I have an ATI 4890, but need something better...

[Jaling]

Here's the card I bought a few years ago (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102830) and Star Wars put everything at low and the frame rate suffers indoors. I'd like to upgrade my video card if that's the issue, but I don't have much of a budget (~$150). I also have a 2ghz dual core CPU, 8gb of memory, and 700w PSU.

Any suggestions?

[kliffharry]

Whats your frame rate outdoors? I got 120 fps steady outdoors (some tweaking) but also suffer a noticable drop indoors (50-60). I'm running with i5-2500 oc to 4,6ghz, 8gb ram, ati 6970 2gb gpu.

[Jaling]

I'm sure you do.

For me, outdoors is 50-70, indoors is 10-20. All on low settings.

[kliffharry]

Well the main problem is the bad optimizing in this game. You could probably get an ATI 6850 or 6870 for $150. Your cpu could use an upgrade as well though.

[Blupparen]

I think upgrading your cpu and motherboard is a better option. Even if you buy a new gpu you will get bottlenecked by the cpu.

[Nitrax]

I think much of it is the dual core cpu (I assume its some older AMD or Core Duo). I had an ATI 4870 with an AMD dual core and had a lot of slowness in many games (FPS, WoW, RTS...) then I upgraded to an i7 (i5 would be ok too i hear) and DDR3, only by doing that I doubled my "low end" FPS (high end FPS did not change much). Considering you go from 50-70 to 10-20 I think this is your problem too.

I then got a 560TI and doubled my FPS again =), but I don't think you are going to see the "double FPS" unless you upgrade your CPU.

(btw dont get fooled by MHz, my i7 doesn't have much more MHz than my AMD but I think core for core its 3-4 times faster anyway)

[Fower]

just STOP STOP UPGRADING. it wont fix anything! u will gain a 5 fps max. there is no reason to upgrade anything untill they fix their crap.

---------- Post added 2012-01-02 at 05:50 PM ----------

I think much of it is the dual core cpu (I assume its some older AMD or Core Duo). I had an ATI 4870 with an AMD dual core and had a lot of slowness in many games (FPS, WoW, RTS...) then I upgraded to an i7 (i5 would be ok too i hear) and DDR3, only by doing that I doubled my "low end" FPS (high end FPS did not change much). Considering you go from 50-70 to 10-20 I think this is your problem too.

I then got a 560TI and doubled my FPS again =), but I don't think you are going to see the "double FPS" unless you upgrade your CPU.

i got a i52500k (no oc) with a 560 ti + 8gb ddr3 and still runs like crap.

[Bertoxxulous]

just STOP STOP UPGRADING. it wont fix anything! u will gain a 5 fps max. there is no reason to upgrade anything untill they fix their crap.

---------- Post added 2012-01-02 at 05:50 PM ----------


i got a i52500k (no oc) with a 560 ti + 8gb ddr3 and still runs like crap.

I have about the same set up, and it runs amazing.

Here op, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150560 about 103$ after rebate and shipping.

[Fower]

I have about the same set up, and it runs amazing.

Here op, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150560 about 103$ after rebate and shipping.

while im questing and such i have no big issues 100 + fps and runs pretty smooth, but when im entering a warzone or imperial fleet.. bye bye fps

[Rodin]

while im questing and such i have no big issues 100 + fps and runs pretty smooth, but when im entering a warzone or imperial fleet.. bye bye fps

I've noticed on any MMO that when you're entering a zone with a lot of players doing things, it'll slow you down. Take my system for example, it'll peg WoW to the Vsync at 60FPS, and with Vsync off i can get anywhere from 70 to 250 FPS depending on my location. (Better indoors.) But as soon as I do any type of 25 man raiding (not so much on 10 man) I'm lucky to get 40FPS. I'm usually anywhere around 30 to 35 FPS, and I'm told that's normal, even for my specs.

Specs:
Phenom IIx6 1100t Black Edition OC'd to 3.8Ghz
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
XFX 6950 (Non-reference, so not unlocked)
Asus M4A89TD Pro/USB 3 Motherboard

[Deleted]

It's your CPU not the GPU.

I'm running a i3 2130 @ 3.4Ghz, 8GB RAM and a 4850, and I get 50fps+ on high settings(shadows off), on 1680x1050.

[Lilly32]

560 ti 448 cores isnt that expensive.

[Mauhour]

Like other people said, at some point upgrades can't really help anymore.

Your CPU needs to be changed, which implies a change of Motherboard too. Then you can change you GPU safely. In two words, new rig.

[Deleted]

i got a i52500k (no oc) with a 560 ti + 8gb ddr3 and still runs like crap.

Who buys an i5 2500k, and doesn't overclock it? The whole point of the 2500k is that, it is, unlocked... so you can overclock it.

[Jaling]

Sorry, I meant 3ghz CPU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037) and here's my motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358). Still think it's a CPU limitation, or GPU?

[Rodin]

Sorry, I meant 3ghz CPU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037) and here's my motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358). Still think it's a CPU limitation, or GPU?

From what I've been reading, Star Wars is more of a GPU dependent game than WoW is. Yes, upgrading your GPU will probably help with your framerate, but it probably isn't going to be as drastic as you'd like because of your Dual-Core processor. I'd suggest you save your money and live with it for the time being until you can either replace your CPU, GPU, and MOBO at the same time, or just say screw it and throw together a new system.

[AeRae]

4890 is still a great card. No need to upgrade that one just yet.

I would suggest going over to quad-core, if any upgrade should happen. But as many people already said in this thread this ain't the issue.

I would suggest reading http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...e-Old-Republic for some tips what is needed to run swtor.