I would like to know how the low settings on a computer compare to normal xbox graphics and mechanics. The reason i ask is because my woman owns an imac with decent specs except the graphics/video card, its a nvidia geforce 9400. Im not really tech savvy but it seems like that card would only run on low settings and i wonder if low settings are even worth playing at all. If xbox is smoother and better looking then the low settings, i'll stick with xbox but i really want mods and an imac unfortunately cant be upgraded.

I apologize if general is the wrong place to ask but since this involves both pc and xbox, i didnt know the proper place to ask....thanks for any help

the Xbox 360 version of Skyrim has a mix of the low, medium and high quality textures available on PC (mainly medium). it's also locked at 30 FPS, so even with a mid-end graphics card she'll probably end up enjoying it on PC a lot more.

with the SkyUI mod installed + KB+M>>>Dualshock 3/ Xbox 360 Controllers by a WIDE margin.

the graphics in the xbox are set has average and PC well PC IS A PC

Well here is a video with someone playing the game with a 9400 on low settings.

The rest of his specs are in the description,compare them to your imac.Obviously because of the low bit rate on youtube it will look at better then in the video,also alot smother without fraps.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXOvhcBo0LY

I tried it on my 2008 iMac, which has a Nvidia 8800 GTS, and it ran like crap on low and looked horrible; whereas I could max out Oblivion. Mind you, the HDD is fading fast, so that may have something to do with it.

personally it looks better on the xbox, but for that graphics card the game ran incredible smooth and the graphics though on low settings were still good imo

Consoles are generally medium-ish settings. They also lack any proper AA, AF, are locked to 30fps and generally have noticeable screen tearing.

However, low settings in this game are rather impressive for the worst setting. I'd not risk it though, there's nothing more annoying than low FPS in a great game.

First off, a 360 can't be upgraded either and the graphics won't change even if a newer Xbox comes out because the graphics on the 360 disk are fixed. However, if you decide to get a better PC later on with better graphics and processor, you'll really see a difference without having to do anything more than re-install the game again on your new PC. Even with your Imac, the graphics should still be better than Xbox, I find that the low resolution of a TV means it's often hard to read text and see small icons, high resolution PC screen means much sharper pictures, clearer text and more definitive icons.

I have a friend downstairs in the apartments who plays Skyrim on a 360 and it really is hard to see some things on his TV, especially the quest arrows on the compass and the icons on the map due to the lower resolution. I really have to strain my eyes sometimes to see what is on the screen.

Horizontal res of NTSC = 486 lines is comparable to a 640x480 resolution, (I had DOS based games in the early 80's that ran at that resolution). Now compare that to the resolution of your PC monitor which is probably 768 horizontal at the least (if it's not wide screen - 1024x768), over 1.5x more horizontal resolution or probably even higher than that. If you have a 17 or 19 inch widescreen monitor you could probably go to 1440x900 or even 1920x1080. You can see straight away that the picture will be much sharper and clearer on a PC monitor.

What you would have to probably consider is the Imac processor rather than the graphics. However, if it has a Geforce 9400, there's a good chance the processor will be enough to handle Skyrim with low(ish) settings which will still look far better than the Xbox.

yea that looks like garbage compared to my xbox on my tv....i think that just answered my question thanks, playing on such low quality with high risks of lag and CTD would be more trouble then mods are worth.

Is your friend playing on a old tube tv? My hdtv is decent so skyrim looks good on it, xbox issues aside.

As for the processor and other specs on this imac they are:
3.06 ghz intel core 2 duo
4gb 1067mhz DDR3

Nvidia geforece 9400, 256mb VRAM

Like i said I'm not tech savvy but from what i hear the graphics card and 256mb VRAM aren't good enough to run skyrim on anything but the lowest settings.
I like mods and PC capabilities (jealous of the CK) but i also like my skyrim to look like a modern game and not ps1 graphics with lots of lag and whatnot.

Modern console games (such as Skyrim) are 1280x720, and text and interface elements are quite clear. Is your friend downstairs using a modern television?

Your friend's TV must really svck.

I can't use a keyboard and mouse for gaming so I disagree there, but you're pretty right on everything else.

The game is only blurry if on a sdtv. Reading text is a non-issue with a hdtv. I experienced both while playing Oblivion on PS3. It was as if I just put on a pair of glasses and everything was much clearer, after upgrading.

The increased fps was one of the first things that I noticed while switching from xbox 360 to pc.

This. My 19" HDTV displays everything very clearly, and it looked even better when I saw my brother playing on my parents 50" viera...

I'm sorry, but "far better"? All I got from those two words was "I'm wrong". I'm not fan of Skyrim on Xbox, I just recently upgraded to PC gaming and I find no bigger enjoyment than playing Skyrim maxed out with a few graphical mods but I do still own a copy of Skyrim on the Xbox and it's equivalent to at least mid graphics, if not just slightly lower and I played both on a 22" gaming PC monitor.

That won't work. The minimum spec for Skyrim is 512Mb and even that is loooooow.


My old box has a GTX 8800 with 768Mb and i'm tempted to test if it can run Skyrim ...

It'd work, trust me.
I can play Skyrim just fine with my Nvidia geforce 7800GS (256mb) .

yea but how bad does it look and run? also do you use mods? i've heard mods need more ram to run smooth

For texture mods, sure more Vram is required. But in general, no mods dont need extra system ram or vram if they are done right. Maybe a few script heavy mods that require multiple NPC's would work better with more Vram but its not a gaurantee.

Almost all equipment and weapon mods use high rez textures. The more of those you add the more of a hit on performance you will see. That always caused issues for me on Oblivion, Fallout 3, and NV.

Weapon and armor textures tend to be much lighter than the more expansive graphics mods, such as world re-textures or HD packs. I used a boatload of weapon mods in Oblivion with only a 256 vram card and 2gb of ram with no problems in performance. The only time I saw any slowdown was with qarls texture pack. It would have to be extremely detailed textures of a very high resolution in a large quantity before you would really start to notice slowdowns for their usage.

Just get the XBOX version ffs.
You'll get a solid 720p native, 30fps game that has been configured to run exactly as it should, and is one of the nicest console looking games around. (believe me it looks great)

Yea, you could it on the imac. You'll fiddle with resolutions, anti-aliasing, anti-scrolobogawogaphrilic settings, texture qualities, DOF, FOV, and you MIGHT get it running slightly better than the XBOX version.
Then you'll think "Oooooh, let's try and get a higher resolution out of this imac". You'll switch to 1980 x 1080 and find your framerate has dropped to 15fps while walking outside, but inside dungeons it's steaming at 35fps.
PC gaming is more of a D.I.Y experience and can be hit-and-miss unless you have a high-spec machine and you know exactly what you want.
You don't sound like a hardcoe PC elitist, so just get the safe, solid, easy and beautiful xbox version.

Yeah I really should have mentioned that earlier, I agree with the 360 version decision. That iMac is pants for gaming to be frank.

I think it looks a bit worse than it does on the 360. I also had to try different settings to make it look ok without causing the game to lag too badly. The settings I now use are medium texture quality, medium shadow detail, low radial blurr quality and antialiasing is set to 4 samples. I also fiddled with the display settings ingame to ensure that people and items don't seem to pop into existance when I'm a mere 4 feet away from them.

I use a lot of mods (30 or so are activated at the moment) but so far, none have given me any trouble. Some of the mods I use are Cloaks of Skyrim, better dynamic snow, better static meshes, various armour and weapon mods, the dragon falls manor, horse armour, follower overhaul, UNP body, new hairstyles and eyes - you get the picture.

One thing I will say though, is that my graphics card seems to have a lot of difficulty with spell and lighting effects. It doesn't lag, I simply can't see some things. Frostbite for example. The frost effect itself is visible, but the blueish jet of light is not. The lights in the Mzulft Oculory are another good example, they were so pale that I didn't even notice them at first. They weren't completely invisible, so I was able to solve the puzzle, but no bright impressive jets of light anywhere to be seen, and I haven't been able to fix that.

There's also some mild lag when I first enter some ruins or caves, Nchuand Zel caused mild lag upon first entering the great cavern with the water below for example, but the lag stopped after a while and it wasn't the kind of lag that makes you think the game is going to crash. I could still run and even perform a backflip (another mod) in time while fighting the Falmer.

To sum it up, graphics are slightly worse than 360 graphics, mild lag from time to time (mostly in ruins and caves), mods work fine and do not cause additional lag as far as I can tell.

My specs are nvidia geforce 7800GS(256mb), 3GB RAM, intel core 2 6300 (1.86gHz).

thanks for sharing. What you and others have said verified what i thought..that i get pc capabilities at the cost of graphics, lag, etc. I like to create so i wanted mods and the CK but i'll stick with using her mac for garageband