Any suggestions for video card upgrades to make SWTOR run smoother?

[like42ninjas]

Hello,
Stars Wars: The Old Republic Specifications:

Processor:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better
Operating System:
Windows XP or later
RAM:

Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM
Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM
Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:

ATI X1800 or better
nVidia 7800 or better
Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better
DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only) Internet connection required to play.




I ran the "can you run it" test and while my processor did well, my video card did not.





Here are my computer specs:

Time of this report: 4/10/2012, 02:34:25
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.110617-0336)
System Manufacturer: Gateway
System Model: GT5694
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9100e Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs), ~1.8GHz
Memory: 3838MB RAM
Page File: 2072MB used, 5834MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode



Card name: ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9610)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9610&SUBSYS_014E1025&REV_00
Display Memory: 1916 MB
Dedicated Memory: 252 MB
Shared Memory: 1663 MB
Current Mode: 1400 x 1050 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version: 8.17.0010.1114 (English)
DDI Version: 10
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/5/2011 20:16:00, 933888 bytes




Any thoughts / recommendations would be great thanks!!

 

[wrazor]

Well, this ones quite easy tbh. Unless, you have got a very very sick PSU, you should be easily able to get the AMD 7750 graphic card. Seriously, you will see day & night of a difference. That cpu is kinda bad too, but it should do okay with 7750. If you were to go to like 7850 or something, that CPU will starve your graphic card. How much are you willing to spend? Newegg? The 7750 runs for around 110$ these days.

 

[like42ninjas]

I have always been more of a console gamer but got back into PC for SWTOR so I am not really needing my PC to run the top of the line games. Just looking for something to make the experience a little better. I was hoping to stay around that price range... like I said not really needing anything to fancy. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[quilciri]

^

that'd be the least PSU intensive solution. If your PSU is a little hardier, you can get a GTS 250 from Amazon for $65. Same performance as the 7750, and about the same power consumption, but it requires a 6-pin connector, while the 7750 can be powered over the pci-e bus.

 

[like42ninjas]

My only concern is that apparently my PSU is only 300 watts... any thoughts on what I should replace it with?

 

[quilciri]

If that PSU came with the case, then it is a little worrisome. take a look at the sticker on the side for the 12v rail power - it'll looke like 12v@XXa. multiply the volts by the amps to get the wattage and compare it to the card's requirements (you'll need ~160 watts for those cards, so 12v@14a would be good)

For a game system, you should look at the +12v rail power as much as the total wattage of the PSU.

If your PSU is lacking, you could try
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029

It's got a hefty +12v rail. You could run any card in existence off of it.

 

[Murray B]

In certain areas and at certian times SWTOR will stutter because of server lag and all systems will be affected by this.

After that there is no agreement on what constitutes "smoother". Hand drawn animations in the twentieth century were shown at 12 unique frames per second and that was smooth enough for some people. Wolfenstein 3D ran at about the same speed on a 286 and many were happy with that. DOOM on a 486 DX2-66 increased that to about 18 but some users wanted more speed. When the Pentiums came out many machines were capable of 60+ ufps but there were so many complaints that the developer limited the frame rate to 35, if memory serves.

So what does "smoother" mean to you?