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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. | ||
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specjr
39 Posts
@specjr You can't fit a monitor with that resolution and a decent computer that will run SC2 well with that budget. Since you plan to build in December, wait for the time roll buy and prices will definitely be lower. Also look for Black Friday deals in November. I'm not sure if I can purchase 'black friday' sales from canada.  Monitor will be seperate, I will edit my post thanks | ||
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lovelyrose
Canada160 Posts
On October 24 2010 09:28 Myrmidon wrote: I'm not sure if there's much to be gained over something like a HAF 932, which would be much cheaper. Likewise, Thermaltake PSUs aside from a few of the model lines are known to be pretty mediocre, some or many not reaching their rated capacity. If you want to pay extra for a balling PSU, the 750HX was great--don't change that. The hardwaresecrets review has it providing over 900W in spec at high temperatures, so the 750W label is somewhat deceptive. Switched to the HAF_932/750HX and switched vid cards (one in the combo was only available with a combo) MSI N470GTX GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127513 Really liking where the build's at and this thread kicks ass and I love everyone in it! Especially Myrmidon ^^ | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
On October 24 2010 08:16 Melancholia wrote: My friend is going to be making a computer for SC2 and for sound recording. Considering that most computer builds just use the onboard sound card this build will definitely have to be a bit different. Unfortunately, I know very little about sound cards/prices. We were looking at this for a base model and were going to just add in a soundcard. The budget is about $500, maybe a bit more. Any advice? It doesn't need to play SC2 any better than on medium settings. Some sound cards and other assorted audio equipment are much more expensive than $100. Some are less expensive. (Was the budget $500 including the sound card?) There are many USB, PCI, and PCI-E options. What really is needed? Does your friend need more than one input? Line-level inputs or microphone inputs required? Be warned that most consumer cards are oriented at home media or headphones/speakers users, so they typically are geared towards outputs and not inputs. The general idea of a Athlon II X3, etc. for that price range seems right. 2 GB RAM may be a little too small, but I'm not sure what the requirements of most recording software is. Maybe try 4 GB and step down the video card slightly. It depends on the resolution, but you can get by with something in the $60 range on medium. Also note that the PSU in the build is pretty crappy and unreliable. | ||
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Anteloptics
United States31 Posts
Here's the deal: I need a desktop computer that I can keep in my dorm room (I'm at a boarding highschool right now) for the rest of this year and then take to college with me for the next two or three years. I'm not looking for top-of-the-line specs here, I already have a real powerhouse of a PC at home, I just want a modest desktop that can run SC2 and some other pretty simple programs. What is your budget? Anywhere from $500-750 (USD) on the core parts. Don't worry about the monitor, keyboard, mouse, OS, or any other peripherals. This number is pretty flexible, don't worry about it too much. What is your resolution? 1920x1080. Only needs to support one monitor. What are you using it for? Work (Word / Excel / PowerPoint / compiling code / etc.) SC2 on lower settings Photoshop (just some basic editting, nothing too fancy) Playing movies Torrenting **Ideally I would like to be able to run SC2 on low with a browser open in the background with no visible lag. Please & Thank You What is your upgrade cycle? For this machine? Probably never -- unless something breaks and I need to replace it. As long as this machine can run SC2 for the next few years then I'm fine. When do you plan on building it? Within a month. Do you plan on overclocking? No. Do you need an Operating System? Do not factor the OS into the price of this build. I intend to run mainly Windows 7, but I will also probably have a linux (archlinux maybe?) partition. Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire? No. Where are you buying your parts from? Online, probably NewEgg, I've always been happy with their service. Computer case needs: -Can't be too large. This computer will be sitting on top of my desk or the bureau next to it, that's not a lot of space. -Can't be too loud. It's okay if the fans make a bit of noise but quieter is better. I do have a roommate and I don't want to be inconsiderate. -Preferably the case should look pretty plain, I really don't want a ton of electric blue LEDs and whatnot lighting up my room whenever my PC is on. **Remember to consider the effect that these things will have on cooling when you select the parts. A smaller box means less airflow and I don't want a ton of extremely loud fans running all the time, so make sure any parts you recommend run reasonably cool. Also: -I will almost definitely be running one or more versions of linux on this box, so I'd prefer an NVidia GPU. I've had some serious problems with ATI cards and linux in the past. | ||
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R04R
United States1631 Posts
Graphics Card: Gigabyte GTX 460 OC 768mb Processor: AMD Phenom II x4 955 $285 Case: Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W Black Mid tower case RAM: G. Skill Ripjaw series 2x2gb 1600mhz PSU: BFG Tech GS-550 550w ATX12v V2.2 $130 (REALLY GOOD DEAL, I CAN'T BELIEVE I FOUND THIS.) Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner $111 Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb 7200rpm $70 CPU Heatsink: Scythe Mugen Rev. 2 $40 Subtotal: $635.92 Really good bang for your buck here. You should be getting ultra settings pretty easily. | ||
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Garnet
Vietnam9049 Posts
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Bibbit
Canada5377 Posts
Is the Radeon HD 4250 better than the Radeon HD 3200? Desperately hoping this isnt breaking any rules. D: | ||
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R04R
United States1631 Posts
What is your budget exactly? I might be able to find something. | ||
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deconduo
Ireland4122 Posts
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Bibbit
Canada5377 Posts
On October 24 2010 17:27 R04R wrote: So your budget is about $50 on a graphics card for SC2? 4250 isn't really something you'd want to play on. probably pulling 30 fps at most with all low settings. What is your budget exactly? I might be able to find something. Well I've put in about 500 games (not including beta) with about 18 fps and as low as like 4 fps in battles. That was with a HD 3200 (and I'm just about positive that the graphics card was the limiting factor). Anyway, the point is I've become quite accustomed to having terribad fps. I'm not looking so much to "upgrade" as I'm trying to "replace the computer that exploded and pretty much can't turn on anymore." As much as the 4 fps was pretty annoying, I never complained. Its just that the computer cant even do anything at all anymore. Also, it was a laptop and I pretty much need to get another laptop for uni so desktop is pretty much out of the question. Hope this makes sense. :S | ||
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R04R
United States1631 Posts
Here's a benchmark list of how well all the graphics cards perform with SC2. Green colors are preferable. Check the 3rd column. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html | ||
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Bibbit
Canada5377 Posts
On October 25 2010 03:30 R04R wrote: Mentioning you were getting a laptop with the HD 4250 would have been nice. Here's a benchmark list of how well all the graphics cards perform with SC2. Green colors are preferable. Check the 3rd column. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html Sorry. D: Like I said, I dont know things. Thanks a lot though. :D Edit: So as bad as the HD 4250 is, it still seems to be a fair bit better than the bs HD 3200 I've been rocking for damn near 1000 games total now. It says it can probably average like 38 fps on low which is much better than the 12 or so I've been getting. I think it might be satisfactory since price is more important than gaming capability at this time. Thank you.  - R04R's biggest fan. | ||
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zingmars
Latvia189 Posts
They seem to make some really cheap motherboards. Just wondering if they're any good too. | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
On October 24 2010 20:01 deconduo wrote: Does anyone know anything about Super Flower PSUs? The Super Flower Amazon 450W and 550W have 80+ bronze and are much cheaper than Antec/Seasonic/Corsair equivalents. They're average at best according to forum users on jonnyguru | ||
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superlyduper
United States37 Posts
I've heard random posts saying that SC2 does not scale with SLI/Crossfire, but I haven't seen any benchmarks or anything official regarding this subject. I'm thinking about getting another GTS 250 (512mb) card for my E8400@4.2ghz, along with a higher resolution monitor so I can play ultra more smoothly mid/late game. Has SC2 sli/crossfire scaling been fixed? Also, do you guys think blizzard will (or when will they) patch to allow for scaling above dualcores? I know they patched WoW to scale to dual cores a long time ago.. | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
SLI / Crossfire does not work with SC2. | ||
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superlyduper
United States37 Posts
But SLI will bring absolutely 0 benefit to SC2? I thought SLI implementation can be forced through the drivers? Are there any benchmarks or additional commentary about this? | ||
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FragKrag
United States11567 Posts
If you really want to upgrade, you can try to get a GTX 470/HD 6870 for $250 or so like superlyduper says. | ||
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zingmars
Latvia189 Posts
For this reason I'm looking for a new PC - This is what I was thinking (Note - I'll be linking prices from my local shop. Do note that they're way higher than your average newegg prices (well they're just as high as EU prices are in general so.). Also the links are in Latvian. The price is in bold and looks like this Ls xx.xx . If you wanna know how much that is in your currency enter this in google xx.xxLVL in <your currency. for example - USD). xx.xx being the price shown in that website.) + Show Spoiler + Motherboard: http://www.dateks.lv/cenas/63/47287_ecs_a880gm_m7_2_0_.php 44,77LVL ( This is what I'm worried the most about. I'm not sure how goot ECS products are. There is a Gigabyte motherboard using the same chipset which costs around 5LVL more (~10$), so if ECS is not that good of a company I might go with that one. Reason why I'm going for 880G chipset is because of the integrated VGA, since I know I won't be able to buy a new GPU for say 6 months or so.) CPU: http://www.dateks.lv/cenas/21/44605_amd_athlon_ii_x4_640.php 65,35LVL. I won't really be needing the L3 cache from Phenom II x4 line, + I really really doubt I'll be overclocking anything so I decided to take a lower end CPU really. RAM: http://www.dateks.lv/cenas/22/28269_kingston_4gb_ddriii1333_kit_of_2_cl9.php 48,52LVL. No comments needed. ^_^ HDD: http://www.dateks.lv/cenas/23/37152_samsung_1tb_7200rpm_32mb_spinpoint_f3_.php 40,60LVL. I've got a talent when it comes to filling HDDs with random crap, so I decided to choose 1GB one. PSU: http://www.dateks.lv/cenas/73/47476_ocz_stealthxstream_2_500w_12cm_fan.php 38,84LVL. Decided to take an OCZ one for some random reason. heh. DO recommend me a better one for my purposes. GPU: I'll be using integrated one for awhile (I wonder how it performs with SC2). After that I think I'll probably will getting some 'low-end' GPU (like 9800GT or something). Case and DVD-reader: Will be reusing from my current PC config. So the question is - will the PC work, and how well it perform (for everyday use - youtube, teh interwebz etc, and Starcraft 2). Please excuse me not using newegg for links, but sadly I found that price difference between those two are so damn huge, that I decided to use links from my local shop. | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
The integrated HD 4250 is just like the one in laptops--bad for modern games. You may be able to play SC2 on lowest settings okay, but with some lag sometimes. edit: for everyday use or SC2, you're not going to need a quad core. You could save some 15LVL and get a Athlon II X3. Use the difference to get a better motherboard maybe. Everything looks compatible. The OCZ StealthXStream 2 is decent and definitely better than most generic units, but that's more power than you need. The Corsair 400CX is better overall except for maximum power output, and it is slightly cheaper. It would be more than fine for any GPU that only needs 1 PCI-E connector. Something like a GTX 460 using a molex adapter would also be a possibility on that wattage. | ||
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