Looking for PC Building Advice

[XMalfymanX]

My rig:

 

8gb ram

i5 3.2 GHz cpu

2x Radeon 5770 HD (only using one for swtor)

 

And I get 40-90 fps at all times, running on ultra, 20 when there are 4 or more people casting force lightning but once they stop its back to 40+. And my GPU sucks ***, especially since I am only using 1 for swtor (running on windowed, xfire won't work with it)

 

I have a guild mate who bought a 10 000€ PC a few years ago, dont remember the exact specs but he had 3x top of the line gpus (few years old but still), monster cpu and I think 32gb ram. And he was playing on low and getting about the same FPS as me. My advice would be to find someone in your guild and ask their rig and their fps, and buy something very similar to that, since having a top of the line PC doesn't work as well as a mediocre PC in some cases.

 

On another note, I don't know what causes it and whether it can be fixed or not, but bioware should really look into this. I can just imagine buying a high end PC for 2000€+ and beeing forced to play on low, even with this crappy engine.

 

Yah that's why I came here to ask. I know people have issues with beast computers but figured you guys could guide me towards a setup that works well with swtor on ultra. If the gfx options are available I'm enticed to max them

 

And thanks everybody for the responses!

[Holocron]

This actually makes laptops an even more viable option!

 

This is the link you are looking for....

[Heat-Wave]

Yah that's why I came here to ask. I know people have issues with beast computers but figured you guys could guide me towards a setup that works well with swtor on ultra. If the gfx options are available I'm enticed to max them

 

And thanks everybody for the responses!

 

Just because someone has a "beast computer" as you put it, doesn't mean it is built or setup correctly.

 

The game does run just fine on decent hardware, better on better hardware, but people build and configure their systems and don't always do it well. Add in to that some people setup Windows and install EVERYTHING they can find, have a ton of crap running in the background, or perhaps are even botted.

 

I have played this game on everything from "mid-range" to "beast-range", and frankly I find it plays just fine (since the lag patch of course.

 

Perhaps some people blaming their computers have other issues besides hardware.

[JojoMagus]

memory-DDR3 1600 (not OC=overclocked)

processor-i5 intel but if planning to buy one in a year or 2 get an i7

Hard Drive-7200 rpm 2gb for US$100 or below should be fine, add a secondary one to back up your important data

Graphics card-if nvidia 700 series should suffice

motherboard-can't say specific but a $150 one should be ok from a well known brand

ps-what ever your graphics say the minimum, double it but if too much go about 300 watts above it

Monitor-24 inch anything higher would cost your dearly (a tv/monitor does not offer amazing color compare to a dedicated monitor)

Memory-8gb is ok but I have 16gb in mine

 

if you need to ask more specific you will find me on stream by GazmanianDevil in twitch, i usually hang around there when she is around.

[XMalfymanX]

Just because someone has a "beast computer" as you put it, doesn't mean it is built or setup correctly.

 

The game does run just fine on decent hardware, better on better hardware, but people build and configure their systems and don't always do it well. Add in to that some people setup Windows and install EVERYTHING they can find, have a ton of crap running in the background, or perhaps are even botted.

 

I have played this game on everything from "mid-range" to "beast-range", and frankly I find it plays just fine (since the lag patch of course.

 

Perhaps some people blaming their computers have other issues besides hardware.

 

Understandable. With that being said, what would YOU suggest off the bat to optimize your setup to run the game better. From basics to any advanced tips. Just figured I could try your suggestions on my current setup.

Thanks

[Malastare]

Mild commentary:

 

memory-DDR3 1600 (not OC=overclocked)

 

If you're getting DDR3, just get the best price you can for anything at 1600 or better. If you get higher speed RAM, it will either be autodetected by your motherboard or will run at 1600. Don't fixate on getting 1600. There are some really good sales on 1866 and 2000, and the chips are just as reliable.

 

processor-i5 intel but if planning to buy one in a year or 2 get an i7

 

Very few games can take advantage of an i7. Even Battlefield 4 doesn't yield a strong advantage with an i7. There may be some point when it becomes useful, but a strong quad-core (i5) is going to be enough to run any game this generation.

 

Unless you are building without a budget, buy an i5 and use the money you saved to buy a better video card.

 

Graphics card-if nvidia 700 series should suffice

 

Don't let yourself be tricked into thinking that 700 > 600. The number you're really interested in is the second digit in the model number. A 780 (Series = 7, Performance = 8) is a gaming card. A 720 (Series 7, Performance = 2) is a card for an office computer that might play some flash games. A 660 Ti is as good (or better) than a 750.

 

motherboard-can't say specific but a $150 one should be ok from a well known brand

 

Unless you have some specific desire, there are a lot of $100 motherboards that are more than sufficient.

 

ps-what ever your graphics say the minimum, double it but if too much go about 300 watts above it

 

No.

 

Graphics cards routinely overstate their needs. A new build with an i7-4790k and a GTX 970 won't need more than a 500W PSU. So long as you don't buy a cheap, trashy PSU, you'll be fine. If you buy an oversized PSU and don't specifically look for one that performs well at the low end of its power range, then you can end up with a much worse PSU than you paid for.

 

Don't buy PSUs that are huge just because "more is better" or "I wanted to be sure". Buy a PSU that is appropriate for your build. Unless you're using SLI/Crossfire, there's virtually no need for you to go higher than 500W. Video card manufacturers give out their advice so that they are legally protected from the idiots who use PSUs that they got as prizes from Cracker-Jack boxes. The actual power requirements are well known, and in almost all cases, far below the recommended PSU size.

[Heat-Wave]

If you're getting DDR3, just get the best price you can for anything at 1600 or better. If you get higher speed RAM, it will either be autodetected by your motherboard or will run at 1600. Don't fixate on getting 1600. There are some really good sales on 1866 and 2000, and the chips are just as reliable.

 

^ Truth... And stick with known brands such as Crucial, G.Skill, Corsair, etc.

 

My main machine has DDR3-2400, rated for it. I don't overclock anymore, I find the price difference to not be worth risk, vs. just buying higher rated stuff. XMP, learn it and love it, set it in the BIOS and move on. XMP is one of the nicest things to happen to memory in years.

 

All my other computers are 1333 or 1600, and they run just as well. Very few programs care about memory timings or speeds, the difference for SWTOR between 1333 and 2400 is almost nothing, where it matters is in moving around large amounts of memory. I have 32GB of memory in my main machine and it isn't for SWTOR, that is not a normal gaming build, it is a work machine that I also game on.

 

Very few games can take advantage of an i7. Even Battlefield 4 doesn't yield a strong advantage with an i7. There may be some point when it becomes useful, but a strong quad-core (i5) is going to be enough to run any game this generation.

 

Unless you are building without a budget, buy an i5 and use the money you saved to buy a better video card.

 

Agree 100%. But it is worth noting that a lot of laptops have dual core i5 CPUs. The recommendation to skip the i7 is on DESKTOPS, not notebooks. I've even seen a few notebooks with Core i7 CPUs that are DUAL CORE, not quad, a terrible decision on Intel's part I think, but it sells machines to the unknowing.

 

A basic quad core Intel chip is fine, usually that is a Core i5 on the desktop. Hyperthreading isn't needed for games today. It might in the future, but by that time, something newer and faster will be out anyway.

 

Don't let yourself be tricked into thinking that 700 > 600. The number you're really interested in is the second digit in the model number. A 780 (Series = 7, Performance = 8) is a gaming card. A 720 (Series 7, Performance = 2) is a card for an office computer that might play some flash games. A 660 Ti is as good (or better) than a 750.

 

nVidia and AMD have sold a LOT of video cards using that very trick, and I think that is a shame, but that's business.

 

For that matter, a lot of cards have been sold just because they say AMD or nVidia on them, and many of their low end cards aren't much better than built in graphics.

[Heat-Wave]

Understandable. With that being said, what would YOU suggest off the bat to optimize your setup to run the game better. From basics to any advanced tips. Just figured I could try your suggestions on my current setup.

Thanks

 

That is a great question...

 

My main machine still runs Windows 7, mostly because I don't like changing a computer unless it really needs it. The lost downtime isn't usually worth the return, so I do fewer, larger upgrades rather than tinker with it. All my other computers are on Windows 8.1, which I have come to like. 8.0 was a mess, but 8.1 fixed much of that headache, but that is another thread. I'll upgrade it to 10 when that comes out.

 

My current computer is about 10 months old, so it has a 10 month old install of Windows 7 on it. I make a point to not install anything that I don't REALLY need, I notice some people just download and install any random program they can find, and that works on an iPad because they are self contained, but on Windows, uninstalling programs rarely removes all of them.

 

I do have a number of things running in the background, anti-virus of course, you'd be crazy to be on the web these days without it. I used to use Norton, but it has been uneven over the years and now I use Microsoft Security Essentials which is free. I run CCleaner once a month or so as well to clean out the log files, temp files, etc. The other stuff running doesn't take much CPU, but it does use memory. I've got two online backup programs running (CrashPlan and BackBlaze), and OneDrive and DropBox as well. Probably 15 icons in my task tray, but none of them use much CPU power.

 

Almost everything is on SSDs these days, so defragging is no longer required. The hard drives I have left are for long term bulk data so they don't tend to get fragmented, but if you do still run Windows on a hard drive, it is worth defragging once a month or so. Use Defraggler, it is free and works just fine (better than Window's built in defrag)

 

---

 

I keep my drivers up to date, but not bleeding edge. I generally wait a few weeks after new drivers come out before installing them, AMD and nVidia have both had some bad releases over the years.

 

Otherwise the system is basically stock. I don't overclock, the only option picked in my BIOS is to move the memory to XMP (otherwise it runs at 1333mhz, the XMP profile puts it at the proper speed).

 

---

 

My system (all stock speeds):

 

Intel Core i7 4770k

ASUS Z97-Pro motherboard

32GB DDR3-2400 RAM

1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD boot drive (SWTOR runs from this)

AMD R9 295x2 GPU

3x 30" Dell monitors running Eyefinity (desktop resolution of 8092x1600)

 

It is rare that my FPS drop below 60fps, usually during raids that are very busy with AOE and effects I'll see 30-40fps, but not for very long.

 

GPU actually is my main limit to more raw performance, the FPS counter in the game is green almost all the time, it normally only drops when the screen gets really busy with stuff, like in raids. So more CPU power would help actually with the dips in performance. Running at 120fps sounds nice, but it is the drops below 60fps that are noticeable, and that is a CPU issue in my case.

 

---

 

Side note: Cooling... people build computers in all kinds of cases and put them in various environments, I imagine that some of the problems people have are thermal in nature, modern CPUs and GPUs will throttle to protect themselves, but don't generally tell you they are doing this.

 

My computer was built using a very large tower case, a Corsair 750D. Most people aren't going to build a computer in that type of case, it simply costs too much, but that is because I want a silent computer and space to do what I want. It has wonderful airflow from 140mm fans (which are quieter than the 120mm versions) and gives me room to put in water cooling for both the CPU and GPU.

 

Corsair 750D case:

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Obsidian-Performance-Tower-CC-9011035-WW/dp/B00EB6O4N8/

 

Corsair Hydro Series H90

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B4OCWDE/

 

^ That is the cooler I use for my CPU. Not because I overclock (I could, I idle at 30c and full load is about 42c), but because I want a quiet computer that makes no noise. Sadly, that is nearly impossible to do for the video card, while the GPUs are liquid cooled, the VRMs on the 295x2 are not, there is still a fan in the center for those and it is the loudest thing in the case, but only when gaming.

 

If you are on a budget, try this:

 

Cooler Master HAF 912

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-HAF-912-Computer/dp/B00BCXF6O4/

 

Pair it with this power supply:

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-80PLUS-Certified-ATX12V-100-W1-0500-KR/dp/B00H33SFJU/

 

And you're off to a good start. Yes, yes, I know, the two of those combined are $100, more than most people want to spend. But you won't have airflow issues in that case, many of the cheaper options will.

 

For example, this option comes with a 450W power supply for $50 total:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-MicroATX-Tower-Computer-FBM-01/dp/B005LIDU5S/

 

But that is a pretty small case, you put a decent CPU and GPU in there without any external cooling and it'll get quite warm in it. Then you put that case under a desk with poor airflow and it gets worse. Add a year's worth of dust, and you end up with posts on forums asking why their "good computer runs like crap", and it may well be thermal throttling.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

^ Truth... And stick with known brands such as Crucial, G.Skill, Corsair, etc.

 

 

I actually really like Kingston ram these days, the more higher end stuff. Runs solidly with good timings, overclocks well and you get it a bit cheaper than the more higher end named stuff.

[Darth_Grissom]

Just built this last week, I made a youtube review on it.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/7gxYcf

 

Here is my youtube review

 

 

i do not dip below 65 FPS anywhere in the game. Hope this helps.

[NineFuries]

This thread has been really good info..keep it comin! Also confirmed for me my decision for a budget gaming PC to get an i5 2500k. The only problem for me now is apparently as I was told on Tom's Hardware that my motherboard cannot overclock so that kinda sucks if I ever wanted to do that.

 

Question, how much of a performance increase would I be looking at in swtor if I OC'd my 2500k to say 4.0-4.2?

 

Other specs being

8g RAM

gtx 480

win 7 64

[JojoMagus]

nice info, though why do you get the feeling i was just trolled. there were numerous question regarding this topic before that I neglected to answer.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

This thread has been really good info..keep it comin! Also confirmed for me my decision for a budget gaming PC to get an i5 2500k. The only problem for me now is apparently as I was told on Tom's Hardware that my motherboard cannot overclock so that kinda sucks if I ever wanted to do that.

 

Question, how much of a performance increase would I be looking at in swtor if I OC'd my 2500k to say 4.0-4.2?

 

Other specs being

8g RAM

gtx 480

win 7 64

 

You'll only ever get as much of a boost up to your next bottleneck which in your case is your gpu.

So in that case you may not get any boost at all, it's really impossible for anyone to say unless they've run the same setup and done an overclock.

 

I know my 2500K I got up to 4.5 easily enough on aftermarket air cooling. What sort of motherboard "doesn't allow overclocking" exactly? Nearly all will allow it just only a select few will get you right up into the top zone ( heard of 5.0 for a 2500k on water is fairly obtainable, 4.7+ on air with the right chipset lottery winner ).

[XMalfymanX]

Just built this last week, I made a youtube review on it.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/7gxYcf

 

Here is my youtube review

 

 

i do not dip below 65 FPS anywhere in the game. Hope this helps.

 

Awesome dude. Good info in your video!

[SammuelSK]

Hey guys/gals,

 

My current PC isn't running swtor up to what I'd like it to run. The specs are quite outdated so I'm looking into building a new PC. Now I know people have been having issues with swtor even with nice machines post 3.0. That being said, I see videos on YouTube of people running ultra with smooth framerate of 40-60 consistently in war zones etc post 3.0. I am aiming for this or more. I mainly play swtor/WoW atm but would also like some future proofing for upcoming games.

 

Anybody willing to throw me a good PC build that will easily give me my results and give me some safety for upcoming games? (Say, Battlefront?

 

Thanks.

 

Yeah, don't bother. I built a new PC a while back, not aimed particularly at swtor but a general gaming rig. Even reading off of SSD's the game still loads like a slow POS, the UI still bogs everything down, and the game generally runs no better. Yet all my other games doubled and neared tripped in performance. So.. probably not your computer, save yourself some money.

[mpddispatch]

I just built a new system and other than the server lag, which is SWTORs issue and not mine, I can play the game on ultra settings prefectly.

 

Intel i5-4690k quad core processor

16 GB RAM

Toshiba 7200 RPM Hardrive with 1 TB storage capacity

Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Video Card

 

I do not have any after market cooling on my system, its all factory installed and my CPU does not get over 60 degrees Celcius and my GPU has only gotten to about 72 degrees Celcius with the fan working about about 75% capacity.

[Papazmurf]

Yeah, don't bother. I built a new PC a while back, not aimed particularly at swtor but a general gaming rig. Even reading off of SSD's the game still loads like a slow POS, the UI still bogs everything down, and the game generally runs no better. Yet all my other games doubled and neared tripped in performance. So.. probably not your computer, save yourself some money.

 

What are you specs? I get it that everything else runs well, but those may not be CPU intensive games. Saying you got something new and SWTOR didn't get better is pointless without telling us what you got.

[ShadessaWayland]

AMD FX 8350 8 core 4.0 GHZ

HiS Radeon R9 270x iceQ2 turbo boost

8 GIG DDR3 1600

cool master black/white edition

scythe mugen cooler for your CPU

windows 7 premium 64 bit

 

all for 700 euro and i can play most games on full setting

[Heat-Wave]

AMD FX 8350 8 core 4.0 GHZ

HiS Radeon R9 270x iceQ2 turbo boost

8 GIG DDR3 1600

cool master black/white edition

scythe mugen cooler for your CPU

windows 7 premium 64 bit

 

all for 700 euro and i can play most games on full setting

 

"most games" is a pretty broad category.

 

That being said, if you're running 1080p on a single screen, I would expect that computer would play SWTOR smoothly, except perhaps in really busy environments. The CPU is fast enough, even if it gets there by being clocked high and using tons of power.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-16.html

 

Depending on what you pay for power and the number of hours you use your computer, the AMD chip over 3 years is no cheaper than the Intel chip. The Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge) uses about 50 watts of power less than the AMD chip does across their whole benchmark.

 

Over time, 50 watts of power adds up, considering that 50 watts turns into heat that goes into your room that must then be cooled. However, if you live in a very cold place, this is probably canceled out by not having to run the heater so much.

 

It is also worth noting that the i5 beats the AMD chip by 10-20% most of the time when playing games, it does it pulling 50 watts less of power, and it costs about the same. $190 will buy you the latest and greatest Haswell Refresh i5, the AMD chip being $30-50 cheaper in the grand scheme of things is pretty minor.

[Heat-Wave]

AMD FX 8350 8 core 4.0 GHZ

HiS Radeon R9 270x iceQ2 turbo boost

8 GIG DDR3 1600

cool master black/white edition

scythe mugen cooler for your CPU

windows 7 premium 64 bit

 

all for 700 euro and i can play most games on full setting

 

As a side note, for anyone thinking of building such a system, the CPU/GPU aren't really matched well. The GPU is underpowered for the CPU and won't grow with it as games become more multithreaded over time.

 

For about $100 more, you can get a R9 290, which is in terms of raw performance, 100% faster than the 270x, and about 50% faster in most benchmarks (real world).

 

My only complaint with the 290 is that it uses lots of power. I personally would take an Intel i5 and a GTX 970 right now, unless I really wanted AMD. The 970 is much more frugal with power than the 7xx series was and far less than the 29x series of cards from AMD.

 

---

 

The actual price difference between the above configuration and an Intel i5/GTX 970 combo is about $150, give or take.

 

So maybe a $850 machine instead of $700, but it will be faster and run cooler, for a fairly minor difference in total system price.

[FlamingManofIron]

Interesting to see what people are experiencing with this game. I'm waiting for my new PC to arrive in the mail:

 

old:

Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 GHZ

8 GB DDR2 @ 1066 CL8

Radeon 7750

HDD

P5Q Deluxe Mobo

 

new:

i7 4790k @ 4.0 -> O.C. to 4.5

16 GB DDR3 @ 2400CL10

GTX 960 Stryx

Sata 3 SSD

Maximus VII Formula

 

I'll report back sometime about the speed differences in play.

Edited March 17, 2015 by FlamingManofIron

[Heat-Wave]

Interesting to see what people are experiencing with this game. I'm waiting for my new PC to arrive in the mail:

 

new:

i7 4790k @ 4.0 -> O.C. to 4.5

16 GB DDR3 @ 2400

GTX 960 Stryx

Sata 3 SSD

Maximus VII Formula

 

I'll report back sometime about the speed differences in play.

 

Just a heads up... That is a great CPU, mis-matched to a very average GPU...

 

Just curious, but why such a mismatch? Did you go with the i7 for non-gaming needs and only want something modest to play games with?

 

Any system with a i7 deserves at least a 290 or a 970, if not a 290x or a 980... Otherwise the CPU sits around waiting for the GPU to be ready for it.

[Darth_Grissom]

Just a heads up... That is a great CPU, mis-matched to a very average GPU...

 

Just curious, but why such a mismatch? Did you go with the i7 for non-gaming needs and only want something modest to play games with?

 

Any system with a i7 deserves at least a 290 or a 970, if not a 290x or a 980... Otherwise the CPU sits around waiting for the GPU to be ready for it.

 

Do mine please

[MillionsKNives]

Just a heads up... That is a great CPU, mis-matched to a very average GPU...

 

Just curious, but why such a mismatch? Did you go with the i7 for non-gaming needs and only want something modest to play games with?

 

Any system with a i7 deserves at least a 290 or a 970, if not a 290x or a 980... Otherwise the CPU sits around waiting for the GPU to be ready for it.

 

I was thinking the same exact thing. That seems like a very odd match up. It's not often you see a system with a graphics cards that's about $140 less than the CPU. Much more often that number is at least switched, if not higher.

[Noahgolinko]

I am in the exact same boat as OP. I came back to swtor after a year long break 3 weeks ago. Before my break I ran 16m raids every week np, 30+ fps

 

My machine is fairly old but not the worst amd Athlon II x64 3.4 quad

Video card was gtx 550 ti

 

Naturally my in combat fps are now atrocious. 5-10 fps

 

So Immediately I bought a gtx 960 thinking that would fix stuff (before I researched what's been going on since 3.0)

The new gpu made 0 diff and of course I figured out my old processor needs replacing.

 

Long story short I'm buying a new mobo/cpu and trying to decide if I get the cheaper amd setup with a beastly video card and be able to afford an sli/xfire setup.

Or do I spend 4x the money and get just an Intel board/chip.

My feAr is that my combat FPS issue still happens on a brand new Amd chip. Any advise would be appreciated.