READ FIRST: "can i run SC2?"

If you dont have an internet connection to your gaming computer then you cant play at all.

 

Woot i installed my 1st graphics card and a PSU today >_<
I know it may not be a big deal for some but for me it was, dont flame me... Played a few games at Ultra settings, 1920 x 1080 and it looks bad ***!!!! Now i need to practice offline a bit to start playing multiplayer matches.

 

FPS Calculator

I was having issues with my SC2 fps and some overheating problems... found this site worth sharing that will calculate fps for any graphics card, do graphics card comparisons, etc. Helped me a lot. http://www.gpubench.com/gpubench/index.cfm/graphics-and-video-card-tools/

 

I'm not entirely sure if I can run SC2 even on minimum settings. I have 2 GB ram, Radeon HD 4250, and plenty of hard drive space so those are fine. Its my CPU speed i am worried about. on canyourunit, it says that i need 2.6 GHz to run the game but currently i have only 2.2 Ghz

I just bought this computer within the last week so its fairly new

 

Single-core or dual-core? If it's dual, then you should be fine. If it's single-core, then you might have a problem. Keyword might. An Athlon is faster clock for clock compared to older Pentium IV's so a 2.2 GHz Athlon might be equal to, say, a 3.0GHz Pentium IV. I'm not really sure about the exact correlation, though.

 

unfortunately i have a single core processor. i might be able to play 1 v 1 or maybe 2v2 on minimum settings. im not entirely sure of the correlation either

My cpu usage is actually pretty low (it averages around 13% -20 %) so i might be able to play on minimum when i first bootup my comp. Im probably going to get a guest pass to check out first though.

 

I was experiencing some slow laggy issues about 5 fps and freezing when playing in massive unit games, 2v2+ with my Pentrium 4 3.0 D single core, but after I upgraded my cpu to a core 2 duo 2.9, it runs so sexy!

 

Has anyone tried running it with 512mb ram? which is obviously lower than the minimum requirements I just wanted to know if it would work anyways.

 

will it run on a (AMD) Barton 2500+ (@2035 MHz), 1,25 GB RAM DDR, 7600GT ?

 

highly doubt it... the barton is an old single-core, not very powerful. video card is weak as well...

 

was a trick question... i run it smootly on low and on the wide screen resolution below 1600*900 (forgot the exact value )

 

Anyone Running a Geforce 240 or 250 1gb card? Can you run on 1920x resolution on ultra with high fps around 50-60?

Any recommendationms, Im looking around the price point of about $130-$160 1Gb Geforce probably, from the following place http://www9.ncix.com/lp1/nvidia-sc2/ although most of the ones on this are above my price point

And I am looking at this one most probably MSI N250GTS Twin Frozr 1G GeForce GTS 250 675MHZ 1GB GDDR3

 

Meh, my i7-860+GTS 250 couldn't manage a consistent 50-60fps on 1680x1050 Ultra. I highly doubt a GT 240 will. Keyword being consistent. StarCraft 2 is probably one of the few games where my framerates are all over the place. There were a couple of replays posted on SC2 Blog which I ran with FRAPS on my PC. Forgot the exact values but I seem to recall 80+ either max or average framerate but just ~30fps minimum.

 

with the framrates that you did get, were the decent enough? and would you recommend the msi card for the value vs gameplay if i plan or want to run on 1920 on probably high settings?

 

given how far below minimum requirements that is, Blizzard really did a great job with their game engine. they even highballed the recommendations to help ensure a better player experience...

 

Framerates are but a number. It really depends on your eyes and brain whether you notice the difference between 30 fps or 60. I've actually noticed that my tolerance for framerates also vary based on the display I use. On my 22" LCD monitor at 1680x1050 60Hz, I dropped settings to high so I can enable AA and AF while maintaining smoothness. It's not really the game itself but the cutscenes (single player campaign) that feel jerky when I don't get 60fps. Alas, those are also the scenes most in need of AA. The actual missions, for me, is playable even at ~15 fps (as long as that's the absolute minimum).

 

If I want to play at a 1920x1080 res on my 23", on high-ultra settings, with decent(good) fps what card would you recommend based on the price brand etc and design? The main thing is playing at a 1920x1080 with decent fps, to me, the high-ultra is not a big deal. I watched a video of a higher end 400 series GF and it was so damn smooth looking that I am so tempted to upgrade now.

These are the cards Im looking at from a local store, - some of the other cards I was looking at like the Msi Frozr are out of stock so these are the ones that are in stock. I want to go soemthing thats significantly better than my HD4670 1gb and I prefer the enclosed card cooler style over the convential video card chips with exposed fans.

XFX Radeon HD 5770 850MHZ 1Gb 4.8GHZ GDDR5 - $175-$15MIR = $160

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Fermi 675MHZ 768MB GDDR5 - $213

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked Fermi 763MHZ 768MB GDDR5 - $223

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 Fermi 607MHZ 1024MB GDDR5 - $245-$25MIR= $220

MSI GeForce GTX 460 Fermi Cyclone OC 725MHZ 768MB GDDR5 - $225

 

From this review, it seems the HD 5770 might be considerably slower at the resolution you chose. It should still work fine but you might see a performance drop if you enable AA. Among the cards you posted, the EVGA GTX 460 Superclocked should be the fastest owing to the higher manufacturer overclock. However, I believe the MSI Cyclone has the highest overclocking potential since it allows tweaking voltages.

While any of the above video cards should meet your requirements, I do recommend bumping up to the GTX 460 1GB:
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Fermi EE 675MHZ 1024MB GDDR5 - $263
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 Fermi 715MHZ 1GB GDDR5 - $249
MSI GeForce GTX 460 Fermi Cyclone OC 725MHz 1024MB GDDR5 - $255

Then again, it's possible you might not see much of an improvement beyond the HD 5770 given your CPU. A Core i7 Bloomfield running at 4.0GHz is a far cry from a Core 2 Duo Wolfdale at 2.93GHz. *sigh* I wish Tom's Hardware would include StarCraft II in their Building a Balanced PC series.

 

yeah i really wish the 1gb were in stock, all of these models are sold out for 1gb except the 465, what do you think if i go with the 465?

 

i was wondering if i can run starcraft 2 and how well i can run it if i can

amd v120 2.2 ghz, 512kb l2 cache
2gb ddr3 ram
ati mobility radeon hd 4250
windows 7 if that helps.