Entry Level Gaming Spec Machine

[ballz0r]

A bloke at work is looking to upgrade so he can play Skyrim

his current system is a pentium 4 and he wants to get away with the cheapest upgrade possible.

He is looking at the minimum specs and building a computer around that but I think he will be bitterly dissapointed with what performance you actually get from the minimum spec machine.

Could you guys spec up a bang for buck gaming machine for me? New hardware only as he wants a warranty, no OC.

[DaaQ]

My sons have been playing on older rigs with no complaints. One is a phenom II x4 with a 5870 other is an i5 2.66 lynnfield (i cant ever remember the model #) with an 8800gtx in it. If that helps at all

[ballz0r]

My sons have been playing on older rigs with no complaints. One is a phenom II x4 with a 5870 other is an i5 2.66 lynnfield (i cant ever remember the model #) with an 8800gtx in it. If that helps at all


Thanks that helps heaps, there are a lot of conflicting reports about Skyrim being quite taxing on a system... I guess its just dependant on what settings you are happy with.

[NeverGive7]

I'm thinking something in the i3-2100 range :shrug:

Here is that cpu with a 6850 playing Skyrim
skyrim expert spell destruction (Icy Spear Incinerate Thunderbolt Walls) 1080p - YouTube

[DaaQ]

Well also they don't have huge ass high res monitors. One is a 15 or 17" lcd other one with the 8800 is running dual screens but one is same as other plus a 19"

[Marne]

running a bestbuy bobo rig

i5-650 (stock)
8gb ram
2gb gtx 560 from BB

playing on 1920x1080 46" hdtv - no slowdowns and overall a great experience. i literally picked out the cheapest POS intel rig on the shelf and threw in a videocard when the 295 shit the bed.

[XMT_Systems]

I'm running it on high settings perfectly with a Phenom II x4 955 BE($124.99), Asus M4A87T MB ($89.99), 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1333 ($39.99), and an EVGA GTX 460 ($169.99). Total investment was $425 and I used some existing hard drives I had laying around. While I'm not a fan of AMD, it's a great little budget gaming rig. It easily runs Starcraft 2 and WoW on Ultra settings @ 110fps @ 1440x900 without breaking a sweat.

That said, I've only had Skyrim for 2 days and I think it sucks balls. The UI is fucking horrible!

[Marne]

ill agree there. the UI is fucking atrocious. hence mods.

[XMT_Systems]

ill agree there. the UI is fucking atrocious. hence mods.

I started modding today, but I haven't found any yet that I really like. What mods are you using for the UI?

[Marne]

i just saw a video i havnt installed any yet either. The UI is what made me delete my file. i cant figure shit out its so horrendous. the game is beautiful and i see many many hours of play being poured into it but until i can fix that im good lol

[mataribot]

A bloke at work is looking to upgrade so he can play Skyrim

his current system is a pentium 4 and he wants to get away with the cheapest upgrade possible.

He is looking at the minimum specs and building a computer around that but I think he will be bitterly dissapointed with what performance you actually get from the minimum spec machine.

Could you guys spec up a bang for buck gaming machine for me? New hardware only as he wants a warranty, no OC.

I don't mean to be an ass, but if that is the only game he wants to play, he might as well pick up a ps3 or Xbox 360.

Otherwise, I would put most of my founds in a decent GPU.

[XMT_Systems]

I don't mean to be an ass, but if that is the only game he wants to play, he might as well pick up a ps3 or Xbox 360.

Otherwise, I would put most of my founds in a decent GPU.

:bird: Console gaming.

[ablatman]

:bird: Console gaming.

That's his point though; If he wants to be a cheap fucking bastard, then he should get a console like the rest of the cheap fucking bastards in this world. If he wants to actually experience all the eyeporn of gaming, then he should be prepared to spend a bit more. Seriously Ballzor, give that bitch your old FrozenQ res, because he obviously needs to HTFU.

[Gonzo]

if he wants ot be able to use mods with the game i would suggest a video card with more then 1 gig of ram. it doesnt seem to be too cpu intensive on my computer but ive got a 2500K oc'd to 4.6 ghz. ive loaded a few mods up(aka as many as i can find) and ive cut my fps in half with a 2 gtx 460's in sli and oc'd to 750mhz for the gpu and 1900mhz for the vram. inside caves im normally at 60fps but outside or in cities it can easily drop to 30fps. vanilla skyrim with some ini tweaks and im at 60fps no matter what. this is also running at 1920x1080.