Good Hardware for Gamebryo/CreationEngine Modding

[Ineverhadausername]

Hi Everyone!

So I have been modding games like Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Oblivion or Morrowind quite many times. By "Modding" I mean mostly visual aspects of these games
and by "Visual Aspects" I mean higher resolution textures, higher polygon count meshes and various ENB-s or other kinds of shaders.
I have been using some script-heavy mods too though. Mainly ones relating to improving combat AI of NPC-s and creatures in Skyrim and I won't lie, some filthy little things
from LoversLab that I assume are making the life of my CPU harder as well. My previous PC was (I would say. ) a mid-tier laptop that should be around five years old at the moment.
It is capable of running many mods but being a spoiled child, I would like to squeeze a bit more from the concept of modding. I'll put specs of the laptop that I'm currently using
and the specs of the desktop that I'm planning on building below. My questions are:

1. Are the specs mentioned in the "Desktop" section enough to use things like 4K textures and more demanding ENB presets in Oldrim or Fallout New Vegas for example?
2. Are the specs mentioned in the "Desktop" section enough to use many script-heavy modifications like the ones improving combat in Oldrim for example?
3. Are the specs mentioned in the "Desktop" section enough to toy with mods in case that I'll decide to buy Fallout 4 or mod Skyrim Special Edition?
4. If specs mentioned in the "Desktop" section are enough for my mentioned needs, can they be altered for any cheaper version?
5. Will I feel a big jump in performance in mentioned titles (modded) when comparing laptop and desktop or not really?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

The specs of the laptop are:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4200M @ 2.50Ghz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

The specs of the desktop that I'm considering at the moment are:
CPU: Intel Core i5-7640X
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit

[HeyYou]

You will see a MAJOR performance improvement across the board with the desktop, as compared to the laptop. 3 generation newer CPU, Dramatically more powerful vid card.... Likely a bunch more video ram as well. Not sure about 4K textures, but, as for the rest? Yep. No problem. :D

[Ineverhadausername]

You will see a MAJOR performance improvement across the board with the desktop, as compared to the laptop. 3 generation newer CPU, Dramatically more powerful vid card.... Likely a bunch more video ram as well. Not sure about 4K textures, but, as for the rest? Yep. No problem. :D

Whoa, thanks! Nobody has ever replied so quickly to any question on any forum in my case. :laugh:

 

One question though. Probably more of curiosity than an actual thing that I could buy but what would you say do I need for 4K textures then?

[HeyYou]

Meaner processor? Maybe jump to an i7. And how much RAM on your vid card? More is better, no such thing as too much. :D

 

Another question would be: What monitor are you using? Does it even support 4K?

[Ineverhadausername]

Meaner processor? Maybe jump to an i7. And how much RAM on your vid card? More is better, no such thing as too much. :D

 

Another question would be: What monitor are you using? Does it even support 4K?

I might be wrong but...

 

I don't know, how jumping to i7 would really help to be honest. I mean, from what I have read, Skyrim and Bethesda RPG-s in general can't really utilize many cores but more like clock speed alone

and i5-7640X seems to be the best way for me to hit high clock speeds with reasonably priced CPU (With a cost of the relatively low amount of cores. ).

When it comes to GPU VRAM - it seems that in every case, GTX 1660 has 6GB.

I'm also not sure if you have caught my understanding of "4K" here. Now - I might sound like a total idiot (That I very possibly am. )

but I don't want to go over the 1920x1080 DISPLAY resolutions. I mean - even on 1920x1080 display - I would see a difference between 2K and 4K texture sizes

if I'll be staring at a wall or a bark of a tree or something (That I sometimes do just because I can. ), right? It's not like installing 2k textures has no sense without a 2K monitor

so I assume that it will be the same in case of 4K-sized ones. When it comes to textures that occupy big spaces, the difference in their look in close-up would still be quite noticeable, I would say.

It might be obsolete on textures madefor smaller surfaces like armor or something but when it comes to terrain...

 

Anyway, please tell me if any of my statements (Either about the type of CPU or usefulness of 4K landscape textures in my case. ) are false or naive.

 

Sorry, I had to edit because of ugly spacing.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Ineverhadausername

[Guest deleted2630050]

The specs of the desktop that I'm considering at the moment are:

CPU: Intel Core i5-7640X

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti

RAM: 8GB

OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit

You might be the first person I've seen consider going with a Kaby Lake-X CPU. Those CPU's require the more expensive X299 motherboard which would just be nerfed with a 7640X in it.

 

What you really want for a CPU in these games is single threaded performance, something the i7's tend to beat the i5's in. That said, my suggestion would be to go with an i7-8700K. The lower price of a Z370/Z390 chipset motherboard should offset the overall price.

[HeyYou]

 

The specs of the desktop that I'm considering at the moment are:

CPU: Intel Core i5-7640X

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti

RAM: 8GB

OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit

You might be the first person I've seen consider going with a Kaby Lake-X CPU. Those CPU's require the more expensive X299 motherboard which would just be nerfed with a 7640X in it.

 

What you really want for a CPU in these games is single threaded performance, something the i7's tend to beat the i5's in. That said, my suggestion would be to go with an i7-8700K. The lower price of a Z370/Z390 chipset motherboard should offset the overall price.

 

I agree with this assessment. :)