Kabunouveau Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 First of all, I'm new. Hi everyone. Moving on, I finally got Skyrim for my laptop (after having it on PS3 and dying over not being able to use mods) and it runs okay with graphics-enhancing mods installed. There's still some lag that I'm not totally comfortable playing with, so I feel that the right upgrade to my system could substantially improve performance. I'm just not sure which one I should get! I want to be able to run Skyrim with better texture mods and probably an ENB as well, and I'm pretty certain if I tried to install higher-res textures, performance wouldn't cut it. My game right now is just at the level where FPS is tolerable. So I was wondering if you guys could help me out. Here are my specs: Acer Aspire 5560 (Windows 7)x64-based PCAMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon HD Graphics, 1500 Mhz, Quadcore4.0 Installed Visible Memory (RAM)1.74 Available Physical Memory I think that's all the necessary info but let me know if it's not. I'm still a big newbie to tech things.So what should I do? Get a better memory card? Upgrade my RAM? Help me out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5 Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 The first thing you need to do is go to the Acer website and see if it is possible to upgrade your equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy1123 Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 That laptop is not the greatest machine for running an enhanced game from. The processor, although good, is a mid range component running on reduced power (read that as frequency/heat). It has an integrated (reduced core) GPU that has 512M dedicated memory. It also shares all system resources with the integrated Sound and the CPU. The hard drive runs at 5400 RPM and will also be a bottleneck trying to keep up with cell loads and data transfers. If you are able to get the game running on it and it's stable, I'd stick to the standard non-HD mods. You most assuredly are asking for trouble with HD mods. If you only have 1.7GB of ram available, you are seriously in a deficit when you start piling on HD clutter and image resolutions/definitions. The unit is not upgradeable as far as just a GPU upgrade. Even if you were to find a way to do it, the cost alone would be rediculous( the whole laptop runs about $450). Also, you'd still be back to the same CPU, the same memory, the same data bus, the same power supply. Your best bet is to put the money you had planend on, and purchase a game laptop or desktop. If your goal is to run higher end games and to probably continue to do so, the best advice I can offer is replace the whole unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabunouveau Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 (edited) Okay, that's pretty much all I needed to know. Is there any way I could free up that 1.7 GB of RAM so I'd have a little more? Sorry if these questions are ridiculous - like I said, I'm not great with tech things. As far as high-end games go, I mostly only play console, and use this computer for digital art using Photoshop and the like. I just wanted to get Skyrim on here so I could utilize some of the great mods coming out. To be fair, it runs pretty well minus any major graphics-enhancing mods; I have a few like Vurt's Flora Overhaul (low-res version), Water and Terrain Enhancement, etc, but I don't think those are too stressful on FPS as far as I know because they didn't make any major dents in-game. I'm fine sticking with these, I just mostly wanted to know if there was any way I could enhance my system and/or free up space so that I could possibly partake in ENB and bigger texture mods. Edited September 9, 2012 by Ionil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mujuro Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Okay, that's pretty much all I needed to know. Is there any way I could free up that 1.7 GB of RAM so I'd have a little more? Sorry if these questions are ridiculous - like I said, I'm not great with tech things.A few top-of-mind things:Make sure you don't have other programs running in the background.Make sure you have any desktop enhancements that gobble memory turned off (e.g., Windows Aero themes)Turn off unnecessary background services that you're not using while playing.I wouldn't recommend you even fiddle with ENB and/or texture packs until such time as you've got a decently running game using whatever graphics setting you want. Once you have that stabilized and performing adequately, then do a full backup of your Skryim before installing ENB, new textures, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts