hey people. i currently have Skyrim for my PS3, and am contemplating switching over to PC. i noticed that in videos on Youtube, the loading time is seconds, compared to console with is a minute or two. i looked up the specs needed to play Skyrim on PC, and i have all minimal requirements except for RAM. i'm buying one either way because my computer needs it anyway. it's a 7 year old computer. i'm just wondering if it's worth it to play Skyrim on Minimum requirements for PC? i'm eventually going to upgrade my PC until it is a gaming PC, but i'm just wondering, if it's worth it for the time being? i'm buying an 8 GB stick of RAM shortly, if that makes any difference.


thanks for reading, and any feedback would be appreciated.

p.s. don't rage at me, i have a nack for somehow upsetting people over the stupidest things, and don't know why.

I have four gigs of memory (though probably less is used from what I've heard on 32bit systems) and vram of 512mb. It works fine for me on semi medium settings. I don't use textures over 1024 in size though (custom ones from skyrimnexus) because then I get all sorts of purple and black things and crashes, which is because my vram can't handle much, and even then its not much of an issue for me.

You should get a new computer.. 7 year old PC hardware can barely run it, are you reffering to skyrims official fake requirements? or are you reffering to the ones they released on the forums a few days after launch?

Anyways, new computer.. there are tons of sites out there, if you want a computer which maxes out skyrim and also has good capable of mods, then get a computer with i5 2500k processor, a graphic card @ 6000 series of AMD, at least 8 GB ram.
This should max your game, and you can have this computer for about 4-5 years until its completly outdated.

I got mine with a i5 2500k, 6950 card, 8 gb ram and some cheap chassi, gygabyte motherboard and CX600 power supply, this setup can run Battlefield 3 on high settings @ 55-60fps
you can easily run games like Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2 and TERA as well, whenever you get a computer, you get more value the more you pay for it.


P.S NEVER buy a pre-built computer, they usually svck or are extreamly overpriced.. build it yourself, if you can hook up a TV or do a basic kids puzzle, you can build a computer as well.

I agree. A 7 year old computer might be able to run Skyrim. But it won't be faster than Skyrim on a PS3. It won't load faster and won't give you higher framerates. And won't allow you to use mods to make it look better.

You could give us a few more details about your PC. In particularly the type of CPU and the type of videocard. Be as specific as you can. But already, 7 years old means it can't be good enough for Skyrim anymore.

My PC is 4 years old. CPU from january 2008, and videocard from summer 2008. It was pretty fast 4 eyars ago. And I could run Skyrim ok. (But not super). I bought a new videocard last month. And my new CPU and motherboard will be arriving today !

Last remark: if your PC is 7 years old, it is most likely you are running Windows XP. A 32-bit Operating System. With a 32-bit OS, you can have maximum 4GB of ram in your PC (3.5GB to be precise). The rest won't be used. You might even want to check the specifications of your motherboard, it might not even accept a 8GB stick ! So check the ram compatibility, before you spend money. Or make sure you can return it to the shop if it doesn't work.

I would recommend PC over console for a bunch of reasons, but it really depends if you are just looking for a cosmetic difference or the more substantial benefits of running the PC version. I have seen it running on console without hi-res textures and it's still a great looking game, so it's possible you could run it on your current set-up and not notice any substantial differences with regard to graphics. The REAL benefit, as far as I'm concerned, is the modding community and the Creation Kit. The potential for new content from the modding community can add years onto the life span of the game. Just have a browse through the mods already made if you have any doubts... new quests, buildings, weapons, magic powers. Lots of fun stuff.

If you have an Nvidia graphics card, you could try going to their website and try running the Skyrim compatibility checker. That should give you an idea of how well it would run.

Hope some or any of the above helps .

It depends from what are your needs....if you want a real better experience -with minimum loading times,better framerate/graphics etc. you've to upgrade your pc at least to the Recommended requirements...but i suggest a completely new gaming pc for that purpose,it will be useless invest now on your "old hardware" for various and valid reasons ( i.e. 8 Gb of Ram if your old motherboard support it,i doubt -would be unnecessary like Gryz have said above...)

so (if you can ) go in a specialized shop (or online) and ask for a pc assembled purposely for gaming on the basis of your budget - and like i've said above at least with the Recommended requirements to play Skyrim and other modern games.

But don't spend money on your "old" pc,and no,its not worthy to play Skyrim on minimum requirements if you ask me,because the experience would be not that different from your console..but only if you specify your hardware we could be more precise even on this.

thanks for the responses. i think the new PC is the better idea, but i'm 18, with a job that i rarely work at, so my budget is tiny, althought i can save up my money. are there any suggestions on computer shops i can go to? just wondering if best buy, future shop, or another franchise like that would be able to help me? also, GRYZ, i found website with the service manual for my computer. you can check it out if you want to help a little more. i would rather save money, if it's possible to play on this PC, but if i need to, i'll do what i have to, to save money for a new PC.

again, thanks for all the suggestions, and help, i really appreciate it.

forgot to post the site with my service manual.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimc521/en/SM_EN/specs.htm

The PC you have has an AMD Athlon X2 Dual core cpu. Although that is still useful for surfing and reading email, it's not enough to play current games. And worst, you don't have a real videocard. You have an "integrated nvidia gpu". No idea what kind exactly. But your PC does have a PCIE slot (so it could take a "discrete" videocard). And like I suspected, you can't put 8GB of ram in it. You could at max put 4 sticks of 1GB each in it. I also bet that your PSU (power supply) isn't strong enough for current day components (new videocards tend to use a lot of power).

You could buy 4x1GB of ram. But I doubt your graphics card would allow you to play the game with any framerates > 10.
You could buy a discrete (separate) videocard. But even if you spend $100 there, I doubt performance would be better than a console.

I don't know much about Dell hardware. They might do some stuff in funky ways. Like building their own non-standard cases. But in theory you should be able to re-use your monitor and case. And mouse and keyboard. Maybe a dvd-drive. But you would still need to buy a lot of expensive new stuff to build an acceptable gaming PC.

CPU ($150-200), motherboard ($100), ram ($50), decent videocard ($150-200 at least). That's at least $500. And then you should get a PSU, HDD, Windows 7 64-bit. That is another ~$200. Not fun if you are 18 years old. Maybe it's best to keep playing on your PS3.

Shops and prices depend on the country you live in. If you are in the US, people seem to like Newegg.com for online shopping. And MicroCenter as a walk-in shop. But I don't live in the US, so I don't really know.

This is true. I used to go for the Dell pre-built route. I enjoyed the financing and the ease of purchase/no setup. However, after successfully installing a GPU and Powerunit into the Dell, I can attest that it's not as hard as you think AND it's much cheaper.

Plus, after you're done you can look at your finished product and say "F yea".

I play Skyrim with a rig I bought for $400 3+ years ago

2.4 Ghz Core2 Quad 64 bit
9500 GT (passive cooling!) w/ 1 gig vram.
MSI micro ATX board.
4 gigs PC 6400 DDR2 (all the board will support!)
500 gig Seagate Barricuda

I play with all detail and draw distance sliders maxed out, shadows on low, AA AS and FXAA off. The game runs lag free and looks easily as good as the Xbox version. A brand new $1200 PC is absolutely not necessary to play this game. If you can make a few compromises about detail level, you can play tSkyrim on a PC costing no more than an Xbox or PS3.

hey GRYZ, i'm from Canada. live in Southern Ontario, don't know if you live in Canada, with the things you said i should buy, is that with my current PC and upgrading it, or buying a new PC and upgrading? another question somewhat off topic. do threads get deleted after a while? i want to keep all of this for use in the future (at least what i find helpful) so i'm just wondering if i should copy everything and email myself? again, thanks for all the help.

I live in Europe.

The long list of stuff I mentioned ($500 + $200) is when you buy everything new.
I am very uncertain whether you can upgrade your PC. And if you can, the result might not be better than playing on a console.
E.g. suppose you want to upgrade your videocard. Then you need to upgrade your PSU too, probably. That's $200 + $50. And another $30 for ram. Now you invest $250 and you might still not have a machine that plays games significantly better than a console. That would be a waste.

But if you buy a new CPU, then you also need to buy a new motherboard. That's probably another $250-$300.
And that is assuming you have a decent monitor to play on.
There is no easy or cheap solution.
The cheaper you go, the less it will be worth it, compared to playing games on a console.
Sorry.

I agree with everybody else here, if you want to buy a new computer, it's much better to select parts separately, and build it yourself. Building a PC isn't that hard anymore. And I'm sure there is someone in your surroundings that might be able to help you.

Threads will be around for a while. But it might be harder to find them. If I were you, I'd copy and paste everything you wanna remember into text file. Or mail it to yourself.

i know a little about how to put a computer together, like, from the inside. mostly just the simple stuff though. but i have a few good friends (long distance VIA PS3) who know quite a bit about this stuff (just not what's good for gaming), and a few more that i know personally that are decent with computers. so i think i'll be fine with setting it up, and putting it together. now that i know what i need, i can start saving, and purchasing.

Thanks a lot Gryz, and everyone else who gave me a little feedback on the subject, every bit helped. greatly appreciated. have a good one guys, and possibly talk to you later.