So I already bought the game via steam so I could use mods, sadly it was so laggy i couldnt do anything. I was told priorly on this forums to get a new... video card? i think thats what it was called... anyways im going shopping tomorrow and id like to know what you'd sugest and what othetr things may help.


-thankyou

Please see this thread: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1350063-unofficial-will-my-pc-run-skyrim-thread-58-w-hardware-guide/

Read the OP in the pinned thread "Will my PC run Skyrim" at the top of this forum.

Newegg.com is a good place to shop. There are hundreds of cards.

EDIT :Ninjd by someone a lot more savvy than me.

If you could provide us with your computer's specs we might be able to help you out more too.

Oftentimes, the video card isn't necessarily the problem as long as it's not a total piece of crap. Sometimes its your processor, or RAM which is lagging behind. Either way, don't just go out tomorrow and buy a random video card. Especially if you don't know how to install it, or you don't have a friend or loved one who could do it for you.

what specs you need? and just in case... how would i go about finding out these speccs?


thank you

judging by the dxdiag.txt notepad, my card is ATI radeon HD 4250 graphics... that help?


If I do need a videocard I'm huntign fro one around Med-high, and if i need to change something, please tell me...

Do you know what wattage your power supply is? Model number and/or brand would be helpful as well.

page file: 1404mb used, 10337mb available

operating system: windows 7 home premium 64-bit (6.1 build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.111118-2330)

system model: dx4320

DirectX version: DirectX 11

Manfacturer: Gateway

that help?

Sounds like you have no GFX card installed. Just a onboard gfx chip set.

By posting your dxdiag. We can see what you can install. Most mid range to high range GFX cards need at least a 500 watt PSU. Some even up to 700 watts.

We need your basic PC info. So we can give you some idea of what kind of GFX card you could install in your PC.

where would i access my basic pc info? here? just copy and paste it?

watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfhUhIrC2Bw&feature=related

follow the steps and when it is done hit save all information

copy the info and paste it in this thread in a reply pref in spoiler tags but not required

sofar looks like you have only a 300 watt psu. Not shure if your case will take a standard PSU. But I did find this http://www.cputopia.com/psu-replacement-gate-gateway-dx4320.html

sorry for how long it took me to copy info, i think i didn't have any typos... tell me if anything seems irregular...

^ That upgrade above would be more than sufficient to drop an Nvidia 550 or 560 into your system. Is it a slim case design or a normal size tower?

Your CPU OS and RAM are sufficient so if you did the PSU upgrade and added a decent mid range card in the system you should be totally fine.

normal size tower

what card sohuld i get and how would i install and what are the prices im looking at?

Good news there.....I would consider that PSU upgrade from gateway. I had a Dell XPS prebuilt before my current system and they did a power supply upgrade for me which was sufficient for the price. As far as the graphics card I would purchase one from newegg and install that on my own over having gateway do an upgrade. They will most likely sell you a crappy brand card. If you do decide to expand your PSU as the current one you have is pretty weak stop back and I can help you pick out a card in your price range.

My guesstimate would be something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

that could work, it seems to be cheaper then most and what i should be expecting... thanks for your help hopefully ill have skyrim and some mods running smoothly...

I would let some other people weigh in as you may even be able to run a 560 with that PSU upgrade. But even with the card I linked on a 64 bit OS you should be fine to run med/high(probably more toward high) with the Bethesda texture pack and some addons. I prefer Nivdia but atm have an ATI card but as I read there are plenty of good nvidia cards that should work find with that power supply. Nvidia also offer better drivers in my opinion and have better support so when you get the card it will be easier to get help getting support with install and driver install as well.

Sofar all the tec post say you dont have a chance to upgrade your computer due to the 300 watt PSU.

But with the new PSU like this one http://www.cputopia.com/psu-replacement-gate-gateway-dx4320.html you could run a GFX card like this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130662 or a mid range card like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625. This card would run good fps. But would have a hard time with the HD DLC packs due to the fact that it only has 1 gig of VRAM.

With the mini case you have. You need to make shure that any gfx card you use. Will exhuast the heat out of your case.

This type of GFX card takes up 2 slots. Your specs indicate that you have a 1 pcie x 16 slot. Pull the side case cover and look to see if you have the mini gfx card in slot 1. This would be the one closest to the CPU. Then Hopefully the slot next to your GFX card is not used.

As you said. your going shopping. Make shure you take your computer with you. to see if the new parts will fit.

If you pull this off. Youl be one of the few who has been able to upgrade this DX4320 PC to play any high end game like skyrim.

I find half of what you posted hard to believe looking at his system specs....first off that rig is fine to run Skyrim with that upgraded PSU and an EVGA 550 ti. Heat won't be that much of a problem and with his 64 bit OS that 1 GB VRAM will def run the texture pack provided by Bethesda. More so his case is a normal size it isn't slim or mini and the 550 would fit fine. Temps should also not be an issue as long as he isn't trying to push the system harder than what it can handle.

I have plenty of friends with less than impressive prebuilt PC's that play Skryim totally fine.

This dx4320 case is discribed as a mini tower. It is also on the slim side. The thermal BTU for the case is set for 300 watts. Best not add any extra heat to the insude of this case. The stock CPU cooler could be very poor. Good chance this computer has a locked bios. So hopefully he wont need any voltage tweeks on the pci bridge. But they is a EVGA fix for this if needed.

EVGA has a good forum for modding. Anything goes if it works. This includes duck tape and hot glue. If I thought this computer didnt have a chance to upgrade. I would post as such.

For morrowind I had a Dell 4600 with an 7800 GS OC APG. Was way to much heat in the case. Most of the time I had the side cover off and ran a floor fan on it.

I posted the GTX 560's couse the price on them has dropped alot in the last cpl weeks. A good price point on a GTX 550 would be about 100 usd. Usaly a GTX 550 has 20% less band width and around 140 less cuda cores.

If we could find more information on this motherboard. As to the chip set it uses. Would be easer to see what band width it has on the PCIE. It may be realy poor. Could not find a spec on it other then PCIe x 16. nothing to say if it is 1.0 or 2.0. If this computer has a bottle neck on the bridge. It will need to load as much as It can into the vram.

But sofar looks good. $40.00 for PSU and $140.00 or less on the GFX card. Could easly do 60 fps on high. Just not much info on anyone upgrading or modding this dx4320.

For your own good, leave that PSU where it is and run far from it. Gateway PSUs are not designed to handle high-powered graphics cards and will be a time bomb waiting to explode if you try playing Skyrim with a 560. I wouldn't even build an HTPC with that in it.

Every component in your computer will depend on the PSU for correct and sufficient power. When your PSU is insufficient or failing, it can malfunction and cause anything from instability (if you're lucky) to permanent damage to any of your components (usually the video card). It's important to select a high-quality, 80+ Bronze-rated or better, and high-wattage unit if you want to have a powerful video card in your computer. A good rule of thumb is to add 40% to the recommended wattage for your video card.

Excellent buy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020
$75 for that high-quality unit is a great deal and it can handle nearly any single video card you want to install reliably. 650w is a little overkill for something like the 550 Ti but there's nothing wrong with being extra safe, not to mention that PSU will last you through multiple upgrades for some time to come (and has a 5-year warranty!).

Here's a couple of recommendations for video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125410
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419

Both have excellent price/performance ratio. Depends on your budget. Between the 550 Ti and the TX 650, the total with shipping in my cart is only $203.


BTW if you need a better case, good cases are cheap. I use this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147023&Tpk=blackbone

and I know a few shop owners who've used dozens of this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227

Both great options that come with solid cooling.

There's a lot of good advice ALREADY in this message thread about what will or won't work for game playing. Starting TWO brand new threads in this particular forum to discuss buying an entirely new system is not appropriate. The correct place for the discussion of a major upgrade / new PC is here:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1358707-the-community-tech-thread-no-113/