|
Hey,
I just got my sc2 beta key today 
I am using my university laptop as my main computer at the moment. It runs sc2 fine on lowest setting at 1640 / 1000 or something like that. I'd like to play it on ultra though, so I am going to need a new computer.
I've never build my own computer so I'm a bit scared of doing it. Is building it yourself really worth it ?
I looked around on local stores and I found a few complete computers. there is some dutch text in there but I dont think it will be a problem to understand since I think its quite clear what means what.
http://www.bcc.nl/product/hewlett-packard-pavilion-elite-hpe-140nl (dutch)
for 1400 euro
Hewlett packard Pavilion Elite HPE-140nl
Intel CORE I7
Ram: 8192
RAM DDR3 SDRAM
Harde schijf capaciteit in GB: 3000
Processor nummer: I7-860
Aantal processoren: 4
Kloksnelheid in MHz: 2800
Merk video kaart: nVidia
Type video kaart: GEF GTX260
Video kaart geheugen in MB: 1792
DVD brander: Blu-ray combo
Wireless LAN: Ja
Bluetooth: Nee
Afstandsbediening: Ja
TV uitgang: Ja
Aantal USB poorten: 8
Firewire: Ja
Vingerafdruk lezer: Nee
Kaartlezer: Multi-kaartlezer
Geïntegreerde TV kaart: DVB-T
Merk chipset: Intel
Chipset Type: H57
Besturingssysteem: Windows 7 Home Premium
Type: Tower PC
Or another computer for 650 euro
http://www.bcc.nl/product/acer-aspire-m5201-blu-ray
Producteigenschappen van de Acer ASPIRE M5201 BLU-RAY
Merk processor: AMD
Processor: ATHLON II X4
Intern geheugen: 6144
Harde schijf capaciteit in GB: 1500
Processor nummer: 620 ATHLON II X4
Aantal processoren: 4
Kloksnelheid in MHz: 2600
Merk video kaart: ATI
Type video kaart: RADEON HD4650
Video kaart geheugen in MB: 1024
DVD brander: Blu-Ray speler
Wireless LAN: Nee
Bluetooth: Nee
Afstandsbediening: Nee
TV uitgang: Ja
Vingerafdruk lezer: Nee
Geïntegreerde TV kaart: Nee
Merk chipset: AMD
Chipset Type: 780G
Besturingssysteem: Windows Vista Home Premium
Type: Tower PC
So what do you guys think ? would the second desktop be good enough to run sc2 on ultra ?
I would also need to buy a new screen. I've given myself a budget for about 1000 - 1500 euro.
If you think i should just build my own computer could you tell me if you found it really hard ? And maybe give me some hints. If the difrence in qualaty in building it yourself and buying a complete one isn't too big I'd prefer the buy a complete one.
|
FragKrag wrote an excellent guide... check there first. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=113094
He puts the 4650 in the midrange... and can run SC2 probably only at Mid quality not high/ultra
As for building it yourself... you get way better parts for the price, so if you have the motivation I would always suggest building it yourself.
|
Stay away from bcc  It's not really bad, but you can do much better. Also, building your own pc is totally worth it, it's very easy, cheap, and rewarding. Check out tweakers.net for designs, they also have guides on putting them together.
|
well I could build my own pc but I don't like the idea of ordering all parts and having to be home to receive them. I'm also a bit worried about pickings something that in the end won't work. Or me just breaking the parts trying to put them together.
According the topic meeple posted the 1`400 euro comp should run at ultra. If I were to build that spec myself would it cost my way less than 1400 or would it still be 1200 ish ??
|
Anything below 4850/GTS250 = garbage if you want to play on Ultra and a high widescreen resolution.
Other than that it's pretty flexible.
|
I knew nothing about computer a month ago and i am now using my brand new computer that is much higher quality than anything stock of the same price. Definitely easy and 100% worth it.
|
On March 06 2010 06:40 Marradron wrote:
well I could build my own pc but I don't like the idea of ordering all parts and having to be home to receive them. I'm also a bit worried about pickings something that in the end won't work. Or me just breaking the parts trying to put them together.
According the topic meeple posted the 1`400 euro comp should run at ultra. If I were to build that spec myself would it cost my way less than 1400 or would it still be 1200 ish ??
You can easily get away much cheaper than that. I built a computer for 800€ half a year ago, with lots of extra crap you wouldn't need for your purposes. I don't have a key, but 4 player replays run perfectly fine on ultra settings at 1280x1024. I'm sure you can get a 650€ computer that's fit for SC2@ultra, if that's its only purpose.
|
|
|
I made a cpu for 800$ USD (discluding monitor/peripherals) that runs sc2 at ultra easily. made it 6 months ago
oh my god I FORGOT ABOUT MY 3K
FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
|
Hmm looks quite good as far as i can see. So for 50 they even assamble it.
Looks way better than the 1400 prebuild bcc thing.
|
|
|
Those prices are pretty steep. Both computers are pretty bad.
What I looked at instantly was that the HP uses a motherboard with the H57 chipset. It seems very odd, since the i7 860 normally runs on the P55 chipset, and there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the two besides the integrated graphics once you plug the i7 860 in.
It's really odd that it is selling for 1400 Euros since that system would cost about 1300 dollars! ($1130ish without a LCD monitor, I can't read Dutch!)
Everybody coming in here and going "I made this computer for 900 USD" should gtfo, because obviously the situation is different in Europe!
@ the building question: It really depends on how much money the parts cost in Europe. I would expect the price to be lower overall by simple intuition, but I'm not sure by how much. If you can find a GTX 260 for maybe 160 euro and a i7 860 for 250 euro it should probably work out to be cheaper.
so yeah, based on the Azerty thing..
+ Show Spoiler [build: Total 1142 Euro] +
If you want a better graphics card, you can add 87 euro for the ATi 5850
http://azerty.nl/0-970-239195/asus-eah5850-g-2dis-1gd5-gra.html
It is actually much better than the GTX 260. If you add the 5850, your total becomes 1229. So for 150 or so less, you get a much better graphics card, a better case, better power supply.
|
On March 06 2010 07:36 Pokebunny wrote:
I made a cpu for 800$ USD (discluding monitor/peripherals) that runs sc2 at ultra easily. made it 6 months ago
oh my god I FORGOT ABOUT MY 3K
FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
You made a Central Processing Unit for 800$?
|
|
|
with that budget i'd give him a HD 5850 or at least a 5830 or custom 5770.
edit: I didn't realize you were trying to copy the hp comptuer
|
Well, yeah I gave the option of upgrading to a HD 5850. 5830 is dumb buy and 5770 is meh buy.
|
out of curiosity how much do u save if u build your own?
|
Depends how high end the system is the more it would cost the more it would save, really building computers on your own vs getting a prebuilt deal around the 400-500 dollar range becomes a hard sell if you're buying the os and monitor and crap
|
Yeah the amount you save goes much higher as you build higher end systems because of the premiums manufacturers like Dell/HP tend to slap onto high end graphics and processors. With lower end systems, the benefit will be lower because there aren't as many premiums, and the OS is more expensive to buy for you than for the manufacturer.
Typically if you're willing to spend $600+ then you should consider building the computer yourself imo.
I don't think the biggest benefit of self building is the money you save, but more because you get to choose exactly what goes into your computer. Like most HP/Dell will shove you a shitty 250W PSU with your $1000 computer. It's going to be useless for upgrades, and it is going to be unreliable. Their cases are always shit, and their motherboards are low end as well. Even if the build I configure ends up being the same price as their build, I would still go with building it myself simply to choose exactly what I want.
|
Well it's you get a computer that has all the parts you want which can be good or bad but generally good as it's hard to buy worse parts then like dell or hp who pride themselves on cutting costs by giving you cheapest parts they can obtain
you also learn a nice skill that isn't very difficult but impresses people oddly enough.
|
On March 06 2010 08:59 Pakje wrote:
with that budget i'd give him a HD 5850 or at least a 5830 or custom 5770.
edit: I didn't realize you were trying to copy the hp comptuer
I don't nesicarily want a computer just like the 1400 one i posted. I'm just looking for the best computer i could get for arround 1000-1500.
|
For all this money you can have WAY better parts than the configs in the OP even if you are buying your parts in Germany.
For 650 euros it should be Athlon II x4 620 + a 5770 at least.
And for 1400 euros i-7 860 + 5870
....
edit: i mean Holland not Germany :o
|
|
|
I'll need to get some screen too. Dont actually have a good one.
|
Thanks for the help so far
looks good. Does having 2 GPU really help ? will they both be used while gaming ?
And how would the computer do on more CPU related things. I also now and then have to run simmulations on my computer in Matlab. So if it would be fast for that too that would be an plus
|
On March 07 2010 05:02 Marradron wrote:
I'll need to get some screen too. Dont actually have a good one.
I suggest this one
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/226264/samsung-syncmaster-2433bw.html#tab:info
On March 07 2010 05:05 Marradron wrote:Thanks for the help so far looks good. Does having 2 GPU really help ? will they both be used while gaming ? And how would the computer do on more CPU related things. I also now and then have to run simmulations on my computer in Matlab. So if it would be fast for that too that would be an plus
1st question yes with crossfire, only old games shouldn't run.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_CrossFire
2nd question What kind of simulations? heavy parallelized/multi-threaded ones? you should ask if they have OpenCL or CUDA support.
|
On March 07 2010 09:35 Pakje wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2010 05:02 Marradron wrote:
I'll need to get some screen too. Dont actually have a good one. I suggest this one http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/226264/samsung-syncmaster-2433bw.html#tab:infoShow nested quote +On March 07 2010 05:05 Marradron wrote:Thanks for the help so far looks good. Does having 2 GPU really help ? will they both be used while gaming ? And how would the computer do on more CPU related things. I also now and then have to run simmulations on my computer in Matlab. So if it would be fast for that too that would be an plus 1st question yes with crossfire, only old games shouldn't run. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_CrossFire2nd question What kind of simulations? heavy parallelized/multi-threaded ones? you should ask if they have OpenCL or CUDA support.
Thanks
I think ill be getting those specs you linked for me I assume they know how to hook up 2 GPU's ?
|
On March 08 2010 06:30 Marradron wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2010 09:35 Pakje wrote:On March 07 2010 05:02 Marradron wrote:
I'll need to get some screen too. Dont actually have a good one. I suggest this one http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/226264/samsung-syncmaster-2433bw.html#tab:infoOn March 07 2010 05:05 Marradron wrote:Thanks for the help so far looks good. Does having 2 GPU really help ? will they both be used while gaming ? And how would the computer do on more CPU related things. I also now and then have to run simmulations on my computer in Matlab. So if it would be fast for that too that would be an plus 1st question yes with crossfire, only old games shouldn't run. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_CrossFire2nd question What kind of simulations? heavy parallelized/multi-threaded ones? you should ask if they have OpenCL or CUDA support. Thanks I think ill be getting those specs you linked for me I assume they know how to hook up 2 GPU's ?
yea but it's never bad to send an email or something and they won't overclock the cpu for you. Not that you'd need it if your playing SC2
|
I've never overclocked something, But I guesse i'll just make another blog for TL help if i ever want to. If it's not necisary i doubt i will do it.
|
On March 08 2010 08:45 Marradron wrote:
I've never overclocked something, But I guesse i'll just make another blog for TL help if i ever want to. If it's not necisary i doubt i will do it.
It's not necessary to overclock to play SC2 of course. You may get a little more speed here and there at the cost of your warranty and CPU life expectancy. I'd rather have a stable system than a few more MHz.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
