I am willing to bet that a gfx card with 3GB GDDR could handle Fallout 4 with HD texture packs. If not a 4 GB card would be able to. The thing is, if you go insane with the mods, you could bring a Titan X (12 GB card) to its knees. Any mod with a graphics component is likely to eat into your VRAM. Once the card hits its limit and it starts swapping video assets to regular ram or God forbid, disc, the frame rate is going to start being measured in Seconds Per Frame instead of Frames Per Second.

Blows it away is right. I was looking for a comparable (price wise) AMD product, but I couldn't find one with more performance than the 750 TI in the few minutes I looked (just today). I knew it had to be out there, though, AMD cards are always cheaper than similar performing NVidia cards.

I'm also less familar with AMD naming conventions, so I have trouble figuring it what range the performance is in with just the name.

Yeah, if you are on budget gtx 970 will be a good choice i think, but again, better to wait and see.

Personally i think Fallout 4 will be released 23rd of October this year.

By that day you might be able to fit gtx 970 into your 1000$ budget.

I wouldn't recommend any Nvidia with a 5 or lower in it's product code. That's the low end for their cards and they aren't nearly as good as the others. I wouldn't go for anything less than a 6 version, which is their middle of the road models, though an 8 or higher version would be preferable. Anything 8 or above are their top end cards. In other words, for their 700 series go with either a 760 or a 780, not a 750.

Just be careful with what you do and make sure to have a proper gaming computer. I, myself, do a mix of console and computer gaming (for example, I play New Vegas on PC but Fallout 3 on Xbox 360). To me, it really depends on the game which makes it worth having on the PC + my current PC isn't a primary gaming PC, so it doesn't play certain games well anyways (I can play New Vegas on med and barely play Skyrim on low).

Plus if you do get deep into PC gaming, make sure to check out modding yourself. Most of the time, the small mods that you may want aren't even made and requires you to do it yourself. (You wouldn't believe how many small personal mods I've done with Morrowind, Team Fortress 2, New Vegas, and more).

Well it's not hard to be confused, they don't really explain those figures for power requirements very clearly. I used to think the same was as you until I did a bit of research in that area. I just looked up the 780 on the Nvidia site and the recommended system power is 600w, but the card itself is only using up 250. So that 600 watt recommendation is very conservative indeed considering my AMD 8320 peaks at about 158 watts. I just looked that up as well. That still leaves about 200 watts out of that 600 total for a sound card and drives. Plenty to spare really.

Not to mention that a lot of those small mods might only change a very minor thing here and there, with the end result that you end with a big clutter of mods that could very easily have been combined if you had done them yourself.

Which is why i didnt recommend it. As a matter of fact i wouldnt recommend any of the 7 series as most of the cards are being phased out. My GTX 770 is 1.5 yrs old now.

A GTX 960 would have been nice but thats upwards past the $150 price point mentioned.


Just remember, GPU listed power requirements are always overstated system requirements. The reason they do this IMO is for liability since there a still many junk PSUs out there. The PSU is the most important component in the entire PC to me...dont skimp on the quality. Seasonic, Corsair, EVGA, Silverstone, and Antec are some top quality vendors to remember.

That too. (I have a "Jusey's minor fixes/updates" mod for Morrowind XD).

I'm pretty happy with my 780. I'm running at a resolution of 2560 x 1440 and I can still max out Skyrim with frame rates of anywhere from 40 - 60+ fps even with the high res texture pack installed. So I doubt I'll have any problems with Fallout 4. Nvidia may be phasing them out, but there's still plenty of them out there to be had for a decent price.

Well i do plan on installing mods and eventually maybe modding myself. Would that change anything? Do I need anything extra or more powerful?

If you plan to go crazy with tons of texture mods then you need to consider the amount of VRAM (video RAM) a video card has, the bare minimum for buying new today would be 2 GB I'd say, and that is rapidly changing with new games coming out so it may go to 3 GB or even 4 GB in the not too distant future - meaning Fallout 4 with lots of mods certainly has the potential to demand a card in the 3 - 4 GB range (or even higher? possible).

We know nothing of the recommended specs at this point however so this is pure speculation, as others have said start reading and learning what you might like to buy/build at some point in the future and then get serious with your questions and build ideas when those recs come out.

Make sure to check outhttps://pcpartpicker.com/ and http://www.logicalincrements.com/. Handy tools to use. Also, it could also be helpful to pop over to the buildapc reddit page and ask for second options after you have a basic idea for parts.

And as an aside, waiting till it's closer to FO4's release will save you money, in that parts will get cheaper as time goes on and newer things come out. Might not be monumental, and if you see a sale for a part that you know you're going to get you should probably pick it up, but otherwise patients would be the best idea. A thousand bucks today won't go as far as a thousand half a year from now.

Another thing to note... is to be careful with power balancing. The only thing worse than a slow rig, is a rig where the GPU completely outruns the CPU, and produces a snowy effect.

Also, don't get caught up in the whole BS AMD vs Intel war. They're both good chips. And the "benchmarks" are typically unrealistic anyways.

I get by just fine with an AMD FX8120, and an HD7950. Gaming was this computer's secondary concern. It's initial concern was programming and 3D work.

You should be fine with a Minimum of an Intel i5 or what ever AMD's lower spectrum chip is.

I generally build mid level computers, never top of the line. Waste of money because it will be outdated technology in a couple of months. Mid range is a decent price and good performance for any game out there. The only thing I come close to buying at top of the line is the CPU. I want the motherboard and CPU to last at least 4-5 years before I have to upgrade my system completely. I have an i7 Intel that will take care of my computing needs for a while.

Reference the AMD vs. Intel and AMD vs. Nvidia. I personally am an Intel and Nvidia devoted fan (heh, I guess a "rotating airfoil boy" is a dirty word). My current rig contains an AMD CPU and Nvidia gfx card. Why? Because being a devoted fan rotating airfoil boy () is all fine and good, just as long as it doesn't override common sense.

As you say, they are all good. The market changes almost monthly. Sometimes one will give you more bang for the buck (usually AMD is the least expensive). Every time there is a new release, which is the "best" choice can and does change.

One of the charges leveled against AMD is that the AMD chips will wreck your powerbill. It is true that AMD chips use more electricity, but we really are only talking about a handful of pennies each month. If you can afford to build a computer and buy some games, you are not going to notice the difference. The extra power consumption of the AMD products does mean more heat is generated, but unless the room you have your computer in is already as hot as an oven, that is also not worth thinking about.

PFT! That's assuming you put that motha on 100% stress for hours on end. AMD has amazing power-conservation software. However, their stock fans are stupidly loud. My FX8120 is using a $20 after market 120mm cooler. The room is normally at 92F-95F, and it doesn't really run hot. It's somehow cooler than the room it's self.

Unless you are using something like phase change cooling, getting lower than ambient temperature is not possible.

I can't give you a detaled answer but as a genral rule you will wan't somthing with an I7 processer and a Brand new grapics card and if you really wan't to immers yorself head phones an ocules rift

o.O

A friend of mine actually built a pretty good part list for me that only hits around $1200

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/MuffinCider/saved/Gvkqqs

Though someone will have to pick out a new power source, apparently the one on my list isn't being made anymore.

Where'd you see the system requirements? I haven't seen myself.

Also, I can give advice that I wouldn't sweat it so much. I play games on a computer that should be about 4-5 years old now. Now I am hitting the point where I may need a new one to play new titles (my comp hits the bare minimum for Witcher 3), but up until now I've been able to play maxed settings on everything. This is all just with a reasonably priced Acer + Nvidia card setup.

There's gonna be people calling me a peasant as well for not building my own PC, and they're right to a degree in that of course you can get better bang for your buck and performance from a built one, I merely just wanted to point out that they're also wrong in that that does not mean a pre-built computer will not be able to satisfy your needs.

Oh and a small tip? Get an nvidia card, not ATI. Both are good, but I've found that games are more likely to not mix well with ATI, whereas all of them seem developed with nvidia in mind. Not sure why, it's just something I learned from experience and from google searches for fixes; games had issues with ATI maybe 15% of the time where the same couldn't be said for nvidia.

I think that's putting way to much money in something that doesn't have a market foothold yet... Not to mention the things aren't even on a consumer line yet.

i agree, i made an incredibly good PC four years ago that is running witcher 3 on ultra for 1000 bucks.

just use newegg.

1. Motherboard that will work with your RAM, gigabyte is my go to; ASUS is also good.

2. a large Tower with multiple fans and hook ups

3: at least 16 gb of RAM, make sure the mother board supports the DDR type (mine is ddr4) make sure they have heatsinks

4: Good processor; i swtiched the Intel, love it. I'd spend at least 300 on this. make sure you get a really big heatsink with big fans. Also i'd get the gel stuff and attach your Processor to your motherboard yourself, a simple youtube video will show you how, or just read the instructions.

5: very good Video Card : 300 at least. make sure to read the comments about the heat, so you know it does overheat.

If you go PC: ENJOY!