Ok, so apparently the minimum graphics card required to run SC2 Beta is a 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 PRO. My current card is a 256MB ATI Radeon X600. Will I be able to run SC2? If not, where/how should I get a better graphics card and about how much would it cost?

Thanks in advance.

It will run. More or less.
If you want high graphics details you should upgrade.

Keep in mind that a Radeon X600 is probably slower than a Radeon 9800 Pro.

You could probably run it but I'd highly advise even a minor upgrade if you want it to run smoothly at all. I'm guessing custom maps will be more stressful than the recommended settings would dictate, so if you're going to play custom maps you almost certainly would need an upgrade.

Thanks, guys.

Now for the second question. Where/how should I get an upgrade and how much would it cost?

Depends on how much of an upgrade you want and what you're looking to spend. Realistically you could find a decent upgrade for around 50$, however my suggestion would be this one for 70$:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261059

However I don't know if you have a PCI-E X16 slot, since IIRC your card comes in both PCI-E and AGP. Use CPU-Z + Graphics tab to find out. If you have the PCI-E X16 that card should definitely make a difference, and it has very low power consumption which is good because you probably have a shit powersupply.

Not wanting to bitch or anything, I just want to understand the reason:
I noticed that you are recommending nVidia cards a lot lately. I thought ATi is the thing right now?

I am not recommending 'a lot' of NV cards. I've recommended two, and both for budgets or power consumption, not for performance.

Of course at higher price ranges, say 100$+ ATI wins the budget performance award.

Still looking for a good card. Ex, the card you recommended to me won't work in my computer - The computer I'm on has a PCI Express x16 slot that isn't compatible with PCI Express 2.0 x16 cards like the one you recommended. Are there other relatively cheap options for me?

I'd rather not spend more than about $100, and the less the better, of course.

PCI-E x16 2.0 is backwards compatible. You're really pissing me off with how uninformed you are. Lrn2google?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
PCIe 2.0 motherboard slots are fully backward compatible with PCIe v1.x cards. PCIe 2.0 cards are also generally backward compatible with PCIe 1.x motherboards, using the available bandwidth of PCI Express 1.1. Overall, graphic cards or motherboards designed for v 2.0 will be able to work with the other being v 1.1 or v 1.0.

Also, better deal: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133306

I thought you were here to help people, not insult them.

It is a simple fact that google would've told him had he thought to ask. I said he needed a PCI-E x16. He has one. I said that card will work. It will. Then he suddenly thinks the appended 2.0 on the newegg listing instantly invalidates what I've said. Either he's stupid or he thinks I'm stupid.

one thing with computers: if it fits, it's compatible. (am2 stuff isn't quite as guaranteed, though).

With processors, if it fits, it often depends on the bios whether it is compatible. Incompatibility can come from other areas, though. For example, an older board might not support the voltage specification for a newer processor (this usually has to do with the bios, but if it exceeds the physical capabilities of the board, there is nothing that can be done). Another thing that can happen is that with processors that use more power, some boards may not support the higher power draw.

IIRC, AM3 was designed so that it will fit in AM2 and AM2 would not fit in AM3.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 1 2010, 1:05 am by ShadowFlare.

I did Google, and I did find that particular wiki article. However, what I read was the following:


That's over a year after the ship date on my machine according to Dell. I didn't read quite far enough down the page. My apologies if my misinformedness ruined your day/life/view of the world as it's supposed to be. If it did, you should open your eyes a bit more to the world and see that there's a lot of misinformation going around and there are many stupider people than me.

On another note, thank you for the help with my graphics card. I'm sure the one you recommended will work fine.