[Lew.p]

Font style..? I simply increased the size by a factor of one lol..I didn't change the font..

And "Run? Yes." doesn't really answer my question. How well will it run it?

[Ronald]

Font style..? I simply increased the size by a factor of one lol..I didn't change the font..

And "Run? Yes." doesn't really answer my question. How well will it run it?

I did answer.
Same difference, though. Size is part of font style, but the issue isn't that important though. Semantics.

will this run Skyrim?

See? >.>

How well? Medium, at best. At worst, upper low spectrum.

[matt]

I'm not really understanding how 1 gig of VRAM and 4 gigs of memory could only handle medium at best..? care to elaborate? what part of Skyrim would require more than 1 gig of vram? and 4 gigs of ram?

[Maeva]

I'm not really understanding how 1 gig of VRAM and 4 gigs of memory could only handle medium at best..? care to elaborate? what part of Skyrim would require more than 1 gig of vram? and 4 gigs of ram?

Sure. It's not all about VRAM, it's about internals and speed as well. The 4870 Runs alongside the upper 200 series from Nvidia. It's old hardware and your CPU is weak. Combine the two and you'll get medium, or upper low due to the CPU.

[Richard Dixon]

Sure. It's not all about VRAM, it's about internals and speed as well. The 4870 Runs alongside the upper 200 series from Nvidia. It's old hardware and your CPU is weak. Combine the two and you'll get medium, or upper low due to the CPU.

Actually, folks, and Bethesda, about ZERO is related to VRAM when we discuss performance. Before anything else, in this game, if your CPU is not better than a 2.3 GHz core speed C2D, and there really isn't any Pentium Dual quite that good, you won't be running well in Skyrim.

Next, because there are some atrocious nVIDIA Geforce 200 cards that cannot hold a candle to a Radeon 4800, such as the nasty 210, we should refer to specifics, such as the 260, but the GT 220 isn't playing in the same ball game, as those, either. You could attach a trillion Gigabytes to a 210 card, and a 512 MB HD 4670 would still be MILES ahead.

[Rebecca Dosch]

Hey all,
I've decided it's time to replace my aging laptop with a desktop able to run Skyrim and FO:3 / NV. Looking through various threads I've come up with some ideas. With the following setup what can I expect for performance? Idealy, I'd like to stay under $1k US with monitor and OS.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4bPk

Not bad, but lose that eyesore that is Raidmax. They make alirght cases, but their PSUs and pretty much everything else they make is junk.

Antec EA-650 Green?

Much better. Delta built quality.

I'd bump the RAM up to 6 GB to give the OS some breathing room. And that monitor doesn't look too exciting. One thing you are missing is a power supply. You'll definitely need one

Also, split up the RAM from one module to two or three (I don't know which one is more efficient for AMD's architecture). One module isn't as good. Personally, I'd go with the Dominator instead of the Vengeance, but that's more of preference based on what you are planning to do. I'd also pass on AMD, but AMD is good for budget builds.

I wouldn't. 6GB is for tri-channel supportive setups (2x3GB), which only Intel's older Bloomfield chips supported. For an AMD setup, it would negate dual-channel support which it supports...so either 4GB (2x2GB) or jump to 8GB (2x4GB) would be the best choices.

I realize that dual-channel performance difference these days compared to single-channel is rather marginal, but should still have the memory configuration set to what the chip supports.

@deaths_soul

Thank you for the swift reply!
I have boosted the RAM to 8GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x 4GB) (because 6GB wasn't available) as you suggested.
Also, as I forgot to note it earlier, the PSU is a 500W Xigmatek.
As for the monitor... well you're right, it isn't very exciting, however it is the cheapest and the smallest one available. Provided it is capable of working with the rest of the computer, it will have to do.
Now, I just need to try and make room for it...

Xigmatek makes rather average PSU units...I lump them in with a lot of the lower end Coolermaster and Thermaltake units. Will it work?....probably. But you can do better. Something along the lines of Corsair or Antec would be much better.

And for UK folks looking for prebuilts, I have commonly suggest Chillblast. May want to go through their customizable systems to do price comparisons:
http://www.chillblast.com/

Thanks. What's your quick synopsis of this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215245


I know this is an entry level gaming machine. I just don't have $1500 to spend. I realize I will not ever be able to play on high settings. I just want to play the game on PC rather than Xbox. This one has 2Gb graphics memory and the system memory is expandable to 16Gb.

Much better than the first one you chose.

Processor: Intel? Core? i7-2860QM Mobile Processor (4x 2.50GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
RAM: 8GB [4GB x 2] 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Hard Drive: 750 GB 5400rpm Serial-ATA Super Slim Laptop Hard Drive
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5 Video

Any idea if this will work? This is entirely theoretical, by the way. I don't yet have this laptop (but will soon.)

Yes it will work well. Should get at least high settings, although that 5400rpm hard drive will be a slow spot for load times.

I NEED SOME ADVICE ON A PC A FRIEND IS WANTING TO SELL ME FOR 300 DOLLARS:


INTEL DUEL CORE 3.00 GHZ
4 GIGS DDR2 RAM
ATI 4870 1G VRAM

will this run Skyrim?

dual-core...not duel.

Should be more specific on what model that CPU is though. There are a few dual-core CPUs with that frequency, but different performance levels. The Radeon 4870 is still no slouch though. If that Intel chip is something like an E8400, I could see some high settings with that setup.

Not a bad price for the system if we're talking the whole package...case, hdd, Windows install, DVD drive, etc.

[Taylah Haines]

re:abbadon's system: the 4870 is capable of running Skyrim at settings greater than High. BUT the issue, as pointed out by Gorath above and numerous other times in this thread, is that Skyrim is heavily CPU dependant. See the second post in this thread for the evidence. As a result, that potentially slow dual core will be probably limiting in how fast Skyrim will run, especially in cities. But you will still be able to have a very enjoyable game if you turn shadows way down and put up with slow cities.

[Adrian Morales]

I am a novice and not that PC savvy. I want to make the move to PC. I am basically learning on the fly as I research and put together this build. I want to run on Ultra and get all this 60 FPS and bla, bla...

As an old dog trying to learn new tricks, it is very overwhelming. I read about optimum performance and running dual video cards in SLI (what ever the hell that is), AA, Ghosting and ....well you get the picture.

I have compiled this list for my rig. I was just looking for some feedback. I am setting around the $2000 US mark. I just want to feel confident that I am getting what I need to get the high end performance for the amount of money.

Am I overkilling?
Am I undermining for the price?
Is the list comparable?
Do's, don'ts, upgrade, degrade,add, omit or what?

5.1 surround is all I want.
If I understand correctly, and that ain't saying much, Win 7 Ultimate will allow me to play games, like Witcher, that run on Windows XP?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I72600K

ASUS ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video

OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC ( to run OS )

*HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 (0F10381) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Combo purchase deal w/
*CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

ASUS VS248H-P Black 24" HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - OEM

[Heather Kush]

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Good.

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Good.

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I72600K

Excellent.

ASUS ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video

Overkill for Skyrim, and a bad time to buy even if using for other games. Skyrim doesn't need much more than a gtx 560ti unless you have very unusual requirements (like multi-screen gaming). In the UK a 560ti is less than half the price of a 580. If you want the best card you can for other games then an AMD 7950 is the same price as a 580 while being faster and using less power. If you can wait until April then more cards will come out to compete with the AMD 7950 so you might get more for your money. But if you are mainly interested in Skyrim then I'd just get a 560 or 560ti - you can play the waiting game forever in the PC world.

OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC ( to run OS )

Very good, but you might prefer to get a 120gb SSD to leave more room for save files etc.

HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 (0F10381) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Combo purchase deal w/

Fairly good - kind of a bad time to buy hard drives due to the supply problems. This one isn't anything special, but it won't have any effect on Skyrim anyway.

CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Good if going with a 560 or 560ti or AMD 7950. If you want a 580 then I'd go for something better because the Builder Series are really the budget end from Corsair.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL

Overkill. Most games don't take advantage of systems running more than 4gb RAM - Skyrim physically can't for example. 4GB is enough for a gaming system, 8GB is already overkill but you might like it for future proofing. 16GB is just wasteful.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Good.

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - OEM

Overkill - windows 7 Home premium 64bit is all you need to play games like The Witcher etc.

[Nichola Haynes]

(quote limit reached.. cont.d:)

I am a novice and not that PC savvy. I want to make the move to PC. I am basically learning on the fly as I research and put together this build. I want to run on Ultra and get all this 60 FPS and bla, bla...

Skyrim doesn't always play at 60fps on Ultra, no matter the rig. But you'll get 60fps on ultra most of the time.

As an old dog trying to learn new tricks, it is very overwhelming. I read about optimum performance and running dual video cards in SLI (what ever the hell that is), AA, Ghosting and ....well you get the picture.

Feel free to ask about anything. SLI is running two nVidia graphics cards at once. Crossfire is running two AMD graphics cards at once. Both are strongly discouraged for Skyrim.

[Pat RiMsey]

Feel free to ask about anything. SLI is running two nVidia graphics cards at once. Crossfire is running two AMD graphics cards at once. Both are strongly discouraged for Skyrim.

Thanks for the feedback. It is much appreciated. I need to rethink my options then. I was hoping to be up and running prior to 03/06. Since I posted that info, the deal on the HDD and PSU has expired. So I need to pick new ones anyway.

[I’m my own]

Overkill for Skyrim, and a bad time to buy even if using for other games. Skyrim doesn't need much more than a gtx 560ti unless you have very unusual requirements (like multi-screen gaming). In the UK a 560ti is less than half the price of a 580. If you want the best card you can for other games then an AMD 7950 is the same price as a 580 while being faster and using less power. If you can wait until April then more cards will come out to compete with the AMD 7950 so you might get more for your money. But if you are mainly interested in Skyrim then I'd just get a 560 or 560ti - you can play the waiting game forever in the PC world.

Would getting an AMD 7950 require me to get an AMD MOBO and CPU?

[Rachell Katherine]

There is no penalty for mixing CPU / GPU origins, whatever way you want to do it. For the past five years, the very highest performing (and most expensive) CPUs + Chipset have been from Intel, while at the more usual medium CPU levels, the AMD CPU + Chipset have offered more bang for the buck (better value). In video cards, nVIDIA has tended to do about the same thing, holding the very top rank spot, while not competing well in the middle area. Right now, AMD has the lead in graphics, with two relatively new HD 7900s.

[Kirsty Wood]

Ok, I have made some changes marked in color. I am still in at around $2,100 US. So, that is good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I72600K

ASUS ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video
GIGABYTE GV-R795WF3-3GD Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC
Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ( to run OS )

*HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 (0F10381) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

*CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 AMD Phenom

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

ASUS VS248H-P Black 24" HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit

[RUby DIaz]

Yeah, that's a nice build now. *jealous*

[Jason Wolf]

Yeah, that's a nice build now. *jealous*

You're too kind and thank you again for all the help.

On a side note : Would it be better to go with (2 x 4GB) or (4 x 2GB) on the memory? OR does it matter?

[Beat freak]

You're too kind and thank you again for all the help.

On a side note : Would it be better to go with (2 x 4GB) or (4 x 2GB) on the memory? OR does it matter?

2x4gb would be preferable - it will use less power and cause less strain on the CPU memory controller.

[Alexis Estrada]

Thanks guys, you are the best. I will be placing my order for the supplies this afternoon.

[Tania Bunic]

If you have to go for a modern AMD system then the FX4100 black edition is a good choice, but Intel i3 based systems will be faster for Skyrim and shouldn't cost any more. RAM wise, it should be cheaper to get 2x2gb rather than 1x4gb and this would enable dual channel, but either way 4gb is more than enough. Vengence is really good RAM so no need to change that. Your graphics card choice is very good - if money is a problem you could save a bit of budget by getting the non-ti version of the 560 - the money would be better spent on changing to Intel (but this is Skyrim specific - other games generally demand more of the graphics card and care less about the CPU).

The monitor just means you will be playing at 1366x768 - this is a relatively low resolution for PC gaming, but you won't notice it too much and it means your graphics card will be worked less hard (again making the case for dropping to a non-ti version of the 560 if you want to save money). I think it would still be nicer to upgrade to a larger monitor - you can get 1920x1080 21" monitors quite cheaply these days, but personal preference is more important.

DinoPC are pretty good. Chillblast is another one to look for.

I wouldn't - it won't have any benefit for Skyrim or any games.

Xigmatek is towards the budget end, but it's better than other budget brands. Ideally pick up an OCZ or corsair unit.

I would highly recommend Chillblast over DinoPC, I recieved my PC from them yesterday(http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Hurricane.html) and it runs like a champ and is solid build. A better service than DinoPC did for my dad.

[Blackdrak]

hey, I'm new to the forum. This is my system

amd phenom II X6 2.6GHz
4GB ddr3 1333MHz
Nvidia GT 520 2GB ddr3 (the 1GB version was listed in the medium-low section of the list)
500GB hard drive.

I was wondering what settings I should be able to run at.

[Conor Byrne]

hey, I'm new to the forum. This is my system

amd phenom II X6 2.6GHz
4GB ddr3 1333MHz
Nvidia GT 520 2GB ddr3
500GB hard drive.

I was wondering what settings I should be able to run at.

You might scraqe by on Low.

[QuinDINGDONGcey]

that's unfortunate. I might be upgrading to 8GB of ram, will that make a noticeable difference ?

[Jodie Bardgett]

that's unfortunate. I might be upgrading to 8GB of ram, will that make a noticeable difference ?

No afriad not. Your bottleneck is the graphics card. Replace that with a 560/6870 etc. and it'll fly.

[Jack Bryan]

well thank you for the helpful information, it will be a while before I can afford either of those cards. Maybe I'll get lucky and win one of the contests I'm in.

[Leticia Hernandez]

hey, I'm new to the forum. This is my system

amd phenom II X6 2.6GHz
4GB ddr3 1333MHz
Nvidia GT 520 2GB ddr3 (the 1GB version was listed in the medium-low section of the list)
500GB hard drive.

I was wondering what settings I should be able to run at.

Any attached VRAM on a GT 520 beyond 512 MBs (perhaps just 256) is excess to what the card's memory system can switch in and out at a game's speed, so is meaningless. If it has only a 64 bit memory system, it's only got 256 MBs it can deal with. I don't think it has 128 bits, which would be required to occasionally be able to reach beyond 256 MBs for games. I would suggest to check passmark's ratings, since I think it belongs in the middle of the Low End ranks.

There would be no improvement in the game beyond whatever it is limited to by its poor bandwidth, and a single GB was already twice as large, or four times as large, as such a slow card can use, the 2 GB card just represents more wasted everything.