[amhain]

I know I can run skyrim on high with decent framerate, I'm more curious as to what the bottleneck on my system is. Any help guys.

64-bit Windows 7
Intel Core i7 2720QM @ 2.20GHz
8 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 555M 3 GB
250 GB SSD

Given that you have a mobile video device, most likely one of the undesirable "Optimus" variations, that must be a laptop, and for those, the fact that they sometimes have to run on a battery is a huge bottleneck in the overall design, as is the emphasis on lightness and thinness, all three of those being negatives toward game playing capability. You are quoting the base CPU speed, I imagine. Is there a Turbo speed?

[Rhiannon Jones]

That system would max out the game. Any reason to not go with Intel's SandyBridge or Ivy Bridge CPUs....Bulldozer is an utter disappointment and those 8 cores aren't going to do you much outside of video encoding/rendering/editing. Even the i5 2500K is a much better CPU.

Cheers for the response, I'm glad the current spec will run it easily. The main reason for not going with a Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPU is because of price and convenience mainly. At the moment I'm looking at Barebone bundles to get the case, Motherboard, CPU, PSU, and RAM all in one go and for a decent price, where all Intel ones seem to be more expensive with certain areas having a lower spec, meaning I would need to spend more to bring other areas in line with the one listed above. Is the current processor listed going to be much of a problem gaming wise? If so then I may have to look around some more to see if I can find a better bundle.

Also another question, how can I find out if the GPU and Motherboard are going to be compatible? As that is another thing that I am worried about. Again thanks for any advice given.

[Alexis Estrada]

Given that you have a mobile video device, most likely one of the undesirable "Optimus" variations, that must be a laptop, and for those, the fact that they sometimes have to run on a battery is a huge bottleneck in the overall design, as is the emphasis on lightness and thinness, all three of those being negatives toward game playing capability. You are quoting the base CPU speed, I imagine. Is there a Turbo speed?

The laptop is not light nor thin, it's meant for gaming. The reason I got a laptop is because it was not possible to have a desktop at the time. I rarely game without being connected to power, but I've put the GPU as default for all graphics to make sure it's active. I don't think I have a turbo speed for the CPU either.

[Scared humanity]

Operating System
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU
Intel Core i5 450M @ 2.40GHz 44 °C
Arrandale 32nm Technology

RAM
4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (7-7-7-20)

Motherboard
Intel Corp. Base Board Product Name (CPU) 67 °C

Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor (1366x768@60Hz)
Intel® HD Graphics

Hard Drives
466GB Seagate ST9500420AS ATA Device (SATA) 38 °C

Optical Drives
TEAC DV-W28S-VTF ATA Device

Audio
High Definition Audio Device

Will skyrim even bee worth playing if i got it with these specs? And is it possible to mod?(not looking for graphics per say... just gameplay features)

[Charlotte X]

You've got an integrated graphics controller on a mobile computer that predates Sandy Bridge. While the CPU itself would be ok, you'd need an actual GPU to have decent performance at all with Skyrim. I'm not even sure if that generation of integrated graphics controllers can even run it, personally. If it can indeed run, it won't run too well.

[Jessica Phoenix]

You've got an integrated graphics controller on a mobile computer that predates Sandy Bridge. While the CPU itself would be ok, you'd need an actual GPU to have decent performance at all with Skyrim. I'm not even sure if that generation of integrated graphics controllers can even run it, personally. If it can indeed run, it won't run too well.

well it came standard with the laptop so im not suprised.. thanks though

[Anna Beattie]

Can anyone let me know if this laptop will be enough to run Skyrim well on High graphics completely smoothly?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1510.html

Processor: Intel i7 3612 Mobile Processor

Graphics: Nvidia GT650M

RAM: 8GB DDR3

500GB Hybrid SSD

[Shaylee Shaw]

Cheers for the response, I'm glad the current spec will run it easily. The main reason for not going with a Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPU is because of price and convenience mainly. At the moment I'm looking at Barebone bundles to get the case, Motherboard, CPU, PSU, and RAM all in one go and for a decent price, where all Intel ones seem to be more expensive with certain areas having a lower spec, meaning I would need to spend more to bring other areas in line with the one listed above. Is the current processor listed going to be much of a problem gaming wise? If so then I may have to look around some more to see if I can find a better bundle.

Also another question, how can I find out if the GPU and Motherboard are going to be compatible? As that is another thing that I am worried about. Again thanks for any advice given.

I wouldn't worry about that...the system as specced is all compatible. All variants of PCI-E x16 are forwards and backwards compatible with the newer iterations allowing for more bandwidth. Your board is not too old and supports PCI-E 2.0, which is plenty for a Radeon 6970.

Can anyone let me know if this laptop will be enough to run Skyrim well on High graphics completely smoothly?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1510.html

Processor: Intel i7 3612 Mobile Processor

Graphics: Nvidia GT650M

RAM: 8GB DDR3

500GB Hybrid SSD

Would probably handle high rather well and the SSD should help a lot with game load times and loading cells..

[gandalf]

Would probably handle high rather well and the SSD should help a lot with game load times and loading cells..

Thanks a lot man, it's just nice to have a second opinion before I end up buying it.

[Guy Pearce]

I wouldn't worry about that...the system as specced is all compatible. All variants of PCI-E x16 are forwards and backwards compatible with the newer iterations allowing for more bandwidth. Your board is not too old and supports PCI-E 2.0, which is plenty for a Radeon 6970.

Awesome, thanks for the help on that as PC gaming is all new to me. Well now that I know that I shall definitely be getting Skyrim for the PC at some point soon. But for now comes the fun part, saving up for the parts and building it, hopefully that won't take too long haha.

[Pants]

Hi,
I'm getting a PC for gaming and being a total dunce where Comps are concerned I have a few questions for you knowledgeable folks. I wish to run Skyrim on High(ish) settings with mods so:

1) What wattage PSU should I be looking at, eg is 500W OK?

2) CPU's, Intel i5 or AMD FX 4100-4170?

3) GPU's, GeForce GTX 550Ti 1GB or Radeon HD7770 1GB?

4) RAM, 4 or 8GB?

I realise these questions are subjective but your input is much appreciated !!

Also, do I need a "gaming" mouse and keyboard and what difference does using an LED or LCD monitor make?

Many !

[CxvIII]

You want this thread: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1402863-the-community-tech-thread-no-118/

[Dean]

Hey guys, I apologize if this is a bit off-topic, but I've been thinking about buying a gaming desktop, but there's still one little detail nagging at the back of my mind. Say I did get a decent gaming desktop (say in the $600-$750 range), about how long would that last me? I mean, I would feel much more comfortable putting out hundreds of dollars on a PC IF I knew that I could play games at a high quality for several years, maybe 5 or more. And even if I did have to get a few minor upgrades along the way, about how much would I expect to pay every few years to keep my PC up to date?

[Kelvin]

You want this thread: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1402863-the-community-tech-thread-no-118/

See the previous post, please.

[Bethany Watkin]

My Rig as follows:

Mobo: MSI 785GM-P45
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 635 Quad Core 2.9 GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) (a mix of Corsair and Patriot)
PSU: 350w
Cooler Master Elite 310 Mid-Tower Case

I plan on upgrading to a Radeon HD 7850. And boosting the psu as well.

What kind of performance am I looking at? Even when the cpu bottlenecks the card?

[Thomas LEON]

My Rig as follows:

Mobo: MSI 785GM-P45
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 635 Quad Core 2.9 GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) (a mix of Corsair and Patriot)
PSU: 350w
Cooler Master Elite 310 Mid-Tower Case

I plan on upgrading to a Radeon HD 7850. And boosting the psu as well.

What kind of performance am I looking at? Even when the cpu bottlenecks the card?

You're looking at probably max settings (at least high) with the GPU and PSU upgrade. It's not the greatest quad out there, but certainly will suffice for this game. The bottleneck shouldn't be too bad...it likely will be transparent to you

[Toby Green]

Finally settled on the following setup, will this run Skyrim (with mods) at high setting?

CPU; Intel i5 3450

OS; Windows 7 Home Pemium 64bit

M/board; Asus P8Z77-V LX

Ram; 8GB 1600mhz Corsair Vengence

Hard Drive; 1TB Sata III 6.0Gb/s(7200rpm)

GPU; Nvidia GTX 550Ti 1GB

PSU; 600W

[Nany Smith]

You're looking at probably max settings (at least high) with the GPU and PSU upgrade. It's not the greatest quad out there, but certainly will suffice for this game. The bottleneck shouldn't be too bad...it likely will be transparent to you

Oh, thank God. This is great news. Saves me $100 in the short term for a new cpu. I do plan on upgrading in the long run, but right now I just feel the gpu and psu are more important so I can begin really knocking heavy into PC gaming.

[Shianne Donato]

Finally settled on the following setup, will this run Skyrim (with mods) at high setting?

CPU; Intel i5 3450

OS; Windows 7 Home Pemium 64bit

M/board; Asus P8Z77-V LX

Ram; 8GB 1600mhz Corsair Vengence

Hard Drive; 1TB Sata III 6.0Gb/s(7200rpm)

GPU; Nvidia GTX 550Ti 1GB

PSU; 600W

Should run at least high with that.

[Dan Stevens]

Saw this PC on a Media Markt panflet, it costs 500 euros including the 19'' monitor, so I don't expect it to be good.

No harm in trying though, so how would this PC run Skyrim?

• AMD A4 CPU A4-3420
  
• 6GB RAM
  
• AMD Radeon HD 6000 (I know there's no HD 6000, but I swear that's what it says in the panflet, it must be a 6000 series GPU)
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

[Jeff Turner]

Can't tell you a thing without knowing the exact model number of the GPU.

[Chad Holloway]

Let's imagine it's an HD 6310?

[Sarah Unwin]

Then I imagine that it wouldn't run too well at all.

However, that's my imagination.

(Though, it really wouldn't run too well in all seriousness.)

[Laura Simmonds]

The HD 6310 puts you in the "SOL" category. Nothing poorer than an HD 6570 will work more or less correctly, and while an HD 6540 may "sort of" run, it will do so badly. The 6310 isn't half as good, I do not believe, as the minimum 6570.

[Chantelle Walker]

Thought so... For 500 euros I couldn't be expecting anything half decent for gaming.

But what about the CPU? Is it any good? Maybe if I upgraded the graphics card...?