100% CPU Usage- Heavy Frame Drops in OP's and Warzones

[Zhuyd]

Hey, I have also posted this in the german forum but I will try it again here so:

Whenever I play swtor my cpu is nearly always used 100%. To be fair it is a quiet outdated one, AMD-A10-6700, I am running it with a GTX1050TI and 12GB of ram. In the fleet I often have 30FPS+ sometimes 80 or higher, when playing with shadows and decent graphics on my normal resolution(1920x1080). Sometimes my FPS drop to 20 or even lower, when there are many people around moving. But in warzones or in operations, my game is often laggy as hell. In bossfights I tend to have 20-30 FPS. And because I want to get into NIM raiding, this isn't good.

 

I have tried multiple things. Lowering the graphics, disabling the shadows, lowering the resolution to 1280x720 (the game looks like minecraft then lol), but all these things didn't gave me a huge fps boost. I get like 10Frames more on the fleet, on average. I also unparked all my cpu cores, installed DX9, edited the NVDIA 3D Settings etc. etc. etc... All without sucess. The A-10-6700 doesn't have much single-core-power and also isn't really made for gaming, however this game is 7 years old so I thought it should be fine. Do I have to update my pc, or do you have any other suggestions that could help me?

[darkapprentice]

Since that processor has a built in Grapchics processor, you might want to make sure it's not using it for the game. those built-in graphics systems are usually not very good for anything other than basic uses. I believe you can right-click on the game shortcut and if there's an entry for choosing the graphics system, make sure it's using the 1050. It may or may not help but definitely worth a look.

[OwenBrooks]

The A-10-6700 doesn't have much single-core-power

 

Swtor needs single-core power so best thing to improve things is to upgrade the CPU most likely

Edited June 4, 2018 by OwenBrooks

[Zhuyd]

Since that processor has a built in Grapchics processor, you might want to make sure it's not using it for the game. those built-in graphics systems are usually not very good for anything other than basic uses. I believe you can right-click on the game shortcut and if there's an entry for choosing the graphics system, make sure it's using the 1050. It may or may not help but definitely worth a look.

 

I dont know how to change that specifically, however for every other game I am already using my built in GPU.

Would be pleased to hear more answers.

[xordevoreaux]

You're underpowered. Simple as that.

 

Telling you to upgrade a $40 processor to another $40 processor, even if it could work, isn't worth the time.

 

And the reason replacement might not be feasible, based on the LGA (land grid array) of your motherboard, you may or may not be able to find an AMD proc that fits both the pin-outs and power distribution across those pins on your processor socket.

 

Sometimes, a processor may share the same LGA as another processor but be incompatible because of the power requirements. The particular LGA for your AMD processor is FM2. You would need another FM2-compatible AMD proc.

 

Scroll down about midway on this page to where it says "CPU Mark Relative to Top 10 Common CPUs"

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A10-6700+APU&id=1936

 

I have a 3770K I-7, which is several years old and it's about time to take it out back and shoot it, and I'm still six notches higher than your proc.

 

You're right in that the game doesn't require all that much to run, but you don't have enough muscle in that proc.

 

At this point, unfortunately, were you one of my private clients, I'd advise you to drop $700 on a new box having a passingly-capable I5, and better than that if you can afford it. You already have ample RAM, so there is nothing you can do to squeeze more power out of that proc.

 

If that's impossible based on your budget, there's nothing I can think of to get more power out of what you have.

Sorry.

Edited June 4, 2018 by xordevoreaux

[Zhuyd]

You're underpowered. Simple as that.

 

Telling you to upgrade a $40 processor to another $40 processor, even if it could work, isn't worth the time.

 

And the reason replacement might not be feasible, based on the LGA (land grid array) of your motherboard, you may or may not be able to find an AMD proc that fits both the pin-outs and power distribution across those pins on your processor socket.

 

Sometimes, a processor may share the same LGA as another processor but be incompatible because of the power requirements. The particular LGA for your AMD processor is FM2. You would need another FM2-compatible AMD proc.

 

Scroll down about midway on this page to where it says "CPU Mark Relative to Top 10 Common CPUs"

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A10-6700+APU&id=1936

 

I have a 3770K I-7, which is several years old and it's about time to take it out back and shoot it, and I'm still six notches higher than your proc.

 

You're right in that the game doesn't require all that much to run, but you don't have enough muscle in that proc.

 

At this point, unfortunately, were you one of my private clients, I'd advise you to drop $700 on a new box having a passingly-capable I5, and better than that if you can afford it. You already have ample RAM, so there is nothing you can do to squeeze more power out of that proc.

 

If that's impossible based on your budget, there's nothing I can think of to get more power out of what you have.

Sorry.

 

Even though I think 700$ is way to much, I think you are right. When I keep my gpu which is definitely good enough for swtor, and install my current ram into the new machine, I probably have to spend like 400$ for a new mainboard + a good budget cpu like the i5 8400, + new cooler and a new power adapter. That should be enough.

[xordevoreaux]

Even though I think 700$ is way to much, I think you are right. When I keep my gpu which is definitely good enough for swtor, and install my current ram into the new machine, I probably have to spend like 400$ for a new mainboard + a good budget cpu like the i5 8400, + new cooler and a new power adapter. That should be enough.

 

Given how old your computer is, your existing RAM might not be compatible with a new motherboard. Most boards are backward compatible with several various speeds of RAM, so speed alone isn't always a problem.

 

But you'll also need to compare the type of RAM you have versus what's expected on your motherboard.

 

For example, my last computer used what is known as triple-channel memory. That means it required 3 DIMMs populating 3 slots to make a single bank of memory. My current computer is single-channel, meaning 1 DIMM = 1 bank of memory. The two are not compatible. I can't take a stick of triple-channel memory, place it on a slot for a single-channel bank, and have it work. The interleaving on the memory is expecting 3 DIMMs, not one.

 

So before you move memory from one computer to another, be sure you know what kind of memory you're moving versus what a new motherboard expects.

[JediQuaker]

The A-10-6700 doesn't have much single-core-power and also isn't really made for gaming, however this game is 7 years old so I thought it should be fine. Do I have to update my pc, or do you have any other suggestions that could help me?

You've answered your own question in the highlighted part. The "engine" for SWTOR (and most MMOs) is very CPU dependant and needs a fast processor with high IPC (Instructions Per Clock-cycle)

The CPU portion of the A10 just isn't good enough.

 

So, yes, you need to upgrade your PC. In your case, you would want to get a new CPU, motherboard, and DD4 RAM.

Unless you want to go all out and get an Intel i7-8700 (plus mb & RAM), your most cost effective solution would probably be to get a new AMD Ryzen 2xxx series CPU (such as an R5 2600X) with a new B450 based motherboard and, at least, 8Gigs of DDR4 RAM. (2400MHz or higher)

 

You can, of course, retain your current graphics card, case, power supply, etc.

Edited June 4, 2018 by JediQuaker

[Rion_Starkiller]

Yeah, if I were the OP, I would start saving up and/or buying parts month to month.

 

Use this site for your builds: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/

 

You can see if any of your old parts will fit.

 

I recommend a budget gaming rig with an i5-8400 and a decent inexpensive mobo

[xordevoreaux]

Yeah, if I were the OP, I would start saving up and/or buying parts month to month.

 

Use this site for your builds: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/

 

You can see if any of your old parts will fit.

 

I recommend a budget gaming rig with an i5-8400 and a decent inexpensive mobo

 

I love PCPartpicker. Keeps you from mixing incompatible stuff.

[Zhuyd]

Thanks for the recommendations. Even though its quite sad to invest a couple of hundred dollars just to NIM-Raid, a new PC-Spec might also come in handy for other games. So I will probably go on and buy the parts Edited June 4, 2018 by Zhuyd

[CaptianFordo]

This problem is OUT OF CONTROL for me right now. The game is unplayable in all events with more than just myself (but fleet works fine for some reason?)

 

Despite having interwebs with a ping of 40 M/S 99.9999% of the time and specs like these:

Processor: Intel® Core i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

 

Any suggestions or help with this cluster&*#$?

Edited June 4, 2018 by CaptianFordo

[jojobanutz]

From the FAQ here:

http://www.swtor.com/info/faq

 

What are the system requirements for the game?

 

Processor:

 

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better

 

Operating System:

Windows 7 or later

 

RAM:

 

Windows 7: 3GB RAM

 

So if your system is better than the above just try turning down graphics option to maybe Medium and see how you go.

 

I play on Medium with no problems at all, and my system is ancient, see below:

 

Operating System

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

 

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00GHz

Wolfdale 45nm Technology

 

RAM

8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 400MHz (5-5-5-18)

 

Motherboard

ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5K Premium (LGA775)

 

Graphics

M1962D (1360x768@60Hz)

2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 (ASUStek Computer Inc)

 

[xordevoreaux]

From the FAQ here:

http://www.swtor.com/info/faq

 

What are the system requirements for the game?

[sNIP]

 

Those specs are old came out before Windows 10. Windows 10 is a resource hog. My tower fared well after the upgrade, but my laptop slowed to a crawl. People running 10 need more muscle than what 7 required just to keep the machine going much less a game.

Edited June 5, 2018 by xordevoreaux

[xordevoreaux]

This problem is OUT OF CONTROL for me right now. The game is unplayable in all events with more than just myself (but fleet works fine for some reason?)

 

Despite having interwebs with a ping of 40 M/S 99.9999% of the time and specs like these:

Processor: Intel® Core i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

 

Any suggestions or help with this cluster&*#$?

 

I have the same processor as you, a much older nvidia GTX 680 graphics card, but I also have 32GB of RAM, a 450GB SSD running the O/S, and running windows 10. How much RAM do you have?

 

One thing you might try as well is downloading the nvidia profile inspector and tweaking the game a bit, forcing some things off at the card's hardware rather than just game settings.

 

This is 2.1.3.20 of the Inspector and as far as I know the latest -- https://ci.appveyor.com/project/Orbmu2k/nvidiaprofileinspector/build/artifacts

 

The download says 2.1.3.19 but it's really .20.

 

I'm running in enhance mode, 4x Sparse Grid Shading, 16x CSAA (discontinued for your card but you can try 8x multisampling first before going with a different anti-aliasing scheme), 16x texture filtering, and driver-controlled LOD management turned off completely. Shadows are on high in the game and I'm getting 55 FPS on this old card.

 

Edit: If you do decide to use Profile Inspector, export your profile to an an external file. Every time there's an nvidia driver update, the profile is reset to its default settings and you have to import the file again. Bit of a drag but it's not like that happens every day.

 

Set the DX9 compatibility to Diablo III for enhancing and the SSGA will be fine (the first 4 digits are ignored in Direct X9 so you're just after the 12C1 on the last four numbers of the profile bits).

 

Edit #2: Here is a screen shot of my nvidia inspector profile. Just click to enlarge.

https://imgur.com/Qef5a43

Again, under Section 3, Anti-Aliasing, you cannot set your 970 card to use CSAA because it's been discontinued for your card, but start with Multisampling 8x and go from there if you need higher quality. You will have to adjust the profile, save it, and restart the game to see its affects (unfortunately).

 

Be sure each time you make an adjustment to your nvidia profile to hit the Apply Profile button in the upper-right hand corner of the inspector.

 

Edit 3: My graphics settings in-game: https://imgur.com/7WiGaOd

And Alderaan (resource hog with shadows at 40FPS). https://imgur.com/PqIyIt1

Turning shadows down increases the frame rate but 40FPS is passable for me given the hardware I have. It's faster elsewhere.

Edited June 5, 2018 by xordevoreaux

[Tahana]

This problem is OUT OF CONTROL for me right now. The game is unplayable in all events with more than just myself (but fleet works fine for some reason?)

 

Despite having interwebs with a ping of 40 M/S 99.9999% of the time and specs like these:

Processor: Intel® Core i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

 

Any suggestions or help with this cluster&*#$?

 

I have a system close to yours.. I have the nVidia 970, but I have an i7-4710 and I don't have issues. I did have to do some tweeking to the video settings when I came back to the game because I had issues with the game stuttering..

 

Make sure you save backup copies of files, but look at this thread. If you're semi-technical and can follow his directions this may help.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=914325

[Rion_Starkiller]

This problem is OUT OF CONTROL for me right now. The game is unplayable in all events with more than just myself (but fleet works fine for some reason?)

 

Despite having interwebs with a ping of 40 M/S 99.9999% of the time and specs like these:

Processor: Intel® Core i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

 

Any suggestions or help with this cluster&*#$?

 

Sounds like something is very wrong. You should be able to run this game fairly well. What are your temps? How much RAM do you have? Are your drivers outdated? Ctrl Alt Del during the game and tell me the highest CPU usage percentages. Is it possible your PSU is underpowering your graphics card?

 

You could take your issue to Tom's Hardware http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/. They almost always can tell you exactly what is wrong. You will need to give them detailed info though - maybe a dxdiag.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Rion_Starkiller

[CaptianFordo]

I'm gonna take the advice you guys gave, but a new problem has started. While parsing on a dummy, my screen will turn grey, my monitor resets and I lose my entire parse. Is my graphics card possibly failing? All temps are within acceptable ranges and all drivers are up to date ... I don't understand what the heck is happening. Again, I have (zero) problems when playing other games. Only SWTOR. Edited June 5, 2018 by CaptianFordo

[Tahana]

I'm gonna take the advice you guys gave, but a new problem has started. While parsing on a dummy, my screen will turn grey, my monitor resets and I lose my entire parse. Is my graphics card possibly failing? All temps are within acceptable ranges and all drivers are up to date ... I don't understand what the heck is happening. Again, I have (zero) problems when playing other games. Only SWTOR.

 

Have you overclocked anything on your system? First thing that came to mind was overheating, but you're saying temps are fine, so that leads to my second thought. If you have overclocked the card.

[JediQuaker]

This problem is OUT OF CONTROL for me right now.

Your system should handle SWTOR reasonably well. When I first started playing I had an i5-3570 and it worked reasonably well except in PvP or OPs.

 

The first thing I would suggest would be to reset your BIOS (or clear CMOS) to make sure everything is running within spec.

You can either use the "clear CMOS" jumper on the motherboard ** or enter your BIOS/UEFI by pressing the appropriate key (commonly ESC) ** during boot up and choosing "Load Defaults" (or words to that effect).

 

Also, open the computer up and chase out the dust bunnies and make sure all fans are running properly.

 

** check your motherboard or system manufacturer's user manual for details.

[Rion_Starkiller]

I'm gonna take the advice you guys gave, but a new problem has started. While parsing on a dummy, my screen will turn grey, my monitor resets and I lose my entire parse. Is my graphics card possibly failing? All temps are within acceptable ranges and all drivers are up to date ... I don't understand what the heck is happening. Again, I have (zero) problems when playing other games. Only SWTOR.

 

Screen turning grey? monitor blanks out? That sounds like the graphics card. The graphics card may not be the underlying problem, however.

 

This doesn't happen in any other game??

[CaptianFordo]

Screen turning grey? monitor blanks out? That sounds like the graphics card. The graphics card may not be the underlying problem, however.

 

This doesn't happen in any other game??

 

Negative, doesn't happen with any other game. None of my problems happen when I play any other game. I can play a game like Farcry 5 on max settings with 60 FPS, zero problems with frame rates or this new screen flickering thing when I parse with SWTOR. It's sad that you guys have been more helpful than the devs in problem solving this with me, I really appreciate the community's help.

[OwenBrooks]

I'm gonna take the advice you guys gave, but a new problem has started. While parsing on a dummy, my screen will turn grey, my monitor resets and I lose my entire parse. Is my graphics card possibly failing? All temps are within acceptable ranges and all drivers are up to date ... I don't understand what the heck is happening. Again, I have (zero) problems when playing other games. Only SWTOR.

 

I gather is a Nvidia card like a 980 , place the driver into debug mode per this link

 

there was an instance of an unstable overclock with some EVGA cards , symptom was a grey screen

 

The swtor technical issues forum is at this link

 

Example of issue - Link 1 and Link 2

Edited June 5, 2018 by OwenBrooks

[JediQuaker]

. None of my problems happen when I play any other game..

SWTOR, and some other MMOs, unlike many other games, puts quite a load on both the CPU and the GPU. Maybe your power supply just can't handle the load and you are basically experiencing a "brown out".

What brand/model of power supply do you have and what is it's basic wattage rating? (Although even if it's a "good" supply, it may have gone bad.)

 

You should have at least a good 80+ rated 500 watt power supply with those components.

Edited June 6, 2018 by JediQuaker

[CaptianFordo]

SWTOR, and some other MMOs, unlike many other games, puts quite a load on both the CPU and the GPU. Maybe your power supply just can't handle the load and you are basically experiencing a "brown out".

What brand/model of power supply do you have and what is it's basic wattage rating? (Although even if it's a "good" supply, it may have gone bad.)

 

You should have at least a good 80+ rated 500 watt power supply with those components.

 

How would I determine if it's gone bad?

Model is a Corsair TX750.

 

Edit:

 

This is the error message I get when the game locks up and crashes...

https://imgur.com/pA8VH3b

Edited June 19, 2018 by CaptianFordo