Just asking because from some sad hilarious pathetic ridiculous reason Skyrim requires Steam even if I buy the retail version on DVD.

I think this would be more fitting to ask in the unofficial Steam/DRM thread.

But to answer your question, I honestly don't know.

No, and if it would your computer couldn't handle Skyrim anyway.

Unless you have a very small amount of RAM (that wouldn't allow you to run Skyrim properly in the first place), no. Steam doesn't take up a lot of memory, and next to no CPU power either, if you don't use its browser feature.

No.

(un)official discussion here http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1249436-unofficial-steamdrm-discussion/

Steam says that it requires 512mb to run, and in my point of view it`s bound to decrease performance atleast a bit. I have 4gb ram and Im going to be barely maxing the game out with my gtx 4601gb+ dual core cpu..

It requires 512 MB to run because you need to have that amount to run Steam + a game + all the regular background programs. I don't think I've seen Steam use up more than 100 MB, which is nothing when you have 4 GB of RAM. Skyrim probably uses less than 2 GB of RAM anyway.

The Steam client doesn't decrease performances by even one bit. There's absolutely no performance difference betweeen a steamed game and its non-steamed counterpart.

Every program you have running in the background will have an impact on a game you are playing. Sometimes with very unpredictable results. It not simply a matter of how many kilobytes of memory they use, but also the increased likelihood of instability they bring to the system. Quite simply the more lights you put on the Christmas Tree, the more likely they are to short out. That is why the first and most basic tweaking done on any gaming computer is to prevent all unnecessary programs from running on startup.

Ok thanks for the info. I was just in shock to find out about steam on skyrim cause i dont like it at all..

This is how much CPU and RAM Steam uses when it is idle. I took this for the other thread but I figured it fits well enough in here.

The first spikes are from it starting up and the RAM spike is from looking through the store browser, after that it is Steam running idly. The I/O is because it is downloading an update.

http://i.imgur.com/MtJqf.jpg

The Steamworks client appears somewhat unstable as to how much RAM and CPU % it consumes, as demonstrated by the wide range of reports as to how much of both it consumes. How much it noticeably affects gameplay will depend on how borderline you system specs are - but it will always have some impact on performance for the basic reasons SubRosa stated.

Disabling the Steam overlay makes the Steamworks client almost invisible in terms of RAM/CPU usage as far as I know

A little bit, but it shouldn't affect your gaming experience much. Unless you computer is some old hunk of junk.

Guys, a minimized Steam client is put into a completely idle state while the game is running. It can't affect performance in any way, just make sure you don't run the game while the Steam client is maximized if you're concerned with its memory usage, which might obviously increase while you're browsing the news. I did a lot of tests in that regard with both the retail and the Steam version of Oblivion, which is known to be a PITA for both the CPU and GPU, the performance difference is completely non-existent. For the record, RPCSS, which is the smallest of the svchost processes your system is running in the background, is more demanding than the Steam client itself.

I've never had any major performance dips with Steam. Some older games don't seem to like the Steam overlay (the active part of steam that you can access through the game) very much though (KOTOR, for example, kept crashing on me until I disabled it)


Thankfully, problems like that are almost always fixed by simply disabling the overlay, which takes about 5 seconds.

Sad truth, Steam brings more stability to my games than regular retail versions. Esp when you account for Games for Windows. My FO 3 copies crashed to the point of unplayable, then bought GOTY edition from Steam during gamesas sale, it runs smooth like silk underwear.