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Starcraft 2 - Will it run? megathread

Cougarcat said:
You should see a big improvent if you upgrade to 4 GB of ram. In windows you should get a 15% speed boost on top of that. Your graphics card isn't the greatest, but it isn't terrible. It just can't handle the game properly at your native resolution, so you could try to bring that down. I have a 2.66 ghz iMac with that graphics card and 4 GB of Ram, and I get about 35-40 FPS in windows on medium, at 1600x1050 res.
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I've played through most of the single player campaign by now, and the only real trouble I have is the loading screens, which take about 3-5 minutes to load (just a guess).

As long as I've got nothing else running, the missions run just fine, no lagging, no problems at all, except for a little bit right as each mission starts.

Anyway, I thought that you couldn't upgrade the RAM on the aluminum iMacs w/o taking it apart. Am I mistaken?
EDIT: Just found the guide on how to do it on the Apple website. Much easier than I thought it would be.
 
Mac Model: 17" MacBook Pro (Early 2009)

Operating System: Windows 7 32-bit

Processor Speed: 2.93GHz

RAM: 4GB DDR3 1067Mhz

Video card: 9600M GT w/ 512MB VRAM

Screen resolution: 1920x1200

Default settings: Medium

Modifications to default settings: Set most to High, some remain medium




Starcraft II runs beautifully on mostly high settings at native resolution (1920x1200), a couple of things are turned off. Frame rates have been fine during large scale battles, but I've only done 2v2.

Also, I haven't played campaign yet, I hear that's were a lot of people have their problems. To me it seems this game is more CPU intensive than anything... so the 3GHz (2.93) seems to help.

I'm gonna lay off the OSX version for a while, looks like it sucks because of the terrible drivers.
 
Here's my question: I own two macs, both of which I feel have similar levels of "power." I was wondering which you guys (considering you are all way smarter than me) would recommend installing Starcraft 2 on.

Here's what I got:

A 2008 Macbook Pro with the following specs:
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 667 DDR2 SDRam (upgraded)
GeForce 8600M GT Video Care (256 MB)
Snow Leopard

And one of the brand new Mac Minis
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics


Which do you think would run Starcraft 2 better? I personally don't know if there is a negligible difference; I ran the beta on my laptop and it was decent, and I ran a little of the final game on my mini and it seemed better (but it's possible they streamlined the game between beta and release)

Thanks for any advice, I really appreciate it. :apple:

Also, I'm planning on upgrading the mini to 4gb of ram once I have money. So that could also be taken into consideration.
 
Shadowiii said:
Here's my question: I own two macs, both of which I feel have similar levels of "power." I was wondering which you guys (considering you are all way smarter than me) would recommend installing Starcraft 2 on.

Here's what I got:

A 2008 Macbook Pro with the following specs:
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 667 DDR2 SDRam (upgraded)
GeForce 8600M GT Video Care (256 MB)
Snow Leopard

And one of the brand new Mac Minis
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics


Which do you think would run Starcraft 2 better? I personally don't know if there is a negligible difference; I ran the beta on my laptop and it was decent, and I ran a little of the final game on my mini and it seemed better (but it's possible they streamlined the game between beta and release)

Thanks for any advice, I really appreciate it. :apple:

Also, I'm planning on upgrading the mini to 4gb of ram once I have money. So that could also be taken into consideration.
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The 320M is slightly more powerful than the 8600M GT, but I'm not sure how SC2 would handle the lower RAM on the Mini. Once you upgrade the Mini's memory, that should perform better all around. What resolution are you running on the Mini?

Either way, you would probably notice significantly better performance in Windows (via Bootcamp) with both of your setups.
 
jeff^d said:
The 320M is slightly more powerful than the 8600M GT, but I'm not sure how SC2 would handle the lower RAM on the Mini. Once you upgrade the Mini's memory, that should perform better all around. What resolution are you running on the Mini?

Either way, you would probably notice significantly better performance in Windows (via Bootcamp) with both of your setups.
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Thank you, this is very helpful. I'll be sure and get my resolution once I get home (typing this on my laptop from school).

Video cards confuse me, ha. I can't tell the difference between the 8600M and the 320M (just like I can't tell the difference between PC2 ram and PC3 ram, except stupid PC3 costs more). It's all just "256 MB" for me.

Gonna run it on the laptop for now, with a Windows 7 boot camp. See how that turns out. Again, much appreciated.
 
ChompChomp77 said:
There is no GMA950 Mac driver for this game yet released by Blizzard. You CAN play it on Windows via Boot Camp (I would suggest XP).
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Just want to point out because a couple of people have said things like this, that Apple, NOT nvidia or ATI or Blizzard, will have to release the driver, because it's Apple's problem, and they have the graphics drivers locked away anyway.

With Steam/Source for Mac and Starcraft 2 coming out just in the last couple months and showing so clearly how far behind the curve the OS X drivers are across the board for games, maybe, just maybe they are working on making them better. All of the hard work in optimization for gaming has been done by ATI and nvidia over the years. Apple just has to implement that knowledge in OS X. I am not holding my breath, though. I'm installing on Boot Camp. Pretty sad that I can get 40-50 fps on a mac pro/7300gt in WinXP, and only manage a crash-upon-loading in 10.6.4.
 
Mac Model: 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2008)

Operating System: Windows 7 62-bit

Processor Speed: 2.53GHz

RAM: 4GB DDR3 1067Mhz

Video card: 9600M GT w/ 512MB VRAM

Screen resolution: 1920x1200

Default settings: medium

Modifications to default settings: Set most to ultra maxed except high for texture(based on vRam)

I MUST use SMBfancontrol or it overheats and turns off. Very playable 20-30 fps. Im a quality whore. It looks awesome. Runs even smoother on native display. If things get too laggy, not too often, i drop to high settings.
 
Mac Model: MacBook Pro 13" (2010)

Operating System: OS X 10.6.4

Processor Speed: 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo

RAM: 4gb

Video card: Geforce 320m

Screen resolution: 1280x800

Default settings: low-medium I think

Modifications to default settings: Nearly everything at high excluding terrain, which I set to medium.

Playability: Average of around 18-20fps, which seems pretty smooth in this game. It's absolutely fine for me. No major slowdown with more units on screen, cutscenes run okay.
 
Mac Model: Macbook Pro Late 2006
Operating System: Mac OS 10.6.4
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
RAM: 2GB
Video card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB
Screen resolution: 1152x864
Default settings: Low
Modifications to default settings: 3D Portraits

Playability: Overall it's acceptable, but laggy during briefing (which is probably due to the SC2 bug) and at the start of a mission and sometimes with a lot of units on screen.

Im thinking about buying a new Mac but reading around this thread, i guess im out of luck if i want to play this game on ultra on OS X, except when buying the highest end Mac Pro?
 
Mac Model: Macbook Pro 6,2 (2010); Mac Pro 3,1 (2008)
Operating System: Mac OS 10.6.4
Processor Speed: i7 2.66, 2x2.8 quad-core
RAM: 8GB, 10GB
Video card: Nvidia GT 330M 512MB, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
Screen resolution:
Default settings: High
Modifications to default settings: Turned down general from high to medium, same with (I think) texture quality.

I was shocked at SC2's poor performance on the default 'High' settings. Which is to say, on both computers, that it would seem to perform fine for long stretches (with occasional annoying notes on the laptop to change my video settings)... or maybe just for a very short stretch... then just begin to choke, down to I'd guess 1/2 an FPS or so, and not recover. Some of the dialogues would play one character... long pause... second character... long pause... it was pretty excruciating.

With the settings toned down to medium (particularly, it seems, texture quality), it plays like butter. I hope the Mac performance gets some tweaking in future updates. I'll have to try it on my old MBP Core Duo 2 GHz (Radeon X1600) tonight, as well as under Windows on the first two computers.
 
ChompChomp77 said:
There is no GMA950 Mac driver for this game yet released by Blizzard. You CAN play it on Windows via Boot Camp (I would suggest XP). You have at least 3GB of RAM so it shouldn't be a problem, Windows will share more base memory up to 224MB to use with the GMA950 on this system (so long as you have at least 2GB). As with most Blizzard games this game is more CPU intensive and relies less on GPU for general playability and more so for textures and making things look prettier, but the T7200 is still an amazing CPU.
ChompChomp77 is online now Report Post Edit/Delete Message
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Why xp over 7? Does windows recognize more than 4gb ram, osx only does 3?
 
I have the game still un-opened and I'm a little hesitant to open now or return until some of the "glitches" are fixed. I'm also trying to free up some HD space in Windows...

I looked through the post and saw no setup like mine and I'm unsure of how my video card is compared with others, so I'd like to know how you think it would run on my computer:

Mac Model: Early-08 Macbook Pro
Operating System: OSX 10.6.4
Processor Speed: 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB 667Mhz DDR2
Video card: 512 MB GeForce 8600M GT


Thanks guys!
 
So i have the late 2009 White Mac Book,

Model 6,1
Intel Core 2 Duo
2.26 ghz
2 gb memory
NIVIDIA GeForce 9400
Mac OS 10.6

ya know, the basic specs of the 6,1 model...But for some reason when i pop the disk in it says i don't meet minimum req's!! Anyone know why?
 
colin10101 said:
So i have the late 2009 White Mac Book,


ya know, the basic specs of the 6,1 model...But for some reason when i pop the disk in it says i don't meet minimum req's!! Anyone know why?
Click to expand...

Do you have the latest OS X updates? Enough hard drive space?
 
CptnJustc said:
Mac Model: Macbook Pro 6,2 (2010); Mac Pro 3,1 (2008)
Operating System: Mac OS 10.6.4
Processor Speed: i7 2.66, 2x2.8 quad-core
RAM: 8GB, 10GB
Video card: Nvidia GT 330M 512MB, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
Screen resolution:
Default settings: High
Modifications to default settings: Turned down general from high to medium, same with (I think) texture quality.

I was shocked at SC2's poor performance on the default 'High' settings. Which is to say, on both computers, that it would seem to perform fine for long stretches (with occasional annoying notes on the laptop to change my video settings)... or maybe just for a very short stretch... then just begin to choke, down to I'd guess 1/2 an FPS or so, and not recover. Some of the dialogues would play one character... long pause... second character... long pause... it was pretty excruciating.

With the settings toned down to medium (particularly, it seems, texture quality), it plays like butter. I hope the Mac performance gets some tweaking in future updates. I'll have to try it on my old MBP Core Duo 2 GHz (Radeon X1600) tonight, as well as under Windows on the first two computers.
Click to expand...

Following up on this: Both computers play it great under Windows 7 and the default (high) settings, the laptop never stutters at max res. And actually, the old MBP Core Duo 2 GHz runs it just fine under the default (low) settings in OS X, and doesn't look too horrible. It's hooked up to the TV these days, so I may actually end up doing a fair bit of playing on it....
 
So running on Boot Camp will make games significant better than in OSX?

I have Boot Camp but it is Window XP, will it be much worse than Window Vista/7?

I have:
Mac Model: MacBookPro4,1 (2008)
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.8
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB Memory
Video card: GeForce 8600M GT 256MB
 
SFStateStudent said:
Just picked-up SC 2 at the local Gamestop for $60 plus tax; but I'm afraid to open the box! :eek: I'm glad I searched this forum, b/c I might take it back...:confused:
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Despite having Windows installed and being able to play it there, I still think I'll do most of my playing in OS X. Having to turn down to medium settings won't kill me (and since those are probably your default settings, you may not notice a difference). In any case, it seems OS X 10.6.4 has some video issues, and I have hope that Apple and Blizzard will be working from both ends to improve performance. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
InvalidUserID said:
I have the game still un-opened and I'm a little hesitant to open now or return until some of the "glitches" are fixed. I'm also trying to free up some HD space in Windows...

I looked through the post and saw no setup like mine and I'm unsure of how my video card is compared with others, so I'd like to know how you think it would run on my computer:

Mac Model: Early-08 Macbook Pro
Operating System: OSX 10.6.4
Processor Speed: 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB 667Mhz DDR2
Video card: 512 MB GeForce 8600M GT


Thanks guys!
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I have a late-2007 Macbook Pro, 2.4 Ghz, 4GB RAM, 8600M GT 256 MB -- just a bit less powerful than your laptop.

No problems playing the game in Windows XP (via Bootcamp) with the latest nVidia drivers. I run the game in 1440x900 (native resolution) with mostly medium settings.

Eventually I plan to upgrade to Windows 7 and Bootcamp 3.1 to take advantage of the full 4GB RAM. I don't plan to ever play the game in OS X.
 
I am a nooob and need some help. I bought my first Macbook Pro(The one that came out this year: 15inch, 2.4 i5, 4g ram, nvidia geforce gt 330m) last week and have been trying to play StarCraft 2. It set my settings to mostly high but then had a message in game about me lowering them. I lowered them to low and my comp still gets really really hot. Is this normal? Is there anything I should be doing to make the game run better? Is it normal to get really hot while playing on low (online- not sure if that makes a difference)? Sorry for the stupid questions! Thanks in advance.
 
Win7 vs XP

Is there a notable performance difference when running SC2 in windows 7 vs xp?

I have a copy of xp but I don't yet own windows 7 and I'm curious. Thanks!
 
Mac Model: 2009 13" MBP

Operating System: 10.6.4

Processor Speed: 2.53GHz

RAM: 4GB

Video card: 256MB NVidia 9400M

Screen resolution: Game playing on external monitor at 1080p

Settings: I'm using the settings recommended from here for my mac
Playability: It can get a bit laggy with a lot of action for if your just building your base and having small battles its fine.
 
iAlexG said:
Settings: I'm using the settings recommended from here for my mac
Click to expand...

Ahhh, thanks for that link. I'm not sure how speculative this is:

Right now, the Mac client is seeing some pretty major performance issues due to bugs with both the nVidia graphics drivers in 10.6.4. Snow Leopard, and a bug within Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

The Shaders, Lighting, Shadow options eat up all of the available video memory, or VRAM, very quickly. This results in the computer paging out to the standard RAM and to the Hard Drive to store the shader details, which is much slower than VRAM. This makes the game slow to a crawl.

I personally recommend capping the frame rate of Starcraft 2 so your computer doesn't overwork itself, wasting resources on the shaders, leaking all of the VRAM and overheating itself in the process. See below in "Things to Know Before Changing Any Settings" for more information on how to do this.

Blizzard, Apple, and nVidia are aware of these two issues, along with others, and are each working on fixes for their respective bugs.

For now, I recommend capping the frame rate of the game.
Click to expand...

But it seems to fit my experience, in which modest changes in video settings can produce dramatic changes in performance.
 
I had a few questions. I'm using a pretty old iMac 5,1. Right now, it needs more RAM to run Starcraft 2. How well would Starcraft 2 run on 3GB? I'm a little reluctant to shell out the cash for 4GB (at the moment, I have 1.5GB).

Also, I have a ATI Radeon X1600 graphics card, which meets the minimum requirements. Everything else on my computer is minimum or better. Assuming I used low or medium end settings, would I be able to run the game reasonably well (as in, not suffer constant slowdowns)? Thanks.
 
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