I have given away a few keys to the community now sand am hoping for a little help in return. My brother is looking to purchase a new graphics card he will only be running starcraft 2. He has a budget of £40-£50 and wants to be able to run the game in at least medium settings.

He has 5gb of ram so that isn't an issue.

If anyone can provide any help with this I would be really grateful.

Thanks.

Navi

5286 Posts

May 16 2010 18:25 GMT

The ATi HD 4650 seems like a solid choice (its 60$ american, so should be reasonable in euros).

This thread in general has great hints about SCII hardware:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=113094

semantics

10040 Posts

May 16 2010 18:29 GMT

Generally computer parts $60 = 60 euros due to taxes etc when it hits europe ionno what it is in relation to pounds though.

SoManyDeadLings

Canada255 Posts

May 16 2010 18:32 GMT

I have a Radeon 4650 in a HTPC and it will run things fine at medium settings for SC2, bought it at $35 on sale here in Canada so $60 USD for it seems steep, you can get a 4670 or even a 4770 for that price. Best case scenario is that if you can find a Radeon 4850 or GTS250 for under $100USD (~£60) on sale then go for it for sure as both of those cards will run SC on high-highest settings without a sweat.

You do need at least a 2.0Ghz Dual-Core CPU though, to ensure your CPU doesn't bottleneck your GPU.

HoracE

United Kingdom180 Posts

May 16 2010 18:35 GMT

i cant find a 4850 for the right price, that is what we orignally wanted. We have found a Nvidia GeForce 9800GT 512mb for £53

SoManyDeadLings

Canada255 Posts

May 16 2010 18:41 GMT

On May 17 2010 03:35 HoracE wrote:
i cant find a 4850 for the right price, that is what we orignally wanted. We have found a Nvidia GeForce 9800GT 512mb for £53

Sounds pretty decent to me, offers good performance/price ratio. Just keep in mind that the 9800GT is a 2-generation old card based on a 55-65nm fabrication process, so it will run hotter and consume more power.

If you can find a GTS240 (same architecture as the 9800GT but on a brand-new 40nm fab process) or a 4770 for similar prices then grab them, otherwise the 9800GT will serve you fine

Random()

Kyrgyz Republic1462 Posts

May 16 2010 18:45 GMT

I have a 4850 (ASUS made) and although it is perfect value for money it has given me so much trouble due to overheating (particularly in SC2 for some reason) that I would not really recommend it. 4650/4670 suck performance-wise. 9800GT is slightly worse than 4850 but not by too much. For £53 it is a good deal imo.

Competent

United States406 Posts

May 16 2010 18:54 GMT

a 60 $ card will not run SC2 on low. You need a 100+ card. Unless you happen to have a quad core with that 5 gb of ram.

HoracE

United Kingdom180 Posts

May 16 2010 18:54 GMT

guys thanks so much really helpful, we'll go for the 9800gt.

Processor is an AMD 64x2 3800+ will that cause him any difficulties.

I assume he will need a better psu also.

HoracE

United Kingdom180 Posts

May 16 2010 18:57 GMT

#10

@competent

I was running the game on medium settings absolutely fine on this laptop, intel dual cpu @ 2.00ghz with 2gb of ram and an earlier graphics card not sure what it is.

The game ran fine although sometimes in late game 2v2 with lots of units on screen it would stutter. On low settings it ran fine.

He is actually running the game on low now with 1.5gb the above processor and a crappy gfx card...

Ares[Effort]

DEMACIA6550 Posts

May 16 2010 19:03 GMT

#11

I have a nvidia geforce 9800 gt and if I plan to run everything on ultra i get around 50-60 fps.
edit: clearly forgot about OP haha

if you do go with the 9800 you can easily run on medium

edit: ok nice have fun playing

ErOs_HalO

United States167 Posts

May 16 2010 19:07 GMT

#12

Probably.................... if you search a little bit, you could probably find a 9500 GT for 50 bucks..

or ATi HD 4670 for 50.. (better)

I just can't think of a card I'd even consider for 40.. try to save up 10 more bucks :D

Edit: Ah you found a 9800 GT for 53, go for that one ! :D

Judicator

United States7270 Posts

May 16 2010 19:33 GMT

#13

On May 17 2010 03:45 Random() wrote:
I have a 4850 (ASUS made) and although it is perfect value for money it has given me so much trouble due to overheating (particularly in SC2 for some reason) that I would not really recommend it. 4650/4670 suck performance-wise. 9800GT is slightly worse than 4850 but not by too much. For £53 it is a good deal imo.

That's a problem with ASUS more than any thing, I specifically remembering that the ASUS models were reported to be running hotter than other makers for some reason or another, replacing the cooling fan fixed it for most people.

HoracE

United Kingdom180 Posts

May 16 2010 19:53 GMT

#14

thanks again guys sounds like the 9800gt is the way to go.

with that processor / ram / 9800gt he should be good to go. Just needs to replace the PSU.

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