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On June 03 2010 18:58 Soel wrote:
Is this a proper thread for questions?
I am buying a macbook pro for college (LOLOL MAC) and economically I am able to buy anything up to the 2200 15 incher.
Here are the following processors, I am wondering if I need the best one to play SC2 well, or if I can get the 13 inch (I like the feel of the smaller laptop, just seems sturdier, more wieldly, etc, idk)
so any input would be sweet,
13 inch 2.4 GHZ Intel Core Duo NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics
13 inch 2.66 GHZ Intel Core Duo NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics
15 inch 2.4 GHZ Intel Core i5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB
15 inch 2.53 GHZ Intel Core i5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB
15 inch 2.66 GHZ Intel Core i5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 512MB
they all have 4gb of memory.
thanks guys,
=]
All of the 15'' should be able to play SC2 at least at low. I'm not sure about the 13'' though.
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I've heard that having quad core is less important for games than is the higher clock speed..
I don't know if that is actually true, but if it is, why would the 13 inch 2.66 ghz core duo not work?
The inferior graphics card? I am very novice at computer hardware =\
thanks for the answers
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According to notebookcheck the GeForce 320M is not even a discrete graphics card but rather an integrated graphics chipset that shares the main system memory. That said, the specs and benchmarks look like they're more than enough for low settings.
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Could you explain what you mean regarding the graphics card? I take it that is a bad thing... 
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It is a weak graphics card. Games generally rely more on the graphics card than on the cpu now.
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On June 04 2010 12:05 FragKrag wrote:
It is a weak graphics card. Games generally rely more on the graphics card than on the cpu now.
That statement is simply not true. The graphic subsystem doesn't bottleneck until 2560x1500 or a 30 inch screen. Lower resolution puts the burden on the cpu.
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CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel
Ram: 8GB DDR2
GPU: GeForce GTX 260 1792MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready
HD: 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Power: 650W generic power supply
OS: Windows 7
Runs perfectly at 1920x1080 on ultra unless if I'm viewing any amount of creep, in which it drops down to a grinding 10 fps, forcing me to play on low settings..
Had a somewhat similar setup,and just updated to a Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition overclocked to 3,8Ghz ,now anything on creep actually gives more FPS than anything off it,guessing that that req cpu,but everything else strains the GPU instead.
Honestly im not sure CPU actually means anything in SC2,even on low i get the same amount of FPS,around 70-80 idle,and 30-40 late game.CPU helped a bit,but unless i get SLI or smt im stuck as is.
AMD Phenom 2 X4 955 3,8Ghz
Kingston HyperX DDR2 RAM 4Gb
GeForce GTX 295 2668MB 1920x1080 running on Ultra except for textures on medium so i can press out 10 more fps
Oh and Samsung 40 LCD,maybe it that,honestly stepping down the resolution dont help much,and its insulting since i can run everything else created by man.
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CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3,4GHz Socket AM3 125W Box
MOBO: Asus M4A79XTD EVO
RAM: Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC12800/1600MHz CL9 2x2GB DDR3
GFX: XFX Radeon HD5770 DDR5 HDMI DisplayPort Dual-DVI 1GB
HD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 32MB 1TB 3,5 tums S-ATA
POWER: Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W
If this cant run it i dont know what will,still cant understand what this game drawns from CPU or GPU,seen every little thing is a FPS spunge and an confused one at that.
SC2 working on ultra settings with shaders on extreme perfectly smooth with a constant of 88 FPS.
 Does SCII really need this op setup to run past medium,how is this a Blizzard game escapes me,7 years of coding and in the end you need a mashine from the future to run it,
Bout 5 mounts ago i was thinking that even my old setup could take this on high,how sadly wrong was i.???? :|Maybe you can tell us whats the real bottleneck.
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Despite the recommendations to play on low for competitive purposes I can't resist the eye candy of ultra settings ^^
Fps sticks to 50 constantly (limited in vars file for stability purposes) except in large battles ~45.
It once got choppy (~20fps) but this was in a 2v2 with 200/200 zerg 200/200 protoss with tons of VRs and mothership cloaking zerg units vs two other maxed armies. For 1v1's its just dandy
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Everything on Ultra
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
CPU: E8400 @ 3.6 GHz
Mobo: Asus P5K
Ram: 6GB OCZ Reaper PC2 6400 @ 800 Mhz 4-4-4-12
GFX: 1GB Radeon 4890 @ 925core 1050mem (Sapphire)
HD: Seagate 250GB, and a bunch of other ones for storage purposes
PSU: Tagan 800W Modular
Oh, and I run the game in full screen windowed mode, usually with winamp and day[9] casts on a 2nd monitor for double the starcraft intake and maximum information overload lol
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On June 04 2010 12:08 Baarn wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2010 12:05 FragKrag wrote:
It is a weak graphics card. Games generally rely more on the graphics card than on the cpu now. That statement is simply not true. The graphic subsystem doesn't bottleneck until 2560x1500 or a 30 inch screen. Lower resolution puts the burden on the cpu.
what
not even going to try
It looks like most of the specs that were up didn't actually account for the possibilities of 3v3/4v4 ;_;
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I wanted to add that my computer is about 3 years old, a lap top too, and runs sc2 pretty nicely.
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Phenom IIx4 be955 @3.2Ghz
Ati 4770
Win 7
1366x768
Ultra
Lowest:27 fps big battle on creep
Average 40 Fps
(Creep causes FPS to fall)
There's a FPS viewer in SC2 ctrl+alt+f
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Looking at getting this (will be re-using my old HD and video card until I can afford to replace them) but I have a question in regards to the CPU cooler:
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc
PSU: Corsair 550VX I looked into PSU's a few weeks ago and was really interested in the 520W Seasonic, but it's gone up ~20 bucks since then.
RAM: G.Skill 4GB DDR3 1600 ECO Series I could save a little here, but the timings and voltage are pretty enticing.
CPU and Mobo: i5-750 and Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3
Thermal Paste: Tuniq TX-2
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master GeminII I wanted to order the Hyper 212 Plus, but newegg is out of them and it looks like they'll be wanting 60 bucks for them when they're back in stock. I don't really know if this is a good alternative. I only plan to overclock the i5-750 to 3.0Ghz, so I assume this provides plenty of cooling abilities to handle that, but is there a better cost/performance choice I missed?
Just for completeness, I plan to get a Caviar Black 1TB with Win 7 64-bit and a 5770 later on. Maybe a 5830 if the price drops enough. It's all going in an Antec 902 I got on sale a little while back.
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On June 04 2010 13:36 maareek wrote:Looking at getting this (will be re-using my old HD and video card until I can afford to replace them) but I have a question in regards to the CPU cooler: Optical Drive: Sony OptiarcPSU: Corsair 550VX I looked into PSU's a few weeks ago and was really interested in the 520W Seasonic, but it's gone up ~20 bucks since then. RAM: G.Skill 4GB DDR3 1600 ECO Series I could save a little here, but the timings and voltage are pretty enticing. CPU and Mobo: i5-750 and Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3Thermal Paste: Tuniq TX-2CPU Cooler: Cooler Master GeminII I wanted to order the Hyper 212 Plus, but newegg is out of them and it looks like they'll be wanting 60 bucks for them when they're back in stock. I don't really know if this is a good alternative. I only plan to overclock the i5-750 to 3.0Ghz, so I assume this provides plenty of cooling abilities to handle that, but is there a better cost/performance choice I missed? Just for completeness, I plan to get a Caviar Black 1TB with Win 7 64-bit and a 5770 later on. Maybe a 5830 if the price drops enough. It's all going in an Antec 902 I got on sale a little while back.
Yeah corsair i wouldn't get it from newegg shop around. Newegg inflates price of popular items.
I mean for that one you could get something like this, which is better, modular.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171036
The seasonic def isn't bad either, just when you're looking make sure that for 500-600w you get 2 pcie pins and one of them should be 6+2.
As for amps 40amps on any 12v rail is plenty, that 40*12 = 480 watts for your gpu more then any gpu can possibly draw. Brand does help though in picking a quality vendor.
Can't rely on newegg for everything yo
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-RR-B10-212P-G1-Universal-Heat-Pipe/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275627580&sr=1-1
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The Cooler Master Geminii really isn't that great of a HSF. Go for the Scythe SCMG (Scythe Mugen). It is a much better buy for your money. It is a huge and heavy cooler though, so make sure it will fit in your case (which it should).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
Nice to see somebody go with TX-2 instead of the overused (and now quite obsolete) AS5 :D
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-Silent-Pro-M-600-W-Power-Supply-Review/929/2
is a review of the PSU that semantics linked. It's an Enhance OEM (which is an OEM known for being very good on some, and bad on others).
The 40A rail seems a bit low for a 600W PSU, and you will notice that the Corsair 550W at 41A will actually deliver more power to your CPU and PSU. That said, Hardwaresecrets gave it a very nice review so I would feel safe going for the Cooler Master.
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Hey, i've been having some seriously enraging computer problems with my new rig for SC2. I wanted to blog this but i don't seem to be able too as of yet. any help would be extremely appreciated as im all out of idea's : (.
OK the setup WAS this
Gigabyte MA74GMT-S2
AMD Athlon II 240 Dual Core 2.8Ghz
NVIDIA GT 240 1Gb Graphics Card
RAM 2Gb 1333Mhz DDR3
No name 650W PSU
OK so first of all the crappy PSU crapped out on me 3 days after i got it. Classic PSU fail with smoke and total deadness.( i know, i know, i was going to replace it with a nice good quality corsair PSU ASAP but im broke as hell after spening $500 on this PC ) and i sent it back under warranty and got the PSU replaced, i was pleasantly suprised to find a 680W antec PSU in there. commenced happy gaming for all of 4 days and it just wouldn't turn on. No direct evidence of anything failing ( smoke, burning smell etc ) it just wouldn't turn on, no beeps, LED's or anything.
Right now its at a friends how who has other case's and parts to test with but im just wondering if anyone else has had any experience like this and if they knew the cause. So far all i can think of is that the first power supply failure caused something else to go wrong that was not immediately apparent.
Thanks for any help anyone can give me, this is causing me so seething nerdrage.
Keep being awesome peoples!
Xtrashiny
Oh if someone could tell me how i gain permission to blog it'd be great. EDIT:spelling mistakes
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DrivE that PSU will be absolutely fine for your setup 
XtraShiny: It's possible that when your noname PSU failed, it took a component with it :/
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@semantics and FragKrag: thanks for the help, guys! I hadn't even looked at Cooler Master PSUs, since I didn't think they sold anything that high quality. Definitely looks like a great deal from that review, but...
I ended up not getting a chance to finish up my order until today, and I'm actually glad it worked out that way. The motherboard I was looking at is a daily deal, and is now available as a combo with the Seasonic 520/620W PSUs. Ended up getting the combo with the mobo + 520W modular Seasonic, which, with the promo codes for $5 off the CPU and 10% off CPU Fan (since a review said the Scythe Mugen fit in an Antec 900, I feel somewhat confident it'll fit in the 902) actually came to a little cheaper than the set up I had planned previously.
I lose a little stated wattage on the PSU, but you can't Crossfire on that Gigabyte board, anyway, and I do feel a little safer going with Seasonic over Cooler Master, even if it is more expensive.
Thanks, again!
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EPT
