Bottleneck?

Heya there,

so, the GF bought a new GPU as the old(GTS250) was starting to not be fully up to date. She was experiencing lots of lag and such in SWTOR.
So she went off and bought a GTX560, and things seemed alot better.
But shes still not quite happy with it, as there is still some things.

So my question is, could it be the rest of the system creating a bottleneck?

Attached pics of current system.

b.rgds.
Parv

I asked the same question a couple days ago and a lot of people were saying upgrade your CPU and mobo. I too had a C2D and 4GB 800Mhz RAM, I did have my E5200 OC'd to 3.5Ghz, I currently have a Q6600 and just now installing drivers for my new GFX card, ill see how it goes and post back here after a few hours of Skyrim hopefully maxed out on all settings!

If you can OC the CPU a bit, I bet that will help a lot.

Grab a CPU cooler; and go for a 3.0ghz OC at least. An older dual-core chip like that with a nice powerful GTX 560.. I could definitely see that as a potential bottleneck. But the issue is; MMO's often have extra lag that isn't always the fault of the computer.. I used to play Aion; with a GTX 580, i7 930 at 4ghz, and I still lagged... It was the engine + server lag.

Granted I believe SWTOR is less graphically intensive than Aion; but that CPU is definitely probably your bottleneck.. What resolution is she running? If she's not running 1680x1050 or higher; it'd definitely become a larger bottleneck, as lower resolutions require the CPU to work more than the GPU; which creates the bottleneck.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...?ie=UTF8&qid=1326312780&sr=8-1&condition=used

Alternatively; grab a e7400? (used one. 75 bucks from the top listed one there. though http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...&ie=UTF8&qid=1326312932&sr=1-1&condition=used q6600 used for 130? just throwing out suggestions.. (honestly; if it were me, I would save up 300 bucks and replace the RAM/CPU/Mobo entirely ).

Here. . 2100 is a cheap solid CPU. dual core, Hyperthreading. 3.1ghz. Sandy Bridge Architecture. Z68 Extreme 3 allows for a 2500k/2600k down the road. 8GB of RAM is more than enough for any gaming system.

The CPU should be enough for any gaming system.. (though spend extra if you wanna go crazy with a 2500K ). But for 300 bucks...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/61?vs=289

All your replies is much appreciated!

But, as she got more and more aggrevated, she's just decided to go and buy new parts. (except graphic)
So far she'll end up with:

MB: ASUS P8Z68-V LX, Socket-1155
CPU: i5-2500k
RAM: 8GB corsair or something.

-new case to match the parts, as her current is a HTPC.
-new HDD, as far as i understand.

So, when/if she gets this done, bottleneck should most likely be gone )

Any comments in regards to the MB?

b.rgds.
Parv

Rather than recklessly buying parts... What's her budget? I just noticed you're actually in Denmark.. I'm there right now with my Girlfriend . She's Danish haha.

That motherboard does not support xfire or sli. She will be limited to single cards. Hence why I suggested the Extreme 3. It allows the option..

Let me find something real quick.. Computersalg.dk looks like a good store. Lots of good reviews. Nice site too. Not sure what you need a new HDD for.. Unless you're getting an SSD.. But here's my build.

i'll suggest it to her.
She'll most likely be getting it all from http://www.bwsbutik.dk/
-as the have a physical store near her parents place. So they'll assemble it all, with a warrenty.
She'll want an SSD too, most likey an OZC AGI 3 60gb, to use with Intel SRT.
And she might be going for a new physical drive, as her current is 4 years old and shes worried it might slow the rest down.

As for case, she'll most likely go for the CM 690 II.

Denmark you say?
So you get to enjoy the weather too! haha

Yes.. The wonderful weather.. ha. CM 690 II is one of the few cooler master cases I don't mind recommending. If she likes it; go for it (Wouldn't be my choice, but up to her).

SSD for SRT is solid. WD Black 500GB. Would be an alright choice.. WD Black is the fastest you'll get out of a normal HDD. The 1TB is 1400 dkk. I personally wouldn't buy an OCZ SSD but that's me.. I prefer Crucial M4's or Intel.

I would go with a 120GB SSD (minimum) or not at all. 60GB sounds like just enough. But with Windows 8 around the corner, and SWTOR will soon be over 20GB itself, you will not be able to fit both the OS and the Game on the SSD, much less other MMO's like GW2 that are due out soon.

imo the hard drive and MB are the most difficult things to upgrade in a computer. And you should make sure those are up to date when building a new computer.

rdhfreethought said:

I would go with a 120GB SSD (minimum) or not at all. 60GB sounds like just enough. But with Windows 8 around the corner, and SWTOR will soon be over 20GB itself, you will not be able to fit both the OS and the Game on the SSD, much less other MMO's like GW2 that are due out soon.

imo the hard drive and MB are the most difficult things to upgrade in a computer. And you should make sure those are up to date when building a new computer.

Click to expand...

Whilst I agree to a point....

You can slim down a Win7 install quite easily. And frankly Win8 is not a gamers OS. Win7 will be around for us for a long time. Win8 is aimed more towards tablets and such...

64GB SSD is fine. Remove hibernation, lower the Page file size to 1-2GB max. And if you don't believe you need it; remove system restore. These 3 alone spare 10GB + with 8GB+ RAM in your system (where Page file and hibernation sizes are directly correlated to the amount of RAM in your system. At least by default as set by windows).

You can also uninstall several Windows apps; like games you'll never use; extra features you'll never use, etc.

With all that said; their SSD is for SRT; not for the boot drive. (though if it were me, I'd use it as a boot drive). Then I would only install Windows 7, Office, Web Browsers, etc on it; And perhaps my MAIN game (In this case, SWTOR), Even at 20GB, say windows + its apps take up 15-20GB. There's still room for an SSD to breathe. All other games would be on the mechanical HDD.

I partially agree with you as well. I am coming from a 10k rpm drive, so I have had to be cautious with file size. Let me tell you it is a real pain. I was playing Rift when the SWTOR beta invite came. Basically, I had to find 2GB from somewhere before I could DL SWTOR for the beta weekend. The easiest thing would have been to delete the current game, then re-install it after the weekend was over. But, it so happens I did several beta weekends. Imagine the pain of installing.deleting and re-installing each time. (a 17GB download whilst under high server demand= several hours) And this is with a 150GB drive (even larger than 120GB, I proposed). Eventually, I ended up finding space by moving videos and old pics to DVD. But now they are a hassle to pull up, since I have to find the DVD.

120GB SSD + 500GB HD (min) are the way to go, imo.

Also, hibernation is the main reason to go SSD. Off to internet in 7 seconds, including typing my password. That is priceless.

I never hibernate. I just sleep it. If I know it's going to be not in use for a long time; I just turn it off. (more than 3 hours).

I use a 128GB SSD. I had issues at one point where I was getting near full.. Then i moved all my steam games off my SSD onto my HDD; and free'd up quite a lot.

Personally; my next SSD (along with Ivy Bridge, i7 3770K, and other goodies); will be 256GB . So I don't have to install anything on my HDD, and it's purely for storage. I can keep steam on my SSD, etc. XD. Not the cheapest option.. But it's what I'm after.

Whoops, I thought "hibernate" meant sleep. I am relatively new to Win7, and my comp only says "sleep" under the shutdown menu.

Funny thing is that I have used PocketPC (along with the bundled Excel, Office, Reader etc) since 1997 and loved the instant on feature. Why MS couldn't build an OS with PDA (also known as Smartphones, for the iPhone generation) instant on, is beyond me. But, now we are close. Only 15 years later. (about 2 million years in 'computer years', lol). But now the market is full of Bookstore developed software/hardware readers, and fruit phones. Sometimes technology really marches slowly.