Wanting a new gaming computer..

[dragonslayer2k12]

Whatever you do there is still a need for the enb boost mod to handle memory and textures and skse for getting past 3.2 gb for max memory use. Enb boost mod is not an enb but just the enb code for memory and textures running. I use that with skse to avoid running out of ram in game. Also skse is the only way to get skyui and some other mods to work.

 

I try to stay away from those landscape texture mods they all seem to make rocks look terrible but the default rocks are terrible too:-(

[FatalxSyn]

Another question guys..

 

After some research comparing Intel Core i5 vs Intel Core i7, wondering if the higher price for i7 was worth it or not. Some would say that it isn't really worth it. That it is a bit faster, but in the end you only gain 2-3 fps.

 

I understand that Core i5 is enough to run games just fine and all, just wanting to see the whole picture. What's your thoughts?

[FatalxSyn]

Whatever you do there is still a need for the enb boost mod to handle memory and textures and skse for getting past 3.2 gb for max memory use. Enb boost mod is not an enb but just the enb code for memory and textures running. I use that with skse to avoid running out of ram in game. Also skse is the only way to get skyui and some other mods to work.

 

I try to stay away from those landscape texture mods they all seem to make rocks look terrible but the default rocks are terrible too:-(

 

I will be sure to look into that. I may have had it before, I recently reset my laptop back to factory settings to start fresh and couldn't remember many of the mods I used previously that helped boost the game.

[obobski]

Whatever you do there is still a need for the enb boost mod to handle memory and textures and skse for getting past 3.2 gb for max memory use. Enb boost mod is not an enb but just the enb code for memory and textures running. I use that with skse to avoid running out of ram in game. Also skse is the only way to get skyui and some other mods to work.

 

I try to stay away from those landscape texture mods they all seem to make rocks look terrible but the default rocks are terrible too:-(

 

 

Out of the box, Skyrim can only allocate up to 2GB of memory (like all Win32 applications); with LAA it can go up to 3GB (on Win32 platforms) or 4GB (on Win64 platforms) - with some of the ENB-hack stuff you can supposedly force it to use more memory, but that's going FAR outside of the Win32 API specifications, and is accomplished through the use of child processes and other hacks - stability, performance, and compatibility ofc cannot be guaranteed. The LAA patch is absolutely worth it imho, if you're going to run mods that will benefit from more memory and/or are getting "out of memory" crashes.

 

Fallout: New Vegas can also benefit from the LAA memory patch, as a random FYI.

 

Overall I'd say go with LAA if you're going to run mods (even stuff that uses vanilla resources can push memory consumption up higher, for example in FNV if you re-enable Freeside "the way it was originally designed" it will require a lot more memory to draw Freeside), but accept the limitations of the game, the engine, etc etc after a point instead of trying to frankenstein it into something it isn't.

 

 

 

Another question guys..

 

After some research comparing Intel Core i5 vs Intel Core i7, wondering if the higher price for i7 was worth it or not. Some would say that it isn't really worth it. That it is a bit faster, but in the end you only gain 2-3 fps.

 

I understand that Core i5 is enough to run games just fine and all, just wanting to see the whole picture. What's your thoughts?

 

Depends on which i5 you're looking at - desktop Haswell i5 are basically equivalent to desktop i7 for gaming, where HyperThreading doesn't do much of anything and single-thread performance is really the determinant factor. For other usages though, i7 can be an improvement, for example if you're going to do a lot of DCC/multimedia stuff, the HT-enabled CPUs can see a performance boost. If you're overclocking you'll have to buy a K (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Devil's Canyon, Skylake) or C (Broadwell) series CPU, which exist for both i5 and i7. If you're looking to save some cash, the i5-4690 is probably the sweet spot; if you're going "all in" the i7-5775C or i7-4790K are where you want to be looking (I would vote 100% pass on Skylake for a few reasons: DDR4 is hilariously expensive, it isn't showing any significant/measurable performance improvement over Haswell/DC/Broadwell, Microsoft is going to force Skylake (and newer) platforms into Windows 10 in 2017 (this is 100% confirmed by Microsoft) and will not allow Windows 7/8 to install on them after that time, and presently Skylake costs more than Haswell/DC/Broadwell).

 

This changes significantly when you start taking mobile/embedded parts though, and i5s aren't as universally high performance (e.g. they aren't all quadcores). There you're likely going to want it to say i7 to ensure its a quadcore and to get the highest clocks, but mobile/embedded systems generally aren't going to get you modded-to-the-gills Skyrim.

 

As far as playing Skyrim on Ultra, it really isn't a giant, unslayable monster - it doesn't require a 2000W PSU with GTX Titan X QuadSLI and 18-core Xeon backed up with 128GB of RAM and all that. My Core 2 Quad Q9550 and Radeon HD 4870X2 (this was top-end...in 2008) ran it on Ultra without fussing; with the GTX 660 it'd also run FXAA. You can trod over to YouTube and find videos of GeForce 7900GTXs doing it. Point being, you don't need anything that exceptional to accomplish this, but it isn't surprising (at all) that a mobile/embedded system can't hack it. Any contemporary CPU (even an AMD FX), and any semi-recent graphics card from the upper tiers of its respective family, should not have trouble with this. When you get into IQ-enhancement mods it becomes a 100% unpredictable situation and it is very easy to produce a game that is completely unplayable even on the aforementioned GTX Titan X QuadSLI monster. So basically, I'd take a long look at your budget, figure out what you can spend, figure out if there's any specific parts you want, and then get your machine together, and then you'll have to join the club and test your desired mods for performance and compatibility like everyone else, and away you go. This isn't meant to be confrontational or anything like that - its just reality. There are limits to what the game, its engine, etc can do, and no matter how much money you throw at it, you aren't going to get around that.

 

Realistically speaking I'd consider a machine something like this:

 

Core i5 4690 -or- Core i7 4790 -or- Core i7 5775C -or- AMD FX-8350 -or- AMD FX-8370

Intel Z97 or AMD 990 based motherboard

GeForce GTX 660/750/760/770/950/960 -or- Radeon 78xx/28x/29x/38x/39x (or better, for either)

8-16GB of DDR3 (dual-channel (means buy two sticks, so 2 4GB sticks for 8GB of memory, instead of one stick) but otherwise speed doesn't matter to any significant extent (this has been demonstrated in many benchmarks)

however much hard-drive space you need

Windows 7 x64

appropriate PSU (500-650W range is probably realistic for the majority of the above configurations; 700-800W if you're deciding on multi-GPU, tons of hard-drives, etc; look at EVGA, XFX, Rosewill, Thermaltake, Corsair, Antec, Enermax, etc - check against jonnyGuru where possible)

appropriate case (I'd start with Cooler Master, Lian-Li, Silverstone, Rosewill, and Antec and expand out from there as far as "what to buy")

appropriate fans (Vantec, Silverstone, Noctua, Thermaltake, Antec, etc) and CPU heatsink (Cooler Master, Thermalright, Noctua, Arctic, etc)

 

All-in you can probably do this for around $600-800; if you have stuff you can recycle from a previous build that can reduce the price, if you're fine going with used hardware that can reduce the price significantly if you shop smart.

 

Sources for various things I've said above:

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050601-24/?p=35483/

https://www.petri.com/microsoft-announces-limited-support-for-windows-7-with-skylake-cpus (all of Microsoft's explanations for "why this is happening" are outright lies, there is no good technical reason for this kind of limitation, its just typical Microsoft FUD-washing to hawk their latest wares)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/7

https://techreport.com/review/28751/intel-core-i7-6700k-skylake-processor-reviewed/6 (you will have to jump around)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/16

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXTrK_GtG60 - its a little choppy at parts, and G7x's texture filtering and AA aren't as good as more modern GPUs, but it works