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Skyrim is incredibly dependent on a fast processor, to such an extent that even with the fastest available processor you will still very often find it to be the limiting performance factor in your game. In order to accommodate a new processor, you often have to buy a new motherboard, which can severely effect the "bang-for-your-buck" aspect of upgrading your CPU. The minimum recommendations for upgrading when purchasing for AMD you'll want an FX-Series (Zambezi) or for Intel a Core I5 (Ivy Bridge) unless you already have a sandy bridge in which case just stick with it. The closer you can get to 4Ghz (higher is faster) the better and as for multi-core, Skyrim uses the first 2 pretty effectively and after that the value for each additional core seems to be geometrically diminished. | Skyrim is incredibly dependent on a fast processor, to such an extent that even with the fastest available processor you will still very often find it to be the limiting performance factor in your game. In order to accommodate a new processor, you often have to buy a new motherboard, which can severely effect the "bang-for-your-buck" aspect of upgrading your CPU. The minimum recommendations for upgrading when purchasing for AMD you'll want an FX-Series (Zambezi) or for Intel a Core I5 (Ivy Bridge) unless you already have a sandy bridge in which case just stick with it. The closer you can get to 4Ghz (higher is faster) the better and as for multi-core, Skyrim uses the first 2 pretty effectively and after that the value for each additional core seems to be geometrically diminished. | ||
= SSD = | = HDD/SSD = | ||
==== Skyrim Official CPU Requirements ==== | |||
:'''Minimum''' | |||
::Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor (AMD Sempron @ 2.4 GHz) | |||
:'''Recommended''' | |||
::Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU processor | |||
==== STEP General CPU Recommendation ==== | |||
Quad-core CPU as close to 3GHz as possible and up to 4GHz.<br /> | |||
The Intel i-series processors are among the best in the business providing exceptional performance while remaining power efficient. They are the CPU of choice of the STEP community. | |||
== SSD == | == SSD == | ||
Skyrim requires 9 GB of hard drive space un-modded, and you can easily triple that with heavy modding. Skyrim has a great many loading screens, and you can greatly diminish the time spent on these screens by installing Skyrim on an SSD (solid-state drive), as well as increasing overall stability and performance of the game. If you do not have an SSD the next best thing would be to install an extremely fast traditional drive or a RAID0 array (Caution: RAID0 can be unstable longterm, see [[wikipedia:Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_0_failure_rate|here]] for details). When Purchasing an SSD SATA 6 GB/s is what your looking for (at $1/GB) and make sure your motherboard supports it natively through AHCI (set it up to use AHCI in BIOS as it is never the default, and must be done before OS detection), otherwise you will find your uber-SSD running in emulated IDE mode. | Skyrim requires 9 GB of hard drive space un-modded, and you can easily triple that with heavy modding. Skyrim has a great many loading screens, and you can greatly diminish the time spent on these screens by installing Skyrim on an SSD (solid-state drive), as well as increasing overall stability and performance of the game. If you do not have an SSD the next best thing would be to install an extremely fast traditional drive or a RAID0 array (Caution: RAID0 can be unstable longterm, see [[wikipedia:Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_0_failure_rate|here]] for details). When Purchasing an SSD SATA 6 GB/s is what your looking for (at $1/GB) and make sure your motherboard supports it natively through AHCI (set it up to use AHCI in BIOS as it is never the default, and must be done before OS detection), otherwise you will find your uber-SSD running in emulated IDE mode. | ||
= GPU and VRAM = | = GPU and VRAM = | ||
==== Skyrim Official CPU Requirements ==== | |||
:'''Minimum''' | |||
::Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor (AMD Sempron @ 2.4 GHz) | |||
:'''Recommended''' | |||
::Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU processor | |||
==== STEP General CPU Recommendation ==== | |||
Quad-core CPU as close to 3GHz as possible and up to 4GHz.<br /> | |||
The Intel i-series processors are among the best in the business providing exceptional performance while remaining power efficient. They are the CPU of choice of the STEP community. | |||
== GPU == | == GPU == | ||
The video card is easily the most expensive part of a gaming computer and thus although it is quite critical, when formulating a performance/price scale it move quite dramatically. | The video card is easily the most expensive part of a gaming computer and thus although it is quite critical, when formulating a performance/price scale it move quite dramatically. | ||
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Minimum recommended GPU models are the Nvidia GTX 550TI or ATI HD 6850 each with 2GB VRAM (these are last seasons mid-range models with a boosted VRAM and available fairly cheap at ~$150, 1GB versions run only $35 less and you will hate yourself if you skimp here). PCIe 3.0 x16 support would be nice here but certainly not necessary (unless you are spending $500 or more), but a PCIe 2.0 with a full x16 dedicated bandwidth is a really good idea, check your motherboard for this support. | Minimum recommended GPU models are the Nvidia GTX 550TI or ATI HD 6850 each with 2GB VRAM (these are last seasons mid-range models with a boosted VRAM and available fairly cheap at ~$150, 1GB versions run only $35 less and you will hate yourself if you skimp here). PCIe 3.0 x16 support would be nice here but certainly not necessary (unless you are spending $500 or more), but a PCIe 2.0 with a full x16 dedicated bandwidth is a really good idea, check your motherboard for this support. | ||
= RAM = | = System RAM = | ||
==== Skyrim Official CPU Requirements ==== | |||
:'''Minimum''' | |||
::Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor (AMD Sempron @ 2.4 GHz) | |||
:'''Recommended''' | |||
::Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU processor | |||
==== STEP General CPU Recommendation ==== | |||
Quad-core CPU as close to 3GHz as possible and up to 4GHz.<br /> | |||
The Intel i-series processors are among the best in the business providing exceptional performance while remaining power efficient. They are the CPU of choice of the STEP community. | |||
== System RAM == | == System RAM == | ||
As for system memory 4GB is the baseline "required", and 8GB will create a much more stable Skyrim when heavily modded. If your system runs out of VRAM (see below) it resorts to using your system memory somewhat inefficiently, so if you plan on using HD mods make sure you have at least 6GB. If you have less than 4GB move this to the top of the list, RAM is almost free right now and its a highly volatile market so it won't stay that way forever, so knock yourself out. Always buy RAM in a kit (a set of RAM designed to work together much faster and more stable). Consult your motherboards list of supported models (and update the bios to latest) before purchase, this can lead to a new motherboard purchase if new faster and less expensive memory models are not supported. Note that a 64 bit OS is required to make us of more than 4GB of system RAM. | As for system memory 4GB is the baseline "required", and 8GB will create a much more stable Skyrim when heavily modded. If your system runs out of VRAM (see below) it resorts to using your system memory somewhat inefficiently, so if you plan on using HD mods make sure you have at least 6GB. If you have less than 4GB move this to the top of the list, RAM is almost free right now and its a highly volatile market so it won't stay that way forever, so knock yourself out. Always buy RAM in a kit (a set of RAM designed to work together much faster and more stable). Consult your motherboards list of supported models (and update the bios to latest) before purchase, this can lead to a new motherboard purchase if new faster and less expensive memory models are not supported. Note that a 64 bit OS is required to make us of more than 4GB of system RAM. | ||
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= Operating System = | = Operating System = | ||
==== Skyrim Official CPU Requirements ==== | |||
:'''Minimum''' | |||
::Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor (AMD Sempron @ 2.4 GHz) | |||
:'''Recommended''' | |||
::Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU processor | |||
==== STEP General CPU Recommendation ==== | |||
Quad-core CPU as close to 3GHz as possible and up to 4GHz.<br /> | |||
The Intel i-series processors are among the best in the business providing exceptional performance while remaining power efficient. They are the CPU of choice of the STEP community. | |||
== OS == | == OS == | ||
A word on Windows 64-bit: while not necessary, x64 will allow you to add more than 4GB of system RAM and that will increase stability in your games. I would not recommend 64-bit XP and especially Vista as they are fairly buggy in regards to hardware and games, neglecting the benefits of the RAM increase. | A word on Windows 64-bit: while not necessary, x64 will allow you to add more than 4GB of system RAM and that will increase stability in your games. I would not recommend 64-bit XP and especially Vista as they are fairly buggy in regards to hardware and games, neglecting the benefits of the RAM increase. | ||
= Video Cards = | = Video Cards = | ||
==== Skyrim Official CPU Requirements ==== | |||
:'''Minimum''' | |||
::Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor (AMD Sempron @ 2.4 GHz) | |||
:'''Recommended''' | |||
::Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU processor | |||
==== STEP General CPU Recommendation ==== | |||
Quad-core CPU as close to 3GHz as possible and up to 4GHz.<br /> | |||
The Intel i-series processors are among the best in the business providing exceptional performance while remaining power efficient. They are the CPU of choice of the STEP community. | |||
== Video == | == Video == | ||
{{Notice|'''SLI/Crossfire and multi-GPU cards''' | {{Notice|'''SLI/Crossfire and multi-GPU cards''' |