Why 16GB RAM and you wont need 2 graphics cards.

I agree. I confess that I can't decide which motherboard I'll get. I've always been a fan of nForce chipsets, but apparently nVidia has discontinued them, being the nForce 980a the last of them (which doesn't support Phenom II x6 CPU's). So anybody knows which motherboard would be the best for my future specs?

That's a nice board. The bottle neck problem is why I've always had a dedicated audio card in the past but with quad cores I would think that you should have plenty of processor power for audio and I would assume that the PC version of Skyrim would utilize all 4 cores. I'm not sure when quad cores came out in relation to Oblivion, but hopefully the game will be more optomized than Oblivion. I'm going to make sure of that before deciding.

The only upgrade I have planned by then is perhaps a second 5770 to run in crossfire if needed so about $100 depending on what the final recommended specs wind up being unless the prices of GPUs change drastically by then which might mean a different upgrade path than originally planned a year ago when this system was pieced together.

currently:

amd phenom II x2 550be @3.6
4gb ddr3 1600
nvidia 8800gts 512mb
gigabyte ma770t-ud3p


before skyrim:

3+ghz buldozer cpu
4-8gb ddr3 1600, or if ddr4 isnt too crazy expensive when it hits, 4-8gb of ddr4 2333 (the slowest speed it will come it at launch lol) or higher
amd 7xxx series gpu
probably an asus mobo
and a sata3 6gb/s solid state drive, which will be nice and cheap by then

let the saving up begin :foodndrink:

Well, I have a 9800 GT 1G, but might upgrade to a gtx 460 1G for $220.

I will probably get the MSI ATX board for $110.
...and an i5 2.66ghz, 8MB quad-core for $200.

..and then also have 4G RAM instead of my current 2G.

I just got a new macbook pro. I'll run bootcamp on it. It's got

Intel Core i5 @ 2.4ghz

NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256mb

4GB Memory

Intel HD graphics


I'd like to play it at full resolution, but I don't know if I'll be able to. But will that be enough to at least run it well? This is the first computer game I'll be playing in years. I had a 360 for Oblivion and an xbox for Morrowind.

I just upgraded my system late November. I rather doubt I will need to do much to it between now and the release to play it on decent settings. The one thing I will be doing between now and then is upgrading my monitor. My current one works nicely, but is more than 10 years old. I had to use an adapter just to plug it into my video card. When I do upgrade it, it will be to something that's widescreen and runs at 120 Hz.

My current PC has
Intel Core i5 650 Dual Core 3.2Ghz CPU
Nvidia Geforce GTX470
4 gig of RAM

I will probably get another 4 gigs of RAM in the summer. Hopefully Skyrim won't be too demanding.

I guess 500 and more. -_- My computer is Oblivion-old. I expect that practically anything that is essential needs to be changed - well, maybe not the video card, it is more recent. That'll include saying bye-bye to windows xp, too, and prolly changing the screen, which is currently going on the fritz. *watches butterfly flutter out of wallet*

Thank you for breaking my momentary panic and bringing me back to reality. I just realized that if I find any kind of job this summer and also save all the money I can possibly get until winter, I should be able to at the very least buy some new parts. Still, I'm no hardware expert, and have no idea how to assemble a computer. I'd probably end up screwing up the whole thing. Hopefully I'll find someone to do the job for me...

Assembling a computer is one of the easiest things you can do. The hard part is making sure you get the right parts. The manuals for everything are quite instructive and if you follow the step by step instructions you should be fine. I do understand the hesitence though, as it can look intimidating. My suggestion would be to go to youtube and search for some buidling computer videos and watch others do it and see if you think you can do that.

its really very simple and there are many guides online, all else fails hit up tomshardware.com, they have a lot of info on just about everything you need to know. really you just put all the pieces together and make sure they are all hooked up, throw in a windows disc and boot it up and let it install, then put the motherboard driver disc in and let it do its thing, then video card drivers. and bam your done.

Or simply go to any computer store, and get it assembled for 50 bucks

My PC is a literal Frankenstein. It technically dates back to 2002, and I've just been incredibly inhuman with replacing its RAM and graphics card every few years. Of course, it's an AGP bus motherboard so any further upgrading into the realm of DX10/11 capable graphics cards would more or less require me to rebuild half the thing anyway. So I'm getting a new machine. However, I will be in college at the time, so my two options are:

-Buying a laptop for convenience's sake. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the even the low-tier ones can outperform my current machine 20 times over.
-A new desktop, hooking it up to an RC antenna, and outfitting it with jet thrusters. I'll drive it around like a remote controlled helicopter. May require fusion batteries.

WHAT DO

I'm probably going to upgrade 3D card (or buy 2nd one) and double the amount of RAM.
Other than that I should be good. Bought this computer an year ago.

I dont need to upgrade, I can play Crysis on this on Ultra-high, so I'm not worried lol.

its not incredably hard. just takes a lil research and a lil mechanically inclined know how. alot of information can be found on youtube but dont assume it is all the same. you have to research you parts and make sure they're compatible. for instance my graphics card ( HIS H577FK1GD Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 ) requires a 450+ watt power supply one under that will not boot the system with the card plugged in. but you also need more than that to run all the extra parts of your computer. the card wont use all 450w but will need its stability and will use a good portion of it. thats why i have a 730w to make sure i have more than enough to run my hole system. the power supply also has to have the right conections for the vid card if it requires it. mine for instance requires a 6 pin, my psu (power supply unit) has 2 6 pins that it can run dual video cards on (this is called a crossfire [ati] or sli [nvidia]) my mother board has 2 pci express ( the conection type of modern video cards) so i can run it in crossfire but the 2nd slot runs in x4 while the first runs in x16. x16 is full speed while x4 1/4 normal speed if i did do this i would only see a 2% - 5% increase in fps and rendering and so is not worth the extra $129 for another of the same card.

i know its a lil confusing but this is the kind of research you have to do to make sure every thing works together. luckily you have almost a year to figure it out. if you dont feel comfterable doing it yourself surely you have a friend or 2 that is tech savvy and should be able to help you figure out what you need. i can only recomend buying from newegg.com because they give plenty of info on their product specs and have in depth reviews from customers who by from them. just dont be shied away by one or 2 bad reviews on a product that say dead on arival or died in a week or anything along those lines. any product as a chance of being bad an a few people will find one. just return it to them if you do get a bad one. newegg.com has a great return policy.

Hey, don't worry, it's really not that hard. Everything has an obvious hole it goes into, components come with instructions, and there are plenty of resources online. The hardest part about putting your hardware together, for me, has always been the little cables that connect things like your hard drive light - so fiddly!

MY PC doesn't need a upgrade but in the extremely unlikely event I will spend as much as 5K+ to upgrade.

NEVER underestimate the power of mods...

exactly the reason why im upgrading :toughninja:
that and i can hardly run oblivion and the fallouts

The PS3 should run it just fine, no? I'll stick with that.

lol i doubt the ps3 has even seen what its true limit is.

In terms of developers actually optimizing to the best of the PS3's ability, I'd say the guys making the Uncharted games are getting pretty close, but in a multiplatform game, especially considering Bethesda's history with the PS3, I don't think Skyrim will end up being one of the better optimized PS3 games. In terms of actual hardware, I think the PS3 has been far surpassed, but some of those exclusive titles, such as Uncharted 2, are just plain amazing looking, in my opinion.