Which PC parts are most pertinent to playing heavily modded (Bethesda) games?

[xrayy]

it is mainly but not all about cpu, gpu, vram and mem. it also depends on personal priorities and what exactly bottlenecks your game due to your settings.

cpu single core ipc is definitely important - it helps especially insufficiently optimized cpu bound dx9 and dx11 limited gamebryo games with high demands on graphics (open worlds, simulators) to accelerate rendering.

there are configurable setup based factors like resolution, ini settings like ambient occlusion, anti aliasing, shadows, lod, terrain and so on. they all influence fps.

external factors like reshade, enb, complexity and number of added mods also influence performance.

especially the way how you choose mods and how they impact the built in optimization in the open world may drastically influence fps.

so this will always be an individual decision to find a reasonable and satisfying balance for your game depending on your priorities.

 

as an example: i like to play my game in 4k resolution.

so my priorities are gpu and vram including memory since gpu is mainly the bottelneck. but that does not mean cpu can be slow.

since creation engine beth games tend to be cpu single core ipc hungry this is always a factor to consider while more than 8 cpu cores are a waste of money for most games.

gpu vram always matters. especially modded beth games are vram hungry. 8GB are a minimum if you like to see crisp textures with full resolution. playing 4k res means 10gb vram is already suboptimal and you will encounter some lower res textures or slow downs and pop ups due to slower loading exterior scenery.

 

stuff like adding mod collections and adding mods without reading the comments and descriptions is poison to a stable performance setup if not tested or analyzed before as a rule.

don't believe any claims until you tested a mod or any addon as part of your setup with success! this is my modding experience over the years.

any major update has the potential to destroy your setup including performance. so always backup before any update!

 

 

if you prefer 1080p gaming with high fps a mid range gpu is sufficient and you should give cpu and single core ipc priority.

there is no general rule. more and faster is always better as long as you know about and consider the potential bottlenecks.

 

if you need pc just for gaming while searching for the best price performance ratio buy a cheap 6/12 high ipc core cpu and combine it with 32/64GB ddr4 ram.

this will give you a reasonable boost, smoothness while ram speed doesn't matter much if you use 3200ram and above. if you own an am4 board an upgade to a ryzen3 is a no brainer.

ddr5 upgrade is expensive and matters only for high end hardware to gain some extra fps with 720p. even a 5600x is still not bottlenecking with 4k res due to sufficient ipc.

it drains only 65 watts and a is still very efficient and silent cpu solution if you use its undervolting capabilities. a 6/12 core cpu config with high single core ipc is still a sufficent solution for 90% of all games(especially true for the creation engine beth games). spend all your saved money in truly bottlenecking components.