What would I need to upgrade to get more performance out of Skyrim?

[InDarkestNight]

Not everyone is swimming in cash. in fact, I'm actually going into debt and have been for a while. The only reason I made this investment at all is because I was considering trying to make some extra money on youtube. Not having money to spend isn't being 'stingy'. My reluctance as mainly because I didn't really want to make such a financial investment, for any reason. I ultimately decided that honestly, I had little choice.

That said, the processor is takings its time to arrive (its past 3 now and it still hasn't come, though ram came at about 4 two days ago). I was planning on leaving my computer off all day to make sure it didn't have a charge in it when I started messing its parts. Btw, when I pulled the power plug and pushed the power button to drain power, it did light up for a second. So yeah, really need to be careful to fully discharge this thing. If it matters, I'll be doing this with latex gloves on (mainly to keep thermal paste off my hands). I'll also be wearing rubber boots just to be safe.

That said, I decided to test ICBINE. I made a blank profile with just imaginator (though I forgot to enable skyui so I could actually use it). The load times were super long and the game didn't feel quite right. However, my system monitor was showing NO DIFFERENCE. In fact, if anything the RAM usage was LOWER than it was the first time. Was my 12 mods seriously taking up THAT much ram? Or was the first test faulty because I was running firefox during the test?

Either way, this means that ICBINE is NOT stressing my processor or my ram. The only explanation then is it must be stressing my graphics card, because that's the only thing left I cannot test. As for drive, I have a full ssd in there, so its loading as fast as possible. Besides, I wouldn't have any way to further upgrade that anyway. So, my graphics card is stopping me from running ICBINE? My graphics card it the bottleneck? Hopefully this processor does let me get more out of my graphics card. Won't know until I put the new processor in. Hopefully I don't accidentally zap the thing and fry it, or drop it and break its prongs. This is going to be so stressful. A klutz like me really shouldn't even be doing this honestly, but what can I do?

[HeyYou]

MS owns RedHat Linux, so, no real surprise they have some other stuff to run on it.

[RomanR]

"Not everyone is swimming in cash. in fact, I'm actually going into debt and have been for a while."

If you admited it sooner, I would strongly advised against any of these buys until you can afford them. It's such decisions as this that draw people to never-ending debt spiral. Even if these upgrades are needed, you must simply wait until your debts are gone. 

"The only reason I made this investment at all is because I was considering trying to make some extra money on youtube."

So this wasn't about how to utilize your graphics card only in the end? Ask for yourself - what can you offer to YouTube audience regarding quality or originality of your content? Will it be enough to at least to return your investiment? And as it becomes practicaly a business, after some income treshold you must tax it properly too. Can you handle possible paperwork?

 

[InDarkestNight]

Well, I've had quite an adventure. The new processor arrived today, so I immediately went to putting it. Did this, and the computer wouldn't boot. I ended up taking it to the staples technician, who gave me FAR more info than you ever did. He even answered the more than a dozen questions I asked you that you never acknowledged (more on that in a bit).

The first thing he asked me is if I updated the bios. I of course did not. I found NOTHING saying I had to do that. You never even warned me about that. The internet elsewhere told me that the bios would come up once I turned on the PC. He laughed and stated that's not how it actually works.

So he told me to do three things. First, try to get a bios update on a flashdrive and see if I could install it that way (he remarked it was highly unlikely, given that it was a rare convenience feature). I absolutely could not find any info on this on my laptop. Searching and searching, I couldn't even find the motherboard that was in this thing; EVEN ON LUNOVO'S WEBSITE. The staples technician tried to identify it himself. It has no labels, and it looks like nothing he's ever seen before. He concluded that its probably a priority motherboard made by lenovo itself, and may or may not be upgradable. He suggested I call their tech support to find out. If that failed, he told me to put the old processor back in THEN update the bios. If that failed to get the computer working again, I was going to need a new computer. He then recommended things that I could buy. Funny enough, he suggested the rhyzen 5 I was considering before. Same model and everything.

Anyway, having failed that, I went on to address another issue. Our internet has been lagging to hell almost non-stop for weeks now. This means my laptop is useless, since of course it has little software on it. I broke down and opted to put the old processor back in, seeing as I didn't have a working machine and honestly I'd probably have to do that anyway to update the bios (staples guy did suggest was the most likely outcome). I did however decide to put in the new ram. I put it in the slots where the 4gb ram was, and put those in the other 2 (the staples guy revealed to me that order does matter; I needed the bigger ram first before the smaller, another question you did not answer despite me asking 4 or 5 times). Turn on the computer, and it starts blaring an error message and refused to fully boot. After that, I removed the new ram and put the old ram in where it was before (aka my original setup), and everything worked just like it did before. At least I didn't break anything it turns out. I then decided to run an experiment and see if it would run with just the 8gb mods. And yes, I should've just tried that first. Fortunately, it does. Strangely, the system monitor is claiming I have 16.7 gb. W/e, my comp works again and it has more RAM.

Now for one final test: see how ICBINE 1 works. It took 3 loading screens to open. So clearly, the improved RAM did make a difference; not as much as I was hoping for, though I was hoping to have a new processor to back it up.

So, after all this, I did learn a lot of info that actually helped me. Also, the staples guy informed me that if you ever install a motherboard, you do need a new power supply, ALWAYS. Also, my case apparently can't take modern motherboards, so if I wanted that I would also need a new case. He recommended I go to a 'microcenter'. I told him I had never heard of that before. He only told me that he heard one was going to open in a major city near here. So guess I may be checking that out in the future. He also informed me I seriously shouldn't be buying tech off of amazon anyway; most of the returns they had to do was amazon purchases, seriously.

So, what did I get out of these? Better RAM, I now know how to properly install a processor. I know what I do need to do to actually upgrade this thing. I also know not to buy off of amazon now. LE does seem to have have been slightly improved, at least when it comes to running ICBINE. At least I'm not dancing right on the edge of not having enough ram. 4gb just to run Mod Organizer? And with a game that itself can use 4gb max? I would literally be using 100% of my ram to run this game! Good thing I've fixed that. Heck, I may even be able to get this thing to run s#*! edition decently (not that I plan to any time soon).

Anyway, for now I'm taking a break from futzing with my computer. Besides, to get anymore info I would need to get my internet fixed. Regarding the problems with the internet I've been having on this thing; THE EXACT SAME THING WAS HAPPENING ON MY WINDOWS 10 LAPTOP, WHICH IT CLEARLY DID NOT DO BEFORE. So yeah, a lot of my problems aren't due to this machine; its due to my internet issues. We're having a technician come out in a few days to check that. I'll be looking into this bios thing again once that's done. I had a hard time just logging in to post this here. Thank god my computer works again, and it did get a minor upgrade out of it all. No idea what I'm going to do with these old ram mods, but oh well. That's for another day. Maybe I'll try selling them on ebay for a few bucks. Or maybe if I do replace this computer, I'll try to use the left over parts for some tinkering project.

For now, my computer adventure is over. It may resume in a few days, but until then I'm done for now. At least I got real info now (even if most of it came from direct experience).

Edited January 31 by InDarkestNight
typos

[RomanR]

"The first thing he asked me is if I updated the bios. I of course did not. I found NOTHING saying I had to do that. You never even warned me about that. The internet elsewhere told me that the bios would come up once I turned on the PC. He laughed and stated that's not how it actually works."

What??? My post on 25/01 says exactly this with including sentence: "Also you can look for i7-7700/K, but I noticed that support of this CPU come often through BIOS update, so check version of your BIOS and consult manufacturer's page first."

"I ended up taking it to the staples technician, who gave me FAR more info than you ever did." 

Forums can help, if you want to find answer for exact problem. They aren't a textbook. Besides there are many videos on internet which show how to work with PC hardware (from installing various components to build up whole new PC). What about learning something on your own for a change?

"He then recommended things that I could buy. Funny enough, he suggested the rhyzen 5 I was considering before. Same model and everything."

And funny enough I already suggested something like this on 24/1: "Regarding CPU upgrade, it was recommended to use i7-8700K or i5-8600K for Intel and 2700X/3600 Ryzens for AMD, but for today it would be best to look for yourself. Propably AMD AM4 platform would be still a best choice, at least for now (as AMD user I can't speak for Intel much)."  Maybe technicians at Staples deserves some credit after all, unlike you. 

So the result is - you ignored all my advices and notes, including ones when buying 7700 and you blame me for the bad outcome. And after that visit you're pretending that you found the right answers by yourself alone.  Boo, what a waste of time. Of course I will no longer participate in any of your topics anymore after this. Farewell.

Edited January 31 by RomanR
some typos, as if I care

[InDarkestNight]

I did say I learned most of the stuff I did just screwing around on my own. Also, how could I have known without consultation that I couldn't just put any processor in this thing? How could I have learned what ram I needed? How could I have learned what's even available? You lead me down a path of lies, I can't help that. Good thing you won't be posting anymore. Guess this whole thread has just been a waste. Why do I even bother to post here, seriously? Its rare I get answers, and if I do I get trolls like this.

Either way, this has long outlived its use. The original question was 'what one part would be best to upgrade', and I got my answer long ago. I didn't need everything else, nor do I recall asking for it (at least at first). Most of the posts here are off-topic. I'm done with this thread. As I've said three times now, I got what I needed and this thread has gone completely off course.

[363rdChemicalCompany]

On 1/24/2024 at 1:33 PM, InDarkestNight said:

As for the older computer, the shop that made that has moved on. The guy running it decided he would make money working on computers for businesses than individuals, so he closed up shop and moved on. Last I heard of him he got 'fired' for trying to talk sense into some boss who was clearly losing his marbles. The only computer shop in town is staples. I actually went there earlier to ask their tech guy about this, because he obviously knows his s#*!. Sadly, he had a day off today, so oh well.

As for the motherboard, there are motherboards that would accept that processor and my current ram. It would cost as much as the processor though. At that point I would essentially have a new computer. New motherboard, the new ssd with unbuntu on it, a new processor. All I'd have left from the original computer is the ram and case. Wouldn't know a thing about messing with motherboards though; I do know things about computer hardware (I am a certified programmer), but I've had no practical experience swapping out processors or motherboards. Funny enough, the staples guy did tell me that the connector for my sshd was being phased out. Based on that, don't know if I could even hook up this ssd to a new motherboard. Its a sata with a power cable w/e that's called if you care.

I also live in a small to medium town with nearly no computer builders.

So I was chatting with the tech guy at my local Staples and he decided to build my rig for me on the side.

This was a year ago

very clean professional build, 

i9 10900KF

64 GB RAM, (DDR4)

RTX 4070

1T SSD

340mm liquid cooler for CPU

dedicated cooling pack ( fans only though) for GPU