Would like to boost SWTOR performance, new vid card or 2nd 5870?

C

Commander FAT

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 23, 2000
Messages
3,565
At times Star Wars the old republic takes some big frame rate hits. I'd like to boost performance and even upgrade the detail settings.

Here's my current set up:

1 x XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported ...

Write Review
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Write Review
1 x Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Write Review
1 x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

Write Review
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGIBOX

Write Review
1 x ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

I've already decided that doubling to 8 GB f ram would be a good start.

Should I just get a 2nd 5870 or a new single card? If so which? Please consider cost. A second hand 5870 goes for about $240 used on eBay and amazon. Is there a new card at that price point that would be more powerful than adding a second 5870?

I game at 1920x1080 on a 24" wide screen display.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I'd usually be the first to recommend going with crossfire, but the bitcoin fad has kept prices on the 5870 high enough that it's not really worth it.

One thing you might keep an eye out for is a deal on a 5970. I've seen them go for <$300 regularly which IMO is a good deal. You could pair a 5970 with your 5870 for triple crossfire.
 
Tough call... I run crossfire, but for the price difference I'd definitely go for the 7950 (3GB vram), plus 2 things:

Start by adding system RAM first, some mmo texture caches are notorious for using gobs of system ram to help with the vram. Having constantly loading textures dips the fps like crazy. And 2nd, an ssd for the same reason would also be a good idea.

First check if the gpu usage is at, or near 99%, if not the bottleneck may be elsewhere. If it is, then off shopping you go... ;)
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone.

How do I check the usage on my GPUs? I looked in the AMD system tray thing and I didn't see anything.
 
I play with a 5850 on a PII 965 at 1080p and I am wondering why you want another 5870 for this game (I was playing just last night). If you really are experiencing big hits, sell the 5870 and get a new card. I have never liked what dual cards do.
 
If you really wanna go with a second 5870, I have one XFX like the one you have. PM me if interested.
 
My personal feeling, would be to sell the 5870 to a bitcoin miner for their valuation of the card, then turn the funds towards 7xxx series cards that will run better for you. Would be a bit more shuffling around than you will likely want to deal with, but you will be happier in the end.
 
I didn't have a good experience with 5870 CF. They don't scale nearly as well as the 6000 or 7000 series. I would recommend selling it and buying a better single GPU.
 
Honestly, I'd just get a better card, I am currently running 2x 6970's and the performance gain isn't anything near what I hoped for. Also a ton of games seem to provide support for CF long after the game has been released. It gets frustrating.
 
Thanks for the tips everyone. I will look into that CCC utility. I also have a feeling that I just might need to reinstall Windows.
 
I'm running 570 GTX on 2500K@4,3GHZ... in 1080p, at max details, I'm getting from 95 to 110 fps on planets and during FPs. On fleet, with lots of people, the FPS drops to 70.

And yes, TOR is really CPU dependant - on my last OCed to 4,0 GHZ 920 i7, I was getting less FPS then now.
 
Post your system specs please. The only thing you need for better FPS seems to be HT/NB/CPU freq increases. We are running the same series CPU(DENEB) and your 955 is only 200mhz(default) less than a 965(same MAX TDP). 3.2GHz on these is like a Hyabusa in 6th gear doing 75MPH-sloooow :-D
---Im in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM encouraging you to start messing w.the BIOS without a thorough undestanding of voltages and frequencies associated w.the NB and 938Socket. All I'm saying is that your CPU may run a better card just the same as your 5870(which is a BOSS card).
 
I had read a thread, which was from a while ago, and it stated that the way that S.W.T.O.R. was designed meant that a fast drive of which that would store this game might show a benefit to this game; the thread stated that S.W.T.O.R. was not like W.o.W.'s way of loading characters and etc., so a S.S.D. might help, but overclocking your C.P.U. might help too.

I found this:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=154568
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top