What should I expect out of my system?

[Spinner385]

I have been playing Skyrim for a while on this system.

 

Pentium Dual-Core 3 ghz

4 GB RAM (still only can use 2 right?)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1GB)

SATA HDD

All on a 800 Mhz FSB Motherboard

 

Whats weird is my default setting always goes to low quality. Is my FSB/processor holding me back that bad or is it some kind of bug. I've been playing 1600 X 900, medium settings. Feels kinda buggy/laggy, but still very playable. Is this about what I should expect out of my system, or is something not right? Also is there a working mod that can make use of more ram now? Thnx for any help.

[RitualBlack]

Skyrim currently is using 4gb of ram as of the latest patch. I would expect that you should be running it on medium settings fairly well. Maybe to make your game a bit more enjoyable set your shadows to low settings, make sure that trees are not casting self shadows in your SkyrimPrefs and reduce your shadow distance down to about 75% of what you currently have it (also done in your SkyrimPrefs ini). Than you could probably put your textures up to high I would think.

[Iv000]

The launcher is bugged, sometimes it sets your graphics settings to low even if you have a top GPU.

Could you tell me your FPS? (Download Fraps and it will show a yellow number in one of the corners when you are playing a game, that's your FPS)

 

Your system should handle Skyrim fine. I assume you downloaded the latest patch from Steam? It improves FPS by a bit and enables LAA (Which enables Skyrim to use more RAM)

This mod could increase your FPS, try it:

http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4387

[PR4Y]

I REALLY wish people would stop recommending others to use FRAPS (shareware, limited version free with annoying popups) when there is a SIMPLE mod right here on the nexus that shows FPS and other useful system information...

 

 

Show FPS ingame (Elys' Meminfo Plugin)

 

 

As far as your system goes... there is no reason whatsoever you shouldn't be playing on at least High settings. Your CPU is a bit on the lower end of the mid-range CPU benchmarks, but that really shouldn't be holding you back too much as it IS 3ghz per core (fairly high). You should make sure all your graphics drivers are up to date. Just go to the NVIDIA website to download any patches you may have missed (this actually helps a TON if you haven't updated your drivers in any more then a few months)

 

 

 

Could you be a bit more specific with the hardware? Such as:

 

What type of ram and what is the clock speed on it? (example: DDR3 @ 1066mhz or DDR2 @ 800mhz)

What model of CPU? Pentium 4? Core Duo? Core 2 Duo? Core i3?

Is the SATA HD a 3gb/s HD or is it the older SATA with much less i/o throughput?

 

 

 

If you don't know how to get this information... a dxdiag would be very helpful in determining your exact bottleneck in your system. If you don't know how to get your DxDiag, here's a quick walkthrough:

 

1. click on "START"

2. click "run"

3. type in "dxdiag" and click "OK"

4. check through the tabs and perform all tests

5. click "Save all Information..." and save the text file to a location of your choice

 

 

 

 

I'd be glad to be of further assistance, so I'll be waiting for your response... or alternatively you can PM me and I can 1 on 1 with you to see if we can figure something out!

[Spinner385]

Okay so I edited my pref.ini file (thnx Beyond Tom). Changed my settings to 1920x1800 High (Where I want to be playing) and got 30-50 FPS. Funny enough a dragon showed up when I walked out Whiterun. With 1600x900 Medium I get the same FPS which is good I believe. The game just feels jumpy like it could lock up in a tight spot. Maybe thats just the game itself. I do have TESV thnx though. I also double checked my drivers/versions for update.

 

"Pentium Dual-Core" 3 ghz (That's the actual name of it)

4 GB RAM DDR2 800Mhz (I forgot to mention I only get 3GB of this b/c of my windows version)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1GB)

SATA HDD (Not sure its speed probably not 3 gb/s, kinda old)

Biostar TP43D2-A7 (my motherboard can handle a higher FSB but my ram/processor can't)

 

Thinking about trying to have my video card override game settings.

 

Thanks for help!

Edited January 7, 2012 by Spinner385

[Spinner385]

This is really long but here it is.

 

------------------

System Information

------------------

Time of this report: 1/7/2012, 14:21:12

Machine name: JOHN-PC

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.110617-0336)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: BIOSTAR Group

System Model: TP43D2-A7

BIOS: Default System BIOS

Processor: Pentium® Dual-Core CPU E5700 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz

Memory: 3070MB RAM

Page File: 1103MB used, 5253MB available

Windows Dir: C:\Windows

DirectX Version: DirectX 11

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode

 

------------

DxDiag Notes

------------

Display Tab 1: No problems found.

Sound Tab 1: No problems found.

Sound Tab 2: No problems found.

Input Tab: No problems found.

 

--------------------

DirectX Debug Levels

--------------------

Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)

DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)

DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)

DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)

DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)

DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)

DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

 

---------------

Display Devices

---------------

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Manufacturer: NVIDIA

Chip type: GeForce GTX 550 Ti

DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC

Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1244&SUBSYS_26101462&REV_A1

Display Memory: 2272 MB

Dedicated Memory: 992 MB

Shared Memory: 1279 MB

Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Monitor: LG W2253(Digital)

Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll

Driver Version: 8.17.0012.8562 (English)

DDI Version: 11

BGRA Supported: Yes

Driver Attributes: Final Retail

Driver Date/Size: 10/15/2011 02:53:00, 13205312 bytes

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

WHQL Date Stamp:

Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-5104-11CF-A056-1C061FC2C535}

Vendor ID: 0x10DE

Device ID: 0x1244

SubSys ID: 0x26101462

Revision ID: 0x00A1

Revision ID: 0x00A1

Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

 

Had to cut it short...

Edited January 7, 2012 by Spinner385

[PR4Y]

ATTN: Trolls

***The following advice contains my personal OPINIONS on some issues.***

 

 

 

***RE: Spinner385***

 

You shouldn't really have any issues, per-se... 30-50 FPS on high settings is WAY more then most people play with... I have friends that play on low settings and get 12-18 FPS and LOVE it. Your problem (in my opinion, others may vary), if you need to identify one, is that you have a 32bit Vista OS, while trying to run a memory / cpu dependent game.

 

 

Vista itself easily consumes 1GB of your RAM, so knock that right off the top of the possible memory allocation Skyrim has. Vista is also slower then death, and is widely accepted as the worst OS that Microsoft ever released (maybe Windows Millenium - who knows). Skyrim may not be using 2GB of memory at any given time, but the problem is that Vista is hogging so much of your RAM's bandwidth, skyrim WILL get jumpy. When there is new objects being introduced into the world (such as a dragon appearing), your memory needs to buffer all the related information and store it for readily available use.

 

 

I'm not surprised at all to hear that you were running 30-50 on low settings and the same on high settings. Anything over 35-40 FPS is a negligible difference that shouldn't be considered performance increase other then in benchmarking. Personally, I don't bother trying to increase performance as long as I'm over a steady 30. Saving 5 FPS at that point for sacrificing a cool texture (or whatever else) just isn't worth it.

 

 

Another thing to note is that your CPU is definitely low-end. Yes, it is 3GHz... Yes, it is dual-core... but the architecture is quite old. Pentium series have been dated since like 2004, and even if you bought a somewhat new computer, it wouldn't be a shock to find out that this is the chip that was included with your computer... happens all the time. The problem that Skyrim has with your CPU is that Skyrim itself isn't multi-thread compatible (32bit). What that means is that Skyrim only uses 1 core... so that core better be able to crunch matrices like a BOSS if you want it to perform in a gaming environment like Skyrim. Your CPU is quite old, so even though it is a dual core and 3GHz, being of such an old generation of physical structure might have quite limited capabilities compared to a 3GHz dual core made of TODAY's architecture (Core i3, Phenom II, A8, ect.)

 

 

If you were to spend $200 on your computer, you could get an AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition (BEST performance per cost CPU on market, period) bundled with a new motherboard that would support it, 4GB of DDR3 @ 1600MHz... and throw in a newer SATA 3gb/s hard drive for kicks (optional). Also, I'd HIGHLY recommend simply dumping Vista as your primary OS. If you absolutely love Vista and aren't willing to give it up (god knows why) then as a requirement, you should upgrade to a newer release that's 64bit compatible (your new CPU / motherboard / memory would thank you).

 

 

 

 

I hope I've been helpful. I know it's hard to understand a lot of the things I've talked about but I've tried to do my best to explain in such a way that you will understand.

 

If you have any more questions, just let me know!

Edited January 7, 2012 by PR4Y

[Teppup]

I had to overclock my dual core CPU (Intel e8500) to lessen the bottleneck [video card (GTX 460)]. maybe that's happening there with you too? I see you've got a dual core and a top end GPU.

[LuDux]

Yeah, PR4Y has the right idea. A Processor: "Pentium® Dual-Core CPU E5700 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz" is really just a pretty terrible processor for any modern computer. With that and Vista, I'm surprised you can run Skyrim at all.

 

Have people been trolling you about this, PR4Y?

[PR4Y]

I had to overclock my dual core CPU (Intel e8500) to lessen the bottleneck [video card (GTX 460)]. maybe that's happening there with you too? I see you've got a dual core and a top end GPU.

 

 

His CPU is without a doubt the only bottleneck that will produce noticeable difference in performance. It's quite low-end. The RAM is a bit old, but wouldn't tank his performance like his CPU is.

 

 

Have people been trolling you about this, PR4Y?

 

 

No I just put that there for giggles cause I made some bold statements on Vista and other things... was just being funny :P

Edited January 7, 2012 by PR4Y