Skyrim Ultra quality

[mattiguess]

Hello,
I'm looking to see what kind of changes I'd need to make on my laptop to run Skyrim on ultra settings. I'd be fine with any high setting but I'd way prefer to see the game on ultra settings.
This is my setup;
System Manufacturer: LENOVO
System Model: Lenovo IdeaPad N586
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version CCB.03.72.0568CN17WW(V1.03)
Processor: AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3562MB RAM
Page File: 1726MB used, 5394MB available
Card name: AMD Radeon HD 7520G

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Darkoil]

Obviously the GPU is the most important aspect when wanting to increase the graphical power of your system which I think on yours the GPU is intergrated so there is not a lot you can do I'm afraid.

 

[mattiguess]

Gotcha, well how big of a difference am I looking at when upgrading the ram? Right now I can play it fairly well on medium/high settings with a bit of lag during blizzards and bigger battles. I've never had it crash, just some small performance lag.

 

[Pinhedd]

Hello,
I'm looking to see what kind of changes I'd need to make on my laptop to run Skyrim on ultra settings. I'd be fine with any high setting but I'd way prefer to see the game on ultra settings.
This is my setup;
System Manufacturer: LENOVO
System Model: Lenovo IdeaPad N586
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version CCB.03.72.0568CN17WW(V1.03)
Processor: AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3562MB RAM
Page File: 1726MB used, 5394MB available
Card name: AMD Radeon HD 7520G

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

You won't be playing Skyrim on Ultra any time soon. It's both CPU and GPU dependent and tends to be rather unfriendly towards AMD.

 

[jkhoward]

Hello,
I'm looking to see what kind of changes I'd need to make on my laptop to run Skyrim on ultra settings. I'd be fine with any high setting but I'd way prefer to see the game on ultra settings.
This is my setup;
System Manufacturer: LENOVO
System Model: Lenovo IdeaPad N586
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version CCB.03.72.0568CN17WW(V1.03)
Processor: AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3562MB RAM
Page File: 1726MB used, 5394MB available
Card name: AMD Radeon HD 7520G

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Although the A6-4400M may play some games on ultra settings like World of Warcraft or League of Legends.. Skyrim is not that basic of a game. Long story short, you cannot do anything to your system to play the game on ultra settings. Your best bet would be to upgrade to a desktop system with a dedicated GPU. If you like the mobility and the battery life look into purchasing the latest AMD A10-4600 APU laptop. Hope this helps!

 

[Darkoil]

I believe the RAM is shared with the onboard GPU. In your BIOS you may be able to increase the amount of RAM which is shared with the GPU but then again it may already be sharing the maximum amount or you simply may not be able to choose the amount. As for putting better RAM in I would say you probably would not notice a big difference if any at all. Make sure you download the latest catalyst drivers as I have heard they are increasing performance across the board in most games.

 

[mattiguess]

Thanks for the quick info guys, I appreciate it. I'm gonna look into those catalyst drivers then, because some hope is better than none!

 

[richardgal]

With my rig It struggles even with everything on High *1440x900*. It's probably because of the same shitty engine Bethesda's been using since Fallout 3. It's constantly pulling stuff from the HDD, so put it on an SSD and it MIGHT get better, but I doubt it.

 

[ttg_Avenged]

You won't be playing Skyrim on Ultra any time soon. It's both CPU and GPU dependent and tends to be rather unfriendly towards AMD.

Yea.. A dual core 2.7GHz should actually cut it. With taht you could expect medium-high graphics. But you MUST get a non-integrated card, dedicated. This will mopre than handle it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683&name=Desktop-Graphics-Cards

Or you could go for a plain GTX 560, both will suit you well. Don't get RADEON (AMD) GPU's for Skyrim, nVidia payed Bethesda lots to make it run better on their GPUs.

With this setup you'll probably be able to get ~60fps on medium-high. Maybe 40-30 on high. 25-30 ultra.. The CPUs just killing you. But, if you get the GPU u need a PSU most likely. How much watts do you have? Look it up. U need a 550w to handle it, chances are, you have a 100-200w crappy psu.

But whatever you do, dont get "SuperPSU" brands (just an example) go for an extinguished brand, such as OCZ, Antex, CoolerMaster, just to name a few..

Let me know if you need help. Sorry, the the whole upgrade will be ~ 220- 400$ dependent on the parts you get.

 

[djscribbles]

You may be able to replace your APU with a more powerful one. Though this would be a rather in-depth upgrade, probably requiring completely disassembling your laptop and definately voiding the warranty. Then there is the problem of keeping it cool, as your laptop is designed, thermally, for something less powerful. (Disclaimer: While it may be possible, I really wouldn't suggest doing this)

Could we interest you in building your own desktop PC ?

 

[mattiguess]

I would love to be able to afford some upgrades like that right now but it's just not gonna be a possibility for a good amount of time. Between the house, dogs, bills and everything else i'm pretty budgeted right now. I'll definitely check them out though, just as to learn about them.

I've delved pretty deep into Skyrim performance enhancing mods too. Some that drastically reduce rendering on things such as leaves, snow, rain etc. So hopefully I can stumble across one that can give me some suitable FPS boosts.

As for the watts, I'm not even too sure how to check it but until those funds are available it won't do me much good.

Thanks guys.

 

[bryonhowley]

You won't be playing Skyrim on Ultra any time soon. It's both CPU and GPU dependent and tends to be rather unfriendly towards AMD.

Not true on a dedicated GPU Skyrim runs absolutely great on AMD GPU's. I have two AMD FX rigs one with a FX-8120 with a Sapphire HD 6950 and another with a FX-8150 with a Sapphire HD 7950 and both of them can play Skyrim 1080p ultra with no problems at all. However with a laptop there is only so much you can do. Laptops are not really for high end gaming unless you get a high end gaming laptop.