PC upgrades for SWTOR

[KentState]

I posted this in the SWTOR thread, but this will probably get better visibility:

Currently I have an i7 920, 24GB RAM, Nvidia GTX580, 256GB Plextor M3 on a fresh install of Win 7 x64 Ultimate with the latest drivers. This is pushing two 1080p monitors and I'm trying to run at max settings. Things are great most of the time, but then I run into sub 20 fps while on the fleet, on Ilum or in warzones. I also take a hit in busy sections of space combat. What is the most economical path to fix the FPS issue and keep max settings. I'm open to a new cpu/mb or SLI if necessary.

 

[Dasda]

i7-920 can still kick ass. Do you have it overclocked or at default?

 

[lehtv]

Do you know how much VRAM you're using? Use MSI afterburner (preferably the OSD function) to find out. If you're maxing out the VRAM of the 580 with your high resolution, it may have some impact. But overall you're probably just GPU limited, I doubt i7-920 isn't enough to handle that game. You can of course try overclocking the CPU if it isn't already and see if that gets you any extra fps.

 

[Zap]

lehtv has a great suggestion. Monitor CPU and GPU usage, plus GPU memory usage. See where the bottleneck is.

 

[KentState]

Using GPU-Z, I seem to remember using approx 1GB out of the 1.5GB total. I'm not OCed besides the factory OC on the video card. That is something I can try next if a new CPU/mobo won't benefit me. Besides that it's either SLI or a 7970 I take it.

 

[lehtv]

Should try to monitor the CPU usage, as Zap said. Task Manager performance tab shows a brief history. Or you can use MSI afterburner to see if your GPU is being used to its full potential. Both ways could indicate a CPU bottleneck in which case you should see better results with a CPU overclock. If not, then I suppose it's SLI time. In any case, I don't think there's any point in buying a new CPU. i7-920 is just so fast that you'd be paying stupid amounts of cash per % increase in performance.

 

[KentState]

When I watch Task Manager or even Resource monitor, the cpu is barely taxed above 35% total at any point. I may try an overclock as I know the thing can do 3.5Ghz easily with the Noctua h/s.

I was really looking for a reason to go LGA 2011

 

[lehtv]

Yeah. The CPU isn't even sweating in SWTOR . You probably won't notice a difference in framerates by overclocking.

 

[ElFenix]

MMOs have traditionally had laggy areas. usually doesn't have much to do with your computer.

 

[KentState]

MMOs have traditionally had laggy areas. usually doesn't have much to do with your computer.

I have suffered through a lot of them. Biggest difference is this time I can throw money at the problem on my end. Back in college, I didn't have the option when DAoC would be a lag fest while raiding.

 

[lehtv]

You should still check whether the game is actually using 100% of your GPU in those laggy areas. If not, a GPU upgrade could go to waste completely.

 

[Coydog]

Sadly, the Hero engine is NOT really optimized for what BW wanted to do with SWTOR. The fact you have that setup just says it all and the drawbacks of the engine.

 

[mfenn]

When I watch Task Manager or even Resource monitor, the cpu is barely taxed above 35% total at any point. I may try an overclock as I know the thing can do 3.5Ghz easily with the Noctua h/s.

I was really looking for a reason to go LGA 2011

Yeah. The CPU isn't even sweating in SWTOR . You probably won't notice a difference in framerates by overclocking.

Bolded the key point. It's not total CPU utilization that matters, but the maximum utilization of any given core.

 

[KentState]

The cores individually are not going over 40-50% at any point in time.

 

[mfenn]

Do you have constantly low FPS in the fleet? My "lowly" i7 860 + 6970 experiences a little slowdown when I first load, but otherwise it is fine.