So, with the reveal of the new Xbox and Playstation, I've decided to move away from consoles and back to PC's.

I am going to build myself a PC, I want to be able to use the graphical upgrade mods as well as the world changing mods that can really bring a TES game to life.

Is there anyone here who could give me some pointers on the sort of hardware I might need. This is what I have thus far;

I plan to run two GTX660TI's in SLi at some point, I believe this should be adequate but I am unsure.

Thank you for any guidance.

If you want to get two cards you'll need a more powerful power supply first.

Yeah that occurred to me as I was listing things. 1000w minimum?

How would that setup cope with ultra + mods?

A single 660Ti can blaze through anything on the market. 2 is just overkill. You would be better to spend that money on a better single card.

Comes down to my budget at the moment. I can get the 660ti now no problems. A GTX690 or so just slightly blows the budget, so I was considering down the line just getting another 660ti as the price will probably come down some more and the SLI setup should still be effective.

I just want to be able to run skyrim on absolute maximum settings and not have to worry about it.

I used to have that same idea back with an 8800GT. I bought a whole system with the idea of waiting for the card price to drop, then get one for SLI.

The fact of the matter is, that never happens. By the time the price is cheap enough to merit the expense, there is already a card out there just as, if not more powerful then the 2 in SLI, for the same cost.

I bought a GTX260 3 years ago for around $200. You still can't find a new one for much less then that. The same thing will happen with the 660Ti.

I personally have a 660Ti and can tell you it runs Skyrim flawlessly.

Thanks for the reply.

I am just looking at things like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=v5MOykfGoiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCupJTFm3-4&feature=player_detailpage

And wondering if what I have will cope. Ignore the character.

http://www.overclock.net/t/502403/graphics-card-ranking-5th-time-and-last-updated-daily places the GTX 660 ti above both the GTX 570 and GTX 580 used in those videos.

I've got a 660 ti 3gb and it's run everything I've thrown at it.

Thanks allot for the reply. What sort of FPS should I expect?

45+ at worst.

Great, that should be fine for me. Having put up with at most 30fps for the last few years .

Will my cpu be fine, should I add mod's that include a vast number over NPC's over vanilla?

I changed my mind a bit, I think I'll take the advice above re:video card. I'll use a GTX680 from the onset and be done with it.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20744

This one specifically. Should be more than enough.

Everyone, everywhere, tells you to get the fastest card with 2GB vRAM. This is fine for just about any other game on the market, but Skyrim is an odd case. With the amount of mods available, if you want to run an ESB or a bunch of a load of hi-res textures, your vRAM usage can go to 2.25 or more. Running out of vRAM can bring the fastest card to it's knees. In this case, for this game, a 660Ti 3GB or a 670 4GB will serve you better than any 2GB card, no matter what the processor speed.

Also, a 3470 or 3570(non K) with a H77 mobo is enough for any game on the market. The H77 chipset still allows graphic card over-clocking.

I've gone with a 4gb GTX680 and my mother board uses the Z77 chipset, is that the same?

I just had a massive derp. You do know the GTX780 and GTX770 have been released? I did, but forgor to say.



Yeah, z77 allows CPU and GPU overclocking, h77 only allows GPU overclocking, otherwise they are the same, the h77 is a little cheaper, that's all.
If you have z77 and a 3750K, and overclock it, make sure to get an aftermarket cooler, the ones that come ewith the CPU are ok for stock. Something like http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/cooling/cpu-air-cooler/hyper-212-evo.html is great.

Double Post*
Mark for Delete.

If your display is 1920x1080 reso cancel your order and get the 770 2GB.

If not ....wait a week and get a 4GB 770. Also if you really want to load down texture mods.
They beat out the 680 at around 399 US.
If it is too late it is only by 10% so not the end of the world and non of that gain would be useful in Skyrim.

Build looks good get a higher wattage Corsair PSU if you can afford it. AX if you have money to blow def worth it.

I can still change the order.

Looking over at ATI, I am intrigued by the Saphire HD7970. Thoughts on this card?

Watching this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q05FMHUGU-U

I want this.

Some people, I repeat some people, have had issues with AMD drivers. Also, and it's hard to quantify, but Radeons can have tiny amounts of stutter even though the average frame rate is higher. A lower frame rate with a higher minimum may give you a smoother experience, which makes nVidia preferable. You have to scour the web for reviews that include '99th percentile' graphs, which shows the longest lag between frame updates rather than the average rendering speed.

Don't go sli unless you have to. Not only sli has numerous problems with loads of games it also has problems with enb (which can make skyrim look really nice)

Thanks for the reply's.

Nvidia is certainly my proffered card manufacture and ENB is a must have. So thank you for those inputs.

Do you haver an OS license? If not, you will have to allow for that in your budget. Almost overwhelming consensus is that Windows 7 home premium 64bit is the go-to for gaming, as Windows 8 is full of fluff you spend ages turning back into something resembling 7. If you have any spare cash (ha ha, i know right) a 120 GB SSD is enough to store your OS, updates for same and your Skyrim folder. There is no actual gameplay benefit, that's 90% GPU, 10% CPU or whatever, but loading times are faster, and your OS boot-up and non gaming activities such as opening new windows are much faster. They are expensive, but quieter and more energy efficient as well as faster.

I have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 here. Will that be fine?

I also budget for a 120gb SSD along side my 1tb HDD. Primarily to store windows and Skyrim. Is this a good way to do it?

More than. Ultimate will continue to get updates after support for home premium ceases is the main difference.

Yep. Read only (or rarely overwritten), such as the OS, drivers and game folder go on SSD, stuff you write often such as your game saves go on the HDD.

Ok, thats good. I actually got given the Windows copy, so can't complain!

What is the reasoning for the segregation of tasks? Are the SSD's not up to the task of constant rewritting?