Running SCII on My Comp- Extreme or Ult

[Getty]

Hi,
I've provided my computer's specs below. I am trying to figure out what I need to run SCII on the highest video setting possible for a reasonable budget. I'd like to buy a new graphics card off Newegg for under $100 but would exceed, within reason, if it made a big difference. I am thinking ATI because that is what is built into my motherboard and says it will go into hybrid mode if I get an ATI card. Thank you very much for your help, I really do appreciate it.

AMD Quad Core, 3.0 Ghz Processor
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX

Asus AMD Micro Motherboard
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Antec 650w Power Supply
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

nvidia Geforce 8600 GT

12 gigs of Ripjaw RAM

Windows 7 64 bit

[ShyguyXPC]

Hybrid mode is not worth it, its intended for switching to low power to save power costs, and for pairing with a low performance card for Crossfire for a boost, its utterly pointless for most desktop systems anyways, since many cards go into a reduced power state when not used or low 3D/2D is used.

for $100 Range or a tad more, I'd suggest a Radeon 6770. It'll easily be leaps and bounds better over the 8600GT.

Your PSU is more than enough to handle that card. And your CPU shouldn't be a bottleneck on the card either.

12GB of RAM is just absurd overkill for a Gaming PC. 8GB is overkill and 4GB is more than enough.



If you don't mind Refurbished cards, these would be good choices:

Newegg.com - Refurbished: PNY RVCGGTX550TXXB GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - Refurbished: PNY RVCGGTX4601XXB GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - Refurbished: EVGA 01G-P3-1280-RX-PB-R GeForce GTX 280 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Or an Open Box card: Newegg.com - Open Box: GIGABYTE GV-N26UD-896M REV2.0 GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Otherwise brand new cards:

Newegg.com - MSI N550GTX-Ti-M2D1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - DIAMOND 6770PE51GB Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100327VXL Radeon HD 6750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Listed from best to least in performance there.


This one would be a good deal (there's no real performance difference between the 5750/6750 or 5770/6770 cards): Newegg.com - MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

And would get my vote for card of choice for New in Box, though the Geforce GTX 550 Ti is slightly better, but the price difference isn't worth it.



Looking for a real good deal or bargain:

ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB DDR5 PCI Express (PCIe) DVI/VGA Video Card w/HDMI & HDCP Support PC Partner 288-1E160-XXXXXX Radeon HD5750

Its a step down from the 5770, but the price is worth it.

either the 5750 there, or the MSI 5770 Hawk would be my 2 choices for under budget or just over it.

[ShyguyXPC]

whether you will be able to play the game on Extreme or Ultra settings thats hard to say, since SCII is a RTS game and many times are limited by CPU power, due to AI, Physics, Scripting, and other CPU intensive tasks.

your AMD Quad should run it fine, but, AMD's CPU's aren't nearly as fast and powerful as Intel's. Just for example Intel's Lowly Core i3 2100 that is a Dual core running at 3.1GHz can easily match your CPU in overall performance.

but overall, looking at your systems specs, the 8600GT is currently the weak link in the setup.