Get the most out of an AMD Radeon HD 7950

[JohnD7]

What kind of CPU and RAM would I need to get the most out of an AMD Radeon HD 7950 ...I just wanna make sure I buy a good combination of components that would work well together and complement each other well enough to get the video card working at its best...I wanna play Skyrim with all graphis maxed out and maybe 2 or 3 graphics mods

 

[thdarkshadow]

Idk about skyrim as i dont play it but an i5 ivy bridge processor and 8gb 1600mhz ram in dual channel will unleash the 7950s full potential

 

[coozie7]

^+1
Some points:
Not everyone wants/needs/will overclock but it's a handy way to get extra performance out of a component. If you can/will overclock go for a 'K' version of the i5 with a compatible overclocking motherboard and add at least a small CPU cooler into the build, the Hyper 212 Evo is a useful unit, cheap and able to handle reasonable overclocks.
The HD7950 is a known overclocker, mine'll run at 1GHz/1350 no problems and I've had it at 1.1GHz/1400-it's just too bl***y noisy under load!
The 7950 can be loud under load, even at stock 800/1250 speeds, check reviews on any card you select before deciding if noise is an issue for you.
Nvidia are releasing 'new' cards at the end of the month, it may pay you to wait and see how things pan out before making a decision.