Building my 1st ever gaming PC for a MODDED Skyrim... advice?

[m3dicat3d]

First off, if there is a better place for this post, please tell me and I will make it happen. Also, this might seem like a weird post (or not), but the reason I'm asking advice here is because alot of the places I'm currently asking for config advice in, while they have very well informed respondants, they don't seem to have anyone (so far) that actually plays skyrim, let alone a pretty well modded version, and even they have admited that their advice could be somewhat limited in usefulness (though I still apprciate them trying, I'm still learning alot). It dawned on me that the nexus forums might just be the ideal place for this advice, since well, everyone here is modding :smile:

 

Let me get a few things out of the way about what I plan on and don't plan on for this build. I'm including this as it seems many people omit this often useful info when asking about their build ideas.

 

My goal is two-fold:

 

1) build a rig I can play a well modded skyrim on with ultra settings and reasonably set MSAA, AA, AF, etc settings enabled where I can have good performing fps with texture, flora, lighting, weather, and other simliar types of mods working in the background.

 

2) I want to use this system as a launching point for future upgrades so that I have some wiggle room as software accomplishments begin to render my current hardware "obsolete." In other words, I want to be able to upgrade this rig with as few part swaps as possible when upgrading becomes neccessary (instead of having to buy a new rig like many who own pre-fab big name manufacturer rigs have to cause they don't have upgradability with their rigs).

 

I'll be using Win 7 Home Prem, I WON'T be using triple monitor or a 120Hz refresh display for this initial build (and may not ever to be honest). I will likely keep resolutions at 1920x1080 on my SONY Bravia 32" (24Hz, 1080p) for primary monitor (unless this is a bad idea).

 

I DO want the abilty to OC the CPU, GPU, and RAM with this intial build, though I will definitely be waiting a while til I know more about it and am comfortable with it.

 

Liquid cooling is a bit much for me as I'm still a novice with these things, so I'm opting for air cooling for now.

 

Finally, I would like to keep this at around 1k for cost, but I do have some wiggle room up to 1.5k if need be, but I'd REALLY like to keep costs down as much as I can.

 

 

Here's what I am currently thinking of based on feedback so far from other "non-modded Skyrim" PC builders(who I am still quite appreciative of and who've given me a LOT of useful info).

 

CASE: CM HAF 922

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

(I like the airflow, and the ability to upgrade to Liquid cooling if I chose to later on).

 

PSU: Corsair HX750

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010&Tpk=HX750

(This is actually debatable for me still as I DON't know whether an SLI/X-Fire config would suit a heavy modded Skyrim better for me or not... if not, I will likely bump down the PSU wattage, would like a modular set up still though.)

 

CPU: Intel i5-3570K with After Market Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

(I'm told that the i7 doesn't show any real performance gains for gaming.)

 

MOBO: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 or the Extreme 4-M

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006654&isNodeId=1&Description=ASRock+Z77+Extreme4&x=18&y=10

(Not sure which one exactly yet, based on whether the PCI-E 2.0 x 16 slot is of any real worth to me or not, but the advice for this mobo has been given more than once, and I understand that it allows for OC'ing of the CPU, GPU, and RAM once I'm ready to take that step)

 

GPU: EVGA GeForce 680 GTX 4GB PCI-E 3 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130794

(this is another BIG question mark for me, as again, I'm not sure if a single GOOD GPU like this or the Radeon HD 7970 3Gb would do the job of a "lesser" SLI/X-Fire config. I've heard good arguments in favor of a better single GPU that can provide the same or slightly better performance than a dual config, but since I know modding Skyrim demands much more processing power, I'm up in the air. The other thing is that since Skyrim is supposed to be a CPU hog more so than a GPU hog, I don't know how to factor this in, especially considering that I've seen that recent patches and driver updates have provided dual GPU config performance boosts according to some others).

 

SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB (will add storage HDD later) OR TOSHIBA 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149397&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

(I've heard that SSD is better for gaming access speeds on the storage, and I've heard the opposite, so I'm not sure)

RAM: 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaw X-Series DDR3 1600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231488&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146836&SID=ij9arm666d1i

 

OPTICAL: Samsung vanilla no frills DVD/CD Burner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151256

 

This is looking like more of a 1.5 k build right now, but based on the GPU, PSU, and storage drive options, this could go could go up or down (hopefully down), and I'd really, REALLY like to hear from members of the Skyrim mod community as your experience will factor greatly into my choices. Thanks so much :smile:

Edited February 13, 2013 by m3dicat3d

[Taocat]

No Radeon, stick with GForce.

[Kalell]

That's an incredibly powerful build. I don't have anywhere near that powerful of a PC (my specs are listed in my profile) and I don't have any problem running Skyrim with everything but shadows maxed out at 1080 with 100+ mods. I rarely drop below 50 fps and can usually maintain 60. ENB's nearly cut my performance in half though. Truthfully Skyrim isn't all that demanding unless you are using an ENB, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to build a more powerful PC so you'll be able to play more demanding games at their higher settings.

 

I'm not an expert on PC's, but what you have listed looks like it would be a great PC that would last you for many years without needing to be upgraded. It certainly wouldn't have any problem running Skyrim.

[m3dicat3d]

Kallel and Taocat, thanks a bunch for the replies.

 

Taocat, I was hoping you could tell me more about why the choice of Nvidia vs. the Radeon. I have read in a couple places that Radeons tend to crash out of Skyrim more frequently, but to be fair, I can't find any info that supports or invalidates this claim. So I was just wondering what factor it was that makes you feel Nvidia would be the better choice? Is it the VRAM, the driver support, etc.?

 

Kalell, when you say that ENB's cut your performance roughly in half, is that in half from the 50-60 fps average you listed, so that it goes to ~25-30 fps?

 

Admittedly I still have an extremely loose grasp as to what all mods are available for Skyrim currently, but I do seem to hear about ENB's A LOT. So people out there are surely able to use them with decent, if not better, performance for their builds. I'm just wondering for those of you who actually use those ENB's with good performance, what builds are you using?

 

And finally, if going with a single GPU set up, should I absolutely be going with the 3-4 Gb VRAM card considering the load that mods put on the system, or would SLI/X-Fire be a better option in this regard?

[Kalell]

Most ENB's cut my fps to around 30, but some have better performance than others while some will drop me into the low 20's. That doesn't mean they would do the same on someone else's PC though. The more powerful a PC is the less of an fps drop an ENB would cause. The thing is that ENB's make Skyrim look so nice that a lot of people are willing to take the performance hit (I did for a long time). I would imagine that you'd need a pretty high end PC to run Skyrim maxed out with a high quality ENB and still maintain a steady 60 fps. Whether the specs you listed are enough I'm not sure (hopefully someone else will know), but if they didn't they would probably get you close.

 

I have no idea about single GPU vs SLI/Crossfire. I've only ever had single card setups.

 

Btw, I agree with Toacat about getting a Nvidia card. I have an AMD and their driver support isn't very good. They've gotten better recently, but Nvidia is still much better.