Specs help;

[Vahdin]

I'll be buying a new laptop soon and I would really like for it to run Skyrim awesomely. Skyrim is one of the main reasons I am purchasing it, however, I am on a budget. One caught my eye recently but I need more opinions on it, thanks in advance. I am looking to run a fully/heavily modded Skyrim. The following specs is what I plan on. Is it good enough? Will I still experience lag, worth a try? Even though I can't afford to buy something just to 'try' it.

 

• Windows 10 NH Q2SA.006
• Intel Core i7-7700HQ quad-core processor
• 16GB RAM - 128GB SSD - 1TB HDD
• 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics

 

 

Also adding this on a whim, because I may or may not be able to buy it, but saw another today with several differences for specs. Opinions/advice on this would be appreciated as well! :

• Windows 10 NH.Q23SA.001 + CON 152074
• Intel 17-7700HQ Quad Core
• 16GB RAM - 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD
• 6GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GTX 1060 Graphics

 

Cheers.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Vahdin

[Deleted21550714User]

There both better options than what I'm working with, and I run ultra settings with tons of mods

[WastelandAssassin]

assuming you are getting the original version of the game , you should know that it won't be able to even use most of the power of the machines in question , due to engine limitations

and like jessegtgt , I also run the game well with a weaker machine

so it all comes down to a few things

- do you wish to run the LE or SE version of the game?

- which mods are you thinking of? because some mods will strain your system regardless of how strong it is , due to how the engine works

 

but in general both machines should work perfectly fine for the game , don't worry about that

[Vahdin]

Thank you both! I don't have any plan to run Special Edition unless I decide to buy it one day, but for now it is just standard edition. The current laptop I am using runs like .. 9-10 FPS, if not less haha. It is a nightmare. So I can never play, I can only really get on Skyrim to take screenshots - which don't even look great to begin with. And compared to screenshots I have seen from other users, they have incredible quality. I am mostly thinking of running 2k mods at minimum, I would love 4k mods but I wouldn't overdo it as I am sure I can enjoy my experience without a ton of them. I am also heavy on ENBs, I currently use AnkoENB, which along with other mods, freezes my game completely. I currently have 91 mods active and about 70 of them are outfits, so not using much of the stuff that needs performance, etc. but unfortunately, it still lags a lot which really sucks. I would love to be able to run something similar to this.

 

One mod I wanted to use but couldn't at all was PureSkin, it made my computer freeze on black screen and I had to manual shut down. I believe that uses an 8k texture or something... not too sure, but apparently this is what the mod had in the description. Sorry for my english.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Vahdin

[WastelandAssassin]

regardless of how good your rig is , I would really recommend to steer clear away of these mega high resolution mods

honestly , you are really unlikely to ever notice the difference between 2K and anything higher , unless you are just zooming in with console commands and just trying to spot the differences

if you are making a profile for taking screenshots or something like that , it's one thing . but if you are going to actually play the game , I would highly suggest not using anything above 2K , and consider even using 1K textures for things like the environment and such (it'll just consume your VRam for basically nothing , which could cause crashes and FPS drops)

especially with the rather unstable and really old engine of Skyrim LE , I would really recommend not trying to push your system too far , regardless of how amazing it might be

feel free to experiment with it , but once you start playing with it in game I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what is worth using and what isn't

[Vahdin]

I plan on taking screenshots just as much as I plan on playing, if not more than anything honestly. But I 100% want to play and enjoy the game again as well. So I prefer something that works for both of these things. Using those large mods is not something I do normally. As I have already mentioned, I lag like hell using very small mods to start with and there aren't even that many. That 8k texture mod was just an example of course! I am just concerned that these specs would not be enough to run a heavily modded Skyrim without lag.

[WastelandAssassin]

the specs should be more than enough

so I would recommend two things , once you get your new machine

the first is to go through the different ini modification tools around , and basically learn and tweak the ini files to get the most out of your machine (this includes using tools like ENB and such to allow your game to use more resources , as your machine will be able to handle that , and it will allow you to get more out of it due to the engine limitations)

the second is less important , but I would highly recommend using a mod manager like Mod Organizer that allows you to install mods to folders outside your Data folder , and setting up two profiles , one for general gameplay and one for screenshots

there are plenty of tools for adding items and such , so you could use the better looking textures and higher poly models for the screenshot profile , while using smaller sized ones for general gameplay to get the smoothest experience

this second advice might not be needed if you can truly get the most out of your machine , but I think it's something you should keep in mind just in case

 

and the most important thing , enjoy the game once you set it up :)

[Vahdin]

Awesome, thank you! Will keep all of this in mind as I had planned something similar.

Not that it matters but gave some kudos. :happy:

[Rexeos]

If you want to play with ENB, than grab at least 1070 gpu. 1060 is not bad, but for example with Kountervibe ENB youll hit 30 fps from time to time, view form Dragonsreach give cca 45 fps etc.