Very High Graphics Setting: Who is this for, NASA computers?

I know people hate to hear this, but:

This is one of the reasons why I don't build systems with SLI/Crossfire and don't recommend it to others unless they want to run multiple screens. As much as you want it to be normal, mainstream computing, the use of SLI or Crossfire drastically increases the chances that you stumble across bugs or un-optimized code in games. In order to support SLI/CF properly, there needs to be a decent amount of tuning between drivers and game code. In theory, this should be straight-forward, in practice its not.

You don't need a bleeding edge video card to run at full detail on a single monitor in this game. My GTX-660 is plenty powerful. If you're running something better than that in SLI and don't get smooth performance, try it without SLI enabled.

And before you whine about devs at Bioware, remember that SLI/CF support needs to start with the drivers, not the game. It's up to AMD/nVidia to create workable drivers and profiles before the devs at Bioware can optimize the game to handle it. And since the game is not a particularly high-profile showcase for video performance, nor does it attract the "must-have-110fps" shooter crowd, there isn't a lot of push for either of them to spend time tweaking their driver support for SWTOR.

I wish I had thought of that! I've had those stupid nameplates turned off for quite some time (or at least, not scaling).

And yeah, I think the engine has problems with things like that -- especially in high numbers. Basically why they've all but said chat bubbles probably will never happen, because of the performance issues.

Not an issue. I run a laptop with almost the same config as his except a single NVidia 680 and on an SSD. All my settings are on max. So my system is not quite as powerful as OPs. NVidia is not the issue either. They are perfectly good cards. What strikes me as a possibility is the dual 780's with SLI. I have read that this kind of config is not ideal for MMOs and that the SLI is not quite perfected and requires an unusual amount of overhead to reconcile the dual cards.

Is there a way you can test this by turning off SLI and running on one card? I think it's worth a test if you can do it. And we'd all be interested in the results.

I've not played EVE for a long time now, but when I did they suffered the same lag every other game does in large PvP battles. I believe they've introduced some kind of time dilation mechanic now for large battles, as a way to mask lag. So in those massive battles involving thousands of players things are slowed down to 10% of normal game time. I guess this can work for a space combat game, it wouldn't work so well for a character-based MMO.

I have an Asus laptop with 24gigs of ram a 840pro ssd an i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40ghz with an Nvidia GTX 660M and I have NEVER lagged. Ever. I load everything in about 10 seconds or less (was a lot more upwards of 3 minutes until I got the SSD.)

I've never had lag and never understood the people who always cry about lag in this game.

In the beginning of the game in the 100vs100 pvp battles on Ilum I didn't have lag.

For those not knowing what those are heres a picture of what I've been through with 0 lag.

Pic.

I have 2 840 pro's raid 0, they are so nice!

Had to take all my monnies just to get one! D:

The wonderfull world of PC gamin. You have a combination of hardware that causes you issues. Virtually every component in my rig is inferior to yours yet my i5 2500k 570ti 8gb ram ssd righ runs it very high very smoothly. I was able to do the ilum of old with barely a hickup.

Just an FYI, you're a bit outdated on those drivers. Latest versions are 320.49 WHQL for release and 326.41 for Beta. Good to know about the nameplate issue though.

ok, all the nonsense about laptops and Alienware and Nvidia and all the other comments aside, spec's are spec's and the machine you have can run the game at the highest settings with no problem, IF you have everything set correctly.

there are so many variables to consider that it can be a pain to trouble shoot / optimize any game. not just SWTOR ( though TOR can be a problem child when it comes to optimization ). so it comes down to trial and error until you find the settings that work.

Basic Steps -
1 - you do not need SWTOR Unleashed to run the game. not with 32 gigs of ram and 2 SSD's in RAID 0. uninstall it.

2 - delete the BitRaider folder and the DiskCacheArena file and run the fixlauncher.exe and then the client repair option from the launcher ( gear icon bottom left launcher window )..... this will ensure the game is installed correctly.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic - BitRaider
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic\swtor - DiskCacheArena

3 - next, check your windows 'start up programs' ( if running win 8 go to task manager then tab to 'StartUp' ).
it's possible there is a lot of bloatware installed by AlienWare that you really don't need running at start up or in the back ground.
( if it says Intel or Microsoft under the 'Publisher' tab leave it 'enabled' same with the RAID software. almost everything else can be disabled.... if you're not sure then leave it alone, better safe than sorry ).

4 - because it is a new computer make sure you install DirectX. even though DX 11 is backward compatible there will still be a few .dll's missing that swtor ( and other games ) may need. if win 7 also install c++ 2010 or c++ 2012 ( I have both on my win 7 laptop ) if win 8 c++ is already installed.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...s.aspx?id=8109 - be sure to use the redist version and not the web time installer as it will incorrectly say you already have everything.

5 - run windows update

6 - what anti-virus program do you use? remove and then add the exceptions for both launcher.exe and swtor.exe for the anti-virus and firewall.

7 - make sure your router is set up correctly - PORTS

8 - now, graphic's. there is still an issue with swtor and dual graphic card setups as far as I can tell ( SLI and CrossFire ). the issue is not consistent as some people can run dual cards with no prob and others can't. try the settings listed below with SLI on and SLI off and see which works better... again, trial and error.

from the Nvidia Control Panel go to 'manage 3d settings then tab to 'program settings'
'select a program to customize' drop down menu - if swtor.exe is not there then add it, make sure it's swtor.exe and not launcher.exe.

'select the preferred graphics processor for this program'
choose - High-performance NVIDIA processor.

'Specify settings for this program'
Ambient Occlusion - Performance
Anisotropic filtering - Use global settings
Antialiasing FXAA - On
Antialiasing Mode - Use global settings - (if you want try disable AA in-game and let control panel over ride the game settings, start with AA 2X first if everything seems ok you can try to bump up to 4X or higher).
Antialiasing setting - grayed out if global
Antialiasing Transparency - 2x (super-sample)
CUDA - GPU's - Use global setting (All)
Maximum pre-rendered frames - 1 (this is important if the in-game FPS meter shows red, made a huge diff for me)
Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration - Single display performance mode
Power management mode - Prefer maximum performance
Texture filtering Anisotropic sample - On
Texture filtering Negitive LOD - Clamp
Texture filtering Quality - 'Global' (Quality)
Texture filtering Trilinear - 'Global' (On)
Threaded optimization - 'Global' (Auto)
Triple buffering - On
Vertical sync - 'Global'

In Game Graphic Settings -
set everything to high or highest, full screen mode, use your monitors native resolution. (you can always change the res to a lower setting and see what happens, lower res can = better performance)

now,
turn Vsync off - (tearing should not be an issue for you).
turn shadows off or low - (you can always change it if the game runs smooth).
turn/slide grass and trees down to about 50%
Bloom - On
Conversation depth of field - On
Visible character limit - Medium or Low

in preferences go to 'Name Plates' and turn off most of the options. I have only friendly and enemy NPC's / friendly and enemy players on (companions name plates off). all the other options are set to off.

the name plate's have been an issue since day one and contribute to lag on the fleet.
( don't believe me? run around the fleet with them on, then try it with them all off and watch your FPS climb and stuttering drop ).

I realize this is a stupid long post and it is in no way meant to cover all the steps needed to try and get the game running smooth.
however, the game runs butter smooth for me and I've listed everything I've done to get it that way.
my FPS ranges from 55 to 110 even on the fleet though I still get some micro stutters now and then.

my rig -
laptop - (yes a laptop)
win 8
msi GE70
i7 4700MQ @ 2.40 (turbo boosts to 3. something, can't remember atm)
ram 12.0 gb
gpu GTX 765m (single)
HD (nothing special spinner, too lazy to look it up)

Op, there is no good reason your new rig can't run this game, your spec's don't lie. it's just a matter of finding what the bottle neck is then you'll be good to go.

I really hope this wall of text can help you at least a bit. best of luck! -