As of now my PC isn't in tip-top shape, so for Skyrim (and BF3 ) I want to buy a better PC (I want modds :celebration: ). My PC is almost 10 years old, and it would cause more trouble updating it then it's worth. The problem is I don't know how my PC will have to be to play Skyrim, and I can really only play 800$ for a new PC, maybe a little more if I can talk the rest of my family into pitching in a little more.

So how much does a good gaming PC cost, how good will it have to be for Skyrim (and Skyrim mods), and is it worth the money in the long run, or would I be better off sticking to my Xbox?

I know this thread is a little off topic, but I figured I ask. Sorry.... :shrug:

Edit: And how often would I need to upgrade my PC? Every six months? Once a year? Once every couple years?

$800 Canadian is doable, but you should wait until fall to get your parts and build the best bang for your buck. If you're not into building, it will be harder but still probably doable. I'm sure there is something that can be found closer, but prior to, Skyrim's release. I'm 100% sure of that much.

I`m in the same boat as you bro.

I`m getting the Xbox version first as i think the things that made vanilla Oblivion so boring, will be sorted in Skyrim. I think it will be really captivating and it sure does look good for a console.

I figured that i would probably have to spend about ￡600 to upgrade my PC and reckon it can just wait while I explore the world on Console :thumbsup:

800 should be more than enough!
Last time I've updated my PC was 2 years ago with a (cheap) 120€ graphics card (ATI HD4850).
The PC is about 5 years old now and I can play every game on high to very high settings.
So the time when upgrading the PC was important is long gone.
Nowadays PCs have a long lifetime!

EDIT: I've built together a PC for my girlfriend for about 600€ (about 800 canadian dollars) and it can run nearly every game out there on high graphic settings (100€ more and it could easily master every game for the next five years or so, then it may be possible that the graphic card has to be upgraded for best performance)
BTW: @resolution: 1920x1080!

This +1, save your money until we have a better idea about what kind of requirements Skyrim will have. 9 months is also a pretty long time in the PC world, so prices on parts you need should go down by then.

You might even be able to save even more money by cannibalizing parts from your old PC. For example, do you really need a new keyboard and mouse?

Most likely ( hopefully ) a decent ￡700+ pc will handle it on high + settings, as it has to work for consoles as well.
However you start adding lots of mods to improve visuals and expand the gameworld like better cities, it may start show.
However I really have no clue as to how much the games new engine will stress a computer.

I paid ￡350 for this PC, which comes out at about half again over the cost of a console, and then the games are cheaper and I don't need to buy a PC for everything I do other than gaming. I don't know how well Skyrim will play, what with it not being out yet, but seeing as I'm actually /running/ Crysis on Very High in the background I have no doubts as to her ability to play it at significantly better than console levels.

Personally, in my often controversial opinion, I cannot honestly recommend anybody to buy a console out of anything but laziness or a love of racing games right now, PC components are cheap enough now that the price differential is minimal, and while to get best value you do have to do a minimum of research, it's really not difficult.

I'm running a Q9450 and a 5870. I don't expect to have to upgrade since the game is also targeted at consoles and their obsolete hardware.

Since none of us can guarantee the system requirements, I recommend taking that money and putting it aside in a savings account - when summer time comes along, take some money from jobs and put that aside as well, so that by the time it's November 11th you'll have plenty of cash to buy a BADASS computer (built or not) that will last you another 10 years with ease.

$800 is more than enough. If you decide to build one yourself, (Cheaper, not difficult, better quality) then you can easily do it for under $800. Save your monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer or whatever other peripheral devices you have and that will save you money. If you have a decent sized Hard Drive, save that too. You can even save your chassis case and there is some more money saved. The only things you need to upgrade, would be CPU, GPU, PSU, Motherboard, and RAM.

http://infonec.ca/site/main.php

and

http://www.newegg.ca/

will have all the parts you need (in Canadian $) for building a computer. I personally use Infonec, I find they have good prices and are reliable.

My computer still have a pentium 4 and only 2 gigs of ram, using a agp video card. Talk about outdated...

Bet Daggerfall runs great on it! :tongue:

$600 for something that will do the job.
$1000 for something really good.

My PC is 5 years old, and it's fine, even with a bunch of Oblivion mods.

If you build one, learn a lot about it, including from youtube videos.

I just built this new one:

with the 800$ - 1000$ range you can build yourself a pretty beast of a computer. you just have to research how to build one. its not all that hard

youll want multi core processor. 4gb+ ram, 64 bit os, a video card that can handle it (i recommend looking for one that has good frame rates playing Crysis maxed out) and a power supply with a 80+ certification. the mother board has to be compatible with all parts and you may want to get one with room to upgrade on later. like have more than one video card slot, and 4 ram slots. you have more than enough time to learn how to build one. head over to youtube.com and look up computer building tutorials and go to tomshardware.com and look up there reviews and tutorials.

Thanks everyone for helping! So I suppose I'll stock pile some money and in about four months I'll buy the parts needed to build a computer.

Shouldn't be too difficult, I'm sure my Dad and I will be able to figure it all out.

Once again, thanks to everyone who posted! Cheers! :foodndrink:

Wait until they release system reqs. If you build your own computer, it will be better than anything you buy in a store for playing games.

Since I bought a gaming computer about a year ago...Strictly for games...I am sure it will be fine.

The computer you will need is here: http://www.cubscast.com/images/norris.jpg

My computer is in the lower mid-range of gaming computers, so it will run the game but probably not that well in higher resolutions. And I don't think I will buy a new computer until late 2012 as earliest.

To run minimum specs you will need this: http://teknik-informatika.com/images/pti/super-computer-cray.jpg

If you can run Oblivion on HIGH, then you can run Skyrim on MEDIUM.

I'll give you advice I give to everyone: buy the best rig you can afford. It'll cost you more in one go, but at least you'll save yourself the trouble of upgrading every year. And then there's the sheer bliss of experiencing the "currentgen" games on their highest settings :tops:
Since your old PC lasted you 10 years I can tell that it was bought with the same advice in mind.

A modern PC vastly outperforms a Cray-1 (Which I /believe/ that is, though it could be a later model), so skyrim will actually not run on that at all!