so im buying a new computer for sc2 and i want to get the i3 but if the i5 is THAT much better id save up and just buy that
i need to know for sc2 how much better then i3 i5 and i7 are compared to each other and im not so good with computers. also motherboard i dont know what ones best to get. the term "chip set" what chip set is best?
i read the guide i just dont understand some of it
Post your graphics card and monitor resolution first. For the most part, i3 should be sufficient depending on which graphics level you intend to play. Some settings are more dependent on cpu rather than gpu (like physics) so take things like this into account.
the "for sc2" part makes the whole discussion absurd, as sc2 has very, very low system requirements. in general you should take an amd cpu (phenom ii x4 955 is a good idea) as for now they bringt the most fps per $, but in early 2011 the new intel processors will come (sandy bridge), so things might look different soon.
On June 30 2010 21:33 Zarhym wrote: Q. After the beta has commenced, how many CPU cores will StarCraft II be optimized for upon final release? A. For launch, StarCraft II will be optimized for dual-core only. In the future we will definitely be looking into other optimizations to support additional cores, but do not have specific dates yet.
The Core i3 500 series products are dual cores and they do have hyper-threading and support virtualization, but they do not have Turbo Boost. The performance of the Core i3 500 series products is roughly on par with the performance of the lower end Core 2 Quad products like the Q6600.
The Core i5 600 series products are dual cores which have hyperthreading, Turbo Boost, virtualization, and the AES instruction set. The performance of the Core i5 600 series processors is roughly on par with mid-range Core 2 Quads and high-end Phenom II processors.
The Core i5 700 series processors are quad core processors. They do not have hyperthreading but they do have Turbo Boost and they do support virtualization. Their performance is roughly on par or somewhat better than high end Core 2 Quad and Phenom II processors.
"hyperthreading" is like virtual cores so i3 has 2 physical cores and 0 virtual cores (2 cores total) i5 has 2 physical cores and 2 virtual cores (4 cores total) i7 has 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores (8 cores total) more cores are not necessarily better, as currently not many games a designed to take advantage of multiple cores (applications like CAD and video encoding are)
don't worry about what chipset is best generally it won't make any difference to you. just pick a motherboard that supports the CPU that you want chipset will just determine what RAM (DDR2, DDR3) or what socket CPU you'll have (LGA 775, LGA 1156, LGA 1366)
although i've been out of the loop for a while i don't think much has changed in terms gaming and multiple cores, i've looked at benchmarks when the i7 stuff came out and 2 core vs 4 core makes almost no difference for the price you'd be paying money is best spent on a graphics card, that will make the most difference for gaming
a couple of my friends have built AMD Phenom II systems for gaming, they're very good for gaming and cheap as well
H55 and H57 is the low end chipset which has socket 1156 and have integrated graphics. These are meant for core i3 processors but you can throw an core i5 processor in it as well. It cannot run SLI or CrossfireX at all.
P55 is the mainstream chipset which has socket 1156 and are meant for core i5 / 1156 core i7 processors. It'll run SLI and CrossfireX at x8 x8. It doesn't have integrated graphics.
X58 is the high end chipset which has socket 1366 and are meant for 1366 core i7s (920, 950, etc). It'll run SLI and CrossfireX at full x16 bandwidth.
so it seems the i5 is the best as it has hyperthreading and its a duel core no?
i read that review on the intel processors and it seems that the i5 750 is pretty solid but does that mean its going to REALLY outperform say an i3 540 for sc2 and other games?
the real question is it worth the $80 to upg to the i5 760
you should really do more reading and understand this for yourself before you buy a new computer. You dont seem to be putting much effort in on your part.
so it seems the i5 is the best as it has hyperthreading and its a duel core no?
i read that review on the intel processors and it seems that the i5 750 is pretty solid but does that mean its going to REALLY outperform say an i3 540 for sc2 and other games?
the real question is it worth the $80 to upg to the i5 760
- core i3 5 series are dual cores with hyperthreading but no turbo boost - core i5 6 series are dual cores with hyperthreading - core i5 7 series are quad cores with no hyperthreading
Yes, a core i5 750 will outperform a core i3 540 because of its higher cache size and turbo boost.
A core i5 760 is the exact same as a core i5 750 except that it has a higher multiplier.
gaming still only maximizes dual cores right? correct me if i'm wrong, i've just been led to believe that for price value dual > quad for gaming. sorry for being slightly off topic just something i would like to be clear on.
On October 28 2010 08:51 zyglrox wrote: gaming still only maximizes dual cores right? correct me if i'm wrong, i've just been led to believe that for price value dual > quad for gaming. sorry for being slightly off topic just something i would like to be clear on.
Most games being released today do utilize quad cores. If you can't spend $200 on a quad core than I wouldn't suggest buying or upgrading a new PC.
right now, AMD ii X4 955 BE is the best bang for the buck processor... for that price, best value and very fast. get the quadcore and dont even think about an i3, quad core gaming will be here soon!
A physical core is always better than hyperthreading. It's been proven in benchmarks that hyperthreading can actually decrease performance in games and increase core temp.
With a $800 budget, it's best to get an AMD Phenom II X4 955 as previously suggested.
If you want to save money, get phenom x4 955. If you really want an intel, go for the i3. i5 will do nothing more than the i3 if you are using your computer for sc2. i7 is pretty much out of the question for gamers.
On October 28 2010 11:49 skyR wrote: A physical core is always better than hyperthreading. It's been proven in benchmarks that hyperthreading can actually decrease performance in games and increase core temp.
With a $800 budget, it's best to get an AMD Phenom II X4 955 as previously suggested.
I'm def going to keep that in mind when I upgrade in the spring. Quad core for sure!
I have an i7 and am loving it, of course it does get fairly hot, since the clock adjusts itself to the needs, it works absolutely fine for games, and allows me to multitask like crazy.
wait for intel sandy bridge coming out january 2011, according to benchmarks that are out on the web the mid range processor core i5 2xxx beats the crap out of a corei7 extreme processor, so you can make a much better purchase if you wait a bit...
On October 28 2010 14:39 TheBlueMeaner wrote: wait for intel sandy bridge coming out january 2011, according to benchmarks that are out on the web the mid range processor core i5 2xxx beats the crap out of a corei7 extreme processor, so you can make a much better purchase if you wait a bit...
$800 can't even afford a p55 / core i5 750 build unless he finds some amazing deals. What makes you think a p67 / core i5 2400 will be doable with a $800 budget?
On October 28 2010 12:08 Chairman Ray wrote: If you want to save money, get phenom x4 955. If you really want an intel, go for the i3. i5 will do nothing more than the i3 if you are using your computer for sc2. i7 is pretty much out of the question for gamers.
I don't understand, are you saying the i7 is too powerful to be necessary to gamers?
For a balance between value and speed I would go for the i5 750, but if you really want to go all out, try and find one of the prototype i9s with 12 (6+6) cores!
On October 28 2010 12:08 Chairman Ray wrote: If you want to save money, get phenom x4 955. If you really want an intel, go for the i3. i5 will do nothing more than the i3 if you are using your computer for sc2. i7 is pretty much out of the question for gamers.
I don't understand, are you saying the i7 is too powerful to be necessary to gamers?
most games are GPU-intensive, not CPU intensive. I would only get an i7 if i did a lot of video encoding and other CPU-intensive tasks.
On October 28 2010 14:39 TheBlueMeaner wrote: wait for intel sandy bridge coming out january 2011, according to benchmarks that are out on the web the mid range processor core i5 2xxx beats the crap out of a corei7 extreme processor, so you can make a much better purchase if you wait a bit...
$800 can't even afford a p55 / core i5 750 build unless he finds some amazing deals. What makes you think a p67 / core i5 2400 will be doable with a $800 budget?
the new range makes the old one outdated and therefore cheaper
On June 30 2010 21:33 Zarhym wrote: Q. After the beta has commenced, how many CPU cores will StarCraft II be optimized for upon final release? A. For launch, StarCraft II will be optimized for dual-core only. In the future we will definitely be looking into other optimizations to support additional cores, but do not have specific dates yet.
The Core i3 500 series products are dual cores and they do have hyper-threading and support virtualization, but they do not have Turbo Boost. The performance of the Core i3 500 series products is roughly on par with the performance of the lower end Core 2 Quad products like the Q6600.
The Core i5 600 series products are dual cores which have hyperthreading, Turbo Boost, virtualization, and the AES instruction set. The performance of the Core i5 600 series processors is roughly on par with mid-range Core 2 Quads and high-end Phenom II processors.
The Core i5 700 series processors are quad core processors. They do not have hyperthreading but they do have Turbo Boost and they do support virtualization. Their performance is roughly on par or somewhat better than high end Core 2 Quad and Phenom II processors.
"hyperthreading" is like virtual cores so i3 has 2 physical cores and 0 virtual cores (2 cores total) i5 has 2 physical cores and 2 virtual cores (4 cores total) i7 has 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores (8 cores total) more cores are not necessarily better, as currently not many games a designed to take advantage of multiple cores (applications like CAD and video encoding are)
don't worry about what chipset is best generally it won't make any difference to you. just pick a motherboard that supports the CPU that you want chipset will just determine what RAM (DDR2, DDR3) or what socket CPU you'll have (LGA 775, LGA 1156, LGA 1366)
although i've been out of the loop for a while i don't think much has changed in terms gaming and multiple cores, i've looked at benchmarks when the i7 stuff came out and 2 core vs 4 core makes almost no difference for the price you'd be paying money is best spent on a graphics card, that will make the most difference for gaming
a couple of my friends have built AMD Phenom II systems for gaming, they're very good for gaming and cheap as well
You are wrong.
i7 has 4 core plus 4 virtual cores, either socket 1156 or 1366 i5 has 4 cores plus none virtual cores i3 has 2 cores plus 2 virtual cores
new i9 will have 6 cores
Just take a look on CPU-Z images.
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For SC2 with just a Quad Core Q94XX+ will be very fine with a decent graphic card like a Ati 6850 or nvidia 460gtx, well with much less will run satisfily.
Go for this, i5 750/760, Asus motherboard round 100€, 460GTX or Ati 6850 and 4GB ram DDR3
I'm an AMD fanboi but really what ever you buy at the moment will be out of date come next year.
So I would probably just get a dual core and be done with it and upgrade to something decent later.
Don't spend your money on things that you think you might need later. Buy according to what you need NOW and spend as much as your budget allows. Do it this way and you will be so much happier.
The Core i3 500 series products are dual cores and they do have hyper-threading and support virtualization, but they do not have Turbo Boost. The performance of the Core i3 500 series products is roughly on par with the performance of the lower end Core 2 Quad products like the Q6600.
I have q6600 and i can play lag free at maxed settings 1080p with a 5770 gfx card.. so you should only need that i3 it seems. maybe at 200/200 battles it will lag i dont know :p
I got an i5 650 Dualcore at 3,2 GHz, 6 GB RAM (667 MHz Bus), Geforce GT330 (with 2 GB graphics memory, which I honestly don't believe, i guess there's some virtual RAM going on there) for 799 Euro, which is at the current rate, 1104 US$, at the beginning of August. If you plan on spending 800 $, better go for an AMD CPU, as it will give you more "bang for the buck", as someone cleverly put it a few posts before me.
I have to note that I didnt put this system together myself, i bought it at some Target-like huge department store cause i was lazy and i wanted my computer right there and then. So you could get something like that cheaper on the net for sure. But as I said, I was lazy. nI didnt wanna wait for shipping. The game does not recognize the graphics card, though, but everything works fine on ultra settings in 1v1 and 2v2, als long as there are no 200 zerglings + 200 marines on the map, it holds at approx. 25-50 FPS, and drops below 25 only if aforementioned unit-spammage is in order.
To not get distracted too much, I recommend putting it on the second highest settings with texture details on the highest setting. That does it for me.
Revised, you're right about the 1GB graphics(it's a better card, not just for the memory), and the caviar black while great isn't much of a difference from the samsung: I stand by my choice of antec case and corsair PSU though from personal experience of not only building for myself but my friends.
Either way good luck with the build! I'm about to install my new one today as well.
Starcraft 2 is surprisingly CPU-intensive unlike other games. Even if you plan on playing it at 1920x1200 with a good graphics card you won't get away with a cheap CPU (which usually works in most games as long as the CPU is 3GHz+)
I have tried different CPU:s for this game, ranging from AMD Athlon X2 250 (2core, 3ghz) and AMD Phenom X3 720 (3core, 2.8ghz, larger cache) among other processors like i5.
I came to the conclusion that you need cache for this game. The Athlon X2 at 3.8GHz got me fewer FPS than the Phenom X3 at 2GHz.
If you plan on buying a computer for SC2, aim for largest L3 cache and amount of cores for the price. a good hard drive also makes a difference. Buying an expensive graphics card won't make a difference in SC2. Last generation GTX260 SP216 with a good processor lets you achieve Ultra easily.
On October 28 2010 19:13 rascal wrote: Starcraft 2 is surprisingly CPU-intensive unlike other games. Even if you plan on playing it at 1920x1200 with a good graphics card you won't get away with a cheap CPU (which usually works in most games as long as the CPU is 3GHz+)
I have tried different CPU:s for this game, ranging from AMD Athlon X2 250 (2core, 3ghz) and AMD Phenom X3 720 (3core, 2.8ghz, larger cache) among other processors like i5.
I came to the conclusion that you need cache for this game. The Athlon X2 at 3.8GHz got me fewer FPS than the Phenom X3 at 2GHz.
If you plan on buying a computer for SC2, aim for largest L3 cache and amount of cores for the price. a good hard drive also makes a difference. Buying an expensive graphics card won't make a difference in SC2. Last generation GTX260 SP216 with a good processor lets you achieve Ultra easily.
yeh my brothers computer has a garbage graphics hard but strong proc so it runs sc2 pretty smooth
On October 28 2010 12:08 Chairman Ray wrote: If you want to save money, get phenom x4 955. If you really want an intel, go for the i3. i5 will do nothing more than the i3 if you are using your computer for sc2. i7 is pretty much out of the question for gamers.
I don't understand, are you saying the i7 is too powerful to be necessary to gamers?
most games are GPU-intensive, not CPU intensive. I would only get an i7 if i did a lot of video encoding and other CPU-intensive tasks.
Not true. Some games rely more on CPU, others on GPU.
If you got an awesome CPU but a less good GPU, you'd still be able to play almost all games on high/ultra. However, if you got a less good CPU and a mega good GPU, you will notice shit load of lag ingame.
On October 28 2010 17:58 Firkraag8 wrote: @ $800 this is what i came up with for you. This will get you a great gaming machine for your budget!
(click for bigger image)
I would build one like that but with an Asus mobo instead of Gigabyte, tho its fine for me, I like that PC.
I just built my PC a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty much the same exact build.
GTX 460 768 mb I5-760 4 GB Ram Gigabyte P55AUD3 Corsair 650 Watt power supply Cooler Master HAF 922 (this thing is a beast, so make sure space isn't a problem)
I haven't had SC lag once on me yet because there are too many units on screen or anything. The computer handles it just fine on Ultra settings. The only thing I would upgrade out of everything you chose is the power supply. 550W is kind of limiting if the OP ever wants to add in another GPU or upgrade his CPU. My computer is rated at using 500W using a power supply calculator. Leaving just 50W for upgrade room is kind of a waste of money if he ever wants to upgrade since he'll have to fork out another $80 for a new PSU.
Newegg also has tons of combo deals going on all the time, so make sure you check those out. I saved about $40 by just using the combo deals. Microcenter also has the i5-760 for $169.99. Better than NewEgg's pricing of the 750 and a better processor .
On October 29 2010 00:48 Joementum wrote:My computer is rated at using 500W using a power supply calculator.
You need a better power supply calculator. That setup is really only around 380W. On an 80 Plus certified PSU you'd only need 475W to run it, 500W to run it comfortably, and 550W leaves plenty of room for upgrades. You'd have to upgrad to SLI, 2 disk RAID, and an i7 875 with an overclock to require ~520W i.e. 650W 80 Plus certified. There's upgrade room, the 650W corsair was complete overkill for your rig.
The 6850 that just came out would lower the power requirements significantly relative to the 460 and would provide comperable performance at a lower price to boot.
If you don't do graphic editing/ video editing then the amd phenom x4 555 BE is absolutely the way to go. N
I was going to build my own but couldn't get credit with newegg so I paid a little more for an alienware, but got a steal because of discounts through work.
I recommend this.
Amd x4 be 555 Asus mobo micro atx Radeon 5670, 5770 or gtx 460 Each card goes up in power, but the 5670 is a great card at a great price. 2x2 gb ddr3 1333 gskill ram. The red one on newegg is like 80$.
Get a case that has good ventilation. Read the reviews on newegg! Get the combo deals!
On October 29 2010 03:01 icemanzdoinwork wrote: If you don't do graphic editing/ video editing then the amd phenom x4 555 BE is absolutely the way to go.
By x4 555 do you mean an x2 555 with the extra cores unlocked because AMD doesn't sell an x4 555 directly. Unlocking cores can be great if you can get it to work but, from what I've heard, it's very hit or miss with the 555 if both cores will unlock and work as they should. Even if you can starcraft 2 is a very CPU intensive game and you'd likely be better served with an i5 760 and spending less on the GPU to cover the difference.
I bought the Lenovo y560d laptop a couple days ago for 762$ - Plus tax = $815 It has i7 740QM 1.6GHZ 6 gigabytes of DDR3ram 500 gb 7200 rpm HD and ATI Radeon 5730 video card. People say it can play it on Ultra with ease.
This is a pretty good place to get basic Benchmarks. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ Check out the video section too. Compare this stuff with the FPS Frap tests on Youtube
Starcraft 2 is CPU-intensive, its been proven in many benchmark + hardware tests.
Its reccomended to have at least an I5 to play at nice FPS. GPU you can for SC2 you can get away with something abit less, but everyone plays other games so
I'd get an i7 920 tbh. The thing can be overclocked like nobodies business so it's pretty much future proof for awhile. People have been able to get around 4.5ghz OC with a liquid cooling system on it.
On October 28 2010 12:08 Chairman Ray wrote: If you want to save money, get phenom x4 955. If you really want an intel, go for the i3. i5 will do nothing more than the i3 if you are using your computer for sc2. i7 is pretty much out of the question for gamers.
I don't understand, are you saying the i7 is too powerful to be necessary to gamers?
most games are GPU-intensive, not CPU intensive. I would only get an i7 if i did a lot of video encoding and other CPU-intensive tasks.
Not true. Some games rely more on CPU, others on GPU.
If you got an awesome CPU but a less good GPU, you'd still be able to play almost all games on high/ultra. However, if you got a less good CPU and a mega good GPU, you will notice shit load of lag ingame.
This goes against every single real world case benchmark. The difference between the $400 CPU and a $100 CPU manifests itself in 4-5 frames per second difference. A difference between a $100 video card and a $400 video card can double or triple your FPS.
There have been specific benchmarks which are meant to expose the CPUs performance where a CPU impacts the FPS a lot but you will notice those are always at very low resolutions and lowest possible graphic settings in order to remove the GPU from the equation. But as far as normal conditions go even a $70 Athlon II will run any game perfectly fine provided you have a decent Video Card.
SC2 is probably one of the rare games which really does stress the CPU but even SC2 is fine with any 2.8Ghz+ dual core CPU (which can be bought for as low as $60).
Today's fastest CPU family is Core i7 for instance which will cost you $100-200 more than an AMD Quad Core setup for instance. (when comparing the setup make sure you also factor in the motherboard cost as core i7 motherboards tend to cost up to $100 more as well).
So your $200 extra you spend on an i7 will yield you 5 more FPS. Bumping your Video card by $200 will give you far more performance.
Or the money you save on the CPU you can use towards an SSD which makes SC2 loading screens 5-10 times faster. (My SC2 loads so much faster since I moved it to one of my SSDs).
Where an i7 makes sense are things like video trans coding because the gains are bigger there. Or even a Phenom II x6 (6 core AMD CPU).
On October 29 2010 10:58 CreamCorn wrote: But as far as normal conditions go even a $70 Athlon II will run any game perfectly fine provided you have a decent Video Card.
SC2 is probably one of the rare games which really does stress the CPU but even SC2 is fine with any 2.8Ghz+ dual core CPU (which can be bought for as low as $60).
...
So your $200 extra you spend on an i7 will yield you 5 more FPS. Bumping your Video card by $200 will give you far more performance.
Did you even read the article you quoted as a source for your assertions? The benchmarks clearly show that going from a 5850 to a 5870 on an i7 920 yields nearly 0 gains in performance at most resolutions. If the game is CPU bottlenecked on an i7 with only a mid-range card then why get a better card instead of a better CPU?
From the article: "A 2.5 GHz Phenom II X4 barely offers playable performance"
That's their recommendation so you're suggesting that a crappier Athalon 2 will be fine as long as it's 2.8 GHz or up? The benchmarks you linked are more than clear, on a 5850 the difference between i7 and an Athalon II isn't 5 FPS it's 17 min FPS to 25 min FPS and 41.2 FPS max to 53.1 FPS max.
Again, from the article you linked: "If you want to keep things playable during epic battles, we recommend at least a 3 GHz dual-core or a 2.8 GHz triple-core processor. We also suggest that you opt for a 3.4 GHz Phenom II or a Core i5-750 at the very least to ensure smooth gameplay at all times."
A cheap Athalon II isn't going to cut it if you want to play on higher settings, period.
On October 29 2010 23:59 tetracycloide wrote: A cheap Athalon II isn't going to cut it if you want to play on higher settings, period.
Of course I read it I linked it. I think you missed the point of the article. They artificially under clocked the CPUs to prove that clock is important. Which is what I said in my post, any today's processor over 2.8Ghz will be fine for SC2.
In fact this 3.2 Ghz $67 Athlon II is going to be more than enough for SC2:
For the stuff that runs in the background while you game. I consider the CPUs I linked cheap, don't you?
Furthermore investing a lot of money in CPUs currently is not a wise idea because both AMD and Intel are introducing brand new architectures next year. Sandy Bridge and Bulldozer. I can't recommend dumping $400+ on an i7 and a more expensive motherboard right now, when you can get by with a $150 Athlon II + AM3 Motherboard. And it will run SC2 perfectly fine. The extra money can be invested in a faster GPU which will last you a long time because both of those architectures are brand new and GPU performance isn't expected to jump drastically next year.
So if your choice is to go for a i7 and a weak GPU like a 450 gt. You are far better going with a Athlon II 3.2 Ghz CPU I linked and a 6870 for the same price.
My advice makes even more sense if you play other games which favor GPU over CPU even more.
On October 29 2010 23:59 tetracycloide wrote: The benchmarks clearly show that going from a 5850 to a 5870 on an i7 920 yields nearly 0 gains in performance at most resolutions
Also I have to respond to this.
First of all there is a difference on most common resolution between those two cards but it's true that difference is small. This is because you are comparing two top cards in AMD's line up (until recently). Of course the difference will be small. That's like me comparing two different models of an i7 processor. Should we be surprised 5850 and 5870 perform similarly?
5850 is a $245 card, while $5870 is a $299 card.
The difference between an typical i7 and an Athlon II setup is almost $300. You compared two similarly priced cards.
A 3.2Ghz Athlon II with a 6870 will absolutely destroy a i7 running a 250 gt for instance in terms of FPS in SC2 (yet the Athlon II setup will still be cheaper). This difference will be even bigger if you run on higher resolution.
On October 30 2010 02:44 leonardus wrote: What is the minimal FPS at which the game is still playable in a smooth fashion?
Theoretically your eye can't see past 30 FPS. But for enjoyable experience 60 FPS is ideal.
FPS is not constant in certain cases you get FPS drops which are noticeable so the higher average FPS you can achieve also means you will probably get less noticable FPS drops.
Low FPS in a game like Starcraft also affects your user interface. Things like selecting units and camera panning. So really you always want to shoot for above 40 FPS.
Most pros play on low settings because they want to remove performance out of equation, also certain units and abilities are easier to tell apart on low settings.
tenchially your eye doesn't see color much past 30 fps but it can detect changes in movement well past 60 fps, does it matter? fuck no you're playing a view game if it looks smooth get over it.
Consistency is what makes smooth game play 30 fps without any drops or spikes would play quite nice.
On October 30 2010 01:13 CreamCorn wrote:Of course I read it I linked it. I think you missed the point of the article. They artificially under clocked the CPUs to prove that clock is important. Which is what I said in my post, any today's processor over 2.8Ghz will be fine for SC2.
In fact this 3.2 Ghz $67 Athlon II is going to be more than enough for SC2
How then would you characterize this quote from the article in question: "If you want to keep things playable during epic battles, we recommend at least a 3 GHz dual-core or a 2.8 GHz triple-core processor. We also suggest that you opt for a 3.4 GHz Phenom II or a Core i5-750 at the very least to ensure smooth gameplay at all times."
Why would they suggest a "3.4 GHz Phenom II ($150) or a Core i5-750 ($209) at the very least to ensure smooth gameplay at all times" if a mere "3.2 Ghz $67 Athlon II is going to be more than enough for SC2?"
It's possible what you mean by 'run' and what they mean by 'run' are different. The tests they're running are pretty large scale battles:
"The StarCraft II Map Editor allows us to create a large map with a lot of melee units and structures ready to fight. For this purpose, we use the majority of a large 256x256 map space, filling it with different terrain details, including water and fog, and placing 380 melee units, 42 static structures, 96 mineral piles, and six vespine geysers."
For single player and 1v1 your recommendations are likely more than enough.
It's good that you pointed out the new CPU architecture arriving early next year as well. I'd certainly recommend holding off on any upgrades that would require a motherboard replacement until then. If someone is already running an AM2+ board dropping $67 for a cheap Athlon II is going to make waiting a ton easier too so it's not a bad idea. I just wouldn't go through the trouble and expense of rebuilding a whole system and spend that little on a processor.
On October 30 2010 01:13 CreamCorn wrote:Of course I read it I linked it. I think you missed the point of the article. They artificially under clocked the CPUs to prove that clock is important. Which is what I said in my post, any today's processor over 2.8Ghz will be fine for SC2.
In fact this 3.2 Ghz $67 Athlon II is going to be more than enough for SC2
How then would you characterize this quote from the article in question: "If you want to keep things playable during epic battles, we recommend at least a 3 GHz dual-core or a 2.8 GHz triple-core processor. We also suggest that you opt for a 3.4 GHz Phenom II or a Core i5-750 at the very least to ensure smooth gameplay at all times."
Why would they suggest a "3.4 GHz Phenom II ($150) or a Core i5-750 ($209) at the very least to ensure smooth gameplay at all times" if a mere "3.2 Ghz $67 Athlon II is going to be more than enough for SC2?"
Because their testing showed the worst case scenario. I've built a computer for my nephew using a 3.1Ghz Athlon II tri-core. It has no issues playing 4v4s with multiple 200 food armies at high settings. The FPS is always above 40FPS. And because just a few more FPS is not worth $300 more.
And like I said, now it's a bad time to dump a lot of cash on expensive CPUs with new architectures being around the corner. You can get an Atlhon II x3 @ 3.2 Ghz including a motherboard for less than $150. It will run fine SC2 fine.
If that's not enough you can overclock the Athlon II, they achieve 3.6Ghz on air without issues.
On October 29 2010 03:01 icemanzdoinwork wrote: If you don't do graphic editing/ video editing then the amd phenom x4 555 BE is absolutely the way to go.
By x4 555 do you mean an x2 555 with the extra cores unlocked because AMD doesn't sell an x4 555 directly. Unlocking cores can be great if you can get it to work but, from what I've heard, it's very hit or miss with the 555 if both cores will unlock and work as they should. Even if you can starcraft 2 is a very CPU intensive game and you'd likely be better served with an i5 760 and spending less on the GPU to cover the difference.
I still wouldn't feel comfortable trusting SC2 to anything less than a phenom x4 BE. $140 is cheap enough and there less risk of the FPS dropping out to 15 or less during a big battle.
On October 30 2010 08:04 CreamCorn wrote:And like I said, now it's a bad time to dump a lot of cash on expensive CPUs with new architectures being around the corner.
That we can agree on. Honestly if someone already has a system that runs SC2 and they just want it to run better I'd recommend picking up a video card upgrade today or sometime this week and holding off on other upgrades until later (I have a friend in this exact situation actually).
Got my i5-760 last week, overclocked to 3.36ghz(could go much higher, but don't need too). And the only time I've gotten anything resembling slowdown(not max fps) is when a mothership comes out and stands over 10 carriers and even then I'm pretty sure that might be my older graphics card(GTX 260).
i5 quad does indeed run this game without any problems, so recommended from my side.
On November 03 2010 22:44 Firkraag8 wrote: Got my i5-760 last week, overclocked to 3.36ghz(could go much higher, but don't need too). And the only time I've gotten anything resembling slowdown(not max fps) is when a mothership comes out and stands over 10 carriers and even then I'm pretty sure that might be my older graphics card(GTX 260).
i5 quad does indeed run this game without any problems, so recommended from my side.
Yeah I just got an i5-760 overclocked to 4ghz using the stock cooler... This CPU is seriously an overclocking powerhouse.
Video card is a 5870, no slowdowns in SC2 except custom games with an obscene amount of units and even then it only drops to around 40 fps minimum (while other people have slowed the game to a crawl )
Extremely happy with my i5, highly recommended for anyone looking to upgrade. They are really really cheap at the moment too.
I have a Phenom II X4 955. If you want ultra settings with 60fps get a better video card than an ATI HD4770 which is what I have. I max at high though I think. But I still suggest getting a good video card.
Oh btw if you ever get the phenom and you encounter it running hotter than 62 degrees its probably overvolted which is what I experienced. Fix this asap.
Really, an i3 should be enough to handle sc2. I'm running a core 2 e6750 + 5870 on ultra at 1680x1050 and its smooth even in 4v4. Generally speaking, it makes more sense to get a nice video card and a mediocre cpu for straight up gaming right now. For 800 though you could definitely squeeze in an i5 with a pretty decent video card if you shop well, never hurts to have more cpu power. Also, get the 6850 over the gtx460 1gb, the 6850 >>> the gtx460 in sc2 at a lower price.
mmx What is your budget? I've got a few free moments today, tell me what you're willing to spend on the tower and I'll put you together a list of parts within your budget.
On November 03 2010 22:51 vek wrote: Yeah I just got an i5-760 overclocked to 4ghz using the stock cooler... This CPU is seriously an overclocking powerhouse.
Is it stable?
What kind of temps are you getting? I'm surprised your house hasn't burned down.
On November 03 2010 22:51 vek wrote: Yeah I just got an i5-760 overclocked to 4ghz using the stock cooler... This CPU is seriously an overclocking powerhouse.
Is it stable?
What kind of temps are you getting? I'm surprised your house hasn't burned down.
6 Days uptime atm, only restarted because of Windows Update.
I just bought the i7 950, I currently am playing SC2 in all Ultra, while streaming the Stars NHL game, and broadcasting. All without any hiccups. 300$ for the best quad core available, is just ridiculous. I love my i7 =]
Can't give you a direct comparison, but I am currently using (iMac):
3.2GHz Intel Core i3 ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512MB
I get about 25-30 fps playing on windows 7 (dual boot) with ultra textures, and high everything else at 1920x1080. (Comes to about 8-10fps with the same settings on the OSX side)
I can get it up to about 40-45 fps if I go go high textures, and med / high everything else.
If you just want a comp that plays SC2 decently buy a AMD one. They are much cheaper and runs SC2 at ultra. I have the Athlon II X3 3.1 GHz. Radeon 5770.
Just buy something that is a little better and you can run anything SC2 can throw at you. I dont see the need to buy the expensive Intel systems. They might give good performance but you do not need that much to play SC2.
On November 05 2010 05:33 Neivler wrote: If you just want a comp that plays SC2 decently buy a AMD one. They are much cheaper and runs SC2 at ultra. I have the Athlon II X3 3.1 GHz. Radeon 5770.
Just buy something that is a little better and you can run anything SC2 can throw at you. I dont see the need to buy the expensive Intel systems. They might give good performance but you do not need that much to play SC2.
AMD makes such nice processors, I like the Phenom X6 a lot or the Quadcores for people who dont care about OCing, but if you are interested in making OC (free performance yipiii \o/), then Intel is your choice.
Just look at the i5 750 OC power, or even the i5 760, they OC like hell and are cheap.
On November 05 2010 11:49 nalgene wrote: If you're upgrading from a core2 to i7, you'd get like 1.1x1.3 to 1.1x1.4x or like 1.43 - 1.54x faster than what you have now...
values here assume they all have the same number of cores/cache sizes/frequency/clock
Sandybridge( should release relatively soon ) is ~20-30% faster than Nehalem ( i7 ) on average + 100% if SC2 uses advanced vectors
Nehalem( i7 ) is 30-40% faster than Penryn on average
Penryn(Core2 revision+SSE4 up to 75% faster than Core2 in certain apps ) is 10% faster than Core2
>_>
Where are you pumping these numbers from?
Sandybridge isn't going to be 30-40% faster then Nahelem/Bloomfield....Sandybridge is only a refinement of nahelem/bloomfield with certain improvements like a new generation intel turbo boost, higher bandwidth on the cache and a on-die video solution BUT will go back to dual channel architecture (also new socket 1155 and chipset X68)
Sandybridge is only a opening for Ivy Bridge which is Intel's next enthusiast high-end milestone.
Honestly OP an i5 will do you fine for SC2, but it also depends on other things you do on your PC. i7 (1366) architecture is different compared to i5 (1156), 1366 includes triple channel architecture, HT, on-die memory controller (QPI), 2 PCI-E 16x lanes which will help performance with multi-GPU setups etc.
Highly recommend you overclock also. Get a decent HSF like the megahalem w/ 2 decent cfm fans and MX-3 then clock your i5 760 or i7 930 to 4GHz (which is very easy). You'll be a happy man.
My 2 cents, if you got the money, get a i7 system, you won't regret it....will only cost you around $1300-1400~ with a GTX470.
Also half of the stuff mentioned in this thread makes me laugh.
On November 05 2010 05:33 Neivler wrote: If you just want a comp that plays SC2 decently buy a AMD one. They are much cheaper and runs SC2 at ultra. I have the Athlon II X3 3.1 GHz. Radeon 5770.
Just buy something that is a little better and you can run anything SC2 can throw at you. I dont see the need to buy the expensive Intel systems. They might give good performance but you do not need that much to play SC2.
AMD makes such nice processors, I like the Phenom X6 a lot or the Quadcores for people who dont care about OCing, but if you are interested in making OC (free performance yipiii \o/), then Intel is your choice.
Just look at the i5 750 OC power, or even the i5 760, they OC like hell and are cheap.
But the thing is that you do not need that much power to play SC2. A decent/cheap processor is more than enough to play SC2 at ultra. And the Intel ones are a bit more expensive than you really need to pay to play SC2.
uh... it says 20-30%...duno where you got +10% from...
SB is a new architecture...ivybridge=die shrink.. Nehalem is an architecture...westmere=die shrink... Core2 is an architecture... penryn=die shrink
you should sand down/lap the cpu to a flat surface ( use razor test ) lap the cooler too, especially the tr-120-ex's get some san ace fans ( high static pressure ) put a dot of x23-7783 paste on the center
disable the power saving features in bios ( won't downclock at times )
Sandybridge is only a refinement of nahelem/bloomfield with certain improvements like a new generation intel turbo boost, higher bandwidth on the cache and a on-die video solution BUT will go back to dual channel architecture (also new socket 1155 and chipset X68)
Not according to David Kanter, who I put on par with Jon Stokes from Ars Technica and above Anand in terms of understanding CPU microarchitecture. Sure this is all from IDF, but it's still worth reading.
There's been a *ton* of work put on Sandy Bridge. In Intel's little tick-tock world, this represents a new architecture at the same process (32nm), not a refinement of Nehalem.
I'm of the opinion that Sandy Bridge is going to be *fast*.
But in the real world where I have bills to pay and a kid to feed, I play on a pretty "low end" system. Athlon II X2 250 (which I've OC'd to 3.6GHz) with 4GB of memory and a Radeon 4850 1GB on Win7 Pro (which I got super-cheap through work). It's quite sufficient to choose "ultra" textures and the "high" preset for detail and 1920x1080. It lags a tiny bit in SUPER DUPER 4v4 action but otherwise it's incredibly solid. And you can build a similar machine for peanuts (Get a Radeon 5770 rather than a 4850, which is old at this point).
Alot of what's been written here is flat-out wrong. Lots of H55 motherboards have been certified for SLI and nearly all of those with 2x PEG slots (the physical 16x ones) will run Crossfire no problem. I submit, however, that unless you have a 3 megapixel display (2560x1440, for example) Crossfire and SLI are a waste of money. Get a GTX460 or Radeon 6850 and enjoy.
On November 05 2010 11:49 nalgene wrote: If you're upgrading from a core2 to i7, you'd get like 1.1x1.3 to 1.1x1.4x or like 1.43 - 1.54x faster than what you have now...
values here assume they all have the same number of cores/cache sizes/frequency/clock
Sandybridge( should release relatively soon ) is ~20-30% faster than Nehalem ( i7 ) on average + 100% if SC2 uses advanced vectors
Nehalem( i7 ) is 30-40% faster than Penryn on average
Penryn(Core2 revision+SSE4 up to 75% faster than Core2 in certain apps ) is 10% faster than Core2
>_>
Where are you pumping these numbers from?
Sandybridge isn't going to be 30-40% faster then Nahelem/Bloomfield....Sandybridge is only a refinement of nahelem/bloomfield with certain improvements like a new generation intel turbo boost, higher bandwidth on the cache and a on-die video solution BUT will go back to dual channel architecture (also new socket 1155 and chipset X68)
Sandybridge is only a opening for Ivy Bridge which is Intel's next enthusiast high-end milestone.
Honestly OP an i5 will do you fine for SC2, but it also depends on other things you do on your PC. i7 (1366) architecture is different compared to i5 (1156), 1366 includes triple channel architecture, HT, on-die memory controller (QPI), 2 PCI-E 16x lanes which will help performance with multi-GPU setups etc.
Highly recommend you overclock also. Get a decent HSF like the megahalem w/ 2 decent cfm fans and MX-3 then clock your i5 760 or i7 930 to 4GHz (which is very easy). You'll be a happy man.
My 2 cents, if you got the money, get a i7 system, you won't regret it....will only cost you around $1300-1400~ with a GTX470.
Also half of the stuff mentioned in this thread makes me laugh.
Your comments make me laugh since Westmere is the refinement of Nehalem.
Sandybridge is new architecture on 32nm. Ivybridge will be the refinement of it on 22nm.
Socket 1155 is meant to replace 1156. P67 and H67 take the place of the P55 chipset.
Socket 1366 is being replaced by socket 2011. X68 will take the place of X58 chipset. It is rumored to have quad channel memory and double QPI.
On November 05 2010 22:49 doktorFunken wrote: Alot of what's been written here is flat-out wrong. Lots of H55 motherboards have been certified for SLI and nearly all of those with 2x PEG slots (the physical 16x ones) will run Crossfire no problem. I submit, however, that unless you have a 3 megapixel display (2560x1440, for example) Crossfire and SLI are a waste of money. Get a GTX460 or Radeon 6850 and enjoy.
He was talking about bandwidth. P55 and H55 do not have full x16 bandwidth when running SLI. They'll run at x8 x8 whereas the X58 chipset will run at x16 x16. But other than that, the majority of his post is indeed false.
Note: Not talking about SC2 here, but in case you might want to play some other games, you might take it under consideration...
Seriously, no. I played Mirror's Edge on an 8800gts, yeah the cloth moving around is kinda cool but it doesn't really do much, especially when its one of like 2 games that uses physx in a way that makes things look better. PhysX and CUDA are things that very few people need and Nvidia likes to market as OMG NEED CUS OTHER COMPANY DOESNT HAVE, just like Eyefinity. Don't base your purchase on such insignificant things unless you REALLY need them.
Edit: Also, who cares about x8/x8 vs x16 x16. The performance increase you get is ridiculously small, like 5% in best case scenario. I guess people who SLI/Xfire care, but those people either have a lot of money or have a high money::brains ratio. Why are you guys even talking about this, the OP is obviously not going to do anything with dual cards when he's more focused on an i3. People suggesting i7 are pretty ridiculous.
I currently own an i3 with 8 gb ram and a 460gtx. I play on ultra settings @ 1920x1080. It's all good 90% of the time. However on 4v4 maps in mid to late game i experience some lag and low frames. So my question is, will upgrading the cpu to an i7 purge the problem?
On April 16 2011 22:43 Falkirk wrote: I currently own an i3 with 8 gb ram and a 460gtx. I play on ultra settings @ 1920x1080. It's all good 90% of the time. However on 4v4 maps in mid to late game i experience some lag and low frames. So my question is, will upgrading the cpu to an i7 purge the problem?
Sure, but upgrading to an i5 will work just fine, too. i7 is pretty much useless unless you're doing heavy video editing/encoding or photo editing. It might also be your graphics card, since I'm not sure how well the 460 can handle 4v4 maxed battles at max resolution XD Actually, not many things can.
Yeah that is what i was thinking... Graphics card or cpu... But the cpu doesn't cost all that much, so an i7 or i5 hardly matters cost wise. I bought my computer for close to nothing and then upgraded the graphics card. So I was hoping that a new cpu would do it as the high end graphics cards do cost a fair bit. Don want to spend so much money that the wife notices it hehe.
There's a $90 difference between i5-2500k and i7-2600k, and the only noticeable feature that comes with the i7 is hyperthreading o.0
If you bought a computer with those specs for next to nothing...I want your job :D
BTW, upgrading to an i7 would cost you a full $300, and even more if you don't have a P67 motherboard and you want to overclock. Upgrading GPU to Radeon 6950 would cost you ~$240
You most likely need a processor upgrade if you want to be doing constant 4v4s, though. i5-2400 is recommended for non-overclockers, and i5-2500k is considered the sweet-spot for overclocking without spending a ridiculous amount of money.
Well, I guess telling you what is better or not isn't the right way in this discussion. Starcraft eats a lot ressources, at least in the Menu, when I tab out there, my whole PC lags, ingame I can tab out, switch music and stuff without any laggs.
Anyway. If you dont want to spend too much money I'd take an AMD CPU, well, Intel's i7 2nd Generation is awesome, but you'd also need a new board and the CPU itself. Calculate with 400€ - 500€ with those two components. Your memory is more interesting, of course, it depends which motherboard and CPU you've got but 4GB with a 1333 MHz clock is great. Now we come to the maybe most interesting component for games; the graphiccard. Well, I don't like nVidias prizes, they are totally overrated, I took an ATI card back in 2007. So you may take one aswell, there are a lot graphiccards out there and when you've got no knowledge (as I hadn't) you will be frustrated. So if you decide for a graphiccard, which producer doesnt matter, look out for 256bit memory interface. If you see 128bit, don't buy it, 128 bit is too less for gaming. If you see 374bit, it's your turn, I wouldn't buy it since it is more for making animations and stuff, you don't need it for gaming.
I'll tell you my components, maybe u copy me, I guess not but w/e. Motherboard: ASUS M488TV-Evo/USB3 ~90€ CPU: AMD Athlon x4 640, 3GHz (overclocked to 3,345GHz) 2MB L2 cache ~80€ RAM: 4x Kingston 1333MHz, 8GB together 100€ Graphic: ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 4850, 512MB RAM, 256bit, coreclock: 500MHz (OC to 690), memclock: 750MHz (OC to 1088). 130€
I play Starcraft 2 with full resolution on High settings (since I tab out often, it laggs less).
Btw. what is the difference of an Athlon to a Phenom? I only see the Cache-difference, I can overclock my Athlon to Phenom-speed..
Well you can restrict the max framerate achieved while in the menu. I have set mine to 30 so my comp doesn't use a nutty amount of power when only looking at a menu. I forgot where the setting was, bit i did edit a file to do it. The whole idea was to only change one thing spending $3-400 and have SC2 run loke it should I dont want to start changing mb and other stuff... Dont have all to much time betwen work, family and of course playing SC2. It should be possible to get an i7 on the same socket as the i3 i have now. I havent checked this extensively yet as the time would be a waste if that wasn't the solution to my problem.
The problem with the motherboard is that unless you have a P67 motherboard, you'll have to stick with i5-2400/i5-2500 or i7-2600 without the K. Generally, i7s are pretty obsolete without overclocking, since that's the entire point You have an i3, so I'm assuming you don't have a P67 motherboard (although you might).
The performance difference between the i5 and the i7 is a couple frames per second, especially considering that most games (including SC2) don't support hyperthreading. The extra cache isn't worth the price premium for most people that aren't doing serious work.
Ah. If you have an H57, you can't use 2nd generation Sandy Bridge core i processors, unfortunately. At the moment, there isn't much of a point in upgrading to a non-Sandy Bridge, since you'll get much more mileage out of the Sandy Bridge.
If you want, you can get an H67 motherboard with an i5-2400, which should cost you around $300. It's pretty good combo. You can also just go with an i3-2100 dual core, but I'm not sure how much that would improve your performance (although Sandy Bridge is pretty awesome compared to older CPUs. Meh).
Well the "best" i5 i can find is the i5-760 which is actually a slower clock speed than ny i3-530 but larger cache hmm! Really dont want new mb, Then I have to re install everything bah!
The core i5 760 has turbo boost while your core i3 530 does not so it is actually faster than your core i3 530 in every situation... The difference between the two when it comes to FPS is a maximum of 10 at best. Upgrading from a First Generation Intel Core processor to a Second Generation Intel Core processor is more of a side-grade than an upgrade.
And upgrading an i3-530 to a i5-760 is really not worth it unless you're going to be using the extra cores (which you're not in SC2).
If you want to increase FPS in CPU-limited situations, like in 4v4 games mid-late, the most sensible upgrade would be to grab an aftermarket CPU heatsink/fan and overclock the i3-530. Hopefully your cheap computer didn't come with some limited OEM motherboard?
Are the quad cores listed as supported CPUs or valid upgrades on that motherboard? I'm not sure which motherboards couldn't actually take the 95W TDP CPUs, but it's better to check.
Often times, overclocking features are not present because the hardware simply isn't up to the task. But if you have a dual core, you could probably overclock it a decent amount and remain around a i7-860's power consumption, which should be mostly safe if the motherboard was designed to take a stock i7-860.
That said, good luck finding voltage and frequency tweaking options. Maybe you should look at software options as well.
I think this is really the key question: What are the OCing capabilities of Falkirk's current H57 mobo?
I think dismissing a move from an i3 Clarkdale to an i5 Lynnfield, as a "side-grade" is not the most accurate statement, but it has some truth if Falkirk cannot OC the Lynnfield and leaves it at stock.
TBH, I've always considered Clarkdale as more of a glorified Wolfdale w/ HT, when it comes to gaming performance. And the Wolfdale is not a bad CPU, but its prime was 2008 - and 3 years is a long time. It's just not really something I'd be lumping in with the Nehalems (Bloomfield/Lynnfield). + Show Spoiler [Clarkdales vs. Lynnfield] +
You should note that Techspot is one of the few places that used a 4v4 replay for their SC2 benches, so that graph should be of specific interest for the current topic at hand.
I've read through the techspot test and am now sure it's the cpu that's causing the bottleneck. I did however try to replay a game from last night, The game was a 4v4 and had plenty of action all over. At no time did the cpu load go above 60% and it didn't lag at all as it did while it was being played. I think testing on replays might not be accurate.
Good news is I've found a tool to edit the settings of my BIOS file (backup) so hopefully I'll be able to crank the speed up a bit once I get it flashed.