Starcraft 2 Rig

[R00k]

Say I want to build a rig that will play SC2 well -- with all the bells and whistles -- while spending the least amount of money possible...

How much cash would I be looking at dropping?

I haven't built a machine in years (haven't felt a need to), but here are the system requirements according to Blizzard:

PC Minimum System Requirements*:

* Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Updated with the latest Service Packs) with DirectX® 9.0c
* 2.6 GHz Pentium® IV or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
* 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA® GeForce® 6600 GT or ATI Radeon® 9800 PRO video card or better
* 12 GB available HD space
* 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 users)
* DVD-ROM drive
* Broadband Internet connection
* 1024X720 minimum display resolution

PC Recommended Specifications:

* Windows Vista®/Windows® 7
* Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
* 2 GB RAM
* 512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon® HD 3870 or better

*Note: Due to potential programming changes, the Minimum System Requirements for this game may change over time.


edit: I'm soliciting advice because I've been out of the market for so long I don't really know where to start. I don't know what the latest sockets and chipsets are, and don't know anything about compatibility or performance for any of them.

I'm not really sure if I'm going to build a rig yet or not -- really depends on how much it's going to cost.

I can't think of any better place to ask than right here in T&T.

Help a brotha out!

[obsidian]

Starcraft itself isn't super demanding. Are there any other games that you would like to play on it as well?

How much money do you have as of right now that you would like to contribute to this?

Can I assume that your current computer is too old that nothing in it is really salvageable (DVD/PSU)?

[R00k]

Yea, it's too old to support any newer components. PSU is only 450W I think.

DVD player is re-usable, and I already have a couple of 350GB SATA drives that I can use. Other than that, I'd be starting from scratch.

There aren't really any other games I'm that interested in playing on it. Since I got a 360, I don't play much on PC anymore (don't play many games at all anymore, TBH), but SC is one of my fave games of all time, and it looks like they did the original justice with SC2, so I'd really like to be able to play it.

I've got plenty of cash on hand, but I haven't decided how much I'm willing to spend yet. I wanted to get an idea of the price range I'd be looking at, because frankly I don't have a clue. Part of my being able to justify a new rig for SC2, is because it would allow me to turn my current PC into a Media Center PC for the living room.

I saw a post on the SC2 forums that said you could build a good rig for $600 on Newegg, but most of the combos they linked to are out of stock, and that guy sounds like too much of a fanboy for certain brands to be trusted.

[Psyche911]

I have almost the identical machine in the "recommended" list and it runs fine with high settings. It can get a slowdown in really heavy fights, but it's super rare.

If you want to run it on Ultra, it suggests a 1GB video card. You could probably get by with a 5770, but I played it on a GTX 460 and it ran perfectly with every setting maxed.

The game seems to be pretty easy on the CPU. I could be wrong if you max out the physics settings, but my 2.7GHz Core 2 Duo seems completely sufficient for this game (which I can't say about Bad Company 2).

If you're going to be playing at 1080p or less, and don't care about AA (which isn't supported by the game and has to be forced on in drivers), I think a 768MB GTX 460 would probably be the ideal card at $200, if you can swing that.

Oh, and make sure you have 4GB of RAM. With my settings, the game regularly uses over 1,400MB.

edit: Playing through the campaign, it's up to 1.85GB of RAM usage.

Nearing 2GB. I wonder if there's a leak? This is crazy. It's not a problem, I usually have 2GB free when playing most games, but this just seems off.

[SoM]

John, ur on crack..

luv

[bitWISE]

I run acceptable fps under ultra quality settings at 3240x1920.

Specs:
Core 2 Duo E8500
4GB DDR2 (mid-grade corsair)
XFX HD5850 Black Edition

[obsidian]

For this generation, I would probably stick with Intel over AMD. Their processor lineups start at the Core 2 Duo, i3, Core 2 Quad, i5 (these come in duo or quad core varieties), and i7 on the high end. It's always nice to have a faster processor, but for Starcraft, even the Core 2 Duo's will work fine.

4GB RAM is recommended.

Any $200 video card should run great. If you have a bigger budget for a better card, that's just gravy.

[Deathshroud]

I have a Sapphire 5770 1GB and it runs fine on Ultra.