StarCraft II GPU Performance Comparison

Conclusion: Choices, Choices..

With StarCraft II right around the corner, there is bound to be an upsurge in the number of people looking for a new graphics cards. If anything, we hope this relatively short article gave you some idea about what you can expect in terms of performance from some of today’s most popular upgrade solutions. While some may be thinking the StarCraft is a pushover when it comes to GPU needs, Blizzard’s history has shown that future upgrades will likely include significant advancements to their graphics engine. There are so many choices currently out there so finding that perfect GPU which performs well now and has enough overhead for possible game upgrades isn’t easy.

There was a major problem with our tests but it ended up being a good eye-opener as well. The main issue here is the fact that we are seeing performance comparisons on paper and in chart form so the differences from one product to the next sometimes look significant. Truthfully, unless you are playing on a massive 30” screen, it’s highly unlikely that you would actually “feel” the difference between $200 GTX 460 768MB and a $500 GTX 480 in this game. The fact that a lowly HD 5750 is able to provide a perfectly stable gameplay experience all the way up to 2560 x 1600 at Ultra High details proves Blizzard’s statement that StarCraft II will have no issue being played by a large cross-section of the market. If anything, this game shows that you don’t need to spend an absolute fortune on a graphics card upgrade to get the best possible experience. The mark of a good game for a broad range of users is a small fluctuation between the average and minimum framerates. StarCraft displayed exactly this.


When it came to overall performance, there is no doubt that NVIDIA’s cards are able to run away with the show at anything under 2560 x 1600 resolution. When the higher resolution is used, the competition heats up and ATI’s higher end cards are able to stage a comeback to put them almost within reach of the GTX 480 and GTX 470. Both these ATI products also show that higher efficiency can lead to some serious considerations on a performance per watt level as well. Lower down in the price ranges things are all firmly in NVIDIA’s hands with the GTX 460 cards but this category also leads to the biggest disappointments. The GTX 465 and HD 5830 are truly dogs when compared to the rest of the field; they are both either too power hungry or too expensive and never really compete from any viewpoint.

This actually leads us to our recommendation: the GTX 460 1GB. It offers the perfect balance of overall performance, power consumption and price. Even if Blizzard rolls out a number of patches which add increased image quality, this card still has the overhead necessary to continue delivering performance in spades long into the update life of StarCraft II. It also has the ability to use NVIDIA’s anti aliasing override in order to give the game that extra eye candy punch versus the competition. As we said in its original review: the GTX 460 1GB is literally the perfect card for today’s market and its performance in StarCraft II just shows this once again.