• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:04
CEST 23:04
KST 06:04
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team TLMC #5 - Finalists & Open Tournaments0[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt2: Turbulence10Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon9[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent10Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12
Community News
BSL 2025 Warsaw LAN + Legends Showmatch0Weekly Cups (Sept 8-14): herO & MaxPax split cups4WardiTV TL Team Map Contest #5 Tournaments1SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia8Weekly Cups (Sept 1-7): MaxPax rebounds & Clem saga continues29
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.15 PTR Patch Notes #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Weekly Cups (Sept 8-14): herO & MaxPax split cups Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy SpeCial on The Tasteless Podcast
Tourneys
SC2's Safe House 2 - October 18 & 19 RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 491 Night Drive Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around
Brood War
General
ASL20 General Discussion Soulkey on ASL S20 BW General Discussion ASL TICKET LIVE help! :D NaDa's Body
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro16 Group D [ASL20] Ro16 Group C Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Borderlands 3 Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion LiquidDota to reintegrate into TL.net
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final The Automated Ban List
Blogs
i'm really bored guys
Peanutsc
I <=> 9
KrillinFromwales
The Personality of a Spender…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1839 users

So I need a new computer...

Blogs > Piy
Post a Reply
Piy
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Scotland3152 Posts
September 09 2009 14:42 GMT
#1
sup tl. So I've been playing some SC again, losing a shit ton of games trying to learn the style fantasy play's TvP and TvZ with and getting increasingly frustrated with my computer.

Now about 6 months before I went to uni about a year ago I bought a pretty mediocre £300 laptop, for use in carrying between lectures and what not. Then I got there and realised that you didn't really need to do that anyway. So, needing a monitor and keyboard to play SC anyway, my laptop has turned into a desktop, albeit a frustratingly bad desktop.

Now I don't really know anything about computers, or any particularly good websites to buy high towers from (my friend recommended Overclockers, which seems fairly reasonably priced, but then I'm not sure).

So I thought I'd come on here and see if anyone could help, I need a desktop that will do the following things:

- not die after a year and a half
- Run SC2
- Not cause me to eat spaghetti for the next 2 years (not really looking to spend more than £350-400 if at all possible)
- Will just be a solid, reliable computer that will see me through the next 3-4 years without needing a great deal of servicing.

So with those very technical specifications in mind, can anyone give me some advice on what to buy and where to buy it?

thank you

My. Copy. Is. Here.
madnessman
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States1581 Posts
September 09 2009 15:17 GMT
#2
Build and service your own computer. It's not that hard if you find a really good how to guide (there are lots of them online). The September 2009 issue of Maximum PC had 3 dream machines (for different budgets). The cheapest one only cost 690USD but it can definitely run SC2.

CPU: AMD Phenom II x3 720 ($139)
Motherboard: MSI DKA790GX ($122)
RAM: Kingston HyperX 4gb ($55)
Videocard: HIS Radeon 4870 512mb ($153)
Harddrive: Western Digital Caviar 500 black ($69)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S223F ($25)
PSU: Rosewill RP550v2-S-SL ($52)
Case: Antec 900 ($77)

It's got a tri-core processor (the guys at MaxPC overclocked theirs from 2.8GHz to 3.7 using the stock heatsink), 4gbs of RAM and a pretty good video card. 692USD is 419 pounds. I looked at overclockers and they seemed reasonably priced so it's up to you.
Ecael
Profile Joined February 2008
United States6703 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-09 15:32:10
September 09 2009 15:24 GMT
#3
That wasn't the September issue was it? I recall seeing the budget dream machines this year way earlier online?

i5, 70 bucks more expensive from newegg, ridiculously more performance. Unfortunately I have no idea about EU pricing for processors.

Yes, I know it pushes the upper bound of the guy's budget some, but really. i5 mobos don't go for all that much, especially since most people won't need to use sli and you can get away with a lower level graphics card and push for a better graphics card in the future. If we are looking in terms of being able to upgrade in the future, I feel like going with i5 offers an edge.
mahnini
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
United States6862 Posts
September 09 2009 15:40 GMT
#4
right now it's best to wait. i5s just came out which means both AMD and intel are probably going to downmarket some processors. as well as the upcoming ATI 58XX (sometime this month?)
the world's a playground. you know that when you're a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.
Wurzelbrumpft
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Germany471 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-09 15:54:50
September 09 2009 15:46 GMT
#5
those specs madnessman posted are way overkill, dont spend more then 200 for the stuff you want.

2 years ago i spent 350 euros on a computer with a 2.4 gh duo processor and some random geforce 8000 series grafixcard. im able to play stuff like fallout 3 and farcry 2 with near perfect settings. nowadays the same computer probly goes for half the price and its still way more then what you want. and the 50€ fee for building it together and installing my windows is included in those 350.

edit: ah crap i misread the sc2 for sc kk youl have to spend a lil more then 200 but a 3 or 4 core processor is still overkill in my opinion
beam me up scotty, this planet suxX
Aaerian
Profile Joined September 2009
21 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-09 16:02:52
September 09 2009 15:56 GMT
#6
Overclockers.co.uk is rather awesome

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-197-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat=

Looks good :o

There's two cheaper ones here. Of course you could build yourself too, might be cheaper but I'm not sure, these 3 seems to have pretty low prices
madnessman
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States1581 Posts
September 09 2009 15:57 GMT
#7
On September 10 2009 00:46 Wurzelbrumpft wrote:
those specs madnessman posted are way overkill, dont spend more then 200 for the stuff you want.


it's for a "low end dream machine". that's an oxymoron!
Ecael
Profile Joined February 2008
United States6703 Posts
September 09 2009 17:21 GMT
#8
Why is a 3 or 4 core process an overkill, really? Sure, you can probably run SC2 great with Wolfdale and some decent graphics card, but eh. I can't say that I am not made happier when I can just slap games on highest settings and have everything look pretty. But even in normal use, the ability to stuff in a large amount of tasks and the options in having the computing power to do weird stuff is nice. If you build a computer solely to what you will do and adhere strictly to that, then yes, spending only as much as you need to fit that pattern is logical. But who does that?
Wurzelbrumpft
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Germany471 Posts
September 09 2009 18:19 GMT
#9
On September 10 2009 02:21 Ecael wrote:
Why is a 3 or 4 core process an overkill, really? Sure, you can probably run SC2 great with Wolfdale and some decent graphics card, but eh. I can't say that I am not made happier when I can just slap games on highest settings and have everything look pretty. But even in normal use, the ability to stuff in a large amount of tasks and the options in having the computing power to do weird stuff is nice. If you build a computer solely to what you will do and adhere strictly to that, then yes, spending only as much as you need to fit that pattern is logical. But who does that?


are you serious? the op wrote down specifically what he wants to use the computer for and also wrote that his budget is pretty limited. i just stated my opinion that id rather save 200 bucks to spend on something else, then use them for my computer to play sc2 on a lil better settings. the money makes a difference if your a student
beam me up scotty, this planet suxX
Ecael
Profile Joined February 2008
United States6703 Posts
September 09 2009 23:11 GMT
#10
That's understandable, except for that the suggest posted by madnessman was perfectly fine, you are simply undercutting him. I won't push an i5 suggestion since that will probably go over the line that he drew, but imo to think that you won't use your comp for anything else is quite unrealistic. Maybe it is just me, when I first got a netbook, my thoughts were pretty much like "Yeah it'd be great if I can take notes and surf the web on the go with good battery power. Then it turns to 720p vids, maybe a go at mat lab, etc. I can know how much money I need to keep around, a month of rent, a month of food, amounts of emergency cash. I can't quite know that I'll never want my computer to do something else. If you have that kind of ability, then bravo, you are a better man than I am.
Boblion
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
France8043 Posts
September 09 2009 23:27 GMT
#11
The i5 needs to get cheaper.
I waited for it and Dx11 ( only got a new 23" screen ) but it is too expensive atm for me. Maybe in one month...
fuck all those elitists brb watching streams of elite players.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 12h 56m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 514
UpATreeSC 232
NeuroSwarm 169
SteadfastSC 162
IndyStarCraft 130
ForJumy 13
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 16123
Shuttle 172
Dewaltoss 158
Larva 65
Aegong 32
Sexy 21
Dota 2
Fuzer 192
monkeys_forever26
Counter-Strike
flusha262
Stewie2K258
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King51
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu516
Other Games
summit1g5154
FrodaN1536
Sick1125
fl0m790
mouzStarbuck275
ToD258
C9.Mang0155
PPMD49
Trikslyr41
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 20 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta19
• Reevou 4
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• IndyKCrew
• intothetv
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 5050
• Noizen28
League of Legends
• Doublelift3736
• imaqtpie907
• TFBlade831
• Shiphtur224
Other Games
• WagamamaTV408
• Scarra9
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
12h 56m
Zoun vs Classic
Map Test Tournament
13h 56m
Korean StarCraft League
1d 5h
BSL Open LAN 2025 - War…
1d 10h
RSL Revival
1d 12h
Reynor vs Cure
BSL Open LAN 2025 - War…
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
Online Event
2 days
Wardi Open
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
LiuLi Cup
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-09-10
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL World Championship of Poland 2025
IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL Season 21
SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL 21 Team A
Stellar Fest
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
EC S1
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.