Getting a PC and Skyrim graphics

[Pwishy]

Hi guys!

 

For the first time in my life, I am going to get myself a PC! To this day, I've been using my laptop and have gotten fairly used to mediocre graphics and low FPS.

 

I want to make sure my first PC can handle damn good graphics, specifically for Skyrim! 

 

If you guys have seen this: http://kotaku.com/5961994/what-skyrim-looks-like-when-youre-running-100-mods-at-once

 

thats how I'd like my graphics to look like in-game. 

 

Does anyone have any advice on what kind of PC to look for, what type, specifications, to be able to handle that kind of graphics?

 

I'm a complete noob with computers and I have this idea that since a laptop can handle not-bad-ish graphics, a PC can handle ultra ultra graphics. I have a feeling I could be really, really wrong.

 

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong section!

[Ark of Truth]

To be honest your better of building a custom one yourself. But it depends on budget.

[Pwishy]

To be honest your better of building a custom one yourself. But it depends on budget.

 

I see, budget isn't really an issue.

 

I'm gonna google how to build one then! I hope it's not too complicated

[Onionstarz]

Buy a I5 with 8+ gig of ram and add a graphics card with 4+ gig of ram, if you want to run HD texture everything with enb's.

[Call me Mark]

Just buy the parts and let somebody who is knowlegable with PCs do the assembling, installing the OS and whatnot.

 

[Pwishy]

Buy a I5 with 8+ gig of ram and add a graphics card with 4+ gig of ram, if you want to run HD texture everything with enb's.

 

My laptop is I7 and it still can't handle strong ENBs... shouldn't I be aiming for I(the highest number it has, lol)?

 

Eh... actually, is the number any indication of it's graphic strength? 

[anubis]

How much is your budget ? that's a start.....there is always a limit.

[Pwishy]

How much is your budget ? that's a start.....there is always a limit.

 

Hm, since I hope this would be the only PC i will ever need, I am prepared to splurged, so long as it allows me to play with fantastic graphics with almost zero performance loss or FPS drop.

[RitualClarity]

 

To be honest your better of building a custom one yourself. But it depends on budget.

 

I see, budget isn't really an issue.

 

I'm gonna google how to build one then! I hope it's not too complicated

 

 

If you are unsure of building a computer many places that sell the parts will also build to order for a few dollars more. Since "budget" isn't really an issue you can add a few dollars to the bottom line and have someone professionally build the computer. Then as time goes by you can slowly learn maintenance and maybe a upgrade of memory, graphics power etc. In a short time you will be able to build one completely from scratch with confidence.

This is just a thought.

 

Some graphic review sites:

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/14-best-graphics-cards-for-every-budget-654141

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/graphics-cards/42/

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

 

Remember to match a proper power supply (you can go over the power and amperage without any problems with the computer and it is  even advised)

[Mordyn]

Well, if you can, go to Haswell + GK110 or GK104:

 

Geforce GTX 780

 - Best rig apart from the Titan. If you have money aim for an SLI

If the price is too big, you can aim to any high end 3GB+ card you can afford.

 

Haswell 4770k + AIO liquid Cooler

 - A beast!

 - 4670K is ok too

 

16 GB RAM

- 2x8GB of DDR3 1800MHz preferably

 

Any z87 based motherboard

- I own an asus z87-pro, but honestly any of Asus/MSI/Gygabyte models is ok

 

Any big case

- Like the NZXT Phantom 630 for example

 

A quality power supply

- 800W+ for a single gpu, 1000W+ for an SLI! Antec or Corsair are good.

 

A couple SSD + HDD

- A toshiba/Crucial 256GB+ SSD.

- Any "big"  HDD as a secondary disk

 

With that, you can play Skyrim and any game for the next years

 

I can give you a more detailed configuration if you want... I just changed my computer recently (from a 5 year old gaming laptop) so I've done a lot of studying...

[EternalDamned]

Quickest solution would probably be to call Alienware and tell them what you EXPECT the pc to be able to handle. They can hook you up, and quickly, but they certainly are not the cheapest route. Cheapest route would involve studying up on all the latest hardware, then finding out where to buy the pieces at wholesale price. Then putting them all together and hoping you didn't frag it up somewhere along the way! That way would be much cheaper, but likely take months. What ever solution you choose, try to remember that the fewer "auto-update" programs you have running the better as these are one of the most frequent causes of random CTD's while playing Skyrim.

[Guest ThatOne]

Never expect a PC to last forever. There will always be new hardware, and software that makes use of it.

An expansive PC can, however, last you several years. The more you spend now, the longer your PC will be able to handle new games without losing performance.

 

Since I'm talking in generalities, here's a more tangible example:

If you buy a GeForce GTX Titan, you'll have a graphics card that can handle most - if not all - of the games that will come out in the next several years.

Of course, it costs a god-damn lot. So you really should decide how much you are willing to spend before you start planning.

 

For a "slightly" cheaper example, my friend is still using a GeForce GTX 550, and he's running Skyrim (with HD textures, enb etc) without any trouble.

[lordofthedread]

Here what I would recommend :

 

Motherboard : MSI Z87-G45 Gaming http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z87-G45-GAMING.html

Processor : Intel Core i5 4670K

Memory : 16GB DDR3 2133 G. Skill

Casing : Corsair Carbide 300R http://www.corsair.com/carbide-series-300r-compact-pc-gaming-case.html

Cooling : Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO http://www.coolermaster.co.th/product.php?product_id=6713

Storage : WD Caviar Green 2TB or Seagate equivalent

SSD : Kingston HyperX 240GB

GPU : Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 / GTX 670 (an OC version preferably, gicabyte makes great Nvidia graphic cards) or AMD Radeon HD 7870Ghz edition / 7950 (Sapphire or HIS are the brands I would personally use).

Optical Drive : LG DVDRW 24x or LG BluRay drive

Power Supply : Any power supply with more than 600W and with at least a 80+ gold certification.

 

This is just to give you an idea about what specification I would look for if I had to change my PC, others might recommend other brands as it is really a matter of tastes and personal experiences but the ones I linked proved very reliable to me.

 

Edit : after reading the previous posts I will not encourage you to go for a SLI or a Crossfire as many games have been proven incompatible, I personally think it is better to have 1 good graphic card than 2.

 

A Geforce TITAN is not worth the 1000 dollars asked for it, I would definitly choose a 680 (or a 690 / 780) for that kind of money.

[winny257]

hi Freyja!
my machinery (PC) is a amd phenom II X6, with 6 x 3200 GHz, an ATI Radeon 6870 and 8 GB RAM, but he is already 2 years old. anyway i can play skyrim at all maximum settings. there must be no high end computer to achieve good graphics.

 

 

The Old Man Winny

[lordofthedread]

Well, if you can, go to Haswell + GK110 or GK104:

 

Geforce GTX 780

 - Best rig apart from the Titan. If you have money aim for an SLI

If the price is too big, you can aim to any high end 3GB+ card you can afford.

 

Haswell 4770k + AIO liquid Cooler

 - A beast!

 - 4670K is ok too

 

16 GB RAM

- 2x8GB of DDR3 1800MHz preferably

 

Any z87 based motherboard

- I own an asus z87-pro, but honestly any of Asus/MSI/Gygabyte models is ok

 

Any big case

- Like the NZXT Phantom 630 for example

 

A quality power supply

- 800W+ for a single gpu, 1000W+ for an SLI! Antec or Corsair are good.

 

A couple SSD + HDD

- A toshiba/Crucial 256GB+ SSD.

- Any "big"  HDD as a secondary disk

 

With that, you can play Skyrim and any game for the next years

 

I can give you a more detailed configuration if you want... I just changed my computer recently (from a 5 year old gaming laptop) so I've done a lot of studying...

 

No games are making use of more than 2GB video memory, sometimes cards with 1GB have proven to perform faster.

 

800W is way too much for a single card based PC you can easily calculate what PSU you need by using one of the various PSU calculator on constructors websites, 1000W is useless if you dont build a freakin server or a quad SLI.

[Mordyn]

 

Well, if you can, go to Haswell + GK110 or GK104:

 

Geforce GTX 780

 - Best rig apart from the Titan. If you have money aim for an SLI

If the price is too big, you can aim to any high end 3GB+ card you can afford.

 

Haswell 4770k + AIO liquid Cooler

 - A beast!

 - 4670K is ok too

 

16 GB RAM

- 2x8GB of DDR3 1800MHz preferably

 

Any z87 based motherboard

- I own an asus z87-pro, but honestly any of Asus/MSI/Gygabyte models is ok

 

Any big case

- Like the NZXT Phantom 630 for example

 

A quality power supply

- 800W+ for a single gpu, 1000W+ for an SLI! Antec or Corsair are good.

 

A couple SSD + HDD

- A toshiba/Crucial 256GB+ SSD.

- Any "big"  HDD as a secondary disk

 

With that, you can play Skyrim and any game for the next years

 

I can give you a more detailed configuration if you want... I just changed my computer recently (from a 5 year old gaming laptop) so I've done a lot of studying...

 

No games are making use of more than 2GB video memory, sometimes cards with 1GB have proven to perform faster.

We talk about Skyrim here, and a heavily modded Skyrim, which is the goal here (ENB + High quality textures + AA), does that... more than 2GB I can assure you. Of course apart from that game and if not using lots of AA + double screen, there is not that many games that make use of it.

 

800W is way too much for a single card based PC you can easily calculate what PSU you need by using one of the various PSU calculator on constructors websites, 1000W is useless if you dont build a freakin server or a quad SLI.

 

You're right on that, I was being too large on the configuration to have some room in oced SLI + oced CPU. But yes, 800W should be OK for an SLI, as long as it's gold or platinium.

[lordofthedread]

 

 

Well, if you can, go to Haswell + GK110 or GK104:

 

Geforce GTX 780

 - Best rig apart from the Titan. If you have money aim for an SLI

If the price is too big, you can aim to any high end 3GB+ card you can afford.

 

Haswell 4770k + AIO liquid Cooler

 - A beast!

 - 4670K is ok too

 

16 GB RAM

- 2x8GB of DDR3 1800MHz preferably

 

Any z87 based motherboard

- I own an asus z87-pro, but honestly any of Asus/MSI/Gygabyte models is ok

 

Any big case

- Like the NZXT Phantom 630 for example

 

A quality power supply

- 800W+ for a single gpu, 1000W+ for an SLI! Antec or Corsair are good.

 

A couple SSD + HDD

- A toshiba/Crucial 256GB+ SSD.

- Any "big"  HDD as a secondary disk

 

With that, you can play Skyrim and any game for the next years

 

I can give you a more detailed configuration if you want... I just changed my computer recently (from a 5 year old gaming laptop) so I've done a lot of studying...

 

No games are making use of more than 2GB video memory, sometimes cards with 1GB have proven to perform faster.

We talk about Skyrim here, and a heavily modded Skyrim, which is the goal here (ENB + High quality textures + AA), does that... more than 2GB I can assure you. Of course apart from that game and if not using lots of AA + double screen, there is not that many games that make use of it.

 

800W is way too much for a single card based PC you can easily calculate what PSU you need by using one of the various PSU calculator on constructors websites, 1000W is useless if you dont build a freakin server or a quad SLI.

 

You're right on that, I was being too large on the configuration to have some room in oced SLI + oced CPU. But yes, 800W should be OK for an SLI, as long as it's gold or platinium.

 

 

Best ENB + 4k textures on Skyrim wont use more than 2gb video memory, and the differnce between 2k and 4k testures is usually not worth the FPS hit IMO unless you have a screen allowing you to get an higher resolution than 1920 x 1080.

 

You would need more memory if you wanted to play on 2 or more screens, I dont even know if Skyrim is compatible with such configurations, since any high end GPU comes at least bundled with 2GB I think it is plenty enough.

 

Skyrim eating 3GB of memory on a benchmark does not mean that memory is in fact needed by the engine, just that the engine fails at cleaning things it stored in video memory, any given scene in Skyrim will not need 3GB of video memory unless you start to spawn like 20 dragons along with 100 NPC at your feet, my guess is Skyrim would eat 6GB of video memory if you had that much, that does not mean the game needed them.

 

My rig can play Skyrim at 40fps with ENB, 2K texture pack, 4k body textures and 200 mods in total with only 1GB GDDR5.

[Ghoulz]

 

To be honest your better of building a custom one yourself. But it depends on budget.

 

I see, budget isn't really an issue.

 

I'm gonna google how to build one then! I hope it's not too complicated

 

I watched this guy's videos when I needed to build one for the first time. http://www.youtube.com/user/CareyHolzman?feature=watch

 

The real thing you'll want figured out are CPU coolers. There are so many and have different methods to install them. Aside from that everything else is pretty much the same.

 

I'm retarded as hell, so you'll be fine.

[Veta]

Like I say to everyone who wants to build a custom pc , wait till the consoles are out so the pc prices will drop .

[Mordyn]

Best ENB + 4k textures on Skyrim wont use more than 2gb video memory, and the differnce between 2k and 4k testures is usually not worth the FPS hit IMO unless you have a screen allowing you to get an higher resolution than 1920 x 1080.

Well that's not the experience I had tbh: I had a friend laptop some months ago (was planning to buy it...), and it had a crossfire of 6990M 2GB. I installed lots of eye candy mods (basically a buffed STEP + lots of others + ugrid tweaking), and an ENB. The game was between 20 to 30 fps (worst was Whiterun at 10 to 15 fps) and crashed often. Without ENB the game was 40 fps...

On everything I tried, the best was to downsize every texture from 4096 to 2048 and from 2048 to 1024... I think I doubled my fps just from that!

And it stopped crashing too.

Another thing which is not really visible in fps results was the disappearance of "stuttering" ingame.

 

You would need more memory if you wanted to play on 2 or more screens, I dont even know if Skyrim is compatible with such configurations, since any high end GPU comes at least bundled with 2GB I think it is plenty enough.

Of course it is compatible (but maybe not officially), and it is awesome

 

My rig can play Skyrim at 40fps with ENB, 2K texture pack, 4k body textures and 200 mods in total with only 1GB GDDR5.

 

Well, as I stated before, that's not my experience at all. Are you using an ENB? AA? a bigger ugrid?

[none1980]

Ok, I have two options for you then. First one is stupidly high end, of the kind you're asking for. A modified version of a build I did for someone who was into heavy video/photo editing (fyi, current Nvidia drivers are fucked up and don't work properly with ENBs):

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($499.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler:  Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM  Liquid CPU Cooler  ($139.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard:  Asus P9X79 LE ATX  LGA2011 Motherboard  ($233.49 @ Newegg)
Memory:  Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($219.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($653.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($648.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case:  Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case  ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply:  SeaSonic X Series 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  ($154.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive:  Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($129.97 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $3181.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-22 13:46 EDT-0400)

 

BUT, I don't really recommend spending that much on a gaming rig right now unless you're just rich, love computers or want bragging rights. It would be better to get something very good now and build again in a few years with the latest parts, because with technology, things move so fast (though they've slowed down) that mid-range parts in 3 or 4 years will beat the highest end parts of today. So just upgrade then instead of wasting money today. This is still very high end:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($249.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler:  Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM  Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard:  Asus P8Z77-V PRO ATX  LGA1155 Motherboard  ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Memory:  Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($219.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($65.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card:  XFX Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card  ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Case:  NZXT Switch 810 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case  ($145.46 @ Amazon)
Power Supply:  SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  ($127.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive:  Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1689.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-22 14:12 EDT-0400)

 

Or finally, you could drop the water cooler, drop the motherboard to something cheaper and get an i5 for around 1,400 and notice virtually no performance loss in Skyrim.

 

Also, do you plan to overclock? Do you live near a Microcenter?

[lordofthedread]

 

Best ENB + 4k textures on Skyrim wont use more than 2gb video memory, and the differnce between 2k and 4k testures is usually not worth the FPS hit IMO unless you have a screen allowing you to get an higher resolution than 1920 x 1080.

Well that's not the experience I had tbh: I had a friend laptop some months ago (was planning to buy it...), and it had a crossfire of 6990M 2GB. I installed lots of eye candy mods (basically a buffed STEP + lots of others + ugrid tweaking), and an ENB. The game was between 20 to 30 fps (worst was Whiterun at 10 to 15 fps) and crashed often. Without ENB the game was 40 fps...

On everything I tried, the best was to downsize every texture from 4096 to 2048 and from 2048 to 1024... I think I doubled my fps just from that!

And it stopped crashing too.

Another thing which is not really visible in fps results was the disappearance of "stuttering" ingame.

 

You would need more memory if you wanted to play on 2 or more screens, I dont even know if Skyrim is compatible with such configurations, since any high end GPU comes at least bundled with 2GB I think it is plenty enough.

Of course it is compatible (but maybe not officially), and it is awesome

 

My rig can play Skyrim at 40fps with ENB, 2K texture pack, 4k body textures and 200 mods in total with only 1GB GDDR5.

 

Well, as I stated before, that's not my experience at all. Are you using an ENB? AA? a bigger ugrid?

 

 

You cant compare a laptop to a PC, at first the processor will be underclocked to save battery, not counting that the screen resolution cant be more than 1920x1080 so again 4K textures wont make a great difference on how the game looks.

 

You can always put better stuff in your computer an tune up your settings and ENB, after a while it all depend if you want to actually play the game or just have fun tuning it, you definitely dont need a SLI system or a graphic card with more than 2GB to play the game with very decent FPS, even with the use of ENB and high resolution textures.

 

And yes I do use ENB (I said that already), I dont use AA and bigger ugrid but my game looks pretty great already, if I had a better GPU I would probably tune up but I wont buy a SLI system just to have a bigger ugrid in Skyrim lets keep real

[Mordyn]

 

You cant compare a laptop to a PC, at first the processor will be underclocked to save battery, not counting that the screen resolution cant be more than 1920x1080 so again 4K textures wont make a great difference on how the game looks.

Well, the problem has more to do with vram than being a laptop, imo

And the laptop was more powerful than many gaming PC I saw, as it was an alienware m18x with overclocked 2960XM (up to 4.1GHz)..

 

You can always put better stuff in your computer an tune up your settings and ENB, after a while it all depend if you want to actually play the game or just have fun tuning it, you definitely dont need a SLI system or a graphic card with more than 2GB to play the game with very decent FPS, even with the use of ENB and high resolution textures.

It's really subjective I suppose, but I consider myself in a "good" condition if I reach 45-50 fps in a ultra-modded skyrim without stutter or crash. And it would be the least I can ask if I was buying a really powerful PC.

No compromise

 

And yes I do use ENB (I said that already), I dont use AA and bigger ugrid but my game looks pretty great already, if I had a better GPU I would probably tune up but I wont buy a SLI system just to have a bigger ugrid in Skyrim lets keep real

 

Well, ugrid and AA are vram killers, so I understand better now ^^.

I myself can't really play with at least AA, I really hate the jaggies and shimmering in the game...

[Xalynne]

As mentioned in the article that grass is an absolute FPS assassin. I can run Project ENB, 2K textures, water upgrade, smoke/fire mods, full AA, etc and get a pleasant 40-ish fps out of my GTX 660 Ti, but the second I turn on Lush Grass or Grass on Steroids my FPS drops into the toilet and the game becomes a slideshow.

 

If you don't want that ridiculous carpet of grass, you can get by with a 2GB card. But if you want the grass? Not a chance.

[lordofthedread]

Well I dont have problem with grass on steroids but lush grass is indeed killing my FPS, personally I think that buying 2 very expensive GPU just for grass is not worth it but thats just me.

 

I believe a GTX 670 or AMD equivalent will allow you to play Skyrim in beautiful conditions (2k / 4k textures and many beautifications mods) with a very decent framerate.