[Kyra]

Thanks!
Yup. I can play bc2 on max, but thats with an OCed c2d... my cpu really overheated (over 90 celcius!) and im hoping its OK (have to wait on part in mail) otherwise i'll have to see about this pentium : /

As above it's way outdated. I think it's similar to the one I have upstairs and that has had problems overheating too. In my new build I'll be getting an i5 2500K. Can't wait xD

[Svenja Hedrich]

Processor: i3 550 3.2GHz
GPU: Radeon 5850 1GB DDR5 OC'd to 800MHz/1175Mhz (only when gaming)
MoBo: Asus P7 H55-PRO
Power Supply: 550W
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
Monitor: Sony Bravia 40" @ 1920x1080

I am new to The Elder Scrolls and even newer to PC gaming. I was given some free parts and filled in the rest without a lot of knowledge or money while the PSN network was down.

I am unsure if there is a possible bottleneck in my setup as I sometimes experience small hiccups or very subtle stutters in the frame rate. I am unsure if there is a way to improve my performance as I would prefer to play at max if possible. Obviously.

Also, would overclocking my CPU, either stock or with a cooling fan be worth the risk/performance?

Thanks in advance.

[Cedric Pearson]

Spicoli, the GPU in that machine will be the biggest performance bottleneck. The CPU is fine, but I recommend a new video card.

[Maria Leon]

Processor: i3 550 3.2GHz
GPU: Radeon 5850 1GB DDR5 OC'd to 800MHz/1175Mhz (only when gaming)
MoBo: Asus P7 H55-PRO
Power Supply: 550W
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
Monitor: Sony Bravia 40" @ 1920x1080

I am new to The Elder Scrolls and even newer to PC gaming. I was given some free parts and filled in the rest without a lot of knowledge or money while the PSN network was down.

I am unsure if there is a possible bottleneck in my setup as I sometimes experience small hiccups or very subtle stutters in the frame rate. I am unsure if there is a way to improve my performance as I would prefer to play at max if possible. Obviously.

Also, would overclocking my PSU, either stock or with a cooling fan be worth the risk/performance?

Thanks in advance.

Luckily for you, it'll run Skyrim just fine, most probably at max settings.

And PSU's cannot be overclocked.

[Louise Dennis]

Spicoli, the GPU in that machine will be the biggest performance bottleneck. The CPU is fine, but I recommend a new video card.

Thanks for the response. I must admit I am a bit confused, as I thought my GPU was one of the better parts, at least from what I have read. Could you please elaborate?

[Sweet Blighty]

Spicoli, the GPU in that machine will be the biggest performance bottleneck. The CPU is fine, but I recommend a new video card.

WHAT!? how is the 5850 a bottleneck in his PC, if anything he has a pretty balanced system.

[OTTO]

Luckily for you, it'll run Skyrim just fine, most probably at max settings.

And PSU's cannot be overclocked.

My apologies. I meant CPU of course.

[Stat Wrecker]

My apologies. I meant CPU of course.

EDIT: I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, yes Overclocking your CPU would probably help with your performance, just make sure you monitor your temps. Also you should be able to run Skyrim at high settings with that build if not max depending on the resolution.

[Luis Longoria]

Processor: i3 550 3.2GHz
GPU: Radeon 5850 1GB DDR5 OC'd to 800MHz/1175Mhz (only when gaming)
MoBo: Asus P7 H55-PRO
Power Supply: 550W
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
Monitor: Sony Bravia 40" @ 1920x1080

I am new to The Elder Scrolls and even newer to PC gaming. I was given some free parts and filled in the rest without a lot of knowledge or money while the PSN network was down.

I am unsure if there is a possible bottleneck in my setup as I sometimes experience small hiccups or very subtle stutters in the frame rate. I am unsure if there is a way to improve my performance as I would prefer to play at max if possible. Obviously.

Also, would overclocking my PSU, either stock or with a cooling fan be worth the risk/performance?

Thanks in advance.

It is a respectable budget build.

Also, would overclocking my PSU, either stock or with a cooling fan be worth the risk/performance?

Thank you for a good laugh.

If you meant CPU, it could help a bit. Your GPU OC is very conservative, I've seen OCs to 1GHz on the 5850. even if you don't go near 1GHz you still can almost certainly go to 900MHz or maybe a bit more.


http://www.hardwareoverclock.com/Radeon_HD5850_und_H5870_Overclocking_Guide.htm and use Google Translate.

[Leanne Molloy]

I accidentally ordered a 6790 instead of a 6970, but don't wanna change it. So,

Will this run on high easily?

i7 core processor 860 at 2.80ghz
8 GB DDR3
AMD Radeon 6790
1600x1200 monitor
500 PSU

[Scott]

WHAT!? how is the 5850 a bottleneck in his PC, if anything he has a pretty balanced system.

*Crysis* (something quite old by now) gets 30FPS at his resolution. If he's fine with running approximately that frame rate, it's up to him, but having that as the baseline before I even install texture packs? No thank you.

[Prohibited]

I accidentally ordered a 6790 instead of a 6970, but don't wanna change it. So,

Will this run on high easily?

i7 core processor 860 at 2.80ghz
8 GB DDR3
AMD Radeon 6790
1600x1200 monitor
500 PSU

The difference between a 6790 and a 6970 is pretty huge lol. You will still be able to get high settings at that resolution though with decent FPS.

[Britta Gronkowski]

I accidentally ordered a 6790 instead of a 6970, but don't wanna change it. So,

Will this run on high easily?

i7 core processor 860 at 2.80ghz
8 GB DDR3
AMD Radeon 6790
1600x1200 monitor
500 PSU

No, but I wouldn't run a HD6970 on most 500w PSUs either.

[Breautiful]

It is a respectable budget build.



Thank you for a good laugh.

If you meant CPU, it could help a bit. Your GPU OC is very conservative, I've seen OCs to 1GHz on the 5850. even if you don't go near 1GHz you still can almost certainly go to 900MHz or maybe a bit more.


http://www.hardwareoverclock.com/Radeon_HD5850_und_H5870_Overclocking_Guide.htm and use Google Translate.

I was a bit nervous to OC my card too much with just stock cooling and it being my first build.

My CPU is another story as it seems that is a bit more sophisticated and I don't really know what i am doing :brokencomputer: .

[joseluis perez]

*Crysis* (something quite old by now)

In fact, Crysis is an excellent benchmark reference. It can be old, but is still one of the best looking games out there, it has more or less the same graphical quality than Skyrim, and it's distant LOD is superior even to Crysis 2. So if your rig can run Crysis Warhead (recommended for benchmark, as it's more optimized than the original Crysis) on max settings, it can run Skyrim.

[Darlene DIllow]

*Crysis* (something quite old by now) gets 30FPS at his resolution. If he's fine with running approximately that frame rate, it's up to him, but having that as the baseline before I even install texture packs? No thank you.

OK, but I don't think your understanding the concept of a bottleneck. A bottleneck is something that holds your system back from running to it's full potential. I'm pretty sure the 5850 isn't holding back his performance...if anything his CPU is a bottleneck and even that would be a minor one that could be fixed with a simple Overclock.

[Katy Hogben]

OK, but I don't think your understanding the concept of a bottleneck. A bottleneck is something that holds your system back from running to it's full potential. I'm pretty sure the 5850 isn't holding back his performance...if anything his CPU is a bottleneck and even that would be a minor one that could be fixed with a simple Overclock.

[Cat]

I hate to get into a bottleneck debate, but the bottleneck on most systems is their 7200RPM HD which is what most people have.. A 5850 and i3 550 should both run Skyrim at good to max settings at 1600x1200 smoothly.

[Kayla Oatney]

I hate to get into a bottleneck debate, but the bottleneck on most systems is their 7200RPM HD which is what most people have.. A 5850 and i3 550 should both run Skyrim at good to max settings at 1600x1200 smoothly.

My HD is 7200RPM. What would you recommend?

[Emily abigail Villarreal]

I hate to get into a bottleneck debate, but the bottleneck on most systems is their 7200RPM HD which is what most people have.. A 5850 and i3 550 should both run Skyrim at good to max settings at 1600x1200 smoothly.

Yup, one of the best and most noticable upgrades you can get get is an ssd i hear, but they're so expensive!!

But it doesnt help with frames, just load times.

[Iain Lamb]

My HD is 7200RPM. What would you recommend?

7200RPM HD is fine for almost everyone. I didn't mean to imply that it was a bad drive to have, it is what I use for gaming. If you were looking for a 1337 gaming system you would want a 80-120GB SSD for booting and a couple 1TB 7200RPM in a RAID setup for mass storage of files.

But again, I must say 7200RPM is fine for most people. Its just that bottlenecks on most newer systems are the 7200RPM drives. Take a Windows Experience Index test and you'll see the 7200RPM drives score low.

[Nany Smith]

The feedback I got when I first posted my PC's specs was pretty mixed, so I'm assuming my rig is just at the threshold of running at maximum. This time around, I'm going to give you guys all of the information about my PC I have available.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 OC'd to 3.15GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 (GPU clock OC'd to 895MHz and Memory clock OC'd to 1290MHz)
Motherboard: ASUS M4A77TD AMD AM3 770 ATX
RAM: Corsair 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz
PSU: 700w
HDD: 2TB, 7200rpm, 64mb cache, SATA III 6GB/s (my motherboard only supports SATA II 3GB/s, so that's the transfer speed)
Resolution I'll be playing at: 1366x768
Minimum AA I'm willing to play at: 4xMSAA

I am trying to decide between upgrading my CPU to a Phenom II X6 1100T BE or my GPU to a Radeon HD 6870. Please tell me how you think my current rig will handle it and your opinion on which upgrade would be most beneficial to my system for Skyrim. Thank you.

[Arrogant SId]

The feedback I got when I first posted my PC's specs was pretty mixed, so I'm assuming my rig is just at the threshold of running at maximum. This time around, I'm going to give you guys all of the information about my PC I have available.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 OC'd to 3.15GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 (GPU clock OC'd to 895MHz and Memory clock OC'd to 1290MHz)
Motherboard: ASUS M4A77TD AMD AM3 770 ATX
RAM: Corsair 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz
PSU: 700w
HDD: 2TB, 7200rpm, 64mb cache, SATA III 6GB/s (my motherboard only supports SATA II 3GB/s, so that's the transfer speed)
Resolution I'll be playing at: 1366x768
Minimum AA I'm willing to play at: 4xMSAA

I am trying to decide between upgrading my CPU to a Phenom II X6 1100T BE or my GPU to a Radeon HD 6870. Please tell me how you think my current rig will handle it and your opinion on which upgrade would be most beneficial to my system for Skyrim. Thank you.

Your current setup will probably get you high or even max settings already considering the resolution your playing at. I guess if I had to choose between an upgrade I would get the 6870.

[Harry Hearing]

The feedback I got when I first posted my PC's specs was pretty mixed, so I'm assuming my rig is just at the threshold of running at maximum. This time around, I'm going to give you guys all of the information about my PC I have available.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 OC'd to 3.15GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 (GPU clock OC'd to 895MHz and Memory clock OC'd to 1290MHz)
Motherboard: ASUS M4A77TD AMD AM3 770 ATX
RAM: Corsair 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz
PSU: 700w
HDD: 2TB, 7200rpm, 64mb cache, SATA III 6GB/s (my motherboard only supports SATA II 3GB/s, so that's the transfer speed)
Resolution I'll be playing at: 1366x768
Minimum AA I'm willing to play at: 4xMSAA

I am trying to decide between upgrading my CPU to a Phenom II X6 1100T BE or my GPU to a Radeon HD 6870. Please tell me how you think my current rig will handle it and your opinion on which upgrade would be most beneficial to my system for Skyrim. Thank you.

You should be able to run at medium to high settings with that video card with that resolution. I'm more of an Intel guy so I'll pass on what you should do CPU wise.

[Monika Fiolek]

Intel? Core? i5 2410M 2.3GHz (2.9GHz w/Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache)
Intel? Wireless-N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA? GeForce? GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus? technology
500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
(720p/1366x768)

basic stock model for alienware m14x. just want to know if it can run on high, or should i just play on xbox. :deal: