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Starcraft 2 barely runs on my system, what is the hold up???

S

Sean0987

Junior Member
I have never been all that happy with how my system has run, but since up until now the only two games I played were Half life 2 and original Starcraft, I have never really had a reason to look into it. Now that SC2 is out, I must do something! SC2 barely runs with all settings at the bare minimum....

I used a program that tells me what my specs are.. Here are my system specs:

CPU

Number of Logical Processors 2
Number of Physical Processors 1
CPU #1 Intel Pentium 4 661
CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.60GHz
CPU Code Name Cedar Mill
Vendor GenuineIntel
Number of Bits 64
Instruction Set MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, ET64
Platform Name Socket 775 LGA
Revision B1
Technology 65 nm
Original Clock 3600 MHz
Original System Clock 200 MHz
Original Multiplier 18.0
CPU Clock 3613 MHz
System Clock 200.7 MHz
FSB 802.9 MHz
Number of Cores 1
Core #1
Speed 3613.1 MHz
Multiplier 18.0
Virtual Technology Supported No
Hyper Threading Supported Yes
Hyper Threading Enabled Yes
Cache
L1 Data Cache 16 KBytes
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops
L2 Cache 2048 KBytes

MEMORY

Memory Summary
Maximum Capacity 8192 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 1024 MBytes
Memory Slots 4
Error Correction None
DRAM Frequency 334.5 MHz
Memory Timings 5-5-5-15 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
Device Locator Slot 1
Manufacturer Corsair
Part Number CM2X2048-6400C5
Capacity 2048 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 (PC2-6400)
Speed 400 MHz (DDR2 800)
Supported Frequencies 270.3 MHz, 400.0 MHz
Memory Timings 4-4-4-13-15 at 270.3 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 5-5-5-18-22 at 400.0 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Data Width 64 bits
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No
Device Locator Slot 2
Manufacturer Corsair
Part Number CM2X512A-6400
Capacity 512 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 (PC2-6400)
Speed 400 MHz (DDR2 800)
Supported Frequencies 270.3 MHz, 400.0 MHz
Memory Timings 4-4-4-13-15 at 270.3 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 5-5-5-18-22 at 400.0 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Data Width 64 bits
Manufacturing Date 2006, Week 23
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No
Device Locator Slot 3
Manufacturer Corsair
Part Number CM2X512A-6400
Capacity 512 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 (PC2-6400)
Speed 400 MHz (DDR2 800)
Supported Frequencies 270.3 MHz, 400.0 MHz
Memory Timings 4-4-4-13-15 at 270.3 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 5-5-5-18-22 at 400.0 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Data Width 64 bits
Manufacturing Date 2006, Week 23
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No
Device Locator Slot 4
Manufacturer Corsair
Part Number CM2X2048-6400C5
Capacity 2048 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 (PC2-6400)
Speed 400 MHz (DDR2 800)
Supported Frequencies 270.3 MHz, 400.0 MHz
Memory Timings 4-4-4-13-15 at 270.3 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 5-5-5-18-22 at 400.0 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Data Width 64 bits
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No

MOTHERBOARD

Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Model P5WD2-E Premium
Version Rev 1.xx
Serial Number MB-1234567890

North Bridge Intel i975X Revision C0
South Bridge Intel 82801GB (ICH7/R) Revision C0

CPU Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.60GHz
Cpu Socket Socket 775 LGA

System Slots 7 PCI

Memory Summary
Maximum Capacity 8192 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 1024 MBytes
Memory Slots 4
Error Correction None

VIDEO CARD

THE-RIG
Video Adapter Radeon X1900 Series
Code Name R580
Video Processor 41 00 54 00 49 00 20 00 52 00 61 00 64 00 65 00 6F 00 6E 00 20 00 47 00 72 00 61 00 70 00 68 00 69 00 63 00 73 00 20 00 50 00 72 00 6F 00 63 00 65 00 73 00 73 00 6F 00 72 00 20 00 28 00 30 00 78 00 37 00 32 00 34 00 39 00 29 00 00 00
Technology 90 nm
Adapter DAC Type 49 00 6E 00 74 00 65 00 72 00 6E 00 61 00 6C 00 20 00 44 00 41 00 43 00 28 00 34 00 30 00 30 00 4D 00 48 00 7A 00 29 00 00 00
PCI ID 0x1002 / 0x7249 (ATI Technologies Inc / Radeon X1900 Series)
PCI sub ID 0x1002 / 0x0B12 (ATI Technologies Inc)
Memory 512 MBytes
Dedicated Video Memory 508 MB (533573632)
Dedicated System Memory 0 MB (0)
Shared System Memory 1278 MB (1340604416)
BIOS Date 12/21/05
Driver Version 8.01.01.882
Driver Date 2-10-2010
Core Temperature 74 °C (165 °F)
DirectX DirectX 9.0
Driver Name atiumdag.dll
Driver Description Radeon X1900 Series
Monitor Generic PnP Monitor
Model VL370M
Monitor ID VIZ0043
Manufacturing Date 2008, Week 26
PnP Device Id DISPLAY\VIZ0043\5&2461768B&1&UID268435460
Input Digital
Serial Number Serial Number
Display Size 37" (82 cm x 46 cm)
Horizontal Frequency 31-70 kHz
Vertical Frequency 50-77 Hz
Current Resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz
Supported Resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz - Aspect Ratio 16:9
EDID Version 1 revision 3
Max dot clock (video bandwidth) 150 MHz

Thanks fellas! I am new to the forum, and pretty much a noob when it comes to this stuff. I almost don't want to play SC2 till I get this fixed!!
 
Last edited:
What resolution are you running the game at? And I would say it's probably your video card holding you back; they were great cards back in the day but they don't age very well. It's just barely above the bare minimum requirements stated by SC2.

Luckily your board has two full x16 PCIe slots so that's a pretty easy fix; once we know what resolution you play at you can get some ideas of what caliber card you might want to consider. I don't know what kind of upgrade route you might have for LGA775 though, if any, but RTS games are notorious for being CPU hogs as well so that could play a role as well. It wouldn't be my first suspect however.
 
darkewaffle said:
What resolution are you running the game at? And I would say it's probably your video card holding you back; they were great cards back in the day but they don't age very well. It's just barely above the bare minimum requirements stated by SC2.

Luckily your board has two full x16 PCIe slots so that's a pretty easy fix; once we know what resolution you play at you can get some ideas of what caliber card you might want to consider. I don't know what kind of upgrade route you might have for LGA775 though, if any, but RTS games are notorious for being CPU hogs as well so that could play a role as well. It wouldn't be my first suspect however.
Click to expand...

Ha, of course I am running it at 1080p 🙂

However, I am running it at the absolute lowest graphics settings. It holds up pretty well when I set SC2's process to high.. but still, I want the full SC experience.

The thing is.. back when half life 2 was my main game, I was only running it at 1024x768 (old monitor), and it still had issues with choppiness/low framerate.

Thanks for helping me out guys.
 
To summarize the output in OP, we are dealing with a late P4 (CedarMill) at 3.6GHz, on a LGA775 board (Intel i975 chipset), with 2GB RAM (2x1GB? 2 free slots?), and an ATI x1900 512MB graphics card. A decent system for its era...

Not sure if there is a single outstanding weak spot:
SC2 would no doubt like more processing power (C2D?), and although it's not seriously graphics intensive by modern standards, a recent mid-range graphics card with 1GB DDR5 would give a far better experience for 1080p and high settings. 2GB RAM should be fine if this old-ish system is still running WinXP.
 
So I guess this means that if I want to run games like this at high resolution, I just need to build a new system then? Board, processor, and video card? Maybe you fellas could point me in the right direction..

Oh, and I use Vista Ultimate, with 5 gigs of memory (though I guess I don't use all of it since I am not using 64 bit OS yet.. got a couple 2 gig sticks for super cheap)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for clarifying your RAM situtation: looks like I misread OP and you actually have 2x512MB, and 2x2GB, occupying all four slots. Is the motherboard BIOS recognising the 2GB DIMMs OK? (From OP "Maximum Memory Module Size 1024 MBytes"). Vista Ultimate should recognise that you have 5GB, even if the 32bit OS can't access it all.
 
Since you've got some DDR2 RAM already, your best bet for a cheap upgrade would either be a Core 2 or an AMD processor with DDR2 support.
4GB of DDR2 is plenty for most stuff nowadays, and RAM is expensive.
If you go the AMD route you could get a DDR2/DDR3 combination motherboard which would let you go DDR3 in the future, or you could at least re-use the processor if you get the right sort.
 
Lonyo said:
Since you've got some DDR2 RAM already, your best bet for a cheap upgrade would either be a Core 2 or an AMD processor with DDR2 support.
4GB of DDR2 is plenty for most stuff nowadays, and RAM is expensive.
If you go the AMD route you could get a DDR2/DDR3 combination motherboard which would let you go DDR3 in the future, or you could at least re-use the processor if you get the right sort.
Click to expand...

This.

OP, that P4 is really holding you back in Starcraft. A single 3.6GHz Netburst core is sloooooooow by modern standards.
 
Hmm, I think RebateMonger is correct. Take a look at the page for the mobo and select "CPU Support," unfortunately it doesn't look like it even supports C2D.

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=jdZmrTyuJWpfdnA3&content=specifications

With that said, since he's already got his RAM and could presumably use everything else he's got already, then a mobo/cpu/gpu upgrade could be in order.

If you'd like to pursue that, what kind of budgetary restraints would you like to have OP?

Off the top of my head, I'd say an AMD DDR2 7xx chipset mobo; an athlon ii x2/3/4 (depending on budget and desired usage), and a radeon 5770 would work pretty nicely, PSU dependent.

What power supply do you have?
 
darkewaffle said:
Hmm, I think RebateMonger is correct. Take a look at the page for the mobo and select "CPU Support," unfortunately it doesn't look like it even supports C2D.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I'd looked at a comparable Intel motherboard and it had Core2Duo support. But it looks like Asus never provided support for the C2D on this motherboard.
 
So is there a good duel core that would work with my board? If so.. maybe I could get that plus a second x1900xt just to get me by for now (till the next game, when the big upgrade will have to happen)?

If that wouldn't cut it, then I guess would want to go with a cpu/board/graphics card that is on the higher end without wasting money on the absolute best. what would you guys suggest?
 
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The best you could do would be a Pentium D. Don't waste your money IMO. Also, what kind of power supply do you have? The X1900XT is a power-hungry card, running 2 of them would require a decent PSU. Also not worth it IMO.

If you ask me, the "big upgrade" should happen sooner than later.
 
One thing you might want to do now...going by the printout in your OP it looks like your memory is set like this:

Slot 1: 2gb
Slot 2: 512mb
Slot 3: 512mb
Slot 4: 2gb

Unless the readout is incorrect, you've got them in the wrong slots for dual channel. 1/3 should be the 2gb sticks, and 2/4 should be the 512mb sticks. It won't make a huge difference, but it'll help.
 
Sean0987 said:
So is there a good duel core that would work with my board? If so.. maybe I could get that plus a second x1900xt just to get me by for now (till the next game, when the big upgrade will have to happen)?

If that wouldn't cut it, then I guess would want to go with a cpu/board/graphics card that is on the higher end without wasting money on the absolute best. what would you guys suggest?
Click to expand...

Something like this:
Athlon II X4 635 $101
ASUS M4A77D $80 - reuse your old RAM
Radeon 5770 $150

This is assuming you have a decent PSU already.
 
If money's tight, you could also watch open box deals for a mobo/card or look for combo deals. Or the forum's FS/T board; there's almost always some 5770s for sale somewhere in there and I'm sure there's some athlon's there as well.

A used 48xx card is also an option, though will also require a PSU check.
 
Any chance you live close to a Microcenter? They have a promotion where you can buy the x4 630 and get a free motherboard with it.

Though since you have 4 sticks of ram, you may want to spend the extra $10 to get the msi board (which comes with 4 ram slots).
 
It's definitely your processor as some have mentioned. I encountered a similar experience trying to run it on my old Athlon 64 / Radeon X850 setup. If you want to confirm it's CPU related 100%, try increasing your graphics settings and very likely the framerate won't drop at all. You really need a dual core, there is horrible single core stutter in SC2 in my experience

I would think the graphics card would actually be ok for low to medium settings, but it won't look great
 
Both your CPU AND video card are way aged. The video card is newer than the CPU, but you really want to upgrade both (and get a new system).

If your budget is that constrained to where you can not upgrade both, get a job. Hell, the price of that copy of SC2 could have bought you a decent C2D processor.
 
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