Build for StarCraft II

[Skardiaz]

My best friend wants to build his first gaming PC and is mainly interested in playing StarCraft II.

 

I made this list fairly quickly and think it's a decent build for what he wants.

 

Please let me know what you think. I appreciate any suggestions. Bear in mind his budget is $800.

[Zyndo]

28 minutes ago, Skardiaz said:

My best friend wants to build his first gaming PC and is mainly interested in playing StarCraft II.

 

I made this list fairly quickly and think it's a decent build for what he wants.

 

Please let me know what you think. I appreciate any suggestions. Bear in mind his budget is $800.

I think that build would be very capable of playing Starcraft II without breaking a sweat (even in some of the more crazy arcade games like Desert Strike)

 

That being said there are some changes I would make:

 

1. I would get a better 90 dollar motherboard (like a H170 or Z170 board that would be better for future expansion) OR I would get a much cheaper motherboard. If you picked it for aesthetic reasons, thats fine too though, as there is nothing really wrong with this choice, that is just what I would do...

2. an SSD added to the system would be highly adviseable. You can get something like a SP550 from A-data fairly cheaply (in 120GB or 240GB sizes)

3. I would not get a 1060 3GB card. You should either get the RX 480 4GB (the better card between the two at that price point) or a 1060 6GB (if you can stretch the budget a bit more). In the battle between 480 4GB and 1060 3GB, the 480 wins; but in the battle between the 1060 6GB and 480 8GB, the 1060 wins. This is due to the 3GB card actually having a trimmed down GPU which makes it ~5-10% slower than the regular 1060 6GB, which closes the gap of any DX11 benefits it has over the AMD side of things. The other points on this list are largely optional and just merely suggestions, but you should really consider going RX480 4GB instead of 1060 3GB as it is definitely the better choice.

4. I would recommend a different PSU. whilst there is nothing exactly wrong with your chosen PSU in a low-ish end build like this one, you can get something of higher quality for a similar price. You should consider getting this PSU instead http://pcpartpicker.com/product/FQ648d/corsair-power-supply-cp9020101na

it is better quality, semi modular, and has better looking cables. Your build is only going to use around 200-250W at max load, so you still have more than enough wattage even though you lose a bit by making this switch.

[antisleep]

You guys in Panama or US?

 

$800 should easily fit

>i5-6500 CPU

>8 or 16GB ram

>GTX 1060/RX 480/RX 470

>240gb SSD & 1TB HDD

[Skardiaz]

9 hours ago, Zyndo said:

I think that build would be very capable of playing Starcraft II without breaking a sweat (even in some of the more crazy arcade games like Desert Strike)

 

That being said there are some changes I would make:

 

1. I would get a better 90 dollar motherboard (like a H170 or Z170 board that would be better for future expansion) OR I would get a much cheaper motherboard. If you picked it for aesthetic reasons, thats fine too though, as there is nothing really wrong with this choice, that is just what I would do...

2. an SSD added to the system would be highly adviseable. You can get something like a SP550 from A-data fairly cheaply (in 120GB or 240GB sizes)

3. I would not get a 1060 3GB card. You should either get the RX 480 4GB (the better card between the two at that price point) or a 1060 6GB (if you can stretch the budget a bit more). In the battle between 480 4GB and 1060 3GB, the 480 wins; but in the battle between the 1060 6GB and 480 8GB, the 1060 wins. This is due to the 3GB card actually having a trimmed down GPU which makes it ~5-10% slower than the regular 1060 6GB, which closes the gap of any DX11 benefits it has over the AMD side of things. The other points on this list are largely optional and just merely suggestions, but you should really consider going RX480 4GB instead of 1060 3GB as it is definitely the better choice.

4. I would recommend a different PSU. whilst there is nothing exactly wrong with your chosen PSU in a low-ish end build like this one, you can get something of higher quality for a similar price. You should consider getting this PSU instead http://pcpartpicker.com/product/FQ648d/corsair-power-supply-cp9020101na

it is better quality, semi modular, and has better looking cables. Your build is only going to use around 200-250W at max load, so you still have more than enough wattage even though you lose a bit by making this switch.

Thank you very much for your comments.

 

I didn't include an SSD because he's not a hardcore gamer and I think he wouldn't care about the faster boot times. Nevertheless, I'm considering it.

 

I forgot to add something in the original post. I added the 1060 instead of the 1050 because it isn't available yet. Do you think the 1050 would be enough to run SC2?

8 hours ago, antisleep said:

You guys in Panama or US?

 

$800 should easily fit

>i5-6500 CPU

>8 or 16GB ram

>GTX 1060/RX 480/RX 470

>240gb SSD & 1TB HDD

Panama. The only things we will buy here are the case, RAM, monitor and keyboard & mouse.

[antisleep]

3 minutes ago, Skardiaz said:

I forgot to add something in the original post. I added the 1060 instead of the 1050 because it isn't available yet. Do you think the 1050 would be enough to run SC2?

Yes, SC2 isn't a graphic intensive game. Expect the 1050 to be faster/on par with the RX 460.

 

 

 

[antisleep]

1 hour ago, antisleep said:

Yes, SC2 isn't a graphic intensive game. Expect the 1050 to be faster/on par with the RX 460.

 

 

 

Upon further inspection, I've learned that these numbers are exaggerated. Regardless, a GTX 1050 would perform well above 60fps.

[Zyndo]

7 hours ago, Skardiaz said:

Thank you very much for your comments.

 

I didn't include an SSD because he's not a hardcore gamer and I think he wouldn't care about the faster boot times. Nevertheless, I'm considering it.

 

I forgot to add something in the original post. I added the 1060 instead of the 1050 because it isn't available yet. Do you think the 1050 would be enough to run SC2?

Panama. The only things we will buy here are the case, RAM, monitor and keyboard & mouse.

Yes a 1050 is plenty. My families home PC sports a GTX 950 and i7 870 and has very little problems with the arcade game "desert strike" (which is like the worst case scenario stress test for SC II).  I would recommend stretching your budget to a 1050ti if i were you, just for the extra VRAM and performance headroom in case you ever feel like playing anything other than SC II, but if all you want is a 1050 then that is enough.