StarCraft II: PC requirements and the PC you need

About StarCraft II

StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment, first released in 2010. You build bases, gather resources and command armies of the Terran, Zerg or Protoss in a war set in a distant part of the galaxy. There are story campaigns, online battles against other players and co-op missions with a friend. It is free to play. It needs very little power, as the makers recommend a GTX 650 or HD 7790 and 4 GB of memory, so any of our gaming PCs plays it perfectly.

What StarCraft II needs

In plain words: to play at all it needs almost any graphics, even the graphics built into the processor, and to play it well the makers suggest basic graphics: built-in graphics on a modern processor, or an old entry-level card, with 4GB of memory.

A low-spec PC or a high-spec PC?

This is a light game: almost any of our gaming PCs will run it comfortably at high settings.

On a PC that only just meets the minimum, the game will start and play, but on low settings: simpler shadows and textures, shorter view distances and fewer frames each second, so fast moments can feel less smooth. A 1080p screen is the sensible match.

On a PC that meets or beats the recommended spec, you can turn the settings up: sharper textures, proper shadows and lighting, more detail in the distance, and a smoother picture. A stronger PC also lets you use a sharper 1440p or high-refresh screen.

Questions about StarCraft II on PC

How we match: we compare the graphics card and the memory in each PC with the makers' spec, because those decide most of how a game runs. For very new or demanding games, ask us and we will check the processor too. More help: graphics cards explained, how much RAM, which screen.