Help just to get to play SW Old Republic

[cdalgard]

Hey experts.
Need some advice on how to proceed. I want to build the most basic system to start playing SW Old Republic MMO. I already have the following parts laying around:

Case
600W Modular Power Supply
Radeon 5770 1GB
640GB WD 7200rpm Hard Drive
2x2GB DDR2 and 2x2GB DDR3
Intel E6300 1.86Ghz FSB1066 Processor
DVD Burner

I have at the most $110 to spend. What should I buy? Should I aim for an inexpensive CPU/MOBO Combo? Or should I just buy the best Socket 775 Motherboard I can find and a cheap SSD? What would you do if you were me? I don't have to spend all of the money right now. I have microcenter nearby, but no Fry's.

Thanks!

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

$110 bucks gets you an FX 4100, "quad-core" (dual-"module" - four int pipelines, and two FPUs), and a half-decent mobo.

 

[cdalgard]

Thanks Larry. And how much of a boost is that over a E6300/P45 setup?

EDIT: I looked at the benchmarks for the FX-4100 and it performs worst than II X4 620. Is Bulldozer really recommended at this price range?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, an E6300 C2D isn't really that strong for games either.

I've never owned one, but I *think* the clock speed on the FX 4100 is 3.6Ghz, and you can overclock it further. Plus, it's a quad-core (well, for the most part, sort of).

You're correct that the FX chips are weaker per core than the prior-generation Phenom II chips. But that's without overclocking them.

Another possibility, is picking up an Phenom II X4 830 OEM chip from MC if yours still carries this chip. They were selling for $50, and they are a Phenom II quad-core with L3 cache. But you would still need a motherboard, and a heatsink, so it's kind of a wash compared to the FX 4100 deal. The FX 4100 deal should be more of a sure thing, so that's why I pointed it out.

Edit: Now that I think about it, it's not linked on their front page any more, but they were running a deal before where you bought a Phenom 960T BE, or a 1045T (non-BE), and could get one of two mobos for free. You might check stock at your local MC on the 960T, and try calling them to find out if they still offer the free mobo with that chip. I think it was selling for $110 as well.
It's overclockable, and with the right mobo, sometimes you can unlock a fifth or sixth core. (They are Thuban chips, cut down from six to four cores. Sometimes you get lucky, and the other cores still work OK.)

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382790
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0366104

Hmm, discount is no longer showing up in cart, that promo might be over.

 

[cdalgard]

I plan to go there tomorrow and see what non-ad offers there may be with free motherboards. Getting a better understanding of the possibilities. Thanks!

 

[Ken g6]

Last month they had an i3 2100 with a free mobo for $100. This month it looks like you're stuck with a G620 for $50 and some h61 mobo for $50. Which Tom says should be fine. On the next page he says the 5770 provides only low-end graphics anyway.

 

[mfenn]

Last month they had an i3 2100 with a free mobo for $100. This month it looks like you're stuck with a G620 for $50 and some h61 mobo for $50. Which Tom says should be fine. On the next page he says the 5770 provides only low-end graphics anyway.

:thumbsup: That's what I was going to suggest. A relatively faster dual-core will help you more than a slower quad (Bulldozer sucks at low module counts).

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32994285&postcount=204

 

[Murz]

From someone who recently upgraded for SWTOR I would suggest a good dual/quad core cpu. The game seems to be more cpu dependent than games like WoW for instance. I built a new rig with an i5 2500k, leaving the old 8800 gpu in, and the difference was night and day. Getting my new gpu (5870) a few days later I noticed a small improvement in performance.

 

[DaveSimmons]

My old Core 2 E8400 3 GHz dual-core is fine for single-player PVE SWTOR at 16x10, but if you plan to do any PVP or large group endgame ops (raids) you should plan to save up for a Sandy Bridge CPU.

 

[cdalgard]

So I went to Microcenter and it was a confusing mess. First, I didn't want to go with the FX-4100 bundle (it was only $99) because the benchmarks of the FX-6100 in VirtualLarry's post look bad. So I was heading towards the Phenom 960T. The printed Ad said $120 for the bundle with a 760G board. However, on the Sunday that I went, they had discounted the 960T down to $110. I thought that would include the board, but now the $110 sale price for the 960T invalidates the free motherboard bundle. So the bundle is now $160. Pass. I am now thinking G620 with the H51. Still deciding if I want to wait to see if a i3-2100 bundle comes on sale in March. Decisions decisions.

 

[mfenn]

I guess it depends on how much you want to wait. Obviously watching sales like a hawk can give you a better deal, but a $70 G620 + $50 H61MGC from Newegg will play the game pretty nicely.

 

[Zap]

From someone who recently upgraded for SWTOR I would suggest a good dual/quad core cpu. The game seems to be more cpu dependent than games like WoW for instance. I built a new rig with an i5 2500k, leaving the old 8800 gpu in, and the difference was night and day. Getting my new gpu (5870) a few days later I noticed a small improvement in performance.

It depends on what your CPU used to be. SWTOR only uses effectively two cores, so more cores does not help much. However, FASTER cores really, really helps. A 2500K (especially overclocked) gives the highest performance cores, hence much better performance.

For those on a budget a fast dual core like a Core i3 2100 would probably be fine. It performs around the same as any Phenom II x4 or x6 in the game. :sneaky:

 

[VirtualLarry]

It depends on what your CPU used to be. SWTOR only uses effectively two cores, so more cores does not help much.

I know several people (including myself) that went for AMD hex-cores to play SWTOR. (Disclaimer, I don't have the game quite yet.)

 

[Zap]

I know several people (including myself) that went for AMD hex-cores to play SWTOR.

CPU core benchmarking in SWTOR

Look at the second chart. Normalized to 3.0GHz, all CPUs performed really close to each other, with the exception of the AMD dual core which lagged far behind, and the AMD triple core which lagged a bit behind. So, I guess if you were using AMD CPUs, you can't be faulted for going with quad or hex cores since that's what it takes to match or beat an Intel Core i3 dual core in this particular game.

From link above
1920x1080 Radeon 6970 max detail 4x AA
All CPUs run at 3.0GHz
min/avg FPS
Core i5 2500K 60.0/79.0 FPS
Core i3 Sandy Bridge 55.0/69.1 FPS
Phenom II X6 60.0/74.0 FPS
Phenom II X4 60.0/70.3 FPS
Phenom II X3 47.0/63.9 FPS
Phenom II x2 38.0/45.4 FPS

Hmmm would be interesting to see how a 3.0GHz Pentium G860 fares. It is a dual core Sandy Bridge with 3MB cache just like a Core i3, but sans Hyperthreading. Alternately just disable Hyperthreading with the Core i3.

Another interesting one would be a Core i7-2600K underclocked to 3GHz and with Hyperthreading disabled, to make it exactly like the Core i5 2500K at 3GHz except with 8MB cache versus 6MB.

I wonder if the Phenom II with different number of cores also differed greatly in cache which affected scores? People with quad cores do report only 50% CPU utilization with SWTOR, but those numbers seem out of whack for AMD chips.

 

[mfenn]

I know several people (including myself) that went for AMD hex-cores to play SWTOR. (Disclaimer, I don't have the game quite yet.)

Just because some people went for it doesn't mean that it is a good idea.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just because some people went for it doesn't mean that it is a good idea.

I know. I didn't 100% buy the hex-core just for SWTOR. I did it because it would help my DC, and allow me to consolidate my two machines (each with GTX460 cards) into one machine for gaming purposes.