Upgrade Project

[Blackferne]

I'm looking to upgrade my gaming rig to stop being the last to load in on raids and have better performance in general.

Here is what I currently have:

Motherboard:(LGA 775 Intel chipset) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131616
CPU: (3.2GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116370
Memory:(8GB DDR3) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231308
Hard Drive:(640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136319
Graphics Card:(VisionTek 900357 Radeon HD 5670 2GB DDR3 PCI Express ) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814129185
Power Supply: (550W) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371016

I'd ideally like to keep as much of that as I can and "solve" this problem. When I run taskmanager while SWTOR is running even alone on my ship with no combat going or whatever the process tab shows two entries for SWTOR*32. One typically is running in the high 40s, the second ranges from 25-low 40s depending on what I'm doing.

And I'd like not to spend too much money.

[Marrkin]

Joun,

What is your case model?

That would help determine the ATX form factor limits to work with.

[Blackferne]

Joun,

What is your case model?

That would help determine the ATX form factor limits to work with.

I just nail components to the wall.



Seriously though I have this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129155

[Furiel]

Your biggest obstacles to be overcome are memory and HD speed from what I'm seeing.

Unfortunately there is no simple fix for those since you mobo is already at it's memory max and a new HD means probably having to buy a new OS license as well. And once you are into it for a new mobo and HD anyway you might as well rebuild the whole fuggin thing.

[Marrkin]

Ok,

So i have to say your CPU/Mobo and RAM are probably your biggest bottlenecks. Basically you would have to give up the 775 platform altogether. Despite rated Ghz, a 65w chip is going to run slow (per current standard- most are 95w+)

...this means no less than a Mobo/CPU swap.

At minimum, I would recommend these:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115089
and
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130653 (or something close)

You are also at the bottom end of Ram speed (DDR3 1066) that is basically allowed by anything current. Since RAM is fairly cheap, i always receommend updating it. Your RAM qty is fine though.

If it were me though, CPU/Mobo is where I would start.

With this setup you could probably still use your current power supply, though a 550w is on the low spectrum for current tech as well.

[Marrkin]

Oh oh,

also, if you decide to try RAM, I recommend Mushkin Advanced.

they have awesome warranties and I love the performance on mine.
I had one DOA set, and they replaced them no questions. Lifetime warranty.
(16GB of DDR3 2133 Redlines)

[Blackferne]

I have a Logitech G13 keypad and it shows ram usage never going about 50% when playing swtor, but the CPU is always in the 90s. So my first thought is replace CPU/motherboard. Memory can be upgraded later imo.

[Marrkin]

It will show RAM usage yes, but RAM Speed is not accounted for. This also affects all things that "load".

But I know what you mean. It's a cheap/easy upgrade you can do whenever.

Also, consider an aftermarket cooler for any new CPU. The ones that come with them (if at all) suck SUPER BAD.

[Furiel]

Do you use SWTOR unleashed?

I ask because SWTOR does a shitton of HD work, that's why your memory usage is lower, because they are relying on the HD for alot of the caching. If your RAM is not being all eaten up if you run swtor unleashed it might give you an immediate performance boost since you are still using a regular HD, not an SSD.

[Blackferne]

I'll try unleashed tonight and see how it goes. I was totally unaware of that.

[Marrkin]

[Furiel]

Unleashed bitches

[Marrkin]

Very cool, never heard of this.

Not touchin it, but cool nonetheless.

[Furiel]

Yeah, it's more for lower end systems with alot of memory or for those who still have regular HDs and not SSDs

[TimmySchneeks]

Just wanted to mention I have a small-ish (90gig) SSD that I only use for games and it loads just about as fast as Skig from what I can tell, and I think he's running windows & swtor both on the SSD. Cheap-ish option if you just want to speed up load times a bit (obviously won't get the windows insta-boot), and think about the major upgrade a little later down the line. You basically just re-install SWTOR straight to the SSD (or move the folder manually and link it, also pretty easy to do).

The other thing you could try is getting an upgrade to the graphics card, but that also seems a bit of a waste based on the stuff the others have said here already; you'll probably want to base that around the new motherboard/power supply & make sure they're all compatible.

[Bulwark]

The other thing you could try is getting an upgrade to the graphics card, but that also seems a bit of a waste based on the stuff the others have said here already; you'll probably want to base that around the new motherboard/power supply & make sure they're all compatible.

I offered my old ATI 6870, but he turned it down.

[Skiggity]

Actually, I have SWTOR on my HDD, a 7200rpm Western Digital Black; nothing special there. My loads are usually pretty quick, not sure why. exactly.

I might actually check out the Unleashed thing, because I have gobs of RAM.

My SSD is just system and some Adobe stuff, it's only 80GB. An upgrade is coming, I put a 256GB SSD in the PC I just built and it was only $160 from Tiger Direct. (OCX Vertex (2 or 3?) Max IOPS edition)

[TimmySchneeks]

Careful with the ocz, I had one as my main drive and it died due to not liking hibernation in win7. Easily RMA'd though and it's been trouble-free for a long while as my secondary. Probably fixed by now as that was over a year ago, but worth looking into.

[Blackferne]

The other thing you could try is getting an upgrade to the graphics card, but that also seems a bit of a waste based on the stuff the others have said here already; you'll probably want to base that around the new motherboard/power supply & make sure they're all compatible.

I offered my old ATI 6870, but he turned it down.

I seem to remember that mine has 2GB of on board memory and isn't ridiculously large. If I was wrong and the ATI 6870 is abetter card and will fit I'm game to try it.

[Bulwark]

Keep the one with 2gb. SWTOR is a graphics memory hog (that's why I upgraded)

[Skiggity]

Yeah, I don't like hibernation anyway, so I disabled it out of preference when setting them up. It's kind of pointless with a 5-second boot time anyway! The new mobos boot so much faster....

[Happyclam]

The other thing you could try is getting an upgrade to the graphics card, but that also seems a bit of a waste based on the stuff the others have said here already; you'll probably want to base that around the new motherboard/power supply & make sure they're all compatible.

I offered my old ATI 6870, but he turned it down.

I seem to remember that mine has 2GB of on board memory and isn't ridiculously large. If I was wrong and the ATI 6870 is abetter card and will fit I'm game to try it.

Quit being a pussy and just get a bigger case. And I was the one who sent my old card to you guys.

[Skiggity]

I found the Newegg product photo of Joun's Hard Drive: