SC2 with GTX 460

[Dice144]

When I order my video card I was running off IGP AMD 4200 series. At the time I was only playing Everquest and had one monitor hooked up. Now that I gave my second desktop to my parents I hooked up my "gaming" PC to my 24" acer running 1920x1080 and my LG TV 32" 1920x1080. I started playing SC2 on the TV.

So I ordered the GTX 460 768mb model. I played Starcraft 2 trial fine without much issue but now that I got both screens hooked up high and ultra choke the system. At first I was trying to reason buying Sandy bridge thinking my "old" AMD 1090 was not fast enough. (getting the upgrade itch) But after keeping system monitor open only one core ever really got maxed.

Just leaving my 24" LCD in the corner is not an option because I am so use to using 2 LCD because of work. My eyes suck and I prefer the size of SC2 on the "big" screen. Playing at Medium settings just are somehow wrong! Buddy at work thinks it may also being me only have 4 gigs of ram. But task manager never showed it go over 3.4 used.

I got a couple bills to TKO before I pull the trigger on SB or hopefully BD (Amd CPU fanboy!) or whatever is the best bang for the buck.

 

[Grooveriding]

Not enough gpu power. SC2 can be fairly demanding on ultra, are you using AA? That will make it even worse. I get slowdowns on my system with lots of units on screen as well.

If you are using AA, turn it off, make sure AO is off in nvnv control panel and try a mix of high and ultra. Also OC your cpu if possible, sc2 needs CPU horsepower as well. A SB CPU would net you more frames but so would a faster video card.

 

[imaheadcase]

Did you try un hooking one of the monitors while you play sc2?

It could be doing what it was with my 2 x24 inch monitors was doing and sending it to both monitors, even though it appeared only on one resulting it tons of GPU cycles.

I run GTX 460 on ultra fine. Using core 2 quad system though.

 

[Dice144]

Well I turned my AMD 1090 back up to 3.8 Ghz. (was at 3.2)

I also OC the EVGA GTX 460 back up to 780 Core. I left the ram at stock 1800.

Stock for this card was 720 core. I use to have it run at 820 but heat in some games was badd

Once my head cold clears I plan to try the AA settings in NV panel and possibly putting my desktop outside (well on the sun porch) Its like 5 F out today here 🙁 AND seeing if I can finally break the 4Ghz barrier on my chip without frying it!

 

[yottabit]

It's really not more CPU power you need. I'm running a 1GB 5770 which is probably just a little bit slower than your graphics card and I can't run 1080p ultra (single monitor) without risking frame rate drops in very large battles or especially custom games like sunken defense. However on my 720p TV I can run everything Ultra just fine.

This with a Core i5 750 @ 3.2 Ghz

I think you will need a GTX 470 / Radeon 5850 or faster for what you are looking to do. Or just do what I did and lower the graphics settings to High when you are playing multiplayer. The difference is hard to notice anyways. EDIT: Just noticed you say High chokes the system :/ I've read about performance issues running dual monitor configurations but I'm afraid I don't have any valuable input. I do believe your issue lies entirely with the GPU though

 

[Dice144]

Thanks for the feedback. Due to boredom I put my system outside. Winter OCing time! Going to try to push my GTX abit. If I fry it my GF will beat me THEN I will order a 500+ series or AMD.

Dropped 8C Load so far! Now to run a network cable onto the porch so I can test SC2 with video OC.

 

[Dice144]

I need mental help! OC my 460 now to 865 core. Wish it was alway that cold on my porch (well just for PC reaons!)

 

[MangoX]

SC2 loves CPU. Give it as much as it can. It will thank you for it later.

SC2 on my machine (2500K@4.5, 25x16, maxed Ultra/Extreme), I get 76 min, 92 avg and 125 max fps.
The same video card in my roommrates machine (e5200@3.75, 1920x1080, maxed Ultra/Extreme) it does 22 min, 55 avg and 67 max fps.

The differences are huge. Note that I'm also playing at a higher resolution. I didn't bother to test at 1080p as the game is so smooth I don't find it necessary. Moreover on his PC is not very smooth at all. The game often freezes or stutters for split seconds at a time, all the time. It was not very enjoyable, at least after experiencing it on my rig.

I FRAPS this playing back one of my replays. It was a 3v3 match, 11mins in length. This match is not a UMS game, and the game was mostly us rushing hard. Around 60 food. Quick game, not heavy on the GPU. Played back at 1X speed. I followed the same players vision throughout the tests. Vsync was off.