PC Build: Skyrim on ultra for cheap?

[zan1987]

Hi there,

I am looking to build a PC at minimal cost. I am wanting to play Skyrim on the best settings possible, smoothly.

Other things that it will be used for its Internet browsing and some possible office work. In the future I might look to upgrade parts, to keep up with times.

Could you fine folks help me with the cheapest build for my needs please? I've been out of the PC scene for quite some time.

Thank you!

 

[combine1237]

Do you want to play with intensive enb mods or not because on stock ultra a 7870 will be fine, but otherwise there are some mods that can bring my build to its knee. Also what is your budget?

 

[lukelaw]

I can play Skyrim on custom ultra with my old GT 630 2GB

 

[Alec Mowat]

Skyrim on Ultra isn't very impressive.

There are some ENB and texture mods that can slow even the best PC to a crawl.

I'm running it fairly well on a GTX 670. Intel CPU's make a bigger impact than GPU's in Skyrim.

 

[VincentP]

If you want to run the high resolution textures from Bethesda, or any of the mods available to improve the graphics of Skyrim, you will want a graphics card with at least 2GB video memory.
To run Ultra settings, you also need a relatively fast card.
The cheapest cards that offer the necessary performance are the Nvidia GTX 650 Ti Boost (not the same as the GTX 650 Ti) or the AMD Radeon HD 7850.
These are both models that are being phased out and may be difficult to find.
More readily available models are the Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 270.
These are faster but more expensive.

Skyrim is also fairly CPU intensive.
For a CPU, I would suggest an Intel Core i5 processor.
The Core i5 4440, 4570 or 4670 would all be suitable.
These will out perform any processor from AMD in games.
Choose a socket 1150 motherboard and DDR3-1600 RAM to suit.
If you choose a micro ATX motherboard, you will save money on both the motherboard and case.

To power this system, you need a good quality 430W power supply or higher.
These are in order from best to cheapest:
Seasonic G 450
Seasonic S12II 430
Corsair CX 450

If you are looking for a budget system, don't bother with an SSD.
A 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive will be fine.