BleepingComputer.com: Starcraft 2 is kicking my PCs butt :(

Hello everyone! I made an account here because I know very little about computers! I've been a PC gamer for about 20 years now, but not a serious one! So my question is this: Should I buy a new PC like this - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/eMachines+-+Desktop+/+AMD+Athlon%26%23153%3B+II+X2+Processor+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive/1243045.p?id=1218240384822&skuId=1243045?

Or would it be better just to upgrade my own?
I have a 2002 Windows xp Compaq
AMD athlon xp 3000+2.16ghz with 2gb of ram.
Videocard : ATI RADEON 9550 AGP 256mb internal dag 400mhz

I was thinking of upgrading my ram and video card hoping that would help run Starcraft 2 a little more smoothly.
The ram I could get in there easily but when I was looking at video cards, there wasn't a great selection. It seems that all the newer good video cards aren't AGP but some other type. My brother in law told me i'd need a new motherboard to get a new nice video card and he wasnt sure if my cpu could handle a new motherboard... I have no clue what motherboard and cpu are really...(I know what a motherboard is I just don't know anything about them), the only thing i've ever done was install ram and a new video card on my computer before.


I can't really afford much more than 500 right now so if I did spring for a new comp it'd need to be cheap. I wouldn't mind buying a new comp and upgrading the video card and ram in it over the next few months. Or I wouldn't mind upgrading my own computer. I just want to get the most out of my money. Any advice is appreciated!

Oh! and my goal is to be able to play starcraft 2 on good graphics and when Diablo 3 comes out I would like to be able to play that game as well. Thanks so much!!

This post has been edited by hamluis: 27 December 2010 - 08:44 AM
Reason for edit: Moved from XP to Internal Hardware ~ Hamluis.

Hi CombatColes -
Can you please supply details on your Power Supply Unit - If the PSU is too low it may not be fully supporting the Video Card -
You are still running a fairly old system with 2gb of ram and trying to make it perform like a newer unit that may have 4gb of ram -
My new laptop has 4g of ram + 1g dedicated graphics, compared to my XP desktop that only has 1g of ram and just an updated NVIDA video card and has problems with many games - Sorry but the link you left for the new unit will not open for me to assess the system -
You could try posting in the Games area of the forum to see if others have better ideas on this subject -

Thank You -

This post has been edited by noknojon: 26 December 2010 - 05:55 PM

If I were you I would consider buying a whole new computer. There are not that many AGP Video Cards in production that may suit your needs. Your CPU is also a bottleneck.

Hey, I'm not sure what a Power supply unit is. Is there any chance you could tell me how to find out the details of my psu?. My setup is odd because I upgraded to 2 gb of ram. When I got my computer it only had 512mb

If it's a prebuilt computer, googling the exact model of your computer might help to find the PSU details. Or, post here the model of your computer.

Ya if I were you I would get a whole new system but I WOULD NOT go to best buy for that because they give people some bad deals I bought a PC from them back when I was an idiot and I got a AMD Athlon 2.2Ghz Dual Core, 1GB of RAM, 250GB HDD, and some motherboard that had a horrible layout because the wires would always get tangled but I got that system for like $750 when I could of built that for like $200-280 they rip off the customers so bad so I would ask around for a good computer shop because my local one will take really good hardware if you have any and make up some excuse on why they took it if you caught them so find a good place and you will most likely get a very nice PC for the money

Hi -
Please perform the following, so that we can get the exact specs of your computer. This will better assist us in helping you more.

Publish a Snapshot using Speccy

The below is for those who cannot get online

Please take caution when attaching a text file to your post if you cannot copy/paste the link to your post, you will need to edit it to make sure that your Windows Key is not present.

Thank You -

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/TjEkn3qcDe1O9ZES3rsXtmJ

sorry my link from bestbuy didn't show up. It was just one of their cheapest computers. Does my CPU being a bottleneck mean what i think it means? No matter how much ram and how nice of a video card i put in, its still limited? Or does it mean something else?

I see 2 major issues no virus protection, and your computer is not updated to SP3.

Please rectify those issues.

I'm not really sure how to do those things. I havn't had virus protection for 2 years now and my computer always runs much better than anyone in my family who does have virus protection. My brother in law took out my hard drive recently and scanned it for virus/spyware and didn't find anything. Maybe i'm lucky? I tried to upgrade to sp3 about a year ago I let my computer upgrade itself time after time and I never got to SP3. I feel like it's a lost cause

Windows XP SP3 can be downloaded from there.

For antivirus I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials

cryptodan, on 28 December 2010 - 03:51 PM, said:

Are you sure about Microsoft virus protection cryptodan? When I had windows vista it was installed on there and it never removed a single virus I had gotten and it usually didn't even find them... I think something as bad as AVG free would be better if you can afford to buy virus protection CombatColes I would get ESET NOD32 but if you are looking for something free I would get Spybot S&D & Malwarebytes I believe Spybot has real-time protection and Malwarebytes you should run every 2 weeks or so

NuckenFutz, on 01 January 2011 - 07:12 PM, said:

Yes I am quite confident in Microsoft Security Essentials as an AV. Its free, its light weight, doesn't cause system slow downs like many of the commercial grade virus scanners.

NuckenFutz, on 01 January 2011 - 07:12 PM, said:

Spybot S&D and MBAM are not antivirus programs, they aim at malware. I have both of these in addition to Avast! Free AV.