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Benchmark Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

System Builder Marathon, Q4 2012: $500 Gaming PC
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Though CPU-limited, both gaming systems breeze through Skyrim’s High detail preset. Our new machine leads by two percent on average, falling just shy of last quarter's overclocked rig. At 1920x1080, only 6 FPS (or 8%) separate the fastest and slowest configurations.

We know you don't spend $170 on a graphics card to play Skyrim at these lower-end settings, though...

At Ultra details and with 8x MSAA applied, this quarter's PC still looks platform-limited (we can tell because frame rates at 1920x1080 match those at 1280x720).

The slight improvement we see across the board on the overclocked config looks like the result of tighter memory timings as much as graphics overclocking. We still see notable gains compared to last quarter's PC, though. Last time around, overclocking bolstered performance at 1920x1080 by 14%. Our efforts this time yield a 27% boost at stock settings and a 32% increase overclocked.

In the end, both machines easily cut through Skyrim’s highest detail levels, maintaining at least 40 FPS at all times. However, they also share the same weakness: graphics cards with 1 GB of on-board memory. I'm sure that many of the Tom's Hardware readers who play Skyrim on their PCs don't run the vanilla game. If you plan to use the official high-resolution texture pack and/or other mods to improve this title's quality, stepping up to a 2 GB card would probably be worthwhile.

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Top Comments
  • 26 Hide
    willyroc , December 4, 2012 3:26 AM
    Not to mention that the 500GB version of the HDD is only $3 more.
  • 22 Hide
    Crashman , December 4, 2012 3:19 AM
    killerchickens$501 Plus $100 for a copy of windows 7.
    Run Linux, this is a hardware shootout.
  • 21 Hide
    colinstu , December 4, 2012 4:02 AM
    EzioAsI think they'd be better off with a B75 motherboard, 4GB RAM and an i3-3220.


    Exactly. Couldn't've said it better.
Other Comments
  • 22 Hide
    Crashman , December 4, 2012 3:19 AM
    killerchickens$501 Plus $100 for a copy of windows 7.
    Run Linux, this is a hardware shootout.
  • 21 Hide
    willyroc , December 4, 2012 3:24 AM
    I personally feel that they could have gone with H61 and gotten a 2GB 7850 instead.
  • 26 Hide
    willyroc , December 4, 2012 3:26 AM
    Not to mention that the 500GB version of the HDD is only $3 more.
  • 9 Hide
    jerm1027 , December 4, 2012 3:28 AM
    Quote:
    Our best alternative remained the quad-core Phenom II X4 995 Black Edition for $95. But we chose not to revisit this old favorite, figuring that adding a Radeon HD 7850 would have taxed our budget.

    What about the Phenom II 965? It's only $75 at TigerDirect.
  • 21 Hide
    EzioAs , December 4, 2012 3:32 AM
    Quote:
    I personally feel that they could have gone with H61 and gotten a 2GB 7850 instead.


    I think they'd be better off with a B75 motherboard, 4GB RAM and an i3-3220.
  • 4 Hide
    mayankleoboy1 , December 4, 2012 3:54 AM
    I am not very comfortable using windows8 in these benches. Reason : Drivers have not yet matured for win8. I would have waited for the next quarter SBM before using win8.
  • 4 Hide
    kj3639 , December 4, 2012 3:57 AM
    Well done! I built a $700 rig for a friend a few weeks ago. Parts were mostly identical except for a Corei5 3330, 2 GB 7850 and 120 GB SSD. The 7850 is by far the most bang for the buck and overclocks quite well. I recently bought two for a crossfire setup on my rig for $300 dollars on black friday as well. The 7850 was a solid choice.
  • 21 Hide
    colinstu , December 4, 2012 4:02 AM
    EzioAsI think they'd be better off with a B75 motherboard, 4GB RAM and an i3-3220.


    Exactly. Couldn't've said it better.
  • 0 Hide
    aznshinobi , December 4, 2012 4:03 AM
    The FX-6300 doesn't get any love?
  • 16 Hide
    blazorthon , December 4, 2012 4:17 AM
    aznshinobiThe FX-6300 doesn't get any love?


    It's too expensive.

    killerchickensSo guys you would buy Windows 8 Professional for a $500 gaming computer.


    This was a hardware test. You're OS complaints are irrelevant and there's no practical difference between Home and Pro versions when it comes to simple performance tests. such as these.
  • 10 Hide
    blazorthon , December 4, 2012 4:18 AM
    killerchickensWindows is free and we use Linux in are gaming Machines what are we in Soviet Russia .


    Several Linux distros works pretty well with most modern popular games, just FYI. Also, getting Windows for free legally is easy if you care to do it. Dreamspark has many free versions available to college students and most people know at least one, even if by proxy. Even in the unlikelihood of not knowing any, there's still the eval copies that MS gives away for free on their own website.
  • 12 Hide
    blazorthon , December 4, 2012 4:19 AM
    mayankleoboy1I am not very comfortable using windows8 in these benches. Reason : Drivers have not yet matured for win8. I would have waited for the next quarter SBM before using win8.


    I disagree. The current drivers for Windows 8 are pretty much on-par with the Windows 7 drivers. Heck, they're better than AMD's pre-Catalyst 12.6 drivers.
  • 7 Hide
    de5_Roy , December 4, 2012 4:22 AM
    was hoping to see a piledriver based cpu in this quarter's build. but i was much happier to see the 1gb radeon 7850 instead. nice gaming build.
  • -4 Hide
    blazorthon , December 4, 2012 4:23 AM
    Quote:
    was hoping to see a piledriver based cpu in this quarter's build. but i was much happier to see the 1gb radeon 7850 instead. nice gaming build.


    Meh, I would've preferred seeing at least an A8-5600K with a cheaper motherboard and memory kit or keep the same memory kit and get a cheaper case. It could have fit, IDK why Tom's didn't do it. Maybe there weren't good prices on other components at the time :/ 
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