Building a Computer for Skyrim

[roger41]

I tried to search the forums for something that answers this question and was recent, but I just joined and apparently suck at that. Anyway, real quick, I played Skyrim on the PS3 but want to buy a desktop computer specifically to play it on the PC with a bunch of mods (specifically intrigued by Skyre).

 

Anyway, if you guys had some suggestions for a desktop (just the tower and components) for under $800 (preferrably around 5 or 6) that would work for Skyrim and a good number of mods, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance and can't wait to join the community!

[wolfpack91]

ok just to point out my laptop cost $670 and it barley supports skyrim on medium quality. in reality your going to be looking in the $900-1800 range for a decent Desktop capabe of runing skyrim proper with a lot of mods. but if building on a budget i would sugesst AMD Components. my newest desktop i just built ran me about $2100 give or take and it's specs are (so you can get a general idea of what you get for the money)

 

Case dosent matter so long as it supports your needs. mine was $60

 

ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z motherboard ran about $230 (be sure you read the motherboard carefully AMD and INTEL are NOT compatible with each other Choose your processor FIRST)

 

AMD 8 core "Vishera" 4.0Ghz processor $200 roughly (bear in mind an Intel with the same power runs like $500 and the AMD can Overclock faster than the intel though output quality is argued from person to person) (this is the Heart of your computer and as such should be the first thing you decide on as the other components work around this)

 

16GB DDR3 RAM little over $200 ( though 8GB shoud suit you perfectly)

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 4GB GDDR5 Nvidia Graphics Card little over $500 ( now you can get a 2GB that will run the game Perfect on 1 monitor but im running 3 so opted for the extra 2GB)

 

i put a blueray optical drive (some say that with steam you dont need optical drives but i personally ripp all the disks i buy to have a safe back up in case the disk gets broke or unreadable)

 

Corsair AXi 1200W power supply little over $300 ( this i would recoment NOT going cheap as these can be reused in every PC you build more power is usually better but be sure you get the right one high end graphics cards require mor power than the motherboard can safly give so they have plugs to plug directly into power supply not all power supplys have this plug)

 

i got 3 ASUS 2MS 23" HD-HDMI monitors at $200 a piece

 

i have RaZer keybord and mouse together ran about $300 ( now you don't need these right off the bat any laser mouse and standard WIRED keyboard will do PS. in my experiance unless your cool dropping over $300 on just a keybord wired is the best choice as there is no delay keys wont time out and alll in all just a lot more responsive)

 

as for cooling i went with a Corsair Bolt on Liquid cooling and it ran me $50 with AMD i would recomend it due to the fact that they usually run hotter than intel but a large heat sink and powerfull fan will suit the nneds as well.

[wolfpack91]

all in all the Graphics card is going to bee the most expensive part of the build always has been always will be

[dennis20014]

I would definitely say, if you plan to run a lot of mods, and texture packs, that you will want at least a graphics card with 2GB of memory. My 560ti only has 1GB and it definitely limits me :( (even with all the optimization and lower res text packs)

[Maverick827]

ok just to point out my laptop cost $670 and it barley supports skyrim on medium quality. in reality your going to be looking in the $900-1800 range for a decent Desktop capabe of runing skyrim proper with a lot of mods. but if building on a budget i would sugesst AMD Components. my newest desktop i just built ran me about $2100 give or take and it's specs are (so you can get a general idea of what you get for the money)

 

Case dosent matter so long as it supports your needs. mine was $60

 

ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z motherboard ran about $230 (be sure you read the motherboard carefully AMD and INTEL are NOT compatible with each other Choose your processor FIRST)

 

AMD 8 core "Vishera" 4.0Ghz processor $200 roughly (bear in mind an Intel with the same power runs like $500 and the AMD can Overclock faster than the intel though output quality is argued from person to person) (this is the Heart of your computer and as such should be the first thing you decide on as the other components work around this)

 

16GB DDR3 RAM little over $200 ( though 8GB shoud suit you perfectly)

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 4GB GDDR5 Nvidia Graphics Card little over $500 ( now you can get a 2GB that will run the game Perfect on 1 monitor but im running 3 so opted for the extra 2GB)

 

i put a blueray optical drive (some say that with steam you dont need optical drives but i personally ripp all the disks i buy to have a safe back up in case the disk gets broke or unreadable)

 

Corsair AXi 1200W power supply little over $300 ( this i would recoment NOT going cheap as these can be reused in every PC you build more power is usually better but be sure you get the right one high end graphics cards require mor power than the motherboard can safly give so they have plugs to plug directly into power supply not all power supplys have this plug)

 

i got 3 ASUS 2MS 23" HD-HDMI monitors at $200 a piece

 

i have RaZer keybord and mouse together ran about $300 ( now you don't need these right off the bat any laser mouse and standard WIRED keyboard will do PS. in my experiance unless your cool dropping over $300 on just a keybord wired is the best choice as there is no delay keys wont time out and alll in all just a lot more responsive)

 

as for cooling i went with a Corsair Bolt on Liquid cooling and it ran me $50 with AMD i would recomend it due to the fact that they usually run hotter than intel but a large heat sink and powerfull fan will suit the nneds as well.

 

Some opinions:

 

1. Case definitely does matter, but it is unlikely that someone following the standard "go to NewEgg, filter best rating, and pick something near the top" methodology would pick a bad one. You can't just go around sticking high performance, heat-generating parts into your 10 year old dell case with 1 fan, though.

 

2. I wouldn't spend more than $200 on a motherboard unless a specific feature or number of slots is needed, which is almost never the case. My recent $3,000 build has a $135 motherboard (that came with a free 8GB stick of RAM!).

 

3. An Intel i5 3750k is $219 and (technically, though you really won't notice a difference) better for gaming than an AMD FX 8350.

 

4. A 1200W PSU is overkill for pretty much every realistic GPU configuration. 1200W is the recommended amount for three GTX Titans. It's true that you don't want to skimp on your PSU, but you could shave off at least $100 by getting a Gold 750W instead. Also, PSUs degrade over time, so you shouldn't use one for too long. I've read that they're rated for 80,000 - 100,000 hours, which is longer than you'd probably use one anyway.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Maverick827

[Rennn]

Don't get an 8 core CPU like wolfpack suggested, whatever you do. Skyrim uses 4 cores at most. Getting an 8 core CPU will drive the price up for absolutely no performance increase in Skyrim. An Intel i5 3750k like Maverick suggested is the best one you'll get right now for Skyrim, and beats the FX wolfpack suggested by a wide margin in any game except perhaps Planetside 2.

 

A PSU does not need to be more than 850w unless you run 3 video cards at once. For a well balanced mid-range PC, you can comfortably use a 600-750w PSU.

 

Get 8GB of RAM. It won't help much in Skyrim, but it's cheap and it'll allow Skyrim to use as much of its 3.2GB cap as possible. 16GB is a total waste for too much money, unless you plan to run several games and RAM-hungry editing programs at once.

 

Don't spend more than $150 on a motherboard. You can get a perfectly good mobo that'll run anything modern for $120 or less, provided you don't get overpriced junk. High end enthusiasts get better results for more money, but considering you have an absolute maximum limit of $800, you don't have the option of getting a $200 motherboard.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Rennn

[rbsdrummer]

Okay, bud. I have a 350 dollar desktop that I run on med quality with maybe idk 100 mods? I use SkyRe, UFO, Convenient Horses, Climates of Tamriel, Sands of Time, you name it. My game runs flawlessly. Occasionally I get the lag but very rarely. What you need is a solid cpu and a great video card. I have like minimal standards but I don't care that that much for graphics. 500 is PLENTY!

 

So if I were you, I would go on ebay and find a decent used computer with a good AMD or Intel CPU. Make sure it is quad core or higher and preferably recent. Buying a desktop online allows for a cheap computer that is already built and has room to build on top of (AND YOU MAY NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR AN OS). Get one that is bare so just has the processor, motherboard, a fan, a power source, an os etc. Don't get one with a video card already. Buy a good video card. This, to me, is the most important for performance besides a functioning cpu. Make sure the motherboard has pci express slots and go for the GTX 650 ooooommmmgggg what a great card!

 

I bought a Dell on ebay for 200 with an intel core2 quad got my video card and bam. I play Skyrim on desktop. Easy Peezy. Yeah, it's not glamorous but I'm not needy.

 

Now if you want to go the Gungho build-a-computer way to have a fantastic visual, fluid game, these guys above me are explaining pretty well. Go quad core cpu, motherboard with alot of slots, crap case, solid power box, high ram on v-card, and some know how on setting it all up.

[wolfpack91]

Don't get an 8 core CPU like wolfpack suggested, whatever you do. Skyrim uses 4 cores at most. Getting an 8 core CPU will drive the price up for absolutely no performance increase in Skyrim.

 

to be honest even consoles are going to 8 core AMD's so as far as future releases you can probbly be safe to say that fallout 4 and the next elderscrolls will run a minimun of 4 cores max of 8. i recomended the 8 core as to stay ahead of the game so to speak now no it wont make a diffrence in skyrim but any and all future released games in the next year or two it will. and BTW i didnt suggest it i stated that thats what i have bought for mine that is not a suggestion list its my current desktop. your right my system is Overkill for skyrim but hey skyrim is a hobby not a job what i do i need the extra RAM and cores at any given time i have over 200 programs running and doing their own thing even in background of games. my system eats 8GB Ram real quick i built it with 8 and it was choppy slow and lagging so i put in an extra 8 and it ran a whole lot better oh and in my personal experiance i have never had an intel processor last longer than a year and a half with out frying itself

[roger41]

Thanks for the input guys! A lot of information here. A few more details I guess to narrow things down: as far as graphics go, as long as it's on par with PS3, I'll be pretty happy but the better textures and ENB mods are interesting. And I was not factoring anything but the actual tower in.

 

Thanks again!

[Rennn]

 

Don't get an 8 core CPU like wolfpack suggested, whatever you do. Skyrim uses 4 cores at most. Getting an 8 core CPU will drive the price up for absolutely no performance increase in Skyrim.

 

to be honest even consoles are going to 8 core AMD's so as far as future releases you can probbly be safe to say that fallout 4 and the next elderscrolls will run a minimun of 4 cores max of 8. i recomended the 8 core as to stay ahead of the game so to speak now no it wont make a diffrence in skyrim but any and all future released games in the next year or two it will. and BTW i didnt suggest it i stated that thats what i have bought for mine that is not a suggestion list its my current desktop. your right my system is Overkill for skyrim but hey skyrim is a hobby not a job what i do i need the extra RAM and cores at any given time i have over 200 programs running and doing their own thing even in background of games. my system eats 8GB Ram real quick i built it with 8 and it was choppy slow and lagging so i put in an extra 8 and it ran a whole lot better oh and in my personal experiance i have never had an intel processor last longer than a year and a half with out frying itself

 

 

He didn't ask for a PC to beat the next-gen consoles, he asked for a PC to play Skyrim as well as possible for as low of a price as possible. And in my personal experience, I've never had an AMD cpu that didn't perform .5Ghz beneath it's specs. Having said that, I use an AMD CPU because Quad-Core or Hexa-Core Phenom II and Quad Core FX processors are remarkably efficient for the price.

 

The next gen consoles will likely have 6 usable cores, considering they'll probably use one core for security and disable the other core for symmetry (for some reason), like the PS3 did. Technically, the PS3 had an Octa-Core CPU as well, so it's illogical to expect next-gen games to magically go to 8 cores.