Hardware Ability to Enjoy SWTOR to the Fullest

[Himora]

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor (4CPus) -3,2 GHz, a HIS HD 5870 iCooler V 1GB and 8 GB Ram.

I can play SWTOR on highest graphics in 1980×1020 totally fluid with 4x anti-aliasing.

Its a good pc and i can play crysis 2 on highest graphics but its not high-end.

[Domenik]

Dont buy alien ware waste of money you can build the exact same pc for 3grand on there site for 800-1200

[Booniehat]

Google : "hardwarezone Buyer's Guide II: Extreme, High-End, Mid-Range, Budget, and Entry Level Systems"

OP (and others who might be looking at upgrading their computers), hardwarezone is a nice site i use which is updated with "cookie-cutter" builds by very helpful posters. THis is a nice list of "high-end" to "budget" computers.

Your computer's specs *roughly* look like the mid-range computer from that post.

Intel Core i5 2500 & GIGABYTE Z68A-D3-B3 ~ $479 <- motherboard and CPUs tend to sold as a bundle.
G.Skill DDR3-1333MHz 8GB (2X4GB) ~ $60
PowerColor HD 6950 2GB ~ $379 or Palit GTX 560 Ti 1GB ~ $300
OCZ Vertex 3 60GB or Crucial M4 64GB or Crucial C300 64GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 32MB ~ $80
Samsung SATA 22X DVD Rewriter ~ $24
FSP Aurum AU-500W ~ $115
Ikonik EN2 ~ $55
Total ~ $14XX

NOTE: These are in Singapore dollars. I'm not sure if you can just apply the exchange rate because to my understanding, your tech stuff in america is cheaper as a whole. So it could possibly translate to a dollar-for-dollar price. (that is, it should also cost $14XX in America).

If you'd like a more american-friendly price gauge, google "system builder marathon" from tom's hardware. and click on sept 2011's article.

My point being, anything from the $800ish mid-range specs is probably more than capable on playing SWTOR on high

And don't get alienware... seriously. Expensive, and honestly after about 4 months the crazy neon lights start looking tacky and gaudy as hell.

[obiwannknowlton]

From the way you listed the tech specs, it looks like you're considering buying this computer (instead of already owning it). If that is the case, I have a few suggestions.

First, drop the Alienware brand and build the computer yourself (or at least go with a less obviously-overpriced brand). If you're dead set on the brand, that's fine but just understand that Alienware is heads and shoulders more expensive than competing brands because of the brand name.

Second, unless you multitask like crazy, there's no reason to upgrade to 12 gigs of RAM from the 6 gigs it comes with by default. The memory limit to 32-bit programs is 2 gigs (which most regular programs don't even come close to). Don't bother with the upgrade and save that money for other, more essential upgrades.

Third, if you can afford the splurge, get a solid state drive. With all the components you've got, the biggest performance gain you would notice is by adding a solid state drive. It'll drop your boot time to single-digit numbers and make games load ridiculously fast.

Fourth, there's a thread on reddit (I won't link to it since it is considered NDA breaking) where people are discussing their experiences in the beta with various system setups. IIRC, the computer you've got listed will run the game buttery smooth on the highest settings.

Edit: After reading your post about the computer forum, I looked into the memory situation. While technically you could spend some more money on better RAM, you wouldn't get much real-world performance from it. Even on extremely technical benchmarks, the difference between 1333 and 2133 Mhz is quite minor.

Also, in the single vs dual-video card debate, I would recommend just going with a single card. Loads of modern games don't use SLI/crossfire (or use it well). Many times, games will come out and people with SLI/crossfire configurations have issues because it is pretty poorly supported. Save yourself the headache and stick with one video card.

Thanks Link! That's exactly the type of feedback I was looking for.

(it's my bad for not being more clear in my original post...)

[Meleti]

I'm no expert but I think I have more knowledge than average person. While going through your setup I would say DEFINITELY on highest settings.

Yep.

If you can max out fairly recent games, you can max out TOR. The game's graphics are better than WoW by quite a lot, but it's still not Metro 2033.

[Phrixor]

Ill try not to get too technical.

People are saying you're putting $2k into that system? WAY Overpriced. Granted I just built my own new system 2 weeks ago, but I did it for $1750 and walked away with a very solid build (i.e. i7 2600k, 16GB DDR3 1600 ram, 2x gtx 560 ti SLI, 60 GB Sata 6 SSD, 1TB Sata 6 7200rpm).

If you don't have access to a friend who can build computers, and are unable to do it yourself, Dell will give you a better value. As long as you piece the right parts together and follow the instructions, there's no reason you can't build your own computer.

That said, your build will, in fact, run the game on high or ultra without a doubt. Watercooling is unnecessary if you aren't overclocking (which means to increase the power voltages to certain parts in the computer to get them to run faster, but also hotter) as several correctly placed fans will do more than enough to keep your mean temp at a controlled level.

I could review each individual part but I'll spare you. The information provided by other people is enough.

[Rekindled]

Here is a link from the Comp thread

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-Sample-Builds

It is a list of sample builds with prices

Pick the one that suits your budget and then go to your local PC store and ask them for the parts and the build it (they should/will match prices more or less); they will probably charge $100 to build it

NB http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/912692?p=11640486 ----------> where to but PC parts

Just saved you from the shame of buying an alien-ware PC spending over $1000 for a silly logo and neon lights.

and OFC it will run it on ultra.