Starcraft 2 upgrade from... Athlon 64 X2 5200+, HD3850, 2GB?
Last response: in CPUs
Hi guys, I've been pulling my hair out the past day looking for the best bang-for-buck upgrade to play SC2 on medium to high settings at 1920x1050 res. SC2 is the only PC game I'll be playing, and I don't do any multimedia editing, but I do watch a lot of HD content.
My setup is:
Windows 7
Athlon 64 x2 5200+ (Windsor)
MSI Radeon OC HD 3850 512MB PCi-E
2GB of DDR2 800 Mhz ram
Asus M2N-SLI mobo
In SC2, I get really bad stuttering and crappy FPS when there are a lot of units on the screen (especially in multiplayer), when using anything higher than Low texture settings. It's tolerable if I set Graphics detail to Medium and texture to Low, but it isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be.
I don't want to spend more than $300 if I can help it. Hopefully I can avoid upgrading my videocard. I've read that SC2 is very cpu-intensive, so I was thinking about either upgrading my motherboard, cpu, ram to an Athlon II X3 445, an AM3/DDR2-compatible mobo, and getting another pair of DDR2 800Mhz ram.
What do you guys think?
My setup is:
Windows 7
Athlon 64 x2 5200+ (Windsor)
MSI Radeon OC HD 3850 512MB PCi-E
2GB of DDR2 800 Mhz ram
Asus M2N-SLI mobo
In SC2, I get really bad stuttering and crappy FPS when there are a lot of units on the screen (especially in multiplayer), when using anything higher than Low texture settings. It's tolerable if I set Graphics detail to Medium and texture to Low, but it isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be.
I don't want to spend more than $300 if I can help it. Hopefully I can avoid upgrading my videocard. I've read that SC2 is very cpu-intensive, so I was thinking about either upgrading my motherboard, cpu, ram to an Athlon II X3 445, an AM3/DDR2-compatible mobo, and getting another pair of DDR2 800Mhz ram.
What do you guys think?
More about : starcraft upgrade athlon 5200 hd3850 2gb
borrow a 2GB ram from a friend to see if it help. if it does, then there is no need to spend 300 ![:p]( ":p")
also other things to test:
1.open task manager and play games for 5mins. then minimize the game and see if your processor is being tasked. if yes then you can go for CPU+mobo in the 200 dollar range....you could manage upto AM2+ mobo and a phenom x4 3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
u can use ur existing RAM
2. also you can lower the resolution and see if it helps, if it does upgrade your cpu. otherwise go for get a 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
since you are in 300dollar budget, you can get all three anyway for 330dollar
u can cut the 30 dollar if you get a cheaper MObo and a cheaper version of 4850![:)]( ":)")
also other things to test:
1.open task manager and play games for 5mins. then minimize the game and see if your processor is being tasked. if yes then you can go for CPU+mobo in the 200 dollar range....you could manage upto AM2+ mobo and a phenom x4 3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
u can use ur existing RAM
2. also you can lower the resolution and see if it helps, if it does upgrade your cpu. otherwise go for get a 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
since you are in 300dollar budget, you can get all three anyway for 330dollar
u can cut the 30 dollar if you get a cheaper MObo and a cheaper version of 4850
One option:
For about $102 (plus tax & shipping)
Kingston KVR800D2N5/1G DDR2-800 1GB CL5 $23.48 x2
AMD Athlon X2 6400+ 3.2Ghz OEM $55.59
And SAPPHIRE 100287L Radeon HD 5670 512MB $90 and $15 rebate
For about $102 (plus tax & shipping)
Kingston KVR800D2N5/1G DDR2-800 1GB CL5 $23.48 x2
AMD Athlon X2 6400+ 3.2Ghz OEM $55.59
And SAPPHIRE 100287L Radeon HD 5670 512MB $90 and $15 rebate
Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz $77
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H 785G MB $80
A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 $40
And the Sapphire 5670 above or the 4850 sarwar_r87 linked.
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H 785G MB $80
A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 $40
And the Sapphire 5670 above or the 4850 sarwar_r87 linked.
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