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StarCraft 2 System Requirements Revealed

A Spanish gaming magazine, Micromania, has conducted an interview with Blizzard reps while visiting their headquarters. The only new information that’s been gathered is these system requirements for StarCraft 2 (read on for the translation).

StarCraft 2 system requirements

Minumum Requirements
GFX: GeForce 7/8 Series or Radeon 1000/2000 with 256 MB RAM
CPU: Pentium 4
RAM: 1 GB
Internet: ADSL 1 Mbit

Recommended Requirements
GFX: GeForce 8000 or Radeon 2000 series with 512 MB RAM
CPU: Core 2 Duo or Athlon X2.
RAM: 2 GB
Internet: ADSL 3 Mbit

Optimal Requirements
GFX: Geforce 9000er or Radeon 3000er Series
CPU: Core 2 Duo 3 GHz or Athlon X2
RAM: 2GB with DualChannel mode

Blizzard games usually do not require high end computers, and it looks like StarCraft 2 will not be an exception. Many gamers already possess systems that surpass the recommended requirements and some even the optimal ones. As well, buying a StarCraft 2-capable computer should not require emptying one’s savings account.

The graphic requirements have increased from those that have been leaked during Blizzard’s recent visit to Korea and China, and it seems like the game will now require a Pixel Shader 3.0 capable video card.

It’s interesting to note that the distinction between “minimal” and “recommended” also includes a 2 Mbit difference in connection bandwidth. We already know StarCraft 2 and Battle.Net 2.0 will feature built in VoIP support, but a 1Mbit connection should suffice for that. Does Blizzard hold more surprises in store?

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39 Comments to “StarCraft 2 System Requirements Revealed”


  1. George — May 22, 2008 @ 11:42 am

    Honk if your computer beats the optimal recommendations
    HONK

  2. martix — May 22, 2008 @ 12:22 pm

    Damn, it seems I will need to upgrade, to run on Max…
    HONK(future tense) :P

  3. Johan — May 22, 2008 @ 12:40 pm

    a new graphic card and i will play smooth :) or maybe my gf 8800 will work.

  4. Anonymous — May 22, 2008 @ 1:50 pm

    Looks like dad will have to get me a new computer for Xmas!

    ……Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!

  5. WayneInc — May 22, 2008 @ 3:22 pm

    found a reason to buy 4 gb ram…

  6. Ken — May 22, 2008 @ 3:35 pm

    ….can anyone find out if my computer is capable?? Its HP Pavilion dv6753cl (dv6000 series)….Its Intel Centrino Duo Core, Vista, and it has 155GB memory left… Im sorry, but i dont know crap about system requirements….I would really appreciate it if you would take you time and find out for me….Thank you…

  7. Ken — May 22, 2008 @ 3:36 pm

    …its a laptop by the way

  8. Ken — May 22, 2008 @ 3:42 pm

    Microprocessor: 1.83 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5550 featuring Intel Centrino Processor Technology
    Microprocessor Cache: 2 MB L2 Cache
    Memory: 2048 MB (2 x 1024 MB)
    Memory Max: Up to 4 GB
    Video Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
    Video Memory: Up to 358 MB
    Hard Drive: 250 GB (5400 rpm)

    i got more info about my computer. will this be minimal, recommended or optimal requirements?

  9. St4lk3r — May 22, 2008 @ 3:53 pm

    1 gb bandwith to play over battle.net?

    Guess that the countries without affordable dsl of over 512 kbps are screwed… me included…

    Most internet’s and cyber cofees here have less than 2 Gb of bandwith, what is worse is that home users have an average of 128 kbps…

    life sucks, doesnt it? :(

  10. Ken — May 22, 2008 @ 4:05 pm

    OMG i have 54.0Mbps on my wireless….will it work for SC2?

  11. Anonymous — May 22, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

    Ken, you don’t have 54 megabytes per second. That’s like a T3. Ask your dad if your computer will cut it, if not, then…. buy a Mac!!! XD

  12. Kane — May 22, 2008 @ 4:29 pm

    You’re confusing bits with bytes. 1Mbit isn’t that much (you’ll download files at ~125kbps). I’m sure you’ll still be able to play with less, though – you might just not be able to use the more advanced features, but hell if you wouldn’t be able to play a game.

    Ken, your laptop won’t cut it because of your intergrated video card. You need something more robust.

  13. THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC — May 22, 2008 @ 6:02 pm

    The viewer comments to this article are funny! LOL George!

    What happened to the idea of the game being able to be played at, as some reader wrote, “any inner-city middle school computer?”

    The internet requirements seem a bit high for an RTS.

  14. St4lk3r — May 22, 2008 @ 8:54 pm

    mmm… I got confused… 1 Mbps connections… not Gbps :P

    I think that the people who translated the article, didn’t translate it well, where it says: Conexion: Sin un adsl te quedaras fuera de las partidas online, in English it its: “Without a ADSL you won’t be able to play online” or something similar… and in the part of “Nivel Recomendado” it says a connection of 3 Gb… and i don’t think that kind connection is available for many of us… maybe they where mistaken and confused Gb with Mb… (like id id :) )

    I only hope my 128 kbps connection will suffice…

  15. Arthur Santana — May 22, 2008 @ 10:27 pm

    Die Intel! Die!

  16. Johan — May 23, 2008 @ 3:28 am

    100mbit = 10mb/s
    10mbit = 1mb/s
    1mbit = 100kb/s

  17. Anon — May 23, 2008 @ 10:41 am

    Johan: It’s better to write it correctly. Mega is abbreviated M (capital M), m in lowercase is milli. Bytes are abbreviated B (capital B).

  18. Atican — May 23, 2008 @ 11:16 am

    “i got more info about my computer. will this be minimal, recommended or optimal requirements?”

    Your video card definitely *does not* meet the minimum requirements (by a long shot). You will need an upgrade.

  19. Rob — May 23, 2008 @ 11:19 am

    guys forget these system requirements! Blizzard just denied that they are true! I read it on a german gaming site:
    http://www.pcgames.de/?article_id=644612
    i translate the statement:
    “They [the requirements] are not from us. They are not true. We did not announce any official system requirements for SC2 so far”

    cheers

  20. Joe — May 23, 2008 @ 2:13 pm

    Yea, it kind of feels like sc2blog jumped the gun on this one! I’ll wait until the game comes out before trusting system requirement specs. PC game development can technically fall back on requesting higher requirements if they can’t compromise quality for optimization. Publicly announcing your system requirements early just puts you in a bind. I’m sure blizzard could handle it, but it just isn’t a smart move.

  21. Nattaboy — May 23, 2008 @ 3:05 pm

    Oh God, I cant believe im degenerating into SPAM…

  22. ken park — May 23, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

    AMEN!!!! Please make my stupid integregated graphics card from intel work!!! YESHH I have hope now!!! Screwwww micromania or whatever. Down with intel graphic card, but amen to Rob. God bless you for finding out…T.T

  23. Atican — May 23, 2008 @ 7:22 pm

    Dude, an integrated graphics card won’t run shit… it’s for basic media, not games. It doesn’t matter that those aren’t the real requirements. Your card won’t cut it. :[

  24. Anonymous — May 29, 2008 @ 9:03 pm

    Ohhhhhhh God!! Now i hve reason to upgrade hehe

  25. SUP — July 30, 2008 @ 3:49 pm

    My spec Q6700 @ 2.6 GHZ (STOCK)
    ATI 512MB 4850 HD VISIONTEK STOCK
    6GB RAM
    750HD
    19inchLCD

    GGED

  26. Ken — August 17, 2008 @ 7:32 pm

    CPU: Core 2 Duo 3 GHz or Athlon X2
    ============
    Does it mean SC2 will support multicore processors?

  27. boored121 — January 23, 2009 @ 6:13 pm

    my computer has:
    Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86 GHZ
    2GB RAM
    32 bit operating system
    Nvidia Geforce 8600 GTS
    (im not that good when it comes to CPU info)

    will it work? even if its not on max settings

  28. zdenka — July 11, 2009 @ 4:40 am

    Well i gues i will be the only one on this planet that wont be able to play such a great game as starcraft 2 for i have the most lame pc in whole wide world check it:

    i have only 512 mb ram

    AMD athlon(tm) XP 1500+
    1.29 ghz
    I dont belive i have to post any other info since i belive you allready have the picture.A calculator is better the this god damm pc.Iven if the system requairments havnt been comfirmd i am shure positive that this piece of trash cant handel it.

  29. Sean — July 31, 2009 @ 4:07 pm

    Well, Zdenka… while i am now utilizing an equaly frustrating computer that is someone elses… mine is actually worse…
    hows about these winning specs…
    “the technology of tomorrow!”
    win98, 3Gig HD, 512Kb cache, 100Mhz buss, 4Mb 100MHz SGRAM, 100 Mhz Sync DRAM, and a 2x AGP graphics setup.
    Now THATS High Def.
    …If your Def… High.
    As for the jumping the gun… thats a FAIL as epic as my specs here.
    I miss my 2560/1600 set up, and my projector…. /sigh
    /shotgunblasttomyface

  30. 300 — September 5, 2009 @ 10:00 pm

    Should i get a mac with(2.553 processor, Gforce 9400) or a pc(2.9GH processor, radeon hd 4670)?

  31. Xecutor — September 22, 2009 @ 12:51 pm

    Get a PC. Waaay cheaper for performance. I recently built an $822 CAD PC with these features:

    - AMD Phenom II x4 940 (Black Edition) @ 3.0GHz (Unlocked multiplier) 6MB L3 cache and Hypertransport tech
    - MSI 790GX (X-fire enabled) Mobo with support for upto 16Gb DDR2 @ 1660MHz – Lots of expandabililty
    - 4GB OCZ-SLI DDR2 RAM – PC6400 @ 800MHz
    - 500GB HDD – Western Digital 7200 RPM SATA
    - ATI radeon HD4770 512 GDDR3
    - ULTRA 750W PSU Dual 12V+ rails w/ 38A rating
    - NZXT Tempest case (comes with 6 fans incl)

    Go buy a Mac with all that and you will pay > $1500, blindly speaking. If you’re getting a PC, you will pay a lot less and you will definitely be able to play SC2 at full settings.

    If you have the money, you can always sub the HD4770 for an NVIDIA GTX260 core 216 that costs about $200.

    Oh, and for any sys req you find right now, don’t trust em till Blizzard says something. However, just know that Blizzard has confirmed they will be using pixel shader 2.0 in their engine, so you have a guesstimate of what you’re aiming for.

    For measure, the game Crysis uses Pix-S 2.0 and Crysis warhead uses Pix-S 3.0

    Just my 2 cents.

  32. Lo4eath — October 1, 2009 @ 12:10 pm

    I think i’ll be pretty fine with this…

    Intel Core i7 2.8 GHz
    GeForce 9800GTX 512 MB
    6GB DDR3 RAM
    …. chill

  33. Paul — November 9, 2009 @ 2:01 am

    Who here thinks a RADEON HD 4670 will run StarCraft2 at full specs :-D

    accompanied by i7 intel 720Q, 6gb ddr3 & 1333mhz ram?

    Someone please say yes so I can sleep at night peacefully lol!

  34. George — November 9, 2009 @ 5:01 am

    You’ll be juuuuust fine. :)

  35. Paul — November 9, 2009 @ 5:42 am

    LOLLL Why am I not convinced?

  36. George — November 9, 2009 @ 6:19 am

    I don’t know. Maybe your brain is malfunctioning.

  37. Paul — November 10, 2009 @ 1:05 pm

    I would be so happy if a Mobility HD4670 will run StarCraft2 at full specs at 1080p res…

    AHHHH

  38. Dannick — February 13, 2010 @ 10:25 pm

    AMD Phenom 2×4 965
    4Gb of DDR3 RAM
    Hopefully going to get a 5850 anytime soon.

    Should be fine right guys?

  39. jarmanator — February 19, 2010 @ 6:59 pm

    2.5 GHz Intel core 2 duo
    2Gb DDR 2 ram
    NVidia 8600m GT 512Mb

    Should be fine…….:D

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