You should check it with some other GPU intensive game. SWTOR, like i said before, is poorly coded. Unless you are running SLI or something, any decently coded game (unless it uses a **** ton of calculations) shouldn't max out your CPU. Also, always run a game in VSYNC enabled mode to prevent unnecessary maxing out of either the CPU or the GPU. It not only saves power but increases the life of the components as well.

Yes... Of course its swtor. Never claimed otherwise. A more optimized game produces different results on my pc. But OP was freaking out about FPS in swtor so i mentioned the next barrier after a gpu upgrade based on my own experiences witht the game. Nothing more.

 

Instead of the GTX670, i would highly suggest an AMD R9 280X. It is a monster of a card and will blow 670 out of the competition (costs around 300USD on newegg again). It is just 7970 GHz edition disguised which was already one of AMD's fastest production cards.

I'm not so sure about the blowing part but it would be a good choice. If money is an issue however, a GTX 760 or 660 TI would work as well. Edited November 26, 2013 by AMightyKnight

Yes... Of course swtor its. Never claimed otherwise. A more optimized game produces different results on my pc. But OP was freaking out about FPS in swtor so i mentioned the next barrier after a gpu upgrade based on my own experiences witht the game. Nothing more.

 

I'm not so sure about the blowing part but it would be a good choice. If money is an issue however, a GTX 760 or 660 TI would work as well.

 

GTX760 costs more than the AMD R9 280X while giving less performance.

 

OP

 

For CPU monitoring, use Core Temp (be careful while installing, it does have some bloatware)

For GPU monitoring, use GPU Temp

 

Now run SWTOR in Windowed mode while leaving space at the bottom only enough to see your GPU and CPU usage. Just decrease the resolution slightly to get the gap, reducing it too much will decrease the load on your CPU & GPU.

Edited November 25, 2013 by DKNS

GTX760 costs more than the AMD R9 280X while giving less performance.

You can get a GTX760 2GB for 250 US-$ on amazon.com, R9 280X is 300+ US-$.

In an actual gaming enviroment the performance difference shouldnt be wont be more than tolerable if money is an issue.

Edited November 25, 2013 by AMightyKnight

You can get a GTX760 2GB for 250 US-$ on amazon.com, R9 280X is 300+ US-$.

In an actual gaming enviroment the performance difference shouldnt be wont be more than tolerable if money is an issue.

 

try a HIS radeon R9 270X iceQ X2 2gig GDDR5

i use it to now its a very good card for a very nice price so 170 euro for me then dollar i dunno

 

also i use a AMD FX 8 core 4.0 GHZ

windows 7 premuim 64 bit

8 gig Kingston 1600

OCZ 700 WATT

case CM 690 II Advanced Black & White Edition

CPU cooler Scythe mugen 4

 

all this for so 900 euro and you have dam nice comp for a nice price

This game is pretty poorly optimized any upgrades you get aren't going to do much for your FPS.

 

I have an i7 3770k and a GTX 680 4GB I run at 2560x1440 and sometimes even my framerate drops into the 30's in warzones.

 

What the heck man... not many people are running at 2560x1440. The standard sweet spot for HD gaming is at 1920x1080. When people are talking about fps they usually want to know what the rig runs in the 1920x1080 range, or less.

Turn off bloom. Turn off shadows. And turn off class symbols under nameplates. Turn down grass and tree quality. Then install the direct x 9 update at http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/4/A/84A35BF1-DAFE-4AE8-82AF-AD2AE20B6B14/directx_Jun2010_redist.exe . Make sure you have the latest AMD driver installed. Edited November 25, 2013 by Dropadeuce

GTX760 costs more than the AMD R9 280X while giving less performance.

 

OP

 

For CPU monitoring, use Core Temp (be careful while installing, it does have some bloatware)

For GPU monitoring, use GPU Temp

 

Now run SWTOR in Windowed mode while leaving space at the bottom only enough to see your GPU and CPU usage. Just decrease the resolution slightly to get the gap, reducing it too much will decrease the load on your CPU & GPU.

 

Haha ok thanks I'll get GPU Temp, but I won't need to do all that because I have two monitors

Turn off bloom. Turn off shadows. And turn off class symbols under nameplates. Turn down grass and tree quality. Then install the direct x 9 update at http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/4/A/84A35BF1-DAFE-4AE8-82AF-AD2AE20B6B14/directx_Jun2010_redist.exe . Make sure you have the latest AMD driver installed.

 

Yes I have done all that. I've seen improvements but I'm still getting bad fps in warzones :\

This game is pretty poorly optimized any upgrades you get aren't going to do much for your FPS.

 

I have an i7 3770k and a GTX 680 4GB I run at 2560x1440 and sometimes even my framerate drops into the 30's in warzones.

 

^ This.

Ok I played a few warzones with GPU Temp and Windows Task Manager open to see the usage percentages.

 

Oddly, the GPU core load never went over 50% and the temperature stayed around 67 degrees Celsius. The CPU usage never went over 30 percent but my fps in the warzone was 30 - 50.

 

Remember I have an i5 2500 @ 3.30GHZ and a AMD HD Radeon 6850 1 GB

 

I don't know what to make of this. Shouldn't the GPU be used a lot more than it is in game? Now I'm confused

Ok I played a few warzones with GPU Temp and Windows Task Manager open to see the usage percentages.

 

Oddly, the GPU core load never went over 50% and the temperature stayed around 67 degrees Celsius. The CPU usage never went over 30 percent but my fps in the warzone was 30 - 50.

 

Remember I have an i5 2500 @ 3.30GHZ and a AMD HD Radeon 6850 1 GB

 

I don't know what to make of this. Shouldn't the GPU be used a lot more than it is in game? Now I'm confused

Aye, this happens to me too. In pretty intensive situations like PvP my GPU load never goes above 50. But when I'm in an area where nothing is going on my GPU will sometimes skyrocket to 80%, like up in the VIP area for example. It's bad coding on the games part, it doesn't utilize your hardware correctly.

Just a quick indicator as to the nature of your framerate bottleneck, pop up the fps display in SWTOR (ctrl+shift+f) and look at the colour of the reading.

 

From this post - http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=4748197&postcount=8 - the explaination is as follows:

 

So the actual explanation of the FPS display colors:

 

Red = Rendering bound/Video Card

Green = Simulation bound/CPU

Yellow = Mix of both

Current FPS (Lowest FPS over the last 10 seconds or so)

 

Hope that points you in the right direction.

Just a quick indicator as to the nature of your framerate bottleneck, pop up the fps display in SWTOR (ctrl+shift+f) and look at the colour of the reading.

 

From this post - http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=4748197&postcount=8 - the explaination is as follows:

 

 

 

Hope that points you in the right direction.

As a side note to this, I am quite certain if you run with V-sync the meter will be a constant green. Don't know if the OP said he is running v-sync or not. It's because your GPU is being throttled down to conserve energy and limit the frames it can produce to give a smoother experience.

I turned off V-Sync and didn't really notice a difference other than there not being an FPS cap and it sometimes going up to 110 for no reason. It was still 30 - 50 FPS in warzones. I have never seen my GPU load go over 50 percent while playing this game...so that's concerning as well.

 

More importantly though, now that I know what the colors mean for the fps in game reading, it is always red. So I guess this means its my GPU that sn't rendering up to par with my CPU.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Ventonix

My Laptop

 

Lenovo G710

 

Processor Intel® Core i3-4000M CPU @ 2.40GHz

Manufacturer Intel

Speed 2.4 GHz

Number of Cores 4

 

Video Card 1 Intel® HD Graphics 4600

Chipset Intel® HD Graphics 4600

Dedicated Memory 16 MB

Manufacturer Intel

Total Memory 1.8 GB

 

Video Card 2 NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M

Chipset GeForce GT 720M

Dedicated Memory 1.0 GB

Total Graphics Memory 3.8 GB

 

Memory 6.0 GB

Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit

 

Taken From System Requirements lab

 

 

I can run game on Highest graphics with no lag at all not even on the fleet, 16m ops or warzones so try to find a desktop version of parts matching those specs or higher also try this link: http://www.covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/topic/32416-tips-for-improving-framerate/

 

Helped me run this game on a modded dell 1545 ati graphics edition laptop and that is older than your pc.

Also remember that you can have the best Graphics card in the world but if the game dont support it in performance then what good is it. ( from someone who has been building and modding pc and laptops for 6 years)

Edited November 26, 2013 by TominatorBriss

My Laptop

 

Lenovo G710

 

Processor Intel® Core i3-4000M CPU @ 2.40GHz

Manufacturer Intel

Speed 2.4 GHz

Number of Cores 4

 

Video Card 1 Intel® HD Graphics 4600

Chipset Intel® HD Graphics 4600

Dedicated Memory 16 MB

Manufacturer Intel

Total Memory 1.8 GB

 

Video Card 2 NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M

Chipset GeForce GT 720M

Dedicated Memory 1.0 GB

Total Graphics Memory 3.8 GB

 

Memory 6.0 GB

Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit

 

 

I can run game on Highest graphics with no lag at all not even on the fleet, 16m ops or warzones so try to find a desktop version of parts matching those specs or higher also try this link: http://www.covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/topic/32416-tips-for-improving-framerate/

 

Helped me run this game on a modded dell 1545 ati graphics edition laptop and that is older than your pc

 

Ok I'll look into that link but define "no lag". Do you mean 70+ fps in fleet, warzones, and ops consistently??

Yes by no lag i Mean no lag what so ever and if it ever does its because my connection to the server is on one bar (rarely happens but everyone gets it now and then)

 

Graphics wise i recommend a DDR-5 Graphics card with atleast 1 GB or more (some ddr-3 are fine but its finding the right one) for example of one is GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2 GB - my brother uses that and he has same performance as me though i dont know his frame rate but he never lags once on anythink so just a example of really the benchmark you wana be aiming for or higher.

 

My Laptop one is a ddr-3 graphics but id done alot of research in buying a laptop just for this game when im on the move.

 

 

do some research on what graphics people use to play this game (its not all about how much it costs) remember your trying to find a graphics card that is more compatible with the game not trying to find a beast of a graphics card.

 

Edited November 26, 2013 by TominatorBriss

So much blah in this tread...

1st of all, FPS limitation is easy checked on populated zone at fleet - just try with low and high graphic settings - if there is no difference in FPS - you are limited by CPU, if there is large one - from GPU.

1 GB VRAM is not good above 1920x1080 (1200) ... GPU by itself may not be overloaded but some of textures will go to system ram - slow due to transfers.

Windows 8 is optimized 7 ... all that crap about it is just because interface is different, already tested - performance is at least same.

 

OP PC seems capable at whole but there may be some things to check.

- Temperatures - overheat means dropping performance (automatically) to keep system safe.

- PSU - bad or low power one will limit CPU & GPU performance.

- Direct X 9 (Windows Vista, 7 & 8 have no full DX9, they rely on 10/11) - SWTOR is fully Direct X 9 - go to Microsoft site and download Direct X 9 redistributable ... install it.

- VC++ & .Net - update them or install full packs from Microsoft.

- HDD load - SWTOR engine have too much HDD load - DiscCasheArena is like Windows swap file, all effect data is taken from files on HDD (due to RAM limitations of 32 bits processes) & so on. Even simple loading of DiscCasheArena in RamDrive (Unleashed with only this in RAM have no issues on game updates) affect delays measurable. SSD make some things very different but it is not a cheap toy.

- Bloatware, torrents, browsers and browser objects + adobe plugins - up to 50% difference on some systems.

- GPU with 2 GB DDR5 VRAM

I turned off V-Sync and didn't really notice a difference other than there not being an FPS cap and it sometimes going up to 110 for no reason. It was still 30 - 50 FPS in warzones. I have never seen my GPU load go over 50 percent while playing this game...so that's concerning as well.

 

More importantly though, now that I know what the colors mean for the fps in game reading, it is always red. So I guess this means its my GPU that sn't rendering up to par with my CPU.

 

It goes to 110 because V-Sync removes the FPS limit (60 by default). It will max load your components until one of them bottle-necks the other.

 

But yea, SWTOR's coding is still bad. I can see my FPS spike as well randomly even though my GPU is 70-80% loaded. My CPU though is at a constant 30-40% at Ultra settings. i5-2500 like i said before it a very good CPU and you should only consider your GPU for upgrades if you want to upgrade.

Edited November 26, 2013 by DKNS

I think I'll go ahead and buy an nvidia card just to see if there is a difference between nvidia cards and AMD cards.

I think I'll go ahead and buy an nvidia card just to see if there is a difference between nvidia cards and AMD cards.

 

Get at least 2 GB DDR5 VRAM ... Something like or above GTX 650 TI 2GB DDR5

I think I'll go ahead and buy an nvidia card just to see if there is a difference between nvidia cards and AMD cards.

 

It's not something NVidia/AMD side. Even though i play at 40-60FPS most of the time, it will spike occasionally especially on the fleets or any place having a huge population. The game does seem smoother with SWTOR Unleashed but loading and unloading it is too much of a bother. Maybe you should try it if you have 8GB+ RAM.

It's not something NVidia/AMD side. Even though i play at 40-60FPS most of the time, it will spike occasionally especially on the fleets or any place having a huge population. The game does seem smoother with SWTOR Unleashed but loading and unloading it is too much of a bother. Maybe you should try it if you have 8GB+ RAM.

 

Load just DiscCasheArena file and leave it there ... it works without messing updates because this file is like Windows swap file - recreated when needed/missing automatically.

On old PC with 6 GB RAM - same file on Unleashed reduce measurable spikes and loading delays.

 

Check your HDD load from bloatware, torrents, browsers ... power option also.