Nvidia GTX 550 Ti not running SW:TOR, help!

[edenknight]

Greetings All:

I posted a while ago, I'll summarize the problem though - My girlfriend's computer was bought on Black Friday I believe 2 or 3 years ago, and it was a premade HP. Recently, I upgraded the video card from a Nvidia GT 220 to a Nvidia GTX 550 ti so she could play Star Wars: The Old Republic better, but the lag barely improved in most areas.

The model of the PC is the "a6614f" However, I changed the PSU to the 450W power supply, and the video card is now the GTX 550 ti instead of the GT 220


Specs are as specified -

Power Supply - 450W
Video Card - Nvidia GTX 550 ti
Processor - AMD Phenom(tm) 9500 Quad-Core Processor @ 2.20 GHz
Memory - 6.00 GB
Operating System - Windows Vista 64 Bit SP1
DxDiag - DirectX Version 10
Monitor/Resolution - 21 Inch 1680x1050 @ 60 hz (native resolution)

The Problem -

After installing the GTX 550 ti, I run EVGA Precision and it appears that the GPU usage only tops out at ~25%, no matter what the settings. I thought the reason might be that the video card isn't getting enough wattage to be able to utilize it's full potential so I installed my own 850W power supply, but to no avail, same GPU usage. The game is VERY choppy and the Frames Per Second drop to about 2-4 in any city. My second guess was maybe the motherboard or CPU isn't able to catch up with the video card? I don't even know.

I can answer any additional information requests to what the problem might be, I'm trying to narrow down the causes so I know what I can do to fix it. Thank you very much for any help!

 

[sykozis]

My recommendation would be to upgrade the processor. The original Phenom series were rather poor performers in general.

 

[edenknight]

Would the processor cause video lag/low GPU usage on the video card?

 

[sykozis]

The video card is dependent on data sent by the processor.

 

[edenknight]

Okay, so I was looking at new processors for the computer, I found this one -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995

It's an AM3 socket type and the motherboard is an AM2+ socket type

Are there any downsides to using that processor in the motherboard? Also, do you think that it would fix the video game lag? Thanks!

Here's the motherboard link, by the way. http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01570948&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodSeriesId=3793920&prodTypeId=12454

 

[amuffin]

What power supply?

 

[deadjon]

Okay, so I was looking at new processors for the computer, I found this one -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995

It's an AM3 socket type and the motherboard is an AM2+ socket type

Are there any downsides to using that processor in the motherboard? Also, do you think that it would fix the video game lag? Thanks!

Here's the motherboard link, by the way. http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01570948&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodSeriesId=3793920&prodTypeId=12454

This may be the right socket, but as you can see it only supports 95W Phenom I processors.

There is a chance this Processor could work, as it is also only 95W but it is not OFFICIALLY supported by your mobo.

Also a forum post regarding this has been made - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/322297-10-motherboard-m2n68-narra5-compatibility-phenom-960t

Unfortunatly both these folk have failed to upgrade past Phenom I - My advice is to either buy a new motherboard + CPU or cope.

 

[lothdk]

After installing the GTX 550 ti, I run EVGA Precision and it appears that the GPU usage only tops out at ~25%, no matter what the settings. I thought the reason might be that the video card isn't getting enough wattage to be able to utilize it's full potential so I installed my own 850W power supply, but to no avail, same GPU usage. The game is VERY choppy and the Frames Per Second drop to about 2-4 in any city. My second guess was maybe the motherboard or CPU isn't able to catch up with the video card? I don't even know.

Was this in fleet and flashpoint/heroics or everywhere?

I ask because a lot of players have this problem specific to fleet and instances, no matter what their system specs are.

Visiting the SWTOR boards you will see posts with hundreds of replys as to this exact issue.