I believe I'm at the precipice of minimum requirements for playing Skyrim via comp desktop but I may have to upgrade my comp to play it. I'm afraid to pre-order and receive skyrim unable to play it on release day. I could try to upgrade my computer but money is short these days and I want to be wise about spending my money.

Does anybody else have these fears?

Its not like Skyrim is the next Crysis or anything. If your a pc gamer at all you can probably run it, any computer made in the last 4 or 5 years with at least a dx9 card can probably run it on medium-high settings, or lowish-medium if you have onboard graphics.

You know, I was thinking the same thing at one time but there seems to be a lot more to render than in oblivion. Plus the draw distance is much greater. I agree with what a lot of people are saying about the graphics not looking on par with other titles out right now but again Skyrim has to render a hyooge world with so many characters on screen. Do you really think that the system specs will be like Crysis system specs?

Depends on how optimized the game is. Poorly optimized engine requires much higher specs than an optimized engine that delivers the same stuff on screen.

Bethesda has a history of poor optimization.

@hlvr: There is no way of knowing how far along they are on the pc version but it seems they haven't been working on it for very long which makes me doubt it will be highly optimized. Don't get me wrong, the "new" engine itself might lend to a better optimized pc gaming experience but only spending the last few weeks before release optimizing, debugging, and getting rid of any kinks really seems to be pushing it.

It will be playable on any half decent pc made within the last few years. If its as powerful as a 360 it will run Skyrim.

Like Hlvr said, it's all about optimization. I ran Crysis 2 on gamer settings pretty much flawless, and my PC is from early 2008. Unfortunately, have to agree with Hlvr that Bethesda history is disappointing concerning this. Judging by the screenshots and video footages we've seen so far Skyrim will require twice the power of oblivion PC to be ran properly. That's my guess at least.

If you were to post your set up:

CPU
GPU
RAM
Resolution etc

We could offer better advice for you

I once bought a game close to release (NVN2) and hadn't had a PC that could run it for some years afterwards...

They are running on the same Xbox, and they are bragging about how much they were able to squeeze out of the system, so maybe it's better this time. Wouldn't bet on it though.

I'm saving money since the release date was announced (actually, I'm always saving money for a new computer), and I plan to buy a new one by the end of October.

Havin' PC problems? I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a chip ain't one.

Just ordered the parts for my new rig tonight. Sorry for the quasi-rap guys.

I don't think any PC runs NWN 2 well.