PC hardware for SC2

[hydra]

Hi i am new here i was just going start a new topic about the hardware that going to be need for SC2 when it cames out when they make a demo of it.

what i made this for is that when new information cames out for SC2 that i made this to keep up to date on the information.

Hydra.

[IskatuMesk]

Way too early to really post about this, buuut..

Judging by the graphics level and the fact they're building on the wc3 engine, I expect small to medium sized games at max settings to use less processing power then CNC3, which I can run on max settings on my athlon 2500xp radeon 9800 pro with 1 gig of PC3200 fairly well, although my cpu bottlenecks the game performance and changing settings doesn't effect it.

I imagine for larger games, though, you're going to want something more powerful. Sc2's engine is probably going to be a lot more "sturdy" then wc3's when it comes to modding and mapping, and will probably be able to handle some incredibly detailed maps and graphics, not to mention the shaders and physics.

So, if you have a system decently more powerful then mine, you should be good to go at least for the campaign. Personally, I'm going to be getting a R650 crossfire setup with two dual core cpus and a minimum 4 gigs of ram around november so I can record SC2 in high definition.

[Marco]

Yeah man, upgrading here too - but will probably wait at least a year to do so to get the latest and greatest.  Don't know how resource intensive the editor will be, but not going to take any chances.

[IskatuMesk]

I doubt the editor is going to be as retarded as CNC3's. That thing takes a minimum of 2 gigs ram to start up, and that's without even loading a map. It's ridiculous.

[Lavarinth]

Sweet, I have 3 gigs, haha. Too bad that's the only highlight of my computer.

[WB]

Me and my 1 gig are fucked then.

I need a new rig, not for just gaming, mind you, but for all my 3D work. It's a pain to multitask like this.

[hydra]

Well that bloody great is it my computer well not run SC2 at all i think.

It's AMD Sempron 3100+ 1.8GHZ with 512MB Navida geforce XFX 5200 with 128MB ram.

Looks like i am out to shop then to make a new computer for myself. 

[IskatuMesk]

XFX...? If that's just a fancy FX 5200, I'm surprised you can run anything on that.

[Lavarinth]

They just released an XXX, hah!

[Taeradun]

lol because i've been too lazy to fix my desktop (got brand new motherboard & CPU still sitting in their packagin) i've been using this laptop as my primary PC for months

well it runs Warcraft III well

[AA7Dragoon]

Actually, you can sort of figure out what the system requirements are going to be for SC2:

Original StarCraft (1998)
Windows 95/98/NT
Pentium 90 or higher
16 MB RAM
DirectX-Compatible SVGA Video Card
Microsoft-Compatible Mouse
Double-Speed CD-ROM
(Quad Speed for Cinematics)
Macintosh
PowerMac or Compatible
16 MB RAM
System 7.6 or higher
256 Color, 640x480 Display or Better
Double-Speed CD-ROM
(Quad Speed for Cinematics)


WarCraft III (2002?)
indows® 98/ME/2000/XP:
400 MHz Pentium II or equivalent
128 MB of RAM
8 MB 3D video card (TNT, i810, Voodoo 3, Rage 128 equivalent or better) with DirectX® 8.1 support
700 MB HD space
4X CD-ROM drive
Macintosh® OS 9.0 or higher/ Mac OS X 10.1.3. or higher:

400 MHz G3 processor
128 MB of RAM
16 MB ATI Technologies or nVidia chipset 3D video card
700 MB HD space
4X CD-ROM drive


World of WarCraft (2004)
Windows® System 2000/XP OS:
Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
512 MB or more of RAM
32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ 2 class card or above
DirectX® 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers
6.0 GB available HD space
4x CD-ROM drive
A 56k or better Internet connection

Mac® OS X 10.3.9:
933 MHz or higher G4, or G5, or Intel processor
512 MB RAM or higher; DDR RAM recommended
ATI or NVIDIA® video hardware with 32 MB VRAM or more
6.0 GB available HD space
4x CD-Rom drive
56k or better Internet connection


Based on system releases over the years, it looks like you're going to need a hefty system upon release.  My estimation for a Windows system?:

Windows 2000/XP/Vista OS:
Intel Pentium III or IV  ~1 GHz or AMD Athlon ~1 GHz
1 GB of RAM
64MB 3D Graphics Card
1 GB HD Space

56k or better Internet Connection

[khorne707]

My guess they wont go to over kill on the system requirments. I wouldn't think it would use any more ram then WoW, or any more video either. All they're doing is useing the WC3 engin so any one that can handle WC3 with no porblems should be ok. I'm happy they didnt go making a new engin for the DX 10, so that means people with XP can still get it. Oh but if you do have ista, make sure you get at least 1.5 G Memory, trust me, you'll be happy. 



(Is a Vists User)

[IskatuMesk]

WoW and wc3 are directx 7 games. SC2 is using at the very least dx9 effects, so yes, it is a lot more powerful and will be more demanding then wc3 since it appears they rewrote much of the rendering engine.

[hydra]

Well if it's going to WC3 then it's going to look crap unless they remodel it all.

[IskatuMesk]

Well if it's going to WC3 then it's going to look crap unless they remodel it all.

Wc3 isn't incapable of nearly what sc2 can, so they rewrote the rendering engine.

Things like...

- Normal maps
- Dynamic lighting
- Bloom
- Reflections

ect... A lot more is involved then just models. SC2's models are still pretty low-poly (the zealot is a mere 1500)