So I had a buddy of mine custom build my PC for me right at the beginning of December 2009. 2 years later I'm playing SWTOR and it couldn't handle it. I'm not good with computer, so hopefully the few thing I list can give you wizards and idea of what would cause my problems.
Intel Core 2 Quad - q9400 @2.66GHz
ATI radeon hd 4850. (just upgraded to the 6950 last week)
4 gig RAM
win7-64
23 inch monitor, 1920x1080 resolution
Before I upgraded the card, I couldn't run the game on max settings, so I had to drop it to low, and turn off shadows, naturally. I would hit like MAYBE 20-30 fps MAX, basically only happened in starter zones. Lagged A LOT anywhere else. Had lag spikes very very often. My friend figured my card was overheating and couldn't handle the graphics on top of the resolution display.
So I got the Radeon HD 6950. It runs a heck of alot better, I run on max, but I still get lag spikes. Virtually every time I mount/force leap/stealth it freezes. I hit force leap, 2 seconds later Im sitting in a pack of mobs.
The game also loads SLOW. Maybe it's because I'm minimizing mid-load, but very rarely does it seem to load quickly. I'm sure these problems are partially the game. I've heard ATI cards caused problems for some people, but I'm not sure if they experienced this exactly.
Anyways, can anyone shed some light on this issue? I would like my computer to run smoothly. I can't play this game like I did in WOW back in the Lagforge days, and thats basically what it was add before I upgraded to a 6950. Although a ton better, I feel it isn't going as well as it should be.
Also, like I said I don't know exactly how all the graphic options work, but I know in WOW I would reduce the view distance to make sure I wouldn't lag in big areas like Storm Peaks on MAX settings, I wish they added they option in SWTOR since the worls are so huge, I can see way far back..