• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:51
CEST 16:51
KST 23:51
  • 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
[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon98Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?179Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)9
StarCraft 2
General
How do you feel about the StarCraft shooter announcement at BlizzCon 2026? Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 SC2 AI Tournament 2026 Fall Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament KSL Week #92
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 542 The Ascended Mutation # 541 Binary Choice
Brood War
General
Remastered crash fix suggestions a Announcement on the JEDI Ringing ASL22 General Discussion BW General Discussion Syncronization issues and can't find games
Tourneys
[ASL22] Ro16 Group D [Megathread] Daily Proleagues KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3 [ASL22] Ro16 Group C
Strategy
Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation Diablo IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Post Your Watch!
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Virtual Romance, Real-Life C…
TrAiDoS
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 6628 users

Buying new SC2 PC

Blogs > SC2Phoenix
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
SC2Phoenix
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada2814 Posts
April 30 2010 22:52 GMT
#1
Well I am pretty new to the whole buying a new computer area so all the help is greatly appreciated.
My budget would be around 1000-1100$

This computer would be mainly to:
1. Play SC2 on max setting or near max.
2. Be able to have a good FPS on a high resolution monitor
(I wouldn't mind livestreaming my SC2 either)

Ok so my build so far is:
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail $199.99

GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $134.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" - Retail $34.99

XFX HD-583X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card Retail $239.99

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model Retail $114.99

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Retail $59.99

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2... Retail $74.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Retail $99.99 (I wasn't so sure what HDD to get but this one looked decent)
(I am also buying a monitor but i didn't include it in the budgit
Hanns·G HH-241HPB Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 15000:1(1000:1) Built-in Speakers Retail 169.99)

So that adds up to $959.92

Ok a couple questions:
1. Should I stick with the I5-750 or go for somthing like AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Retail 159.00 (Intel verus AMD)
2. Is a SSD absolutly necessary for a computer? (Pretty new to building computer and SDDs are so exspensive T_T)
3.Should I stick with my HD 5830 or go down to a 5770 and put the money into other areas of the computer?
4.Would my power supply be good enough to run my current setup?
Don't be affraid to post other options =)

Who the fuck has a family of fucking trees? This song is so god damn stupid. Fuck you song, fuck you and your stupid trees. -itmeJP
Graham
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Canada1259 Posts
April 30 2010 22:56 GMT
#2
2. Is a SSD absolutly necessary for a computer? (Pretty new to building computer and SDDs are so exspensive T_T)

No, at this moment SSDs are so expensive and unless you're ONLY going to be playing SC2 on this computer (which I'm sure you're not, since it seems silly to build a gaming computer for simply SC2, correct me if I'm wrong), then you're going to run out of hard drive space so fast.

SATA drives are so cheap anyways and you get sooo much more bang for your buck if you ever want to download movies/etc.
poor newb
Profile Joined April 2004
United States1879 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-30 23:01:04
April 30 2010 22:58 GMT
#3
ssd just make the game load faster
you can go for raid 0 hdds instead of ssd, not as fast but much cheaper
How do you mine minerals?
SC2Phoenix
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada2814 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-30 23:03:25
April 30 2010 23:01 GMT
#4
No, at this moment SSDs are so expensive and unless you're ONLY going to be playing SC2 on this computer (which I'm sure you're not, since it seems silly to build a gaming computer for simply SC2, correct me if I'm wrong), then you're going to run out of hard drive space so fast.

SATA drives are so cheap anyways and you get sooo much more bang for your buck if you ever want to download movies/etc.

Of course i won't be just playing Sc2 lol. I will download movies etc.
ssd just make the game load faster
Ty never knew that.
Who the fuck has a family of fucking trees? This song is so god damn stupid. Fuck you song, fuck you and your stupid trees. -itmeJP
emucxg
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Finland4559 Posts
April 30 2010 23:04 GMT
#5
your components looks very good for me
emucxg
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Finland4559 Posts
April 30 2010 23:06 GMT
#6
this HD instead of Seagate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

If its a gaming PC, make sure you have good cooler and case...
Patriot.dlk
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
Sweden5462 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-30 23:10:41
April 30 2010 23:08 GMT
#7
I recently bought a computer for $2k (but parts are more expensive in Sweden) and I use Intel X25-M 80GB SSD for windows.

It's very very nice but absolutely not necessary. I would never get it to improve my computers performance in games because

1. They might not even be optimized for SSD
2. Games would fill up my SSD way to fast

I purchased it to have firefox, office, adobe, media players most of all windows run completely fluid. Starting these programs takes no longer then the windows animation.

Edit: I actually reinstalled GTA IV to my SSD because the loading times was terrible. It got quicker but not by alot
ramen247
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States1256 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-30 23:11:34
April 30 2010 23:09 GMT
#8
dont waste your moneys on ssd drives. just get a regular 7200 rpm or 10k rpm hard drive and that will cut through games well anyway.

btw im pretty sure you can find cheaper RAM that is even more powerful than your current choice.

imo, corsair is kind of overrated. perhaps you should look at mushkin or ocz instead on
zipzoomfly.com
i hate this ugly firebat. i want a marine.
Patriot.dlk
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
Sweden5462 Posts
April 30 2010 23:15 GMT
#9
Wonder if you can get Fractal Design cases from newegg? I love my Design R2 it's the best I've ever encountered
Delvin
Profile Joined August 2007
Finland141 Posts
April 30 2010 23:15 GMT
#10
I built a similar system a while ago (i5 750, HD5850), which maxes sc2 easily at 1680x1050 (max res of my monitor) - shouldn't have trouble at higher resolutions either. From what I've heard, 5830 isn't so good price/value compared to 5770/5850.

Your power supply would definitely be enough, I'm running on 430W (no overclocking) with no problems at all.
SC2Phoenix
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada2814 Posts
April 30 2010 23:17 GMT
#11
dont waste your moneys on ssd drives. just get a regular 7200 rpm or 10k rpm hard drive and that will cut through games well anyway.

Cool Ty.
btw im pretty sure you can find cheaper RAM that is even more powerful than your current choice.

imo, corsair is kind of overrated. perhaps you should look at mushkin or ocz instead on
zipzoomfly.com

Hmmm I will go check it out. I just got corsair because i heard alot of people talking about it.
Who the fuck has a family of fucking trees? This song is so god damn stupid. Fuck you song, fuck you and your stupid trees. -itmeJP
maareek
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
United States2042 Posts
April 30 2010 23:41 GMT
#12
For that monitor and that price, I don't think the 5830 is worth it. Check out the people listing 5770's in FragKrag's SC2 Computers guide; it looks like it handles the game just fine around your resolution and I've been seeing some for around $160 - seems like a very reasonable choice compared to the slightly added power of the 5830. If you really want max settings at that resolution, splurge on a 5850, which is more worthy of the price compared to the 5830 than the 5830 is compared to the 5770 (if that sentence made sense; if it didn't: I'd suggest the 5770 or the 5850 cause the 5830 doesn't seem worth its price).

Also, do you need the USB 3/Sata 3 connections on the mobo? If not, you can save some money, but it's only like 20 bucks so wanting to have them available is a reasonable call. Agree with the Spinpoint over the Seagate (Barracuda's aren't great choices, and the .11s especially so) and with no SSD with your budget.

Power supply should be plenty. If you plan on doing lots of non-gaming activites, you'll probably notice the advantages of the i5-750 over AMD's quad-cores - even more so if you stream. What thermal paste are you using?
FrozenArbiter: Obless PvT master
GTR
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
51693 Posts
April 30 2010 23:44 GMT
#13
5830 isn't going to get you playing at max settings smoothly, it's better to either get a 5770 or if you can stretch your budget for it, 5850.
Commentator
SC2Phoenix
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada2814 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-01 00:17:32
May 01 2010 00:06 GMT
#14
Yea I might invest in the 5850 then cause i am only at 950$ atm Ty GTR and maareek.
Also, do you need the USB 3/Sata 3 connections on the mobo? If not, you can save some money, but it's only like 20 bucks so wanting to have them available is a reasonable call.
For the USB/Sata 3 I'am not gonna use them atm so i could probily save some money but they could come in handy later so idk yet.
What thermal paste are you using?
I didn't even know what this was before I looked it up lol. Idk though, Any sugestions on thermal paste?
Who the fuck has a family of fucking trees? This song is so god damn stupid. Fuck you song, fuck you and your stupid trees. -itmeJP
Lemure
Profile Joined March 2010
189 Posts
May 01 2010 00:12 GMT
#15
The AMD 6 cores are the same price as the i5 750.
maareek
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
United States2042 Posts
May 01 2010 01:59 GMT
#16
On May 01 2010 09:06 SC2Phoenix wrote:
Show nested quote +
What thermal paste are you using?
I didn't even know what this was before I looked it up lol. Idk though, Any sugestions on thermal paste?


This should work well: Tuniq TX-2.

On May 01 2010 09:12 Lemure wrote:
The AMD 6 cores are the same price as the i5 750.


What's your point? The 1055T is roughly the same price as the i5-750 (actually a little more expensive at newegg); the 1090T (the Black Edition version) is close to the 860 (~30 more than the 860 at newegg). But, they underperform relative to the Intel versions at games and single/dual, even quad threaded apps, for the most part, only outperforming them at very well threaded applications, and even then the difference can be small, especially for the 1055 relative to the 750. The 1090T is probably a great buy for somebody with that extra budget that's looking to overclock and needs threaded program performance, but I strongly doubt this OP fits that mold. From the OP's general plans, it doesn't look like the 6 cores would be an improvement over the Intel setup.
FrozenArbiter: Obless PvT master
KOFgokuon
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
United States14912 Posts
May 01 2010 03:28 GMT
#17
build looks solid
for its price point, the 5830 isn't a great value, but it SHOULD be able to max at you resolution
SSD is really just for faster booting and opening programs, though to be fair booting your comp in 20 seconds is pretty sexy. I have one, and it's nice

With a build like this you could probably get away with a 500 or 550W psu, though having extra room in case you add more HD's nad what not is always nice.

btw you didn't include a dvd drive in your build
mahnini
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
United States6862 Posts
May 01 2010 04:07 GMT
#18
for a lot of people an i3 dual should be plenty especially if you plan on overclocking. if you don't run any cpu intensive apps (video encoding 3d rendering etc) i would dump an extra $100 into your gpu and get a 5850 and overclock the i3 to 3.3ghz+ (4ghz is supposedly easily attainable). for reference, an i3 at 4ghz is neck and neck with a phenom ii x4 at 4ghz in heavily threaded apps.
the world's a playground. you know that when you're a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.
SC2Phoenix
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada2814 Posts
May 01 2010 04:46 GMT
#19
This should work well: Tuniq TX-2.
Ty and yea I don't need 6 cores. I would rather better performance than more multitasking.
for its price point, the 5830 isn't a great value
Yeah iam probily gonna sink in more cash and go for a 5850.
btw you didn't include a dvd drive in your build
Woops i totally forgot about it lol
Who the fuck has a family of fucking trees? This song is so god damn stupid. Fuck you song, fuck you and your stupid trees. -itmeJP
semantics
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
10040 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-01 05:03:10
May 01 2010 05:01 GMT
#20
Yeah i'd get a 5850 but everything looks good, for HDD at 99 bucks a 7200.11 isn't great the .11 suffered from a firm ware blocking issue so people avoid it even if it been fixed it's why it's cheap 1.5 gigs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=samsung_hdd-_-22-152-185-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284&cm_re=WD_HDD-_-22-136-284-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433&cm_re=seagate_7200.12-_-22-148-433-_-Product

In that order i'd recommend it. The 7200.12 is faster then the WD one listed but it's noiser and louder from what i noticed.

Also that 650w psu is great an earthwatts is probably considered over kill even, the 5850 can run well off a good 500w psu or decent 550w
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
IntoTheTV X SOOP
11:00
Monthly #1 - Day 1
Percival vs ClassicLIVE!
ByuN vs Rogue
IntoTheiNu 1374
CranKy Ducklings SOOP67
Rex36
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
BRAT_OK 66
Rex 36
EnDerr 11
StarCraft: Brood War
Bisu 3297
Horang2 1704
Hyuk 1050
EffOrt 1028
Light 704
Mini 536
Snow 306
Larva 294
ZerO 240
Rush 237
[ Show more ]
Noble 184
hero 108
Zeus 98
Pusan 72
Killer 70
Mong 66
Hm[arnc] 61
ToSsGirL 33
sSak 22
Sacsri 15
sorry 10
IntoTheRainbow 8
JulyZerg 8
Dota 2
Gorgc5173
qojqva2833
Dendi1106
febbydoto32
Other Games
singsing1777
olofmeister1138
B2W.Neo1075
hiko758
Liquid`RaSZi617
Lowko444
Hui .303
FrodaN295
DeMusliM281
Liquid`VortiX151
ArmadaUGS119
RotterdaM95
Mew2King82
elazer79
QueenE78
mouzStarbuck49
ZerO(Twitch)18
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick946
BasetradeTV24
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• mYiSmile118
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 722
League of Legends
• Jankos2018
• Nemesis1886
• TFBlade730
Upcoming Events
OSC
7h 9m
Replay Cast
9h 9m
IntoTheTV X SOOP
20h 9m
Replay Cast
1d 9h
GSL
1d 20h
Replay Cast
2 days
GSL
2 days
Shopify Rebellion Sundays
3 days
Spirit vs Mixu
Replay Cast
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Shine vs Rush
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Light vs EffOrt
PiGosaur Cup
5 days
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-09-16
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Calamity Invitational
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSA
Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
SC4ALL II: Brood War
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.