I currently have a i5-750, 8gb ddr3 1066 mhz (4x 2gb), geforce gtx 560, sata drive (not ssd), 500w antec psu

 

I am looking for a project and thinking about getting the following:

 

i7-4770k

8gb ddr3 2000mhz (2x 4gb)

ssd 120gb (sata 3)

550w modular gold rated power supply

 

will probably keep the same video card for now, although I was looking at the gtx 680/gtx 770 as well.

 

any thoughts? considerable increase in performance (without the video card upgrade)? I mainly used passmark.com for my info, but it seems that the performance is nearly double (at least in benchmarking).

Unfortunately, the game itself is not optimized pristinely. You'll see a bit of performance by adding the SSD, but I believe you will see little overall boost in performance of SWTOR.

You might find a 120 GB SSD a bit tight. I got a 250 and only have my OS, a few not very large programs that don't give you install options, and my top 3 games on it and its over half full.

 

If you are really focused on just TOR performance, you might get more out of moving to 16 gigs of RAM and using a RAM disk to preload the game. I don't know a lot about it other then its really fast. There is an utility to help with it on the forums somewhere.

Unless you have spare cash and are simply looking for a build project, there is no reason for you to do an upgrade from your current rig, especially if its just for this game.

I think you'd be just fine with an i5 4670k. And you really only need a "K" processor if you're planning to overclock - the "K" indicates that it's an unlocked processor which allows overclocking. So you can save some money there and put it towards a 240/256GB SSD or keep it in your pocket for a gpu upgrade down the road. Also, if it were me, I'd get a 650w psu just to make sure you have some wiggle room.

 

Alternatively, you could go for one of the new AMD APU's, which would give you more graphics juice than your current card. AMD motherboards are generally cheaper as well, so you'd save some more cash. And the new APU's are mantle-enabled, which may make a difference with upcoming games.

Unless you have spare cash and are simply looking for a build project, there is no reason for you to do an upgrade from your current rig, especially if its just for this game.

 

I agree, you probably wont get much increase if you are just doing this game, but if you do deceide to do something I would look at the following:-

1. As mentioned, if you are not overclocking you wont need a 'K' version of the processor just the normal one will do.

2. The SSD should be bigger than the one you are looking at, unless you plan on only installing the OS and this game to the SSD and everything else to your other hard drive.

3. I would also check the power requirements of you parts to make sure that the power supply is sufficient i.e. if you do any future upgrades for example a second graphics card would you have enough power.

Unfortunately, the game itself is not optimized pristinely. You'll see a bit of performance by adding the SSD, but I believe you will see little overall boost in performance of SWTOR.

 

I don't know... I upgraded from an i7-970 (3.2-3.4 GHz) to an i7-4820k (OC 4.3Ghz) and added a SSD and am seeing a HUGE difference in FPS / smooth gameplay; it's staggering really.

 

Of course, I didn't upgrade solely for this game, but it was a pleasant surprise to see such a positive performance impact here.

If you are really focused on just TOR performance, you might get more out of moving to 16 gigs of RAM and using a RAM disk to preload the game.

 

Compared to having it on a good SSD, that shouldn't be all too much of a speed-up honestly, and the SSD is definitely a good investment for overall performance even if only the OS is on there.

 

I very rarely see my system go above the 8GB RAM mark including the file system cache, even after extended game sessions. If it happens, it's mostly because I've been running VMs on the side.

 

So effectively, I'd say the system the OP is proposing looks good. The concerns about SSD size are valid, although it depends on how much stuff is supposed to go on there. Even just getting CPU, board, SSD, and maybe the PSU if it's really necessary (looking forward to a new GPU down the road) should make for a good experience. After that, I'd look at a new graphics card, and even later maybe "faster" RAM which is just micro-optimisation.

You might find a 120 GB SSD a bit tight. I got a 250 and only have my OS, a few not very large programs that don't give you install options, and my top 3 games on it and its over half full.

 

If you are really focused on just TOR performance, you might get more out of moving to 16 gigs of RAM and using a RAM disk to preload the game. I don't know a lot about it other then its really fast. There is an utility to help with it on the forums somewhere.

 

Actually, a 120 GB SSD is fine if you don't install your OS onto that disk. There's little advantage in having windoze on SSD except for faster booting, but you're not rebooting every 5 minutes, are you? Only thing I'd do would be to place the swap file with a fixed size on the SSD as well, in case that you don't have enough RAM.

Use the regular HDD as your c: drive with OS, programs, personal files etc. and place only specific programs that need a speed boost on your SSD.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Cretinus

IMO, those computer specs are fine except for the antiquated video card. Here are some charts. You'd get almost double the performance out of a 600 or 700 series card.

 

You've got plenty of RAM (game doesn't use that much), and the CPU is fine (game isn't CPU intensive). And instead of SSD, just make a 2 GB ramdisk using imdisk or the SWTOR Unleashed thing, and put the DiskCacheArena file on it.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Merouk

You are going to need a better PSU OP.

Nah, 500W is sufficient for 1 video card. Video cards draw 200 tops under load, and the rest of the computer draws about 140, which puts the total of 340 right in the middle of what the PSU delivers, so it's at peak efficiency.

 

EDIT: I have an 800W and with 2 cards and about 450W draw I am considering going with a 600W PSU, cause 800 is a waste. The wattage figures are measured from the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) readout, which tells how much power the computer is using, at any point in time.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Merouk

Does anyone know if the Seagate desktop hybrid solid state drives work as well as the other ssd's?