I have been using a mac for recording and audio for over a decade. Needless to say, my computer gaming experiences have been limited to say the least. I plan on catching up on a bunch of juicy RPGs I have missed out on over the last ten years, and even play some old favourites with mods - like Morrowind.

Also Skyrim. I have a few questions though. I don't have too much money to sink into a rig right now, so I am ending up with a core i5 with 8 gigs of DDR3 ram, and a gtx560. I get absolutely lost with trying to figure out how my system would run Skyrim. Can I get a rough guess?

Also, how do I know what screen resolution to play at? My monitor is an Acer al2016w for now. I thought it was a 23", but everything I search only turns up a 20" model, so maybe it is that. Again, I apologize for my noobiness.

What is a good framerate to shoot for, and how do I know what my framerate is?

I buy Morrowind and Skyrim on Steam, right?

If buy them on Steam, are they compatible with user mods? Probably a stupid question, but remember, I have been on a platform that does now support these games, let alone the mods for over ten years.

Thanks in advance.

For buying help: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1440306-the-community-tech-thread-no-125-quasquicentennial-edition/

For resolution, best to play at your native (that is, the same as your monitor's). The Display Information/Settings section of the Windows System Settings Dialogues/Control Panel will tell you this if you don't already know.

Anything consistent.

Either in a store or Steam. Skyrim uses Steamworks, so it's tied in to Steam no matter what version you buy.