you wont have to upgrade for gaming or standard programs for a long time

i used to play sc2 on low/med with a p4 intel 2.6ghz
which was prolly made 10years prior to release of sc2

amd fx at $200 will last you a very long time just as the i7 intel $1000 will

$200 CPU: Core i5 2300, 2400, 2500 are all ok, even the range of MHz is 2.8 GHz to 3.3 GHz, it's important to note that SC2 favors the cache architecture of intel and with this CPU, you will never drop below 20fps even in the largest of 4v4 battles

$45-70 Memory: 4GB is enough, but make sure it's at least dual channel, for example 2GB x 2sticks or 4GB x 2 sticks. 1600MHz or 1333MHz pays a very small part in FPS, it's the latency that does, try to aim for 7-7-7-21 timings if money allows, otherwise 9-9-9-24 is fine.

$120-140 Graphics card: For 1920x1080, you need at least a Radeon 6850 or Geforce GTX 460 to not have any kind of stuttering or derp.

any motherboard OK, any hard drive OK

power supply, try to aim for 500 watt+ "80 plus certified"


try to stick with name brands such as antec, corsair, seasonic, ocz for battery. Ignore raidmax

This post was edited by SniXSniPe on May 25 2012 09:46pm

The computer wasn't very good to begin with and I already planned on switching it but didn't think I'd need to switch this fast
And I don't multitask too much on the computer ^^

Also for the cpu I decided to go with the i3-2100 dual core, seems like the best bang for the buck

I have the ram/hard drive/power supply down
Motherboard/graphics trying to find one

and whats your opinion on intel i3-2100?

If you can fit a 2500k into your budget, do it. Everything snix mentioned is good

For gaming, dual core is the best bang for your buck for sure. Also, I think dual core is easier to overclock if you are planning on doing that.

Intel Core i3-2100 Dual-Core Socket LGA1155, 3.10Ghz, 3MB L3 Cache, 32nm (Retail Boxed) (BX80623I32100) 129.99
Intel Core i5-2400 Quad-Core Socket LGA1155, 3.10Ghz, 6MB L3 Cache, 32nm (Retail Boxed) (BX80623I52400) 179.99
Intel Core i3-2120 Dual-Core Socket LGA1155, 3.30Ghz, 3MB L3 Cache, 32nm (Retail Boxed) (BX80623I32120) 129.99


which of these do you guys recommend?

The 2400 if you can fit it into your budget

Obviously not the first one, same price as 3rd one, but worse. If you get the quad core, you won't have to worry about upgrading for awhile. Both will play most games without any trouble, it's just what you will be running in the background while you are playing. If you are gonna stream, listen to music, play sc2 in ultra, and dl porn at the same time, probably quadcore.

I'm saving on the OS so I'll go with the i5, thanks guys

Just need a motherboard/optical drive/graphics card now

This post was edited by HowToTrainMyDragon on May 25 2012 10:16pm