Your full-loop water cooling setup likely cost you $100-$150. My air cooling setup cost $60 ($40 heat sink + 2 fans). When fully loaded with stress tests, the CPU hits 62C. The power load required for that is about 0.25A. The sound level is between 26-28dB. Even if you somehow managed to get a full-loop pump and dual-fan setup to put out less than 26dB while keeping the temperature at 40C under a stress test, the result is a little pointless. The noise floor of my living room is at 26-34dB depending on the time of day, and even at 62C, I'm 30 degrees below any chance of thermal throttling. Your low temperatures might be great for bragging, but decent air-cooling is far simpler and more efficient (labor/cost per result), and just as quiet as water cooling.

 

There was a time when water cooling was a good solution for gaming rigs. New high efficiency CPUs and GPUs have pretty much destroyed that. It's still good for showing off and a fun task for hobbyists, but the days of needing water cooling to run a high performance PC are gone.

 

Did I mention that I have my CPU overclocked from 3.8GHz to 4.5GHz? And that my intake fans are spinning at only 800rpm?

 

Well, I'm guessing you're either using an i7 2600 or an AMD which are 95Wand 100W cpus. Not sure if you're using 1 or 2 or more cards, I'm guessing 1 if you're only using 2 fans. I have the i7 3960x which is a 130W cpu coupled with 2 GTX 580s (@244W TDP). RAM, Northbridge, and Southbridge will add heat too. Under stress, the loop is 45-47 Celsius. That's about 30 degrees Celsius cooler than the cards would operate at if air cooled and about 20 for the CPU. If I set the push fans to 100% they temp drops to about 40 degrees Celsius.

 

The cooler the system, the longer the MTBF generally speaking. If you have a good Full Tower case you have more than enough room to fit the loop inside. Mine consists of a 360MM Rad, dual 5.25 Reservoir with pump attached to the back, 3 120mms pushing and 2x 230s pulling with a 230mm intake and additional 140 in the back, and it all fits inside my HAF-X.

 

WC isn't more complex than air cooling, just higher maintenance. There really aren't that many more pieces because you're essentially swapping fans for water blocks. WC is not recommended if you aren't an enthusiast or can't maintain it yourself. But, it doesn't necessarily make it overrated.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Lowyjowylof

[Knockerz]

WC is overrated, because it requires more maintenance, more cost, more parts, more complexity, and more room and supplies only small benefits these days.

 

Your full-loop water cooling setup likely cost you $100-$150. My air cooling setup cost $60 ($40 heat sink + 2 fans). When fully loaded with stress tests, the CPU hits 62C. The power load required for that is about 0.25A. The sound level is between 26-28dB. Even if you somehow managed to get a full-loop pump and dual-fan setup to put out less than 26dB while keeping the temperature at 40C under a stress test, the result is a little pointless. The noise floor of my living room is at 26-34dB depending on the time of day, and even at 62C, I'm 30 degrees below any chance of thermal throttling. Your low temperatures might be great for bragging, but decent air-cooling is far simpler and more efficient (labor/cost per result), and just as quiet as water cooling.

 

There was a time when water cooling was a good solution for gaming rigs. New high efficiency CPUs and GPUs have pretty much destroyed that. It's still good for showing off and a fun task for hobbyists, but the days of needing water cooling to run a high performance PC are gone.

 

Did I mention that I have my CPU overclocked from 3.8GHz to 4.5GHz? And that my intake fans are spinning at only 800rpm?

 

A water loop won't cost you between 100-200, more like between 200-300. Only way to have a wc system under 200 is if you buy the kits, but that will only work for cpu wc only loop, which is kinda pointless if you don't include the gpu. Thus, a gpu and cpu loop will at least cost you 300, but your looking more in the 400-500 range if you buy individual parts.

[Malastare]

I have the i7 3960x which is a 130W cpu coupled with 2 GTX 580s (@244W TDP).

 

With all of that, water-cooling does start to be a reasonable option, and it would make for a decent argument if there was a strong benefit to wielding that much computational power. 99% of gamers won't see any difference in performance between your system and mine. They'll just see a maxed 60fps frame rate on high detail. Mine will be quieter and have a smaller energy bill. Yours will still be running high-end games in 3 years, while I'm rebuilding mine. MTBF isn't a very good argument, as the MBTF-vs-Temperature curve is not linear. The difference in temperature is very, very unlikely to lower the MBTF to a number below the practical lifetime of the CPU (namely: the time until you decide you want a faster CPU).

 

I didn't say water cooling has no value or no place in building. I simply said its overrated. Specifically: a minority of people believe that it is required to get good performance. That's wrong. It's one way. It gets you the very highest range of performance, at the high end of the price range. For the vast majority of people, it has very little value, as the systems they're building have no need for it and they can spend 30-50% of the price, get performance that is quieter and less power-hungry.

 

The point here is that watercooling should not be suggested as a general cooling solution. It should only be suggested in situations where air cooling has significant drawbacks and the owner of the potential system has the need/expertise to use it.

[morfius]

I wouldn't be that harsh, but its not really untrue. SWTOR really only hits one or two cores hard, so performance is mostly dictated by the raw single core performance. The Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPUs, with their on-chip memory controllers, handily outperform any of the AMD cores. Overclocking cannot make up the difference.

 

Doesn't need to be the fastest. Even a Sandy Bridge 2500 is more than sufficient.

 

I suppose. You don't need anything special here, but you should never aim to buy a cheap/budget motherboard.

 

Yup. Just the DDR3-1600, though. Anything more is a waste of money.

 

The 660 Ti will give you full details, with shadows, and extra anti-aliasing support for a lower price. In truth, the 650 or 560 Ti will give you full details.

 

For what? An i5 with a 660 Ti will pull about 300W from the wall. A 700W PSU is overkill. Get a good quality 500W PSU: Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic are recommended brands that should be easy to find and hard to screw up.

 

Harsh or not, it is a fact ... most of complains of failing in SWTOR handling gaming rigs comes with new AMD CPUs.

Fastest that can be afforded is different from fastest in existing & most issues in this game are CPU bound.

Base 660 and mobile 670 have FPS drops on high shadows in overpopulated areas, not tried with TI versions.