Even spending about $340 or so would only get you something about 10% faster than the latter, so I don't see much reason to spend more than that on a card.
I would recommend getting to at least 4 GB of memory. If you've got two 1 GB modules, then you can probably add two more to make 4 GB. If you've got one 2 GB module (which you shouldn't but might since you talk about removing a 2 GB module), then you can add another to make 4 GB. DDR2 is more expensive than DDR3, so I wouldn't recommend going for 8 GB, especially in an older system.
Wrong and wrong from both responses, this game is not GPU dependent it is CPU dependent, unless your cool with sub par FPS in crowded areas nothing less than i7 will do.
edit: sorry you will have to upgrade your GPU as well but you dont need a 400 card something in the 250 range will sufice. Unless of course you can afford the high end card then go for it.
Dou core is sufficient enough no need for quad and the geforce 5 series way to high for his old motherboard won't work he should go for 260 280 max. Or replace mother board but then also need to replace cpu.
P.S Again dont buy a new generation video card if your motherboard don't realy support it, it will not improve much specially with new DX11 cards they are way to overpowered for old MB.
A quad core isn't absolutely necessary, but you'd rather have one than not. If the original poster were building a new computer, there would be no reason to look at dual core processors. As he already has a dual core processor in an old computer, there isn't a dire need to replace it just yet. But there will be eventually, and much sooner than if he had a quad core processor at comparable clock speeds.
Why get a GeForce GTX 260 or 280? What's the point? Pay more for inferior performance, higher power consumption, and an inferior feature set? And be relegated to the used market, since those were discontinued as obsolete way back in 2009? Why do that?
I get 60 fps at all times with an AMD Phenom II quad core. What is this i7 rubbish?
SWTOR is duocore optimez so no need for icore5/7
Would you mind explaining then why a 2 GHz Phenom II X4 performs better in SWTOR than a 3 GHz Phenom II X2? (You can get either of those through BIOS modifications to a Phenom II X4 clocked at 3 GHz or higher.) That wouldn't happen even with perfect scaling to exactly three cores, let alone only two.
Games aren't built saying, we want to scale well to two cores, but won't make any effort at using more than that. Rather, they try to scale to as many cores as they can, without putting in unreasonable amounts of work on optimizing the engine for more cores. BioWare did pretty well with this in SWTOR, with excellent scaling to three cores and some benefit from a fourth.
Still no real need for quadcore it runs smooth on duocore 3ghz game can handle it very well.
He asked if its needed to upgrade so he can play SWTOR and he can with this cpu very well with his duocore its fast enough. Wont handle top notch ultra graphics but thats obvious you need a better cpu and graphics card for that.
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77 CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now)) MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB PSU:Corsair AX1200i OS:Windows 10 64bit
Comments
I get 60 fps at all times with an AMD Phenom II quad core. What is this i7 rubbish?
SWTOR is duocore optimez so no need for icore5/7
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77
CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k
GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now))
MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB
PSU:Corsair AX1200i
OS:Windows 10 64bit
If you're willing to spend more, then try one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125385
Even spending about $340 or so would only get you something about 10% faster than the latter, so I don't see much reason to spend more than that on a card.
I would recommend getting to at least 4 GB of memory. If you've got two 1 GB modules, then you can probably add two more to make 4 GB. If you've got one 2 GB module (which you shouldn't but might since you talk about removing a 2 GB module), then you can add another to make 4 GB. DDR2 is more expensive than DDR3, so I wouldn't recommend going for 8 GB, especially in an older system.
A quad core isn't absolutely necessary, but you'd rather have one than not. If the original poster were building a new computer, there would be no reason to look at dual core processors. As he already has a dual core processor in an old computer, there isn't a dire need to replace it just yet. But there will be eventually, and much sooner than if he had a quad core processor at comparable clock speeds.
Why get a GeForce GTX 260 or 280? What's the point? Pay more for inferior performance, higher power consumption, and an inferior feature set? And be relegated to the used market, since those were discontinued as obsolete way back in 2009? Why do that?
Would you mind explaining then why a 2 GHz Phenom II X4 performs better in SWTOR than a 3 GHz Phenom II X2? (You can get either of those through BIOS modifications to a Phenom II X4 clocked at 3 GHz or higher.) That wouldn't happen even with perfect scaling to exactly three cores, let alone only two.
Games aren't built saying, we want to scale well to two cores, but won't make any effort at using more than that. Rather, they try to scale to as many cores as they can, without putting in unreasonable amounts of work on optimizing the engine for more cores. BioWare did pretty well with this in SWTOR, with excellent scaling to three cores and some benefit from a fourth.
Still no real need for quadcore it runs smooth on duocore 3ghz game can handle it very well.
He asked if its needed to upgrade so he can play SWTOR and he can with this cpu very well with his duocore its fast enough.
Wont handle top notch ultra graphics but thats obvious you need a better cpu and graphics card for that.
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77
CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k
GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now))
MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB
PSU:Corsair AX1200i
OS:Windows 10 64bit