Not support exactly - new PC asking for recommends

[Wheelhouse]

So I've been playing Skyrim the past few weeks on my ancient PC (I bought Skyrim when it came out but the shadows were so bad I decided to wait until I upgraded, and after a long romance with consoles, I knew I would be doing so now).

 

My current PC (that I'm typing this on) is an off the shelf HP with:

 

AMD Athlon II X2 220 2.80 GHz

5 Gigs RAM

nVidia GeForce GTS 450

 

The one I'm building (installing Windows as I type this) is home built with:

 

Intel I5 4590

8 Gigs RAM

nVidia GeForce GTX 760

 

My question is about how much this newer PC can handle in terms of mods, such as the high rez textures and all that.  I don't know anything about ENB, either.  Does anyone know of a good guide or is it mostly trial and error?

 

I will most likely copy over my Skyrim directory completely to the new PC once I've downloaded it via Steam, as my current file structure seems to work pretty well (for the PC it's on - low settings whenever given the choice).  Unless that's a bad idea - I guess I could just copy over the .zips and .7z's and re-extract.

 

Any tips or links would be much appreciated.

[speckledsnake]

So I've been playing Skyrim the past few weeks on my ancient PC (I bought Skyrim when it came out but the shadows were so bad I decided to wait until I upgraded, and after a long romance with consoles, I knew I would be doing so now).

 

My current PC (that I'm typing this on) is an off the shelf HP with:

 

AMD Athlon II X2 220 2.80 GHz

5 Gigs RAM

nVidia GeForce GTS 450

 

The one I'm building (installing Windows as I type this) is home built with:

 

Intel I5 4590

8 Gigs RAM

nVidia GeForce GTX 760

 

My question is about how much this newer PC can handle in terms of mods, such as the high rez textures and all that.  I don't know anything about ENB, either.  Does anyone know of a good guide or is it mostly trial and error?

 

I will most likely copy over my Skyrim directory completely to the new PC once I've downloaded it via Steam, as my current file structure seems to work pretty well (for the PC it's on - low settings whenever given the choice).  Unless that's a bad idea - I guess I could just copy over the .zips and .7z's and re-extract.

 

Any tips or links would be much appreciated.

 

GTX760 prices have come down! You should double down on that RAM with the money you (presumably) saved getting the GTX now instead of when it was just-released.

 

What are you using, NMM or MO? Or just installing from Steam workshop? Judging by "...copy over the .zips and .7z's...", I presume you're manually installing. At the risk of sounding cliche, you should start off with Mod Organizer on your new rig. It will be a pain in the ass for the first little while (or maybe not, but it was for me) but once you start figuring it out, its an incredible tool. I thought "I'm only going to install a set of mods, and then play - I don't need a lot of features", but you'll find that you dislike your ENB and want to compare another, or want to try a different set of textures, or a different follower script, or whatever - MO makes this shockingly safe and easy. It uses a virtual directory, so never touches your game files, and lets you copy and/or create new profiles with 2 clicks, so you can install, uninstall, reinstall, tweak, deactivate, and fiddle to your heart's content without screwing up anything at all.

 

You're on a brand new machine, buddy. Go the distance, start fresh. It will be totally worth it.

 

2k optimized textures will get you everything you want for the environment. That card can handle an ENB, and there are ways of optimizing it too. Pick an ENB (RealVision and Kountervibe are two pretty popular options), and then google around for "______ ENB optimization", and compare notes. People will swear to do this, or swear to do that. Find a couple of guides (make sure you're not looking at 3-year old guides, as Skyrim patches have gradually improved how Skyrim runs on your machine, invalidating older "fixes" along the way), and go from there.

 

Edit: P.S. S.T.E.P.s - looks overwhelming at first, but its a very through and super, super helpful (and very encompassing) guide to modding.

[Wheelhouse]

Yes I have been manually installing.

 

I found trying to use mod organizers in Oblivion pretty much ONLY screwed up my game, so I never tried one for Skyrim.

 

Looking at STEP as I have 128 Important updates on Windows (31 installed so far) and wow, that'll be a good start, thanks!

 

The idea of using an organizer does not sound appealing to me at all, though...

[nutluck]

Is it a 2gig video card?

 

If you got the extra money I agree double the ram would help and you should be able to get it cheap on newegg for example. I just switched from 3 2gig sticks to 4 4gig sticks and it only cost like 110 US with shipping.

 

Assuming the video card is at least a 2gig model you should be able to throw just about any mod at it and run fine. As long as you don't go to crazy on heavy script mods.

 

My PC is a

i7 2.7 gig quad core CPU

16 gig of Ripjaw ram

GTX 660 Ti SC 2gig card

 

and I can pretty much run Skyrim with a ton of mods and high end graphics and it run smooth.

[Wheelhouse]

yeah it's a PNY made 2 gig version.  I could SLI on my board (ASUS Z97 AR) but only got the one and have no idea how good SLI works as I've never done it.  Also I got Windows 7 professional so could go beyond the 8 gigs I got (if my understanding of Win 7 versions is correct).

 

Edit - also, while my last PC (the one I'm typing on as my new one is updating) is the only store-bought PC I've ever purchased, the new one is the only home-built one that booted and recognized everything on the first try.

 

I was shocked.

 

I've built probably 6 or 7 PCs over the years and every single one always has some minor issue that causes me to re-open the case.  But not this one.

[speckledsnake]

yeah it's a PNY made 2 gig version.  I could SLI on my board (ASUS Z97 AR) but only got the one and have no idea how good SLI works as I've never done it.  Also I got Windows 7 professional so could go beyond the 8 gigs I got (if my understanding of Win 7 versions is correct).

 

Edit - also, while my last PC (the one I'm typing on as my new one is updating) is the only store-bought PC I've ever purchased, the new one is the only home-built one that booted and recognized everything on the first try.

 

I was shocked.

 

I've built probably 6 or 7 PCs over the years and every single one always has some minor issue that causes me to re-open the case.  But not this one.

 

Home Premium can handle more than 8GB (I'm on it with 16 GB, i7-3770 and 3GB Twin Frozr), but the encryption is nice on Pro.

 

Grats on the successful home build! Exhilarating feeling =)

 

EDIT: Also, you will look back and laugh - maniacally, uncontrollably, endlessly - at "The idea of using an organizer does not sound appealing to me at all, though...", if and when you do start using a mod organizer. Seriously. Modding without a mod organizer is borderline reckless - you'll have infinitely improved stability, control, flexibility, and possibilities, with a mod organizer.

[nutluck]

How much ram you can have depends on the if it is a 32 or 64 bit version of windows 7. I am assuming you have a 64bit which can handle more ram than you are going to install on it.

[speckledsnake]

How much ram you can have depends on the if it is a 32 or 64 bit version of windows 7. I am assuming you have a 64bit which can handle more ram than you are going to install on it.

 

Welp, there you go. I didn't even know 7 came any other way than 64-bit.

 

Why does it?

[Wheelhouse]

How much ram you can have depends on the if it is a 32 or 64 bit version of windows 7. I am assuming you have a 64bit which can handle more ram than you are going to install on it.

 

Yeah I mis-typed up there.  I got the Win 7 64 bit Pro, so can go above the 8 gigs I have.

 

And it's almost done updating (all critical updates done, all non-windows drivers updated, just doing some recommended windows updates then it's on to some gaming!).

[nutluck]

Honestly I have no idea why they bothered releasing it in 32bit but they did. I believe though i might be wrong all 64bit version cap at like 128 gigs of ram if I recall.

[speckledsnake]

Honestly I have no idea why they bothered releasing it in 32bit but they did. I believe though i might be wrong all 64bit version cap at like 128 gigs of ram if I recall.

 

128GB on one CPU. Just in case you have an algorithm to run for interrupting the space-time continuum.