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Osaka27140 Posts
Hi all-
I know there are many topics on this, but most of the advice was written by IzzayCraft and thus unreadable.
I will be putting together my SC2 computer today, and this is the build I have set up (thanks mahnini and maleorderbride for helping!)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 BOX 2.83GHz
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EG45M-UD2H
GFX card: AMD(ATI) RADEON RH4870-E512HW2
RAM: 1x4GB Pulsar RAM DDR2 800
HDD: HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.B HDT721010SLA360 (1TB SATA300 7200)
Power: 620W ”BULL-MAX KT-620RS”
plus the case, cooler, monitor, etc
While I appreciate everyone has brand loyalty, I'm not so worried about that. I just want to check and make sure all these parts fit together. My goal is to be able to play SC2, as well as be able to stream for various TL events.
I know the gfx card seems to be most often the point of contention. This one runs me about 180 usd. Anything comparable I should look into?
So what do you think, will it fly?
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This will most likely run SC2 with ease. It is a very powerful computer.
But there's meant to be a new generation of ATI video cards and Intel cpus coming out before
Windows 7 (which means DX11). AKA in the next few months the price of all this will likely drop dramatically. You might regret buying now if your only reason for the PC is SC2, when all this new tech is coming out in a couple of months.
But again, it will run it with ease. I expect almost any computer bought today will run SC2 at very playable framerates.
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Osaka27140 Posts
I will be playing the beta though, so I think I will need it sooner than in a couple months ><. Thanks for the advice though. It seems like there is always a new series on the horizon...
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I'm sure you could get away with max/high settings on even a Geforce 8800/9600, which would be less expensive. 2gb of ram is still plenty, if you want to save a bit more there. Which operating system are you going with?
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Osaka27140 Posts
I will end up on windows 7 probably, but xp atm. I know a 32bit OS bottlenecks me for the time being, but that will be one of my first uprades.
ps your quote is great.
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If you're looking for a cheaper gfx card then a GeForce GTX 260 packs about the same amount of power. It all depends on how much onboard memory you get though.
EDIT: Also yeah its powerful but you also want to go with a 64bit OS to take advantage of the extra memory.
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Most rts only need about 30 fps to be considered playable.
Only question is that, is the ram 1 stick of 4 gigs or 4 sticks of 1 gig. Most computer ppl stay away from running 4 sticks on non amd or i7 platforms as there are stability issues involved with adding more and more sticks.
I'd speculate that rig can run sc2 max settings x4 aa and x4 af at 1680x1050 and less.
Edit: for the guy above.
1st i7 is a dead platform... Intel is dropping it for everyone except ppl who would pay 700+ USD for newer cpu's as the i5 platform (which is not compatible with i7 cpu, the pins are different) performs about the same and cost less.
2nd He lives in japan the prices are different although 180 USD for a 512mb 4870 seems high by US standards it may be right.
3rd Along with that DDR2 1066 ram is just DDR2 800 ram that is certified to reach an OC at a certain voltage, they are for the most part rip offs you can buy slower better quality ram and oc it usually you should pay attention to voltage when you buy ram at v1.8 is native for DDR2 anything higher means it's just oced cheaper ram.
4th only way we can judge on what pricing is considered fair for him would be to see what website he buys it from, if he's buying from a website at all.
The CPU is extremely powerful for everything including gaming 12mb cache. GPU is very high class although 512mb seems like a waste as usually 1gig editions are usually only 20 more USD dollars and offers better performance when you turn up the eye candy and bump up resolutions.
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I should also add that AMD processors right now offer far better $$/performance, at least in Australia. If you are looking at a more budget system, I would recommend AMD. Here the Phenom II 940 BE is a good $110 AUD cheaper ($289 vs $399 for the Q9550), for basically the same performance in games. And it overclocks easily.
Maybe the switch to AMD could save you enough money to get a better video card, seeing as Blizzard stated that video cards would provide the best scaling in SC2.
The Q9550 is nice no doubt, but it is expensive for what it does. It does a lot better in other applications compared to the 940BE, but in games the differences are minimal.
edit: What size monitor/resolution will you be playing at too? At anything at 1680x1050 or lower, the 4870 is plenty. Anything higher and you MIGHT want to get something better. But this is all guess work really, nobody knows what kind of specs SC2 needs to play smoothly.
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i've never heard of intel mobos in general having problems with 4x1gb of ram. i know there are specific mobos that had the problem with vista but were fixed with a bios flash. the only issue here is upgradability i think. if you're going to need more than 4gb of ram in the near future 2x2gb would be a better choice. otherwise i think 4x1gb is totally fine.
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go with 2x2, those aren't expensive anymore, and you can probably find a deal if you're patient.
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i think the q9550 is overall the better processor (if only slightly). the 940 probably performs better in games but i have a hard time seeing sc2 maxing out either cpus. if the 940 is cheaper it's not a bad choice.
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Osaka27140 Posts
I am shopping from kakaku.com and dospara.co.jp for pricing, but I will probably go into the city to purchase. The prices here are definitely higher than the US, newegg would have saved me 10% on everything I think.
As for the CPU, the Quad 9550 goes for 22,000 yen.
To compare, the Phantom II X3 720 is 13,480, and the Phantom II x4 945 is 21,000.
Some others are the Phenom II x4 905e for 20,000 and the 705e for 12,600
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About the ram, why is 2x2gb better than 1x4gb? Is that only a price thing? Ram is a bit more expensive here, but that 1x4gb is 4,700 yen (like 47 dollars). It is the same price as the 2x2 generally. Wouldn't having 1x4 allow me to just get another 4gb stick later with the 64bit OS?
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I would definately reccomend you go for an i7, or comparable 45nm build (like the qx9650)
Also, go for 2x2gp ddr3 1600, as the performance is quite a bit better and will be top off the line for the next couple years.
I have nothing to say about the 4870, its an awesome card.
you might want to go for a 10,000 rpm drive and then just get a cheap external drive, because 1tb is only i think 120 USD, and a 300gb 10,000rpm drive is also about 100 USD.
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On July 04 2009 11:40 Manifesto7 wrote:
I am shopping from kakaku.com and dospara.co.jp for pricing, but I will probably go into the city to purchase.
As for the CPU, the Quad 9550 goes for 22,000 yen.
To compare, the Phantom II X3 720 is 13,480, and the Phantom II x4 945 is 21,000.
Some others are the Phenom II x4 905e for 20,000 and the 705e for 12,600
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About the ram, why is 2x2gb better than 1x4gb? Is that only a price thing? Ram is a bit more expensive here, but that 1x4gb is 4,700 yen (like 47 dollars). It is the same price as the 2x2 generally. Wouldn't having 1x4 allow me to just get another 4gb stick later with the 64bit OS?
I think people think you are getting 4 sticks of 1gb ram not 1 stick of 4gb ram. 1 stick of 4gb should be perfectly fine and allow you to upgrade at a future date if you want to.
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Osaka27140 Posts
On July 04 2009 11:44 ghermination wrote:
I would definately reccomend you go for an i7, or comparable 45nm build (like the qx9650)
Also, go for 2x2gp ddr3 1033, as the performance is quite a bit better and will be top off the line for the next couple years.
I have nothing to say about the 4870, its an awesome card.
you might want to go for a 10,000 rpm drive and then just get a cheap external drive, because 1tb is only i think 120 USD, and a 300gb 10,000rpm drive is also about 100 USD.
The 10,000 rpm drives here are waaaay more expensive. 180 usd for a 150 GB... Not sure that is work it.
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A single 4 gig stick of DDR2 800 for only $47 is a great price haha it's also preferred . 1 stick of ram is the most stable, most preferred for over clocking and expandability. As Dual channel is over rated for the most part anyways.
Q9550 vs Phe 945
If you are really going for money saving dropping down to a Phenom 940 should not hurt you in terms of gaming performance as those 2 processors perform very similar in games but usually Q9550 is considered a slightly better processor overall.
I may look at those websites and try my hand at understanding Japanese but it's not really needed unless you are looking for penny pinching.
But it's not a bad trade to skip here and there to get a 1gig 4870 or a GTX260 which should solidify you ability to get the most out of sc2
Show nested quote +On July 04 2009 11:50 Manifesto7 wrote:On July 04 2009 11:44 ghermination wrote:
I would definately reccomend you go for an i7, or comparable 45nm build (like the qx9650)
Also, go for 2x2gp ddr3 1033, as the performance is quite a bit better and will be top off the line for the next couple years.
I have nothing to say about the 4870, its an awesome card.
you might want to go for a 10,000 rpm drive and then just get a cheap external drive, because 1tb is only i think 120 USD, and a 300gb 10,000rpm drive is also about 100 USD. The 10,000 rpm drives here are waaaay more expensive. 180 usd for a 150 GB... Not sure that is work it. Faster HDD's only make load times faster i'm sure Mani has some patience. Hitachi deskstar isn't considered the most reliable brand or the fastest but they are generally one of the cheapest. The fastest HDD's are usually around the newest 640 or 320 gig Seagate or Western Digital, seagate being the faster but WD being the more reliable.
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On July 04 2009 11:50 Manifesto7 wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2009 11:44 ghermination wrote:
I would definately reccomend you go for an i7, or comparable 45nm build (like the qx9650)
Also, go for 2x2gp ddr3 1033, as the performance is quite a bit better and will be top off the line for the next couple years.
I have nothing to say about the 4870, its an awesome card.
you might want to go for a 10,000 rpm drive and then just get a cheap external drive, because 1tb is only i think 120 USD, and a 300gb 10,000rpm drive is also about 100 USD. The 10,000 rpm drives here are waaaay more expensive. 180 usd for a 150 GB... Not sure that is work it.
Yup, they are not worth it at all, stick to 7200rpm drives.
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Osaka27140 Posts
I can get a GTX 260 Extreme+ 896 MB for $30+, but getting to 1GB is another hundred dollars.
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Yeah I don't think fast hard drives are worth it. What's the point of loading a few seconds faster than your opponent, when you have to wait for them anyway? They are snappier in loading apps and all that, but if you look at purely SC2 performance, they're not really worth the money.
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EPT
