What computer parts do I need to run a lot of Mods?

[themadreaper]

I need to buy a new computer and I want to make sure it can run a lot of mods. More specifically I want to be able to run an ENB and a bunch of texture mods because I know those are the most performance heavy. The thing is, I'm not very familiar with computer parts. I don't know what is considered good among parts or what parts games and mods rely on more. Can anybody recommend a pc that can handle a lot of mods (especially ENBs) or what parts I would need to run a very heavily modded game?

[Dhegonus]

go with an intel processor, whilst AMD are good, for skyrim intel outshines an AMD processor. So any i5 fourth generation will do, go for the i5 4270k (off the top of my head, something similar to that. also, make sure to get a Haswell version, generally just a lot better, if you can't afford a Haswell, you will probably also have t look into a different mother than the one linked below.), if money is no real object and you have money to burn, go for the i7 variation. Now, when it comes to RAM, you'l want 8 GB minimum, it's enough to run said mods and if you need more RAM, you can always get more at a later date. Go with 8 GB ram, that has a speed of 1600mhz as a minimum. For graphics card, if you can afford it, get an nvidia GTX 770 like the one in the link below:

 

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-770-tf-gaming-pcie-30-(x16)-7010mhz-gddr5-gpu-1098mhz-boost-1150mhz-cores-1536-dport-dvi

 

with those, and a decent motherboard, visit the link below:

 

http://www.computershopper.com/components/reviews/msi-z87-mpower-max

[Novem99]

Since you said you're not familiar with computer parts I suggest you forget the advice regarding the mainboard (motherboard) of the previous post. This mainboard is intended for heavy overclocking and that's something you shouldn't consider and that's also not necessary for Skyrim.

 

These mainboards will work fine for you and have a high quality:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/H97PLUS/

http://www.gigabyte.de/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4954#ov

 

These cost less than the half of the MSI mentioned above. The saved money you can invest for a better CPU:

http://ark.intel.com/de/products/80810/Intel-Core-i5-4690-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

 

I would also recommend another graphics card:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1227&pid=2131&lid=1

 

It costs the same as the GTX 770 but performs slightly better.

 

8GB Ram is enough for Skyrim that's right but bear in mind that you'll need a 64-bit Windows Version. With a regular 32-bit version you're only able to use 4GB.

[camaro_69_327]

Wont tell you what to buy, but can tell you what I have and what it does...

Running a heavily modded Skyrim. 212 mods from 339 installers, Everything from SkyRe, SkyUI, Frostfall And an ENB {Serenity} Usually get about 40-80 FPS (40 Outside 80 inside..lol) Battles can get to around 25-30 FPS. No crashes, some stutters. The Game loads up my system to 10 GB RAM Commit , (4.4 Physical) and loads my GPU's to 90-95% at around 2.8 GB used for hours on end. Longest run straight ,with this mod loadout is 8 hours.

 

Motherboard = ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z

CPU = Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.6 (Stable clock 2 years running)

RAM = 16 GB Kingston @ 666.7 MHz (PC3-10600)

GPU's = EVGA GTX 580 (SLI) 384-bit - 3072 MBytes of GDDR5 SDRAM

Sound = Asus Essence STX w/Logitech Z-5500

Being this was built 2 years ago you can best this now...But having SLI and a 384 bit BUS my GPU's still hold up to today's cards that have 4 GB and 256 bus.

[CherryBelle]

I don't wanna take away from this great wealth of info, but the website/forum Tom's Hardware is amazing when it comes to discussing system specs, or really anything to do with computers. They helped me a ton when I got my new PC.

[CthulhuCthulhu]

The Intel Core 2600k is a good core I have it myself or another similar one. I recommend buying Nvidia 500 series to 700 series and not buy an Integrated one those are bad for gaming. Anyway my friend's Nvidia Geforce GTX 560 ran skyrim with RealVision ENB on Ultra High settings AA x8 and everything maxed out. He got about 20 fps lol and his skyrim crashed in Helgen. When he bought a GTX 760 same settings and he had 50 fps in Helgen and 40 fps everywhere else.

Edited May 18, 2014 by CthulhuCthulhu

[deRusett]

@themadreaper

I must ask this first.

Are you planning to BUILD your PC yourself? Or are you ordering a prebuilt from someplace? Or getting a custom built?

 

All of the advise thus far has been if you are building yourself.

 

What you are going to want.

Intel 4th Generation i5 or i7 processor, custom built, or ordered you can say/read that spec, any of them will do.

 

8 GB of RAM, any ram that pairs with mainboards that support the above processors will be fast enough, be it a hobbyist board or a OEM board

 

Graphics cards 1GB of VRAM (video ram) is what you want at the very least.

 

You want to make sure you get a 500GB hard drive or more, once you get OS install, and all your game + Mods you'll be in over 200GB of used space, so getting a 256GB SSD the sales guy will make it sound great, but it won't be enough.

 

 

Being armed with this will start you on your way. If you are buying a boxed PC, buying a custom PC, or buying parts for your first build this will get you what you need.

[GandhisLunchbox]

If I was you I wouldn't overclock yourself. If you do it properly it will probably be fine. But if your GPU fries you can't get your warranty because you've overclocked it. However you can buy CPUs and GPUs that are already overclocked which will still have warranty.

[themadreaper]

@deRusett

I don't really want to assemble it myself but given all the recommends so far I doubt I will be able to find something pre-built with these specs. I never really shopped around for computers before so I'm not really familiar with all the in-depth PC sites. However, given all the information available these days for building and assembling your own computer, it's not that big of a problem. And no, I don't plan on overclocking; I know even less about that than computers parts.

 

 

I really appreciate all the specific parts recommendations and parts standards given thus far. If anyone else has any other parts they'd like to recommend or anything else to add to this discussion; by all means.

 

Also, if you have a heavily modded game running with a good frame-rate and low number of crashes, feel free to post your computer specs. The more information the better.

[deRusett]

@themadreaper building your own computer is certainly easy enough, and very gratifying to do so, But if you want to buy a prebuilt that is no issue, sadly I no longer build myself as I don't have the time to devote to it as I once did.

 

You can do to a site like newegg com and get something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227505

 

Give a geography and a price range and I could probably find something better