Is it Possible? Skyrim Budget Challenge

Gameboy93 · Nov 11, 2011

Challenge: Build a Tower that runs Skyrim on Highest settings or close to.
Budget: $600
Also: Yes or No?

yummerzzz · Nov 11, 2011

At what resolution?

bystander · Nov 11, 2011

Look at this review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-8.html

You are going to need a Sandy Bridge setup to be able to have good performance, along with a 560ti or 6950. You could possibly get the Mobo, CPU and Graphics card required for Ultra performance, but I don't think you could get anything else. You'll have to scrap an older computer to finish the project.

Gameboy93 · Nov 11, 2011

At 1366x768

Cygnus x-1 · Nov 11, 2011

It should be possible as long as your not using more than one monitor. Are you planning on overclocking at all?

Gameboy93 · Nov 11, 2011

I dont know much about overclocking and idk if its safe or not

shadowofomioc · Nov 11, 2011

Weird answers.

As the Benchmark shows a Radeon 5570 can even handle Skyrim at high levels with AF turned on. His resolution will be even lower then that of the benchmark! So all he needs is a cheap 5570 and an i3 to be able to handle this game at HIGH, maybe even Ultra settings with that monitor.

Which, is very doable at 600$.

Especially if you get some great deals on RAM / HDD and other components during Black Friday.

I would go with an I5-2400 though, thats what I have and the thing will NEVER be a bottleneck lol. Not for a long .. long .. long time. Was able to put together a system with a 500w power supply, for future upgrades, the i5-2400 3.1Ghz now overclocked to 3.9Ghz ( with built in mobo software, one click and a reboot and viola, overclocked ), HAF Cooler Master case, 8GB of DDR3 1333Mhz, 320gb HDD, 24x DVD-Rom, 1600x900 20 inch monitor, etc. for less then 600$.

Doable I say.

yummerzzz · Nov 11, 2011

Phenom II 955, HD 6850/6870/GTX 460/GTX 560, AM3+ Mobo, on the cheap side, pretty much and semi-reliable 500W power supply or a high quality 400-450W PSU.

Done.

bystander · Nov 11, 2011

yummerzzz :

Look at the benchmark review I showed, don't go with a Phenom.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html

yummerzzz · Nov 11, 2011

"4xAA and 1080p"
OP is at 1366x768.

"Bear in mind that we're using the ultra detail setting here, and processing requirements drop significantly as you start stepping back. So, you can make due with a less potent chip when you dial in detail options appropriately."

Gameboy93 · Nov 11, 2011

Okay, im in kind of a budget problem right now so i can make payments through Bestbuy.com, i know newegg is the god of all PC shopping but i have to use bestbuy. so is this what i need?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/MSI+-+AMD+Radeon+HD+6850+1GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+2.1+Graphics+Card/3668266.p?id=1218424551412&skuId=3668266&st=HD%206850&cp=1&lp=1
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AMD+-+Black+Edition+Deneb+Phenom%26%23153%3B+II+X4+Processor+955/1473153.p?id=1218261841454&skuId=1473153&st=Phenom%20II%20955&cp=1&lp=1
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Thermaltake+-+430W+TR2+ATX+Power+Supply/9827301.p?id=1218179698427&skuId=9827301&st=power%20supply&cp=1&lp=4
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/MSI+-+ATX+Motherboard+2133MHz+%28Socket+AM3/AM3%2B%29/3353488.p?id=1218397383994&skuId=3353488&st=am3&cp=1&lp=2

bystander · Nov 11, 2011

yummerzzz :

Looking at the benchmarks, and common sense can tell you that changing the resolution almost never effects the CPU requirements. Some of the settings do.

Example: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-7.html

The FPS are almost the same no matter the resolution on the top in cards and even to some degree the mid ranged cards.

nordlead · Nov 11, 2011

High Settings at 1280x1024 with hopefully 60FPS, prices from newegg. Probably ultra settings at a lower resolution.

CPU: i3-2100 - $125
PSU: Corsair CX600V2 - $35 after CPU combo and rebate
GPU: GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850 - $129 after rebate and discounts
Mobo: ASRock H61M-GE LGA 1155 - $62
RAM: 2x2GB DDR3-1333 - $24
Case: NZXT M59 - $43
DVD: get whatever - $20
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST3250312AS 250GB 7200 RPM - $92
OS: Win 7 OEM Home Premium - $100

Total - $630

You can get to $10 over budget by removing the DVD player. You can save another $10 by switching cases. If it wasn't for the HDD prices this system could have a better motherboard for future upgrades.

nordlead · Nov 11, 2011

Gameboy93 :

Making budget payments through bestbuy is stupid since you can do the same thing with newegg and spend less money. Just check out their offer that you can typically find in the shopping cart screen. Either way, if you can't afford it now, you should wait until you have the cash.

bystander · Nov 11, 2011

Wow on the prices, but I believe that's a winner.

shadowofomioc · Nov 11, 2011

nordlead :

WOW on that HDD. Prices on HDD's must have skyrocketed recently on Newegg. I got my 320GB for just 45$.

Strange.

nordlead · Nov 11, 2011

shadowofomioc :

The flooding in Thailand has caused HDD prices to skyrocket everywhere. I got a WD Green 2TB drive back in May for less money than that Seagate 250GB. If you are lucky you can find a better drive for cheaper, but it isn't likely. All the cheapest options on newegg.com are PATA drives. I could have suggested one of those, but they were only a few bucks cheaper.

sidnitzerglobin · Nov 11, 2011

As a point of comparison, my almost 3 year old box (specs below) is running Skyrim at a completely acceptable (to me anyway) and stable 40-45fps @ 1680x1050 almost completely maxed out (Ultra w/ distance character detail bumped down to High and AF bumped down to 8X) so far w/ only the addition of a 6870 since I initially built it out.

All stock clock w/ a slight voltage bump on the system RAM:
C2D E8500
Asus Rampage Formula X48
2 x 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066
MSi R6870 Twin Frozr II 1GB
Creative Audigy 4
3 x WD Raptor 72GB RAID0
2 x Seagate Barracuda 3G 1TB RAID1
Corsair 750W PSU
Lian Li PC-70

I'd hazard a guess to say that the box is CPU not GPU bound at the moment

Derbixrace · Nov 11, 2011

here is that build

fb39ca4 · Nov 11, 2011

Actually, it seems like Sandy Bridge is a bottleneck from those performance analyses

Its too bad they didnt run tests with different levels of overclocking (2500k @ stock, 4.0, and 4.5 GHZ)

redsunrises · Nov 13, 2011

Here is my take:
A6-3650 Quad core APU-110
HD 6670 for crossfire with the IGP (HD 6990D2) - 79
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-review/6 <- As that review shows, even having the 6630D2 was able to run games at a higher resolution with good framerates. And the 6990D2 crossfire is even better.
8gigs of 1600 CL9 1.25v DDR3 RAM - 50
A55M-HVS ASrock - 59
Rosewill R363-M w/ 400w Power supply - 50

That will run you for about $348 before S&H and it will be able to run skyrim on high settings, especially at the resolution you said you play at. As far as the HDD goes, I was able to pick up a 1TB from my local store just yesterday at 80 bucks... But online it seems to be a lot more expensive. So if you are getting it online, spend about 100 dollars on a solid HDD, and you will only be at 438 dollars. Save yourself some money, and you can play skyrim!

(plus this build has a low power draw)

Is it Possible? Skyrim Budget Challenge

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