Official Starcraft 2 Thread

[ynd Aznbnet]

This game is bringing my video card to its knees. It doesn't matter if I change all of the textures to low, my GPU temps go straight to 105C+. I think it's making me lag out of some games because my connection appears to be fine.

Is there anything I can do? I don't have any room for another exhaust fan but I can probably adjust the case fan speeds. What GPU upgrade could I get that will allow me to play at 1920x1200 without killing the card and my pocket?

[ImaNihilist]

This game is bringing my video card to its knees. It doesn't matter if I change all of the textures to low, my GPU temps go straight to 105C+. I think it's making me lag out of some games because my connection appears to be fine.

Is there anything I can do? I don't have any room for another exhaust fan but I can probably adjust the case fan speeds. What GPU upgrade could I get that will allow me to play at 1920x1200 without killing the card and my pocket?

What kind of video card? I'm playing with mostly medium settings at 1280x800, with no real lag... and I'm using a 320M integrated chip.

[kpxgq]

This game is bringing my video card to its knees. It doesn't matter if I change all of the textures to low, my GPU temps go straight to 105C+. I think it's making me lag out of some games because my connection appears to be fine.

Is there anything I can do? I don't have any room for another exhaust fan but I can probably adjust the case fan speeds. What GPU upgrade could I get that will allow me to play at 1920x1200 without killing the card and my pocket?

im playing just fine with my aging core2duo and $30 geforce gt240

all settings on HIGH (except shadows on MEDIUM) @ 1920x1200

i cant imagine an hd4850 (if that what you have) having any problem at all even on ULTRA settings.. might want to read this: http://www.lazygamer.co.za/pc-gaming...heres-the-fix/

[ynd Aznbnet]

im playing just fine with my aging core2duo and $30 geforce gt240

all settings on HIGH (except shadows on MEDIUM) @ 1920x1200

i cant imagine an hd4850 (if that what you have) having any problem at all even on ULTRA settings.. might want to read this: http://www.lazygamer.co.za/pc-gaming...heres-the-fix/

I already changed the variables file and it still does it. It instantly kicks the fan up to high as soon as the SC2 login screen comes up with the battlecruiser in the background. I think I first remember it getting hot (or at least the fan getting annoyingly loud) after I built my latest rig and I played Oblivion. Being that I had just gotten the card and mobo/cpu around the same time, I figured it was a setting in my BIOS causing the fans to get loud like that. I never really checked my temps or fan speeds until now.

The CPU and HDDs are fine and in the normal temp ranges. It's just that damn GPU. I guess that's what my uncle meant by saying it gets hot when he gave it to me. I guess I can't complain, it was free, lol.

I have a 7800GTX that I think I'll put it and see how it goes. Do you think that will run everything in at least high @1920x200? I guess I could deal with medium if I had to. I'd rather not spend $200 on a GPU (I think they're overpriced considering their lifespan) while I'm trying to save.

[vertices]

SC2 is actually a pretty graphically demanding game. Especially if you want 4xAA and Transparency AA on.

On my Corei7 920 @ 4.0Ghz with a GTX280, I was getting horrible frame rates at 1920x1200 Ultra with AA. Without AA it was ok.

Upgrading to GTX460s in SLI OC'd made a huge difference. Liquid smooth, even with all the AA. Although I still had to drop shaders to High and turn off reflections to keep the framerate as high as I prefer on certain maps.

I can't stand less than 60fps. I notice it immediately.

[Kamakazie]

SC2 is actually a pretty graphically demanding game. Especially if you want 4xAA and Transparency AA on.

On my Corei7 920 @ 4.0Ghz with a GTX280, I was getting horrible frame rates at 1920x1200 Ultra with AA. Without AA it was ok.

Upgrading to GTX460s in SLI OC'd made a huge difference. Liquid smooth, even with all the AA. Although I still had to drop shaders to High and turn off reflections to keep the framerate as high as I prefer on certain maps.

I can't stand less than 60fps. I notice it immediately.

I believe this is why they don't even give you the option to enable AA in-game. I'm happy with everything on Ultra with no AA.

[kpxgq]

SC2 is actually a pretty graphically demanding game. Especially if you want 4xAA and Transparency AA on.

On my Corei7 920 @ 4.0Ghz with a GTX280, I was getting horrible frame rates at 1920x1200 Ultra with AA. Without AA it was ok.

Upgrading to GTX460s in SLI OC'd made a huge difference. Liquid smooth, even with all the AA. Although I still had to drop shaders to High and turn off reflections to keep the framerate as high as I prefer on certain maps.

I can't stand less than 60fps. I notice it immediately.

i just dont get it

my $30 gt240 runs it on all HIGH at 1920x1200 (no FSAA)

your $150 gtx280 struggles on ULTRA at 1920x1200 (FSAA)

you had to spend $300+ for dual 460's to play 1920x1200 ULTRA+FSAA


i just dont think its worth using ULTRA or FSAA, i popped in my old gtx260 to see what ULTRA looked like and it was barely noticeable difference so i went back to my gt240 (use it as my 24/7 card since its multitudes quieter and cooler)... no wonder PC gaming is dying

[vertices]

You probably don't care as much about performance. I have a very discerning eye. I absolutely hate tearing, jaggies, and anything less than 60fps. It's extremely noticeable to me. Some of my other gamer friends don't even notice when vsync or AA is off. They also think 30-40 fps feels very smooth. I just don't get it, and they don't get me.

It just depends on your eye I guess, and what works for you.

This is also why I never play my 360. The tearing and jaggies on most games just bother the crap out of me.

[Kamakazie]

Jaggies don't bother me, FPS does. I'd rather have jaggies than low FPS.

[ynd Aznbnet]

Are jaggies even really that noticeable in a game like SC2 when you're actually ingame?

Anyway, I'm pretty frustrated that my card is struggling so bad on this game. Even when I run on lower resolutions like 1440x900 it still gets pretty hot. I checked CCC to see if FSAA was enabled but I didn't really understand how it displayed the AA/AF settings. I didn't see anything saying 2x, 4x, etc. Only a checkbox to enable and a performance to quality slider bar.

Should my 4850 be struggling so much on this game? I mean, 108C when I'm at 1920x1200 is crazy. I think when it gets that hot, it actually makes the game lag as if my internet connection is acting up. It doesn't really make sense to me because I would have thought it'd just affect my PC's performance and not my connection to the game. It seems like when my card gets hot, I start lagging and get the disco countdown. If I alt+tab to my desktop and let the card cool down for 10 seconds, the lag will go away for a while once I alt+tab back in to the game.

Really frustrating...

[vertices]

Jaggies are very noticeable to me even in fast paced game of SC2. Can’t help you with your card troubles though, I haven’t touched an ATi card since my old XT800XT-PE. I can say that 108ºC is too hot for any card.

[Fig]

Are jaggies even really that noticeable in a game like SC2 when you're actually ingame?

Anyway, I'm pretty frustrated that my card is struggling so bad on this game. Even when I run on lower resolutions like 1440x900 it still gets pretty hot. I checked CCC to see if FSAA was enabled but I didn't really understand how it displayed the AA/AF settings. I didn't see anything saying 2x, 4x, etc. Only a checkbox to enable and a performance to quality slider bar.

Should my 4850 be struggling so much on this game? I mean, 108C when I'm at 1920x1200 is crazy. I think when it gets that hot, it actually makes the game lag as if my internet connection is acting up. It doesn't really make sense to me because I would have thought it'd just affect my PC's performance and not my connection to the game. It seems like when my card gets hot, I start lagging and get the disco countdown. If I alt+tab to my desktop and let the card cool down for 10 seconds, the lag will go away for a while once I alt+tab back in to the game.

Really frustrating...

I don't think that your system should be struggling to perform. Contrary to Vertices opinion, I believe that this game is not very graphically intensive as my C2D/8800GTS system is running with settings on high without much of a problem. A new game that runs on high on a 4 year old system @ 1680x1050 isn't graphically intensive IMO. My i7 Macbook Pro runs buttery smooth with most settings on ultra @1920x1200. Not many games even a few years old perform well at those settings so I think your system is having issues. If I were you, I'd format and start fresh if reinstalling video drivers doesn't fix the issue.

[vertices]

The game can easily scale down. But fully scaled up with all eyecandy an AA and transparency AA, it can take a beefy system to do that with 60fps.

[ynd Aznbnet]

My video card idles at ~88c when just sitting at the desktop. Maybe it's just that my video card gets hot easy?

[vertices]

I think your card or cooling has a problem. If you have good air flow in your case, check the heatsink on the card and make sure it has good contact. Maybe clean it all out and put good thermal paste on there. Make sure the fan is working with good contact to the die. Other than that, I'd RMA the card.

So I skipped my last 20 practice matches and did my 5 placements. Won 3 out of 4. The last was a draw. Me as Terran vs. Protoss. We were basically stuck. He had nothing but a couple zealots and a warp prism left. Nothing else. I had 2 Command Centers and a couple dropships with SCVs. Nothing else. I'm floating in the sky and can't go anywhere cause he can follow with his warp prism. He can't hit me in the sky cause he has zealots. We were both like "What a silly game lol" I ended up giving the game to him because I felt 3 out of 5 would be a good placement record and he wanted the win.

So I ended up in Gold League at 100. Played my first Gold League game against a "slightly favored" Terran who was harassing the crap out of me with reapers for a bit. I end up wiping him with dropships and the standard MMM+T in his base. Which bumped me up to 62 from 100.

Not bad. Gold League is right in the middle so I guess that makes me average. Still working on getting my APM up. It usually averages 60-100 by the end of the game.

Won't really get to play again till Sunday.