[Nina Mccormick]

Although the Geforce 9n00 graphics card generation is less affected, the drivers from June, 2009, and newer have frequently been incompatible with a variety of games when used with older model nVIDIA cards. We've seen this very often with 8800s and 8600s, and less frquently with 9800s and 9600s, but it has happened.

Tell us what your power supply brand name and model ID are, with the wattage, and your default screen resolution, with the date of and ID data on your graphics drivers.

P. S. Oops! Almost forgot, but the Windows OS affects drivers, so which which service pack number?

SP1 and the PS is an Antec Earthwatts (?) EA-500 500w, it should be enough since i've been playing alot of games on this same hardware for a while now.

[celebrity]

Hi, i'm currious, can i run the game at all with my Geforce 9600 GT ? or do i need an upgrade? I got it up and running but it crashers when i load start a new game.
It crashes when i'm in the loading screen

Other than the 9600 GT i'm sporting:
Phenom 2 975 Black Edition
8G ram
Gigabyte AM3 (and the sound device on it)
Win 7 64*

Although the Geforce 9n00 graphics card generation is less affected, the drivers from June, 2009, and newer have frequently been incompatible with a variety of games when used with older model nVIDIA cards. We've seen this very often with 8800s and 8600s, and less frquently with 9800s and 9600s, but it has happened.

Tell us what your power supply brand name and model ID are, with the wattage, and your default screen resolution, with the date of and ID data on your graphics drivers.

P. S. Oops! Almost forgot, but the Windows OS affects drivers, so which which service pack number?

SP1 and the PS is an Antec Earthwatts (?) EA-500 500w, it should be enough since i've been playing alot of games on this same hardware for a while now.

Wait. Drivers? Driver dates? Resolution?

[Queen Bitch]

EDIT:
Hells yeah, got it running. What i did was just defrag the hdd, made a fresh install of the ga,e and rebooted the system and it all worked out fine. Weird.
Thanks anyways guys

Oh yeah, sorry.
I have the latest drivers for everything, i'm running at 1024 as it is right now, and i can't seem to get any others to choose from exept for 800*600 in windowed mode.

[Nicole Kraus]

It certainly sounds as though there is a driver problem. The "latest" driver, as warned, just may be "too new", so you will probably have to experiment with older drivers (tell the OS' Device Manager that the 9600 GT has been removed, it will uninstall the current driver to let you install an older version, then try the game with that, if it doesn't work, rinse, repeat again still older, and if two close together steps haven't done it, jump back 5-6 versions at a time).

[Andrew Tarango]

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1045T @2.7GHz
RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @669MHz
GPU: 1GB GeForce GTX 560 Ti (OEM)
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 600W

I think that's enough to run on Ultra, but my GPU temperature sometimes exceeds 80 Celsius and I lag a bit when in object-heavy areas. Am I pushing it too far?

[Monika]

Sapphire is decent hardware, although they don't offer the level of support that Asus does. If you do choose the Asus HD 6670, don't use either the "Doctor" or the "OSD" software it will come with. Find someone else's if you need what those programs are supposed to do, as they conflict with too many games, including this one, Skyrim.

See, this is why I am a moron when it comes to computers. I can now play skyrim on (default) ultra high settings with 16-40 FPS in towns (doesn't go below 16 unless i spin around really fast) with changing only one thing on my computer...hooking it into the blue cable slot thats horizontal compared to the integrated radeon 3000 that is vertical. I am flabbergausted that this happened. For the longest time I used the white cable I had because it didn't fit in the horizontal slot. I was just checking my computer to get the power wattage before I bought a card and also to clean it for dust when I realized I had a second slot entirely, so I said why the hell not and plugged the blue cable into it (since, like i said, the white one isn't a match). Low and behold, my monitor actually shows windows starting up, because before it would only show once I'm on the desktop which I always thought was rather weird) and when I ran skyrim and clicked default, it put everything at max with 1600x900 resolution. My jaw dropped when it ran just fine. Looks gorgeous and not too bad on frame rate.

I am [censored] STUNNED. I always wondered why I had two display adapters...the other one is HD 5700 series. I also effectively wasted $65 for ps3 version, since I originally got PC one for $15 from gift cards + trade ins. Sorry for wasting your time, now I can finally play on PC LOL

[Amy Siebenhaar]

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1045T @2.7GHz
RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @669MHz
GPU: 1GB GeForce GTX 560 Ti (OEM)
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 600W

I think that's enough to run on Ultra, but my GPU temperature sometimes exceeds 80 Celsius and I lag a bit when in object-heavy areas. Am I pushing it too far?

If the GPU is above 75, check for blocked ventilation, under-driven fan settings, dust bunnies, bent or chipped fan blades on anything, etc. Never blame software for the things that hardware should automatically take care of on its own. This game is more of a CPU-bound critter than GPU, so a lot of anything on screen, that slow-down is often the CPU. If it's not excessive, I'd leave things as is, after making sure of the cooling. The split between "High" settings and "Ultra" is somewhere between the GTX 460 and your card.

[Sarah Edmunds]

See, this is why I am a moron when it comes to computers. I can now play skyrim on (default) ultra high settings with 16-40 FPS in towns I was just checking my computer to get the power wattage before I bought a card and also to clean it for dust when I realized I had a second slot entirely, so I said why the hell not and plugged the blue cable into it , my monitor actually shows windows starting up, because before it would only show once I'm on the desktop which I always thought was rather weird) and when I ran skyrim and clicked default, it put everything at max with 1600x900 resolution. My jaw dropped when it ran just fine. Looks gorgeous and not too bad on frame rate.

I am [censored] STUNNED. I always wondered why I had two display adapters...the other one is HD 5700 series. I also effectively wasted $65 for ps3 version, since I originally got PC one for $15 from gift cards + trade ins. Sorry for wasting your time, now I can finally play on PC LOL

The Launcher's recommendations are often wrong. If you aren't consistently getting 40-50 FPS, you should reset to "High".

[Marion Geneste]

Yes I know that, it put the integrated at medium and it couldn't run it, but I'm having no problems what so ever. fps drops here and there but for the most part it is flawless, just the fan seems really loud now lol. It also loads much faster, faster than ps3 now! Before I usually did ctrl alt del to return to desktop so it would load faster lol.

It's 1000% better than before with not enough hiccups to bother me unlike before

[Jack Moves]

Good-day/morning/evening one and all,

I have come to the forums (after quite some time) with an issue that requires resolving. For the past year or so, since the announcement of Skyrim, I have been saving to replace my retiring bricks and mortar PC (RiP).

As Christmas has brought along several offers to add to my budget, the time has now come to purchase a new computer. Before the issue is raised, a laptop is the only option for me. In my current line of work (and with accommodation),I cannot get a desk-top PC, even if the upgrade potential is much higher.

As such, I have a budget of around a maximum of ￡750. Having researched several manufacturers, including coming very close to buying a Dell XPS 17, I happened upon a smaller manufacturer called "Medion".

First, would anyone have reviews of this manufacturer, and/ or experience?

Second, my primary reason for buying the laptop is to play Skyrim (with the PC version preferential over my Xbox for the modding community). I do however, require a little help in selecting a model.

My 4 choices are:

1. Medion Erazer x6816

OS: W7
CPU: i7-2670QM (3.1)
RAM: 8GB
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT555M
Screen: 15.6" (@1366x768)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+ERAZER%C2%AE+X6816+15.6%22+Laptop+%28MD97972%29/30013451A1?category=gamer_notebooks&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term={charge}&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

2. Akoya x7811


OS: W7
CPU: i7-740QM (1.73)
RAM: 4GB
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5870
Screen: 17" (@1440x900)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+AKOYA%C2%AE+X7811+17%22+Laptop+%28MD97631%29/30011676A1?category=special_offer&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term={charge}&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

3. Erazer X6811


OS: W7
CPU: i5-480M (2.66)
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX460M
Screen: 15.6" (@1440x900)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+ERAZER%C2%AE+X6811+15.6%22+Laptop+%28MD97746%29/30012240A1?category=nb_intel_i5&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term={charge}&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

4. Erazer X6813


OS: W7
CPU: i5-2410M (2.3)
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX460M
Screen: 15.6" (@1920x1080)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+ERAZER%C2%AE+X6813+15.6%22+Laptop+%28MD97831%29/30012619A1?category=erazer&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term={charge}&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

If anyone would be able to provide advice, it would be very much appreciated. Though I do appreciate how tiresome these "help me find a PC" posts are!

P.S. Thankyou to the poster for the original list of Graphics cards ratings, it helped to discard a number of choices
P.P.S. If this is the wrong place for this post, I do apologise

[Sheila Esmailka]

Perhaps Greg49 may stop in again. I do not like using laptops / notebooks in gaming, and do not try very hard to keep up with the mobile technology. Lately, most of the regular readers who help with answers have been too busy playing the game to stop by. I seem to be the only one giving answers and I do try to assist. Tig has a general tech advice thread going in the Community Forum that could be a better idea.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1297566-the-community-tech-thread-no-110/

[james kite]

@TheBoxer

From myself fiddling around with my computer to get it to run right, it looks like the first laptop choice in the best out of the bunch. I think you need at least 2.5 or so clocking speed (around there anyways) to be compatible with skyrim, as well as the graphics card is under the medium-high list on the first page. Also the ram is sufficient (heck that's more than my desktop).

#2 would be good but I think that 1.73 clocking speed would make it crap, otherwise I'd take that one.

I'm no expert, but that's what I see. Hope it helps.

[Tyrone Haywood]

Good-day/morning/evening one and all,

I have come to the forums (after quite some time) with an issue that requires resolving. For the past year or so, since the announcement of Skyrim, I have been saving to replace my retiring bricks and mortar PC (RiP).

As Christmas has brought along several offers to add to my budget, the time has now come to purchase a new computer. Before the issue is raised, a laptop is the only option for me. In my current line of work (and with accommodation),I cannot get a desk-top PC, even if the upgrade potential is much higher.

As such, I have a budget of around a maximum of ￡750. Having researched several manufacturers, including coming very close to buying a Dell XPS 17, I happened upon a smaller manufacturer called "Medion".

First, would anyone have reviews of this manufacturer, and/ or experience?

Second, my primary reason for buying the laptop is to play Skyrim (with the PC version preferential over my Xbox for the modding community). I do however, require a little help in selecting a model.

My 4 choices are:

1. Medion Erazer x6816

OS: W7
CPU: i7-2670QM (3.1)
RAM: 8GB
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT555M
Screen: 15.6" (@1366x768)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+ERAZER%C2%AE+X6816+15.6%22+Laptop+%28MD97972%29/30013451A1?category=gamer_notebooks&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term=%7Bcharge%7D&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

2. Akoya x7811


OS: W7
CPU: i7-740QM (1.73)
RAM: 4GB
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5870
Screen: 17" (@1440x900)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+AKOYA%C2%AE+X7811+17%22+Laptop+%28MD97631%29/30011676A1?category=special_offer&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term=%7Bcharge%7D&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

3. Erazer X6811


OS: W7
CPU: i5-480M (2.66)
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX460M
Screen: 15.6" (@1440x900)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+ERAZER%C2%AE+X6811+15.6%22+Laptop+%28MD97746%29/30012240A1?category=nb_intel_i5&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term=%7Bcharge%7D&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

4. Erazer X6813


OS: W7
CPU: i5-2410M (2.3)
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX460M
Screen: 15.6" (@1920x1080)

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/prod/MEDION%C2%AE+ERAZER%C2%AE+X6813+15.6%22+Laptop+%28MD97831%29/30012619A1?category=erazer&wt_mc=gb.intern.projekt.kb-notebook.on-ma&wt_cw=30.2.8&utm_source=shop&utm_medium=nbberater&utm_term=%7Bcharge%7D&utm_campaign=intern&wt_cc1=variante_a

If anyone would be able to provide advice, it would be very much appreciated. Though I do appreciate how tiresome these "help me find a PC" posts are!

P.S. Thankyou to the poster for the original list of Graphics cards ratings, it helped to discard a number of choices
P.P.S. If this is the wrong place for this post, I do apologise

Medion are a massive hardware vendor in Europe - they tend towards the budget end but they certainly manage to shift a lot of units. They also often rebadge other makes (with permission of course!).

They're all pretty good laptops specs #1 has the best CPU, but the worse display - if you aren't playing many games and aren't using it for graphical/photo work go for this as it will also perform the fastest in Skyrim.

#2 has a very good CPU and a great graphics card, along with a medium display, but it probably has the worst battery life and thermal characteristics - it's more of a desktop replacement computer.

#3 I'd avoid

#4 has a good CPU and a good graphics card, with the best display. The CPU is a little weak for modern tasks, but it should be OK for Skyrim. The graphics card is a little old as well. This is a pretty good all rounder.

They're all laptops though, which means they're inherently not great for gaming on. The fastest Skyrim performance will be with #1, but that's because Skyrim isn't hard on graphics and that computer has a low resolution display. If you do a lot of number crunching/excel etc. go with #2. If you want a more general laptop go for #4.

Don't forget to ignore the listed CPU speeds - that's the base speed - they turbo up to higher speeds under loads like Skyrim.

[Aaron Clark]

Lately, most of the regular readers who help with answers have been too busy playing the game to stop by. I seem to be the only one giving answers and I do try to assist.

I try to help as well, but it could also be becuase of the holidays. I'll try to help out you helping out

[Gisela Amaya]

I just wanted to poke my head in as I have been having huge performance issues until very recently. My setup is in my sig and despite my dual 6870 ridiculousness even with AA off and AF down in Markarth (looking down from vlindrel) I was getting as low as 15 FPS. Below are the changes I've made and my results, I hope someone finds this info useful.

Here's what I've done in my settings in and out of game that have made life better:

Kept the game up to date over steam, also updated to the latest ATI drivers, stopped using the LAA launcher.

Turned off AA and AF in game and v-synch in the ini

dropped a few settings like distant object detail from ultra to high, grass fade and specularity fade turned down a bit, everything else is still maxed. Set Shadow quality to high instead of ultra and set the blur to 20 to make it look better.

downloaded and installed : http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1324092-sky-boost-by-alexander-blade/

Through the Catalyst Control Center I enabled v-synch, forced AA and AF to x16 using multi-sample AA and morphological filtering.

Having done all that (testing along the way for stability, had to drop my cards back to stock clock) in the same area of Markarth i now get over 30 FPS consistently with FRAPS running, and it's smoother still without.

Interiors I haven't seen a drop below 60 FPS and in exteriors with water effects and smoke and all that I still get over 45 FPS consistently.

Most areas of the game I sit quite happily between 50 and 60 FPS. (and it only took a month and a half to get it there)

[Gaelle Courant]

Thanks to all who replied, its been a great help. It is a choice between #1 and #2 then. My primary concern is will the GPU on #1 (GT555M) Have the longevity? I'd ideally want this to last for a certain period of time, and any future gaming - which pushes me towards #2.

However, as raised, the battery life and thermal characteristics are a concern. Battery life, well, can be solved, but the thermal characteristics is a worry! Would a cooling mat circumvent this?

[Nicole Kraus]

Update, I'm contacting Medion to see if an upgrade would be possible on the GT555M, as it appears it will become a lower-grade card in the next 2 years. Otherwise, #1 for ￡679 seems a GREAT deal to me!

[Claire Vaux]

Thanks to all who replied, its been a great help. It is a choice between #1 and #2 then. My primary concern is will the GPU on #1 (GT555M) Have the longevity? I'd ideally want this to last for a certain period of time, and any future gaming - which pushes me towards #2.

Quite tricky question to answer really - there are tons of games coming out that don't need that great a GPU (torchlight 2 etc.) while the shooters that demand the latest and greatest will always struggle to run on a laptop anyway.

However, as raised, the battery life and thermal characteristics are a concern. Battery life, well, can be solved, but the thermal characteristics is a worry! Would a cooling mat circumvent this?

Well the large 17" body for that one will allow for greater cooling, but it will be designed to run on a flat hard surface like a desk. Cooling mats may help if needed, but check that they work with the laptop's existing cooling, not against it.

Update, I'm contacting Medion to see if an upgrade would be possible on the GT555M, as it appears it will become a lower-grade card in the next 2 years. Otherwise, #1 for ￡679 seems a GREAT deal to me!

Worth a try, though laptops tend to have fairly fixed specification they might be able to point you at a higher spec'd model.

[phillip crookes]

Thanks for the additional help Kalniel. Have decided to go for the ￡679 offer, and the 555m should have a fair bit of mileage in it. Provided I can drop (on the Graphics) from high->medium over the next 2-3 years, I'll be happy!

[meg knight]

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 12/30/2011, 00:45:07
Machine name: HOME-COMPUTER
Operating System: Windows Vista? Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.110617-0336)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gateway
System Model: DX4720-03
BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/06/08 11:42:51 Ver: A7399NG2.202
Processor: Pentium? Dual-Core CPU E5200 @ 2.50GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 3838MB RAM
Page File: 5128MB used, 2741MB available
------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor: Generic Non-PnP Monitor
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.7530 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 6/18/2008 20:04:00, 5689344 bytes

The processor needs to be updated to a full power device, instead of just a half-power wannabe.

There is no actual video graphics card. That is only a chipset video chip. As old as the system is, I am of the opinion it should just be replaced outright, instead of nursing it along any further.

[Baylea Isaacs]

Here is my setup. What do you think would be the result?

• Win 7 64-Bit Ultimate with all updates applied
  
• Intel? Core?2 Quad desktop processor Q8200
  Features 4 processing cores, 1333MHz system bus, 6MB L2 cache and 2.33GHz processor speed per core.
  
• 8GB DDR2 SDRAM
  
• 1.2TB SATA hard drive capacity (640GB x 2; 7200 rpm)
  
• nVidia 9800GTX+ 512MB (Latest Drivers)

If it matters, it is a Dell Studio 540 with upgraded power supply (Not in front of it at the moment, so can't tell you what brand/wattage, but it is a good one).

As a side note, I bought BF3 by mistake for PC and it ran pretty well on the "Low" settings. Might I expect to up those settings a bit for Skyrim? From what I gather, BF3 requires a bit more from the pc.

Thanks!

[James Smart]

Skyrim barely uses two cores, and the minimum they named as official for CPUs is overly optimistic, BF3 may make more use of the extra cores. The old 9800 still has life in it, and with more speed from the CPU, could go Medium at a Medium Resolution, but IMO, 2.3 GHz is the practical minimum CPU, so you might need to tinker with your settings, so let's call it Low-Medium, with a medium screen resolution.

[Liii BLATES]

Thanks for the reply.

Looking over the nVidia tweak guide, it may be possible to get by with adequate results.

By the way, the screen resolution that I had BF3 set to, and is my normal resolution is 1920x1080.

[Naazhe Perezz]

1920 by 1080 will be too steep to give consistent good results with the old 9800. You will probably find that in spite of all tweaks, your best choice will be 1680 instead.

[Dominic Vaughan]

can anybody tell me if the GT 545 3gb ddr3 will run skyrim on high settings. or what kind of settings i should use with this card. i did not see it listed on the first page. and the rest of the system is an i7second gen chip forget the model with windows 7.