[moonbies]

hey all recently i have noticed that my computer sucks at running SC2.
I got a nvidia GTC 550ti OC 1gb not long ago and i thought it would fix my performance.

But i have noticed that my games are unplayable even in 1v1 when big fights happen, especially when there is a lot of lings and things. I have been running the game on the bare minimum specs as well and still getting really hard to micro lag during big fights :S.

So i have been recently looking for an upgrade to my CPU, it is only an LGA775 slot but i just wanna play sc2 so why would i buy a whole new computer?

Anyway, so i have reason to beleive that my 550TI should handle SC2 amazingly well, i am just not seeing it ingame, so i am looking to upgrade to a quad core 2.5ghz on the LGA 775, as i am only using a 2.66 GHZ core 2 duo.

I was just wondering if anyone knew if there were any other reasons that sc may be performing so bad or that the cpu upgrade would solve my trouble OR that my 550 TI just inst that good ?

any help would be greatly appreciated,
regards, mooonbiessss

[TACeeSerps]

Could be a number of things

- Some Anti-Virus can use up to 100% CPU load. Look at one that is less of a CPU hog (Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG) or close it while playing SC2. Don't forget to open it again when you finish playing.

- Not enough ram. With LGA775 you typically see DDR2 ram, so 4gb is recommended. No point getting more as you won't get anything more out of a 64-bit OS unless you upgrade to LGA 1155 and 4gb+ DDR3 ram.

- Your 550ti, although good as a bang for your buck sort of card, 500 series are nearing the end of their life cycle. Updates with each nvidia driver will be few and far between but I recommend the latest drivers that came out yesterday which included a big update to performance for 500 series cards. I'm on my phone so I can't actually look up the actual version number but if possible try out the beta drivers. The last few beta drivers have been surprisingly stable.

Ultimately, LGA775 is an outdated technology that will cost you more in the long run to squeeze performance out of. I can help out more when I'm back home tomorrow night. Just on a work trip at the moment.

[Bash]

im still running a 460SE and it runs SC2 perfectly, so it definitely shouldnt be the card.

I'd be looking at the CPU.

[TACeeSerps]

Originally Posted by Bash

im still running a 460SE and it runs SC2 perfectly, so it definitely shouldnt be the card.

I'd be looking at the CPU.

My second PC has a GTX275 with E8500 Core Duo and it runs ok on medium. Only dies a bit when Archons or mummaships join the fight. Other than that no problems.

[NOM]

Yea, it sounds like a chipset issue.
also double check with your nvidia drivers too, sometimes I get some issues (I have a gtx 560ti) though.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

edit: make sure these are TURNED OFF
Reflect & Physics
Both CPU demanding

also my fav CPU temp checker, can also use bios but this is more user friendly
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

[Cordance]

As I understand the GPU is only used for the "flash" the CPU is used for all the "non flash". So turning the graphics settings way down is not helping its most likely your CPU is having issues. There are a number of things you can double check before deciding you need a new computer.

First check your ping to the server, almost completely out of your control if your ping is high or unstable this will cause you to have gaming issues (normally the other person will be able to see the lag that you only see as jerky motion). Playing a single player game and trying to lag the system can also show your computer is struggling not your internet connection.

Second Full screen SC2. Running SC2 on anything other than Full screen drains resources your computer needs to keep your OS ready to respond at any moment as well as all other programs you might access. So fullscreen window or window mode should be avoided if your have issues.

Third make sure you dont have any other programs running. Anything else running may be drawing away resources you need for SC2 as mentioned virus scanners are memory hogs. However the other side of the coin maybe you have a virus. There are many programs that may be running that you dont need that might help improve performance. Then there are others you might just not need like a music program.

Forth dont be torrenting anything well playing starcraft if your doing this you only have yourself to blame (or room/house mates)

Other things you can check is ram make sure all your ram is actually working. If your hard drive is fragmented significantly and or nearing full. Temperature your computer is running at.

Finally if you have overclocked your computer it can cause issues long term it could be your computer is dieing anyway.

[moonbies]

i have 4 gbs of ddr2, i never use any other apps while playign SC, and i i have reflect and physics off,
i am completely up to date with my nvidia drivers at 306.71 i believe it is, and my internet has low ping for sure.

[moonbies]

oh and i also use AVG, and have it off when playin and never torrent while playing, ahah i really just want the dam game too work!

My problem is not framerate all the time, its just when large supply armies combat each other, even on lowest settings like i said, its impossible to do things like marine splits