So I want to play SC2...

chocobaR

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2001
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But I have a GTX 260 and it will most likely fail 2 weeks after installing the game. I'd like a new card, looking at 5850 and 460. I'd like something that will let me play SWTOR and D3 at 1920x1200. Yes I know they are not out yet but I'm guessing some of you can tell what the requirements will be just by looking at some screens. When I get a new computer, I'd like to use that video card again so hopefully it can last a year or two.

I'm more interested in the price of the 460 but I'd get a 5850 if there's a price drop soon. Also, will I bottleneck or can my system pull it off? I'd rather not OC my CPU but I guess I could get an aftermarket and do it.

I don't use AA, etc. Usually put my settings on high and call it a day.
 
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Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
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Your 260 will play SC2 just fine, you don't need to upgrade.

Also, the 460 is not much of an upgrade over your 260, in many situations, their performance is similar. Particularly since you don't care about AA.
 

chocobaR

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2001
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Your 260 will play SC2 just fine, you don't need to upgrade.

Also, the 460 is not much of an upgrade over your 260, in many situations, their performance is similar. Particularly since you don't care about AA.

SC2 will kill my 260 =/
 

Udgnim

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2008
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either set up custom fan profiles so that temps don't go mile high or keep track of your GPU temps

SC 2 just exposes bad cards or poorly ventilated PCs
 
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Grooveriding

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Dec 25, 2008
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I mean literally kill my 260. Isn't SC2 known for killing G92? I'd rather not take a chance and have my card die.

You're fine, g92 is not even your card anyways, those were the 8800 respins. GTX 260 can run SC2 with ease.
 

chocobaR

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2001
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You're fine, g92 is not even your card anyways, those were the 8800 respins. GTX 260 can run SC2 with ease.

Looking at official forums and 260s seem to be crashing too. Also I have a BFG so I can forget ever doing an RMA. I was thinking of getting a 460 and selling my 260.
 

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
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I've been running 2 X 9800GT in SLI for a couple of weeks now with no problem. I also have a GT 240 for PhysX and it gets very hot but my case is wel ventilated. I did the edit to the variables.txt file just in case but haven't noticed any difference.
 

Sahakiel

Golden Member
Oct 19, 2001
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Some guys on the official forums had their cards running at ~70 and still crashed and died.

For what it's worth, I've been running 9800GT at about 60C loaded since beta. Lately, I've managed to drop it down to 56C loaded. That's a G92, not your GT200.
Long story short, SC2 isn't killing any card that wouldn't have died to begin with. It's also only from idling at menus and the like where the rendering is simple enough that every processor on your GPU is loaded with work. During actual gameplay, the odds of that happening are pretty low. If you're truly afraid, just enable vsync, which will cap your framerate at whatever your display refresh is.


As an aside, maybe I'm paranoid, but even though chips are spec'd to run up to 80 or 90C, I never run within 15-20C let alone 10. It's like repeatedly driving a 10k tonne truck over a bridge rated for 11k tonne maximum load. Yeah, it's spec'd to handle the load, but don't be surprised when it breaks early.
General rule of thumb (literally) is if you can't touch the heatsink for a few seconds without 1st degree burns (leaves a mark) it's too hot. Add a fan and/or replace the sink.
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
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The 260 runs sc2 fine, i have a system with it and plays it great with everything on high.

SC2 is not exactly graphically intensive, not sure why people keep getting worried about upgrades.
 

kalniel

Member
Aug 16, 2010
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The 260 runs sc2 fine, i have a system with it and plays it great with everything on high.

SC2 is not exactly graphically intensive, not sure why people keep getting worried about upgrades.
That's the problem. It's not intensive, so graphics cards tend to steam ahead and fps in the hundreds seems to be stressing some card components. There are some ini options to add framerate caps which help some people.
 

Axon

Platinum Member
Sep 25, 2003
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SC2 is simply not graphically intensive. The login screen, which features a Terran battle cruiser rolling by, seems to be the most GPU intensive aspect of the entire game. In actual gameplay, however, my 4670 and 8800GT easily maintain 45-60+ FPS on high @1680 resolution.

Cards getting fried by a particular game is certainly not unique to SC2, so I don't find the reports as troubling as most seem to. Bad Company 2 was the recent card killer, Crysis before that, etc. Shit happens with these things.
 

Seero

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2009
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SC2 is simply not graphically intensive. The login screen, which features a Terran battle cruiser rolling by, seems to be the most GPU intensive aspect of the entire game. In actual gameplay, however, my 4670 and 8800GT easily maintain 45-60+ FPS on high @1680 resolution.

Cards getting fried by a particular game is certainly not unique to SC2, so I don't find the reports as troubling as most seem to. Bad Company 2 was the recent card killer, Crysis before that, etc. Shit happens with these things.
Just for a small clarification with the menu screen. It isn't the most intensive aspect of the game, but does put unnecessary load on the video card. If the pc is at good condition, then nothing will go wrong. Since it sounds ridiculous to kill the card while sitting at the menu screen, putting a cap on it will defer the kill to in-game, but the card will die if it is going to die.

@op, there are lots of users using g92 and its respin, most of them don't have problems with SC2. Without proper maintenance, hardware will die, the question is when. Cooling is one of the easiest thing a user can do, but keeping the core temp low doesn't mean the cooling is fine.

Read this from pcstats
Statistically speaking, of all the kills, 26% is due to bad PSU, 23% is due to faulty parts, 15% is due to poor assembly, 13% is cooling/HS, 10% is due to lighting and statics, 6% is due to USB, and 2% is due to overclocking and 5% are indeterminate.

The long and short of it is, keep it cool and make sure your PSU is still good and strong enough to push the pc, and have fun gaming.
 

chocobaR

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2001
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I just got the game. Let's see if the card survives or dies in the next few days, weeks, months...?
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
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Enjoy the game! It's amazing fun!

ThumbsUp.jpg
 

fluffmonster

Senior member
Sep 29, 2006
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SC2 runs fine on my gtx 260, everything on ultra. If it runs hot, bump the fan up above the 40 percent fan speed it sits at on stock.
 

chocobaR

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2001
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SC2 runs fine on my gtx 260, everything on ultra. If it runs hot, bump the fan up above the 40 percent fan speed it sits at on stock.

Been doing some 1v1 and highest temp I got so far was 77. Usually it's around 72-73. GPU usage 99 :eek: I have my fan running 5% higher than what the current temp is. Core at 50C, fan at 55%, etc. So far looks fine.
 
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Seero

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2009
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Been doing some 1v1 and highest temp I got so far was 77. Usually it's around 72-73. GPU usage 99 :eek: I have my fan running 5% higher than what the current temp is. Core at 50C, fan at 55%, etc. So far looks fine.
3d portrait is heavy, use 2d portrait instead and it should reduce the load of the v-card.