System Requirements explained in detail
Quote from: Kropacius (Source System Requirements explained in detail)
These are our current system requirements:
* Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
* 2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
* 1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
* 128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
* 1024x768 minimum display resolution
* 4 GB free hard space (Beta)
* Broadband connection
It seems there's a few questions regarding what type of processors and video cards meet and exceed it.
Processors
These are more of generalizations.
* Athlon processors do not meet the system requirements. They're the old Thunderbird models and go up to 1.2 GHz.
* Athlon XP processors with a rating of 2200+ and above will meet it.
* Athlon 64 processors tend to meet it. The very low-end Athlon 64 may not. Check your clock speeds. Anything at or higher than 2.0GHz is a safe bet.
* For Sempron types, you'll want a higher clock speed to make up for it lacking in other areas. Sempron processors fall across their Socket 478-more current types so you may want to see what type you have using CPU-Z:
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
* First generation AMD Phenom processors (ending in 00) will work but you need to be aware of the TLB fix. It has a pretty substantial performance drop so you might see choppiness.
* Phenom processors ending in 50 do not have this problem. All but the slowest models will meet the system requirements
* Athlon II and Phenom II should all be faster than the minimum requirements.
* Pentium III processors do not meet the requirements
* Pentium IV/D processors at 2.2GHz and above meet it.
* Intel Core 2 around 1.8GHz is a rough area but should be able to play it. 2.0GHz is probably closer to what it wants.
* Intel Celeron processors fall under a lot of different families of chips. There are those based off of the Pentium 4 of different types and those based off of Core 2. You may want to check what type you have using CPU-Z: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
* Intel i3/i5/i7 exceed the minimum requirements.
Video card
We require a GeForce 6600 or Radeon 9800 video card in terms of performance. Keep in mind that there are higher-numbered video cards that fall under what we need. Probably the best chart you can look at is available on Tom's Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-geforce-gtx-480%2c2598-6.html
The GeForce 6600 and Radeon 9800 are towards the lower half of the chart. If your video card is under it, that's not a good thing. If your video card is above it, that's good.
Some of the more common ones that are under the system requirements:
NVIDIA GeForce 6150, 6200, 7150, 8300, 8400
ATI Radeon Xpress 200, 1150, 1250, X1050, 8500-9600, X300-600
All Intel GMA adapters minus the one in the i3/i5 chips. Those tend to run better but we don't know how much.
Fun beta benchmarks - Mostly third party sites. We do not endorse them in any way or form but they're available resources if you want to get an idea on how the game runs.
More recent:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/blizzard-entertainment-starcraft-ii-benchmark%2c2611.html
Older:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/starcraft_ii_wings_of_liberty_beta_performance%2c1.html
* Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
* 2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
* 1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
* 128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
* 1024x768 minimum display resolution
* 4 GB free hard space (Beta)
* Broadband connection
It seems there's a few questions regarding what type of processors and video cards meet and exceed it.
Processors
These are more of generalizations.
* Athlon processors do not meet the system requirements. They're the old Thunderbird models and go up to 1.2 GHz.
* Athlon XP processors with a rating of 2200+ and above will meet it.
* Athlon 64 processors tend to meet it. The very low-end Athlon 64 may not. Check your clock speeds. Anything at or higher than 2.0GHz is a safe bet.
* For Sempron types, you'll want a higher clock speed to make up for it lacking in other areas. Sempron processors fall across their Socket 478-more current types so you may want to see what type you have using CPU-Z:
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
* First generation AMD Phenom processors (ending in 00) will work but you need to be aware of the TLB fix. It has a pretty substantial performance drop so you might see choppiness.
* Phenom processors ending in 50 do not have this problem. All but the slowest models will meet the system requirements
* Athlon II and Phenom II should all be faster than the minimum requirements.
* Pentium III processors do not meet the requirements
* Pentium IV/D processors at 2.2GHz and above meet it.
* Intel Core 2 around 1.8GHz is a rough area but should be able to play it. 2.0GHz is probably closer to what it wants.
* Intel Celeron processors fall under a lot of different families of chips. There are those based off of the Pentium 4 of different types and those based off of Core 2. You may want to check what type you have using CPU-Z: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
* Intel i3/i5/i7 exceed the minimum requirements.
Video card
We require a GeForce 6600 or Radeon 9800 video card in terms of performance. Keep in mind that there are higher-numbered video cards that fall under what we need. Probably the best chart you can look at is available on Tom's Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-geforce-gtx-480%2c2598-6.html
The GeForce 6600 and Radeon 9800 are towards the lower half of the chart. If your video card is under it, that's not a good thing. If your video card is above it, that's good.
Some of the more common ones that are under the system requirements:
NVIDIA GeForce 6150, 6200, 7150, 8300, 8400
ATI Radeon Xpress 200, 1150, 1250, X1050, 8500-9600, X300-600
All Intel GMA adapters minus the one in the i3/i5 chips. Those tend to run better but we don't know how much.
Fun beta benchmarks - Mostly third party sites. We do not endorse them in any way or form but they're available resources if you want to get an idea on how the game runs.
More recent:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/blizzard-entertainment-starcraft-ii-benchmark%2c2611.html
Older:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/starcraft_ii_wings_of_liberty_beta_performance%2c1.html
