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Looking For a Desktop

H

Hotwir3

n00b
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
16
Hey guys. I have a friend who was a big fan of Starcraft but have been out of gaming since he stopped playing and now that Starcraft 2 is coming out, he is up for getting a desktop for the game, and probably some others. He and I both think that the right PC for him is one that can max out Starcraft 2 for the cheapest cost. He has been out of the loop for years, and I'm not confident enough in my own ability to suggest the hardware

What do you guys think?

Here is what he thinks:


CPU
AMD Athlon II X3 440

Video Card
Gigabyte Radeon HD 5770 1GB

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2

Memory
OCZ Platinum 4GB DDR2/1066

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB

Optical drive
Lite-On iHAS124 DVD burner

Case/ Power supply
Rosewill TU-155 II 500
 
I'd probably replace the Athlon with something with a bit more "pep." Perhaps a Core 2 Duo E7400/E8400 and a cheap P43 board. Gigabyte has a few P43 boards with great overclocking features and beefy VRMs for the CPU for under $100. And I wouldn't trust a Rosewill PSU to power my toaster. An Antec Earthwatts 450W or a Corsair TX450 should provide clean, stable power under load.

The rest looks fairy solid.
 
post is in wrong forum but aside form that your build is fine maybe go with a x4 the price is so close. I do not agree with the E7400 replacement above AMD is best bang for buck if your looken for a budget build which it appears you are.

I would suggest going with a AM3 785 board and grab ddr3 ram since its so close in price its stupid to buy a new system with ddr2 at this point imo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138182
board above

go with am3 bord and ddr3 ram its worth the extra 25 bucks or so it will cost you in the long run. and you will get full performance outa your am3 x3 or x4 that you buy.
 
If you decide to do an Intel build, I'd go with an E8400 @ the minimum.
 
He's not looking for a budget build, he's looking for the cheapest build that will max out the game, is an older AMD chip really going to do that, especially online in large battles? Never played it but if it's anything like modern RTS games it's going to be fairly CPU heavy.
 
I never understood these "I want a PC that can max out all these games but for really cheap" people. Either save up for a good PC or deal with an average one.
 
Azureth said:
I never understood these "I want a PC that can max out all these games but for really cheap" people. Either save up for a good PC or deal with an average one.
Click to expand...

So you're saying save up for a computer that is overly expensive given the games you want to play... or buy something insufficient? The OP is just asking if the computer he's listing is good enough to play SC2 sufficiently, and if not what will. What's wrong with wanting to be able to max a particular game without wasting money?
 
Azureth said:
I never understood these "I want a PC that can max out all these games but for really cheap" people. Either save up for a good PC or deal with an average one.
Click to expand...

NO!

He didn't say he wanted a really cheap PC, he want's to buy a PC that can max out SC2 for the least cost. These are not the same thing.
 
Azureth said:
Sorry, read it wrong. Just too used to seeing it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I understand, some people think there's a magic configuration that gets you fast speeds for cheap.

I guess one of the beta testers better chime in here, since there is no official recommended specs for the game yet. It will also help to know what resolution you'll be playing at and if you want to run high levels of AA/AF, such as 16xAF and 8xAA
 
PrincessFrosty said:
He's not looking for a budget build, he's looking for the cheapest build that will max out the game, is an older AMD chip really going to do that, especially online in large battles? Never played it but if it's anything like modern RTS games it's going to be fairly CPU heavy.
Click to expand...

According to tom's analysis of the beta:

A triple-core CPU at 2.8 GHz or more should be able to provide all the performance you'd want for StarCraft II.
Click to expand...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/blizzard-entertainment-starcraft-ii-benchmark,2611-9.html

I haven't really checked, but I'm pretty sure a C2D will cost more than an Athlon II setup. SC2 really isn't that demanding at all. You just need a fast dual core, moderate triple core, or mediocre quad core. Graphics isn't too demanding either. Anything with a 8800 GT or over will max it.

EDIT: To add to that... one of my roommates is running an Athlon II X2 with a 8800 GT and it maxed the beta no problem with no lag @ 1600x900.
 
Last edited:
This all comes down to what resolution you want to run the game at. Tell us that and then suggestions can be made. The only thing I can tell you for sure about the config at the top of the page is to definitely NEVER...EVER buy a Rosewill power supply. A 500W Corsair, Enermax,OCZ, or Thermaltake would be far better. I personally recommend Corsair.
 
This is the friend mentioned in the first post. I haven't played a desktop game since the first Star Craft. My goal is to play Starcraft 2 at max setting.

I am not really on a budget I just want the best desktop to play Starcraft and don't see the need to get anything better. I probably won't be doing any multitasking beyond running iTunes at the same time.

The recommended specs for Starcraft are at the link below.

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=26242

While browsing through Newegg I found this deal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.432236

A six core sounds pretty ridiculous but it might be worth while because I already know everything will work together.

Also, is DDR3 really better than DDR2? I was looking at the CORSAIR XMS3 4GB DDR3 but how do I know if a motherboard supports DDR3?

Thanks!
 
What resolution do you plan on playing at?(basically what monitor are you using) There is for instance significant hardware difference between 1280x1024 to 1920x1200 to 2560x1600 and etc especially in regards to graphics card requirements.

Although for a new computer build, I personally would recommend people to try to get a quad core or higher at this point, however if you are focusing only for SC2 the numbers don't seem to show that it scales significantly from 2 to 4 cores, per core performance would be more important.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,705392/Starcraft-2-Beta-CPU-benchmarks-x-Core-i5/i7-leading/Practice/

Granted they mention they ran without AIs, however.

If you are considering spending all the way to an Phenom X6 with DDR3, you might want to consider an Lga1156 Intel I5 build instead, at least here the price for such a build would be comparable.

For DDR3 vs. DDR2, again I can't speak for pricing in your region, but at least here in my opinion the difference is not great enough to warrant saving money going DDR2 ($10 difference?). At this point I'd only do a DDR2 build if you already had DDR2 memory around and were upgrading. It would limit your upgrade options down the line either for a straight memory upgrade or cpu/mobo upgrade.
 
limitedaccess said:
Although for a new computer build, I personally would recommend people to try to get a quad core or higher at this point, however if you are focusing only for SC2 the numbers don't seem to show that it scales significantly from 2 to 4 cores, per core performance would be more important.
Click to expand...

Hence my suggestion for an Intel build. I do acknowledge that the gap has narrowed considerably between AMD's current CPUs and Intel's last generation processors however.
 
1. rosewill psu is absolute piece of trash
2. until we know what resolution you are playing at, all advice is baseless
3. tell us what your budget is. I know you said you don't have one, but I know you do. I'm sure you aren't going to spend $6000 on the desktop, so tell us the point at which the money is an issue or at least say you are looking to spend between $x00-$x00.
 
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