Template:Notice by frihyland & S.T.E.P. Team
GUIDE FORUM THREAD
This hardware guide exists to help STEP enthusiasts decide what will provide the greatest performance boost within an approximate price range. This guide should also provide the reader knowledge and understanding of computer system components, their importance and relevance, and even general installation guidelines. It is not a guide of required hardware to run Skyrim; though, for reference, Skyrim's official system requirements are provided as applicable. General recommendations for running STEP in all its glory are also provided. This guide is written with the assumption that the reader has basic computer skills and general knowledge of relevant system components.
When reading this guide please keep in mind the official minimum system requirements will allow minimal STEP game-play ONLY. The official recommended system requirements will allow the Baseline installation of Core STEP to run with acceptable performance at 1600x900 (16:9) or 1680x1050 (16:10) resolutions. To play Skyrim with a full performance or quality STEP installation, the STEP-recommended system requirements are necessary:
Performance STEP: Core mods only; performance options wherever possible. These recommendations will not be much more that the official recommended system requirements. "My poor box needs all of the mercy that I can spare it, but I can't do without STEP!"
Baseline STEP: Core and non-Core mods; performance/quality and balanced options wherever possible. These recommendations will get up and running STEP with medium to high settings. "My box is nice but I hate FPS drops and stuttering!"
Extreme STEP: Core and non-Core mods; highest-quality options wherever possible. These recommendations will get you running STEP in all its glory! "My box is omnipotent!"
All price ranges are given in US currency($). This information is kept as accurate as possible; however, depending on the time of our last review, it is possible for pricing of some components to be outdated. Furthermore, although all technical information is facttual, all recommendations from this guide are strictly the opinions of the STEP-Community-Wiki-editorial consensus. Ultimately, it is the individual's responsibility to check specific pricing and use his or her best judgement.
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. (more detailed and accurate information will follow as benchmark testing is completed)
Skyrim is incredibly dependent on a fast processor; to such an extent that even with a great mid-grade processor, such as an Intel i5, you may still very often find it to be the limiting performance factor in the game. This is because Skyrim offloads all DirectX calls for shadows to the CPU which the GPU would normally handle. For this reason, if you ever find your CPU being pushed to its limits while running the game try reducing the the shadow settings on the launcher and/or in the SkyrimPrefs.ini file until you achieve your optimal performance. Shadow draw distance can make a big performance impact on the CPU as well.
Since DirectX calls are offloaded to the CPU, multiple cores are a requirement! You must have at least a dual-core processor and a quad-core is recommended. Skyrim will often max out the first core with the remaining cores being utilized between 30% to 50%.
In order to accommodate a new processor, you often have to buy a new motherboard, unless your board was purchased within the last couple of years. The reason for this is because as new processors are released, they often come coupled with a new socket type; which may not match your motherboard. A new motherboard can severely effect any budget, especially when the prices of CPUs usually aren't cheap.
The minimum recommendations for upgrading when purchasing for AMD you'll want an FX-Series (Zambezi); however, Intel is highly recommended. Intel performs better in nearly all tests. For Intel, a Core i5 (Ivy Bridge) or higher is best, 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. Keep in mind the higher the hertz, the higher the price goes.
Laptop users aren't out of luck here. Most laptops have upgradable CPUs; however, they are much more resisted in the variety of choices for upgrading and it is often not worth the cost. For both desktop and laptop users, check with your laptop/motherboard manufacturer for a list of supported processors before upgrading.
*This information is no longer accurate! Patches will require up to 500MB of additional space. DLC will require up to an additional 6GB. For a vanilla installation of Skyrim (no mods and no DLCs) with all patches you will need at least 7GB of free disk space. For a vanilla installation with all patches and DLCs, you will need at least 10GB of free disk space.
Hard Disk Drives (HDD) are still the most commonly used type of hard drive. This is because they are relatively inexpensive when compared to the newer solid-state drives (SSD). In comparison, you can purchase an one terabyte (TB/1024GB) HDD for the same price as a 64GB SSD. For the same price you get approximately 93% more store space. However, HDDs are much slower than SSDs are. When purchasing a HDD, 7200RPM and 16MB of cache (larger drives have larger caches) is recommended. Faster, 10,000RPM drives are also available; however, keep in mind they are often noticeably noisy.
Recommended brands include:
Skyrim requires 6 GB of hard drive space un-modded, and you can easily triple that with heavy modding. Skyrim also has a great many loading screens, and you can greatly diminish the time spent on these screens by installing Skyrim on a solid-state drive (SDD), as well as increasing overall performance of the game. When Purchasing an SSD, SATA 6GB/s is the fastest available; however, make sure your motherboard supports it natively through AHCI. You can set it up to use AHCI in BIOS and it must be done before OS installation, otherwise you will find your SSD running in emulated IDE mode with diminished speeds. If your motherboard doesn't support the 6GB/s transfer speeds, 3GB/s is the next best option.
Most cards are now DirectX 11. (more detailed and accurate information will follow as benchmark testing is completed)
Template:Notice The following chart lists cards by GPU power and sorts them into tiers along with a range of appropriate VRAM amounts required to get the best performance/price value.
First check your own video cards model and specs, if your card is on the table already you don't need to upgrade unless you have less than 1GB VRAM. If not peruse for an upgrade in your price range. Note that if you upgrade from one model on this list to another, jumping at least 3 tiers is recommended in order to actually be able to 'feel' the upgrade, anything less is fairly trivial.
Not all models will be available with recommended VRAM as that is entirely up to manufacturers, it's up to you to find one with the appropriate VRAM specs. Also be aware that these are seriously oversimplified recommendations, all types of different configurations are available for each model, I am just suggesting a rather idealized upgrade path, don't hesitate to buy a card (if you feel its a good price) just because its slightly below the ideal.
Dual Chip boards are not listed, if you have one you should be fine as long as you have at least 2GB (1GB for each chip), if you are buying one, make sure to get 4GB (2GB for each chip).
Price listings are just what I was able to find with a quick online search and are meant as examples not definitive in any way (if the VRAM is less than recommended I provide the available amount).
My personal conclusion at this point is that for ballsout graphics without sending you to the poorhouse (and future-proof for 4 years) a GTX 670 4GB (of Samsung DDR5) priced at $400 is the way to go, it may be several months before we see this but I am a patient man. The 670 is only 4% slower than the 680 and has much less cooling issues, the Samsung DDR5 is proving to be much faster and more reliable than other vendors and 4GB should be sufficient to guarantee 4 years of usefulness. Go to Toms Hardware if your looking for a comprehensive chart, it was used as a primary information source.
Mobile video cards are different than desktop cards. They're not usually not upgradable, aren't as powerful, and they typically have limited dedicated VRAM; rarely do you find a mobile with more than 1GB of VRAM. Since mobile users are usually stuck with what the laptop comes with in term of video cards, it is very important to purchase a laptop with a sufficient card to handle your intended gaming purposes and settings. You can even find laptops with dual video cards and there are companies which make laptops specific to gaming needs. Some of these companies include: Alienware (Dell), Asus, Eurocom, Falcon Northwest, Samsung, and there are many others. However, expect to pay no less than $1,500 and some can cost higher than $5,000. The price of being mobile isn't cheap!
The video card is often the most expensive part of a gaming computer and thus, although it is quite critical, when formulating a performance/price scale it moves quite dramatically.
Video cards need DirectX 9C support with a minimum of 1GB of VRAM to run Skyrim, although 1.5-4GB is highly preferable. Here the GPU although still critical, is much less important than the total VRAM, and SLI/Crossfire can be helpful for an fps boost particularly if using Ultra settings and Post Processors (but certainly not enough to warrant buying another card, unless you have at least 2-4GB on each card and want to run in 3D or Multiple Monitor Mode).
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 around $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.
(more detailed and accurate information will follow as benchmark testing is completed)
As for system memory 4GB is the required minimum for all STEP installations, and though the Extreme install recommends up to 6GB your system may never need more than 4GB to run a stable Skyrim when heavily modded. If your system runs out of VRAM it resorts to using your system memory which is slower and is the main cause of stuttering. If you plan on using mods with high texture resolutions make sure you have at least 6GB to be safe and at least 1.5GB of VRAM to keep the game-play smooth.
If you have less than 4GB of system RAM move it to the top of your upgrade list. System RAM is inexpensive so it won't break your budget. If you plan on upgrading it is recommended you buy a dual-channel kit, which is simply a package with two identical memory modules, if your motherboard supports it. Dual-channel is faster and more efficient than running single modules. Consult your motherboard's list of supported models before purchase, which will often limit your choices. If your motherboard doesn't support at least DDR2 modules, you might consider upgrading your board to support the newer, faster architectures like DDR2 and DDR3.
For laptop users, all the information above applies to you as well. The only difference is, you can't upgrade your motherboard to support faster RAM architectures. Also, the cost of being mobile isn't cheap, unfortunately. Expect to pay 40% to 60% more for laptop RAM over desktop RAM.
Please note that a 64 bit OS is required to make use of more than 4GB of system RAM.
Most of the recommended upgrades require certain specs on your mother board. Besides those specific specs, the chipsets are the defining factors here: for AMD you want 900 series chipsets, on the Intel side Z77.
The operating system isn't going to make or break your game; however, some options are better than others. If you take one piece of knowledge away from this section, it should be to stay clear of Windows Vista. Vista was Microsoft's experiment into nearly completely rewriting Windows into the 21st century. Compared to it's predecessor, Window XP, Vista is slow, doesn't handle hardware well, and has some compatibility issues. If you're upgrading from Windows XP, go straight to Windows 7 or 8 and skip Vista. If you already own and are running Vista, consider upgrading if it's in your budget. You won't be disappointed.
Windows 7 is the official recommendation for STEP users for it's speed and stability. Windows 7 is Microsoft's Vista done right. It's responsiveness and speed is on par with Windows XP and leaves Vista in the dust. It includes improved UAC and explorer, graphic card issues from Vista are no more, boot process is faster, better control over notifications, consolidated security messages, HomeGroup is introduced for simplified sharing, DirectX 10 support, and a ton of other features. Be sure you choose at least the Home Premium version or higher.
Windows 8 is Microsoft's newest operating system. It is on par with Windows 7 as far as performance with some tweaks; however, it still has a few kinks that need to be ironed out before it can be officially recommended, such as proper embedded network adapter handling. A few of the advantages are an incredibly fast boot process, cloud integration with SkyDrive, better multiple monitor support, improvements for better multitasking, and DirectX 11 support among other things. Some disadvantage you might find are the removal the the Start Button in favor of the Start Screen (once referred to as MetroUI), Charms Bar and Searching features, and system administration is a bit more complex (mainly due to new navigation methods). If you choose Windows 8, you'll have to learn a few new Windows shortcuts for fast and proper navigation. The Professional version is recommended.
While not necessary, Windows 64-bit will allow you to add more than 4GB of system RAM which will increase stability in your games and it is the recommended architecture for STEP. However, Windows XP 64-bit is not recommended as it is fairly bugging. Windows XP is no longer actively supported by Microsoft so an upgrade is highly recommended for XP user.
The below resources were not written by STEP; thus we can not make any guarantees for any of them. They are provided strictly for additional informational resources.
Pricewatch
New Egg
Logical Increments PC Buying Guide
