$1200 pc build, Skyrim

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anonylytical

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May 10, 2014
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Hey guys I'm looking for a good pc build that can run Skyrim perfectly on ultra setting and with multiple mods for $1,200 or under. (Including monitor, mouse, OS, and keyboard) I'm building an entire pc from scratch and I need everything that a good gaming pc would need. Thank you :)
 
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Alec Mowat

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Jan 8, 2014
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus B85M-G Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.60 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair Gaming 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Philips 227E4LSB 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech Corded Keyboard K280e Wired Standard Keyboard ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Mouse: Logitech LS1 Wired Laser Mouse ($9.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1068.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-12 23:30 EDT-0400)


It's under 1200. You could upgrade the mouse/keyboard, or change the tower to something better. You could also add an after market heatsink, since that chip can be overclocked.
 
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Mar 21, 2014
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Usually that's true, but Skyrim's memory handling is especially broken. The memory leaks in Skyrim with HD textures get insane, and it was created in such a way that Skyrim mirrors system RAM into VRAM. I've seen instances where 3GB is actually helpful after a couple hours of playing.

Of course, rather than pay an extra $100 for a video card with extra VRAM, it might just be wiser to decide Skyrim is semi-broken with graphics mods and be content with the vanilla graphics.
 
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swifty_morgan

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Feb 10, 2006
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everybody used to complain about Crysis when that came out too. a card with MORE than 1gig of vram fixed that. now we have Skyrim to complain about. why not just do the compensation. after all, who on the consumer end is going to fix it?

and I mentioned this in another thread. my monitor is getting old. 1080p will be a thing of the past whereas 1440p or higher will be as widely available as is 1080p is today, not to mention crazy wides. takes horse power to run those.
 
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The difference is Crysis actually looked good when it released, and Skyrim looks like it was dragged from 2008 kicking and screaming. Crysis was on a good engine that required more VRAM and stronger cards because it used experimental effects. Skyrim requires more VRAM and stronger cards because it's outdated and doesn't scale properly or use modern (even by 2011 standards) shaders.

Please don't compare the CryEngine to the Creation [Gamebryo] Engine.
 
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If you're trying to defend Skyrim's engine, that's ridiculous. The texture resolutions are, on average with the HD DLC, 1024x1024. The shadows are unfiltered. Most of the HDR was cut. The meshes use the decade old outdated .nif format that no modern meshing software even supports without old libraries. Other games that use the same assets only recommend 768MB cards. If you made any graphics mods for it, as I have, you'd know that it's not a high-spec game, it's simply inefficient and on a poor engine.
 
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A

ahmedkhalifa1999

Distinguished
Feb 14, 2014
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19,160
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.29 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card ($488.79 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Gigabyte Force K3 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($20.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-FORCE M7 THOR Wired Laser Mouse ($21.99 @ Newegg)
Headphones: Zalman ZM-DS4FWhite Headphones ($9.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1243.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-13 11:20 EDT-0400)
what about this build ?
 
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Alec Mowat

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Jan 8, 2014
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This; it will run best on an intel processor. Doesn't really need much to run, it's just poorly built.
Once you start adding mods, the VRAM will increase. 2 GB is plenty, either way.
 
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swifty_morgan

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Feb 10, 2006
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you can complain about how it was "thrown" together all you want............ this has been talked about excessively. Skyrim is capped at 3.1 GB. and it does use it all if modded up. who wouldn't run mods? nobody.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fforum%2F352599-33-vram-skyrim-mods&ei=1U9yU4m7HunmsASY2IBg&usg=AFQjCNF14SJTXzedXLHkJ2lkM9P2YUgsjw&bvm=bv.66330100,d.cWc

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-1781126%2Fvram-skyrim.html&ei=1U9yU4m7HunmsASY2IBg&usg=AFQjCNFp0tNoH1AvcuzkjyhmGN7pHqYV7A&bvm=bv.66330100,d.cWc

some interesting tidbits
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDcQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLyTDCCCYuZk&ei=01FyU8e9DoapyATLpYGQAw&usg=AFQjCNEDfafT95Om8q_TwlE6RmxA-c4a8Q

 
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Alec Mowat

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It's a 32 bit application. All 32 bit applications can only use 3.5 GB of RAM.
 
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KoleTang

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Sep 19, 2013
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Skyrim's PC port isn't the most efficient. I have i5 4670k and GTX 770 4gb but things like ENB, grass mods, or excessive amounts of textures drop my frames by 15-30 FPS. Anything below 60 isn't acceptable for me so I have to be frugal. Even though it looks good, I would feel much better running it with SLI 770s, OC'd 4670k, and an SSD. (But I must admit I am a perfectionist) Hopefully that gives some insight on the parts choice.
 
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You're correct. However, that's not why Skyrim is limited to 3.1GB. It's limited to 3.1 because Skyrim's engine splits memory into chunks, and each chunk is about 3GB. The game crashes when it tries to initialize another chunk, and Bethesda never bothered to fix it because most people won't exceed 3GB anyway. So, instead of having 3.5GB of available memory and then clearing the cache when it fills like most games, Skyrim hits 3.1GB and crashes instantly.
 
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It actually was parallel development (at least Bethesda claims it was). The assets were pretty clearly made for the 360 though; even the audio files were switched to XWM because the 360's sound processing couldn't keep up with Oblivion's mp3s.
 
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Might not want to upgrade to 2x 770s in SLI any time soon. Skyrim scales pretty badly with SLI and Xfire for many people, in some cases worse performance than a single card. At least, it did a year after launch. I haven't been on the Skyrim Nexus in about a year so I can't confirm any changes after that.
 
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KoleTang

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Thanks for the heads up.
 
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