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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: elbowglue on Sat, 01 May 2010, 15:50:51

Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: elbowglue on Sat, 01 May 2010, 15:50:51
This might be old news... but they are sending out beta tester codes by email for people who pre-order Starcraft 2 from Gamestop or Amazon.

One good way to do it at gamestop is this:
Put diablo 3 preorder in your cart (59.99), put starcraft 2 wings of liberty in your cart (59.99) apply code 25off, send your order.  After your order is confirmed, cancel the diablo 3 preorder.  It ended up with Starcraft 2 preorder for me for 49 dollars with free shipping, tax was included (I live in california).

Edit:  Beta code was initially avail, now it's gone thanks!


Time for a good game for your black cherry keyboard eh?
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 01 May 2010, 16:20:33
That's ironic; I just got a keycode from a friend who I don't know that well. Downloading it...

Time to game on a real IBM-PC.

Quote
My System Specifications:
    * Operating system:Windows 2.6.1.7600 ()
    * CPU type:              Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
    * CPU Speed (GHz):3.411
    * System memory (GB):2.999
    * Graphics card model:NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400/4400
    * Graphics card driver:nvd3dum.dll
    * Desktop resolution:1280x1024
    * Hard disk size (GB):93.365
    * Hard disk free space (GB):89.633

It was on my SATA so it interestingly enough ignored my SCSI. AND don't say it, yes I know quadros are not for games, people keep nagging at me about that all the time.

Anyone else getting the beta? I wouldn't mind some AT or solo against a few people. I'm also alpha testing stronghold kingdoms; but that'll be small cheese compared to SC2.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 01 May 2010, 16:42:02
AFAIK, it's pretty easy to turn a Quadro into a GeForce by changing some settings in the driver installer. There's no physical difference between them, it's all to do with the driver optimizations.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: zwmalone on Sat, 01 May 2010, 17:22:57
Hey that wasn't a scam, it worked just fine =P
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: Viett on Sat, 01 May 2010, 17:45:48
I already have a beta key. Been playing it all week. I figure I'll preorder the game when they actually announce a release date.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: kishy on Sat, 01 May 2010, 17:47:23
Quote from: ripster;177906

Show Image
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=9592&stc=1&d=1272749489)


Until I scrolled past the neck, I thought this was Steve Perry from Journey. Weird.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: iMav on Sat, 01 May 2010, 19:24:37
I preordered from gamestop and have been playing for a few days.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 01 May 2010, 22:02:11
Well I've just prematurely finished my SC2 game. The game crashed on me! Maybe it was because my Quardo FX was running over 80 Celsius, but still. I hate that graphics card actually; SC2 doesn't recognize it.

Bloody programmers, can't prevent a damn game from crashing. I was winning too! Playing as protoss.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 01 May 2010, 22:09:18
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=9602&stc=1&d=1272769674)

There's a screenshot of the temps. Didn't know the CPU was at 55 Celsius, doesn't normally run that hot.

ANYWAYS, the issue is something up with the drivers; windows update made an error and couldn't install the driver, so I had to manually, and everything is still messed up. Ugh....

I'm not getting an nvidia card ever again.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: ricercar on Sun, 02 May 2010, 16:42:32
NVIDIA GPUs are rated FAR higher than 80°C. You have to get over 120°C to start making a good chip fail. If you're having problems at 80°C, you need to consider bad video RAMs, inadequate thermal system, or even a nonThermally-failed GPU (for example drivers as you guess).

In what manner does your video fail? Describe the artifacts or post a screen dump. I should be able to distinguish between bad GPU and bad video RAM for you, if those are your failure points.

bad pixels (shimmering, wrong color, wrong texture) on rendered objects = bad GPU.
bad pixels forming relative to your display positioning = bad RAMs.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 02 May 2010, 16:53:56
Quote from: ricercar;178251
NVIDIA GPUs are rated FAR higher than 80°C. You have to get over 120°C to start making a good chip fail. If you're having problems at 80°C, you need to consider bad video RAMs, inadequate thermal system, or even a nonThermally-failed GPU (for example drivers as you guess).

In what manner does your video fail? Describe the artifacts or post a screen dump. I should be able to distinguish between bad GPU and bad video RAM for you, if those are your failure points.

bad pixels (shimmering, wrong color, wrong texture) on rendered objects = bad GPU.
bad pixels forming relative to your display positioning = bad RAMs.

Or how about the screen going black, resetting, and a tray icon telling me the nvidia driver failed? The GPU is fine, it's windows' fault.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: ricercar on Sun, 02 May 2010, 17:27:56
That's the NVIDIA driver. I hate it when I upgrade from a solid driver to a bad one.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: iMav on Sun, 02 May 2010, 23:20:08
Started playing with the Mac beta client yesterday.  It's been pretty solid for me on my 13.3" MBP.
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: EverythingIBM on Mon, 03 May 2010, 01:12:04
Quote from: iMav;178348
Started playing with the Mac beta client yesterday.  It's been pretty solid for me on my 13.3" MBP.


Well I'm sure you macbook pro wasn't made in 2005 ;)
Title: Starcraft 2 beta code with purchase from amazon / gamestop
Post by: iMav on Mon, 03 May 2010, 14:37:18
Quote from: EverythingIBM;178361
Well I'm sure you macbook pro wasn't made in 2005 ;)
Correct.  My MBP is currently one refresh old.

Regardless, the Mac client appears to be pretty solid thus far.