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Best performance at 225$?

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I havent upgraded in a long time.
I am going from a Conroe socket 775 at 2.0 and a GeForce 7600.

I really do not need a full PC. I just want to play Starcraft 2 at higher settings with no lag.
Please tell me this is all I need? What resolution could i comfortably play at?
I am married and only get to play on game LOL.

I recently purchased a New power supply so I am pretty sure I have the juice to run it.
 
endlessmike133 said:
Is overclocking ABSOLUTELY necessary to get the best performance out of these cards? I'm kinda worried that OCing might kill my CPU or mobo.
Click to expand...

Overclocking is never necessary. If you overclock, you are simply trading a slightly higher risk of failure for slightly higher performance. If you are worried about overclocking killing something, then don't overclock.

That being said, running an overclock on a modern graphics card has become very easy to do and carries very low risk so long as you don't touch voltages, IMO.
 
beyoku said:
I havent upgraded in a long time.
I am going from a Conroe socket 775 at 2.0 and a GeForce 7600.

I really do not need a full PC. I just want to play Starcraft 2 at higher settings with no lag.
Please tell me this is all I need? What resolution could i comfortably play at?
I am married and only get to play on game LOL.

I recently purchased a New power supply so I am pretty sure I have the juice to run it.
Click to expand...

You need to upgrade your processor and video card. But your video card is definitely the weakest link. Also SC2 only uses dual cores, so if your motherboard supports 45nm Core 2 Duos then you could probably upgrade the processor on the cheap.

You probably have what, a Pentium E2180 or Core 2 E4400? You could also try overclocking, but these processors still lack the amount of cache that a real Core 2 Duo has.
 
Skurge said:
If the 5870 sale runs out.
Get one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121418

One of the best 6870s on the market.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...graphics-card-review-power-temp-noise-oc.html

Overclocks well too.
Click to expand...

That looks like a good option. Just the fact that it does so much better than the HD 5000 series in tessellation work (and uses less power) would sway me over an HD 5870. Having the nice ASUS third party cooling is just icing on the cake. If the O.P. can take waiting for a rebate that is.
 
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cusideabelincoln said:
You need to upgrade your processor and video card. But your video card is definitely the weakest link. Also SC2 only uses dual cores, so if your motherboard supports 45nm Core 2 Duos then you could probably upgrade the processor on the cheap.

You probably have what, a Pentium E2180 or Core 2 E4400? You could also try overclocking, but these processors still lack the amount of cache that a real Core 2 Duo has.
Click to expand...

Its a Core 2 duo E6400 2.13ghz. with 3 gigs of ram in a prebuilt HP pavilion.
I dont think i can mess with the Bois to overclock on this one. I wouldnt know how anyway, last thing i over-clocked were pin modded Athlon XP 1700 chips so its been a while. Still think this warrants an CPU upgrade? I got the 5870 deal and I am hoping it will actually fit in the tower. Overall I a satisfied with the speed of general computing just looking to run SC2 better.
 
beyoku said:
Its a Core 2 duo E6400 2.13ghz. with 3 gigs of ram in a prebuilt HP pavilion.
I dont think i can mess with the Bois to overclock on this one. I wouldnt know how anyway, last thing i over-clocked were pin modded Athlon XP 1700 chips so its been a while. Still think this warrants an CPU upgrade? I got the 5870 deal and I am hoping it will actually fit in the tower. Overall I a satisfied with the speed of general computing just looking to run SC2 better.
Click to expand...
with that cpu, you will never even get 50% of what a 5870 can do in many games. btw what res are you playing at?
 
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beyoku said:
Its a Core 2 duo E6400 2.13ghz. with 3 gigs of ram in a prebuilt HP pavilion.
I dont think i can mess with the Bois to overclock on this one. I wouldnt know how anyway, last thing i over-clocked were pin modded Athlon XP 1700 chips so its been a while. Still think this warrants an CPU upgrade? I got the 5870 deal and I am hoping it will actually fit in the tower. Overall I a satisfied with the speed of general computing just looking to run SC2 better.
Click to expand...

toyota said:
with that cpu, you will never even get 50% of what a 5870 can do in many games. btw what res are you playing at?
Click to expand...

I agree - your SC2 performance is likely being held back by the CPU. I also highly doubt that a 5870 will fit in your HP. The 5870 is almost 11 inches long, and is a tough fit in many custom mid-tower cases. Finally, I'd be concerned about your PSU. You probably have a 300w power supply in an HP of that vintage. You can't run the 5870 on a 300w power supply.
 
with that c2d hp system, i would put in like a hd4770, hd5570, or hd5750; or if you prefer nvidia cards, a 9800gt or gts250 and call it a day.
 
Termie said:
I agree - your SC2 performance is likely being held back by the CPU. I also highly doubt that a 5870 will fit in your HP. The 5870 is almost 11 inches long, and is a tough fit in many custom mid-tower cases. Finally, I'd be concerned about your PSU. You probably have a 300w power supply in an HP of that vintage. You can't run the 5870 on a 300w power supply.
Click to expand...

I had to replace the Power Supply, and i got a 650 or 700W I believe.
I am pretty sure the res is 1152x864 when playing. It could be 1280x720 but not higher than that. I had no idea that SC2 was that intensive, I guess I am missing out on running it in High detail.

I hope this card fits, I have already pulled the trigger and bought it. Thanks for all the help.
 
Why would someone recommend a 460 over a similarly priced 6870/5870? Last I saw both cards has no problems beating the 460? Unless I am overlooking something?

I could easily see getting a 460 768mb over a 5750/5770.
 
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Wow, if not enough people have emphasized the answer, it is...

HD5870!!!!! For $200 it is better than everything else suggested in this thread.... for $200!!!!
 
5870 crushes everything at $200. Really excellent oc'er I must say, but it won't have enough heat to make you waffles like the 470...
 
beyoku said:
Its a Core 2 duo E6400 2.13ghz. with 3 gigs of ram in a prebuilt HP pavilion.
I dont think i can mess with the Bois to overclock on this one. I wouldnt know how anyway, last thing i over-clocked were pin modded Athlon XP 1700 chips so its been a while. Still think this warrants an CPU upgrade? I got the 5870 deal and I am hoping it will actually fit in the tower. Overall I a satisfied with the speed of general computing just looking to run SC2 better.
Click to expand...

If you are not planning to upgrade your CPU and power supply, why not just pick up an ATI HD 5670? It is a lower power part (no 6-pin connection needed) that will run circles around your current nVidia 7600. For comparison the 5670 performs between an nVidia 9600GT and 9800GT, all with power consumption that won't blow your PSU or your bank account.

For reference, I am running it's little brother (the HD 4670) on a crappy 250W PSU in a COMPAQ pre-built for nearly two years with no problems.
 
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