Low Budget Pre-Built PC for Skyrim with Mods?

[jbuss23]

Hello I am looking for a pre built PC that can run skyrim with mods. My budget is around 600 dollars but i could do 750. I would just need a tower with an OS

 

[DarkSable]

You aren't going to find it, especially not for that budget. At least not that can run modded skyrim with any sort of good settings.

What resolution and settings do you want to play at?

What would you aversion be to building a computer yourself?

 

[jbuss23]

You aren't going to find it, especially not for that budget. At least not that can run modded skyrim with any sort of good settings.

What resolution and settings do you want to play at?

What would you aversion be to building a computer yourself?

Resolution would be 1080p and medium settings would be fine
Building a pc myself isnt really an option for me right now

 

[DarkSable]

Yeah, a lot of people think it's not an option - my question is why you believe that. It's a lot easier than people think, doesn't take a long amount of time, provides good warranties, and gives you much better quality parts.

If you're just looking for medium setting, you might be able to pull it off. Another thing to consider if you refuse to build might be buying a prebuilt computer from, say, Costco, and then putting a graphics card (and possibly more powerful PSU) in it.

 

[jbuss23]

Yeah, a lot of people think it's not an option - my question is why you believe that. It's a lot easier than people think, doesn't take a long amount of time, provides good warranties, and gives you much better quality parts.

If you're just looking for medium setting, you might be able to pull it off. Another thing to consider if you refuse to build might be buying a prebuilt computer from, say, Costco, and then putting a graphics card (and possibly more powerful PSU) in it.

What kind of PC from Costco would you suggest? And I didn't think that you got warranties when you built your own pc

 

[lmaonade200]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229496

something like this can handle Skyrim on medium easily, skyrim is more CPU bound than it is GPU bound, and as for mods, if it's just gameplay mods like new animations, gameplay overhauls, NPC overhauls etc, then it shouldn't affect performance

if you want to use graphical mods and enhancements, you'll need a stronger graphics card (and PSU probably), so if you have the patience to upgrade this PC into something stronger then an idea would be to sell the PSU and the graphics card, and get about 50-60 bucks out of it.

Then buy a nice mid-ranged grpahics card like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121686
and an okay PSU with enough wattage like:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGHKK7M/?tag=pcpapi-20

it'll cost a bit more than 750 (even after selling the old graphics and PSU) for the whole thing but you can save up money for the 2nd part, and after it's all done you'll have a PC that can handle Skyrim on high or ultra with a ton of mods like texture enhancements, ENB, parallax mods, etc.

 

[jbuss23]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229496

something like this can handle Skyrim on medium easily, skyrim is more CPU bound than it is GPU bound, and as for mods, if it's just gameplay mods like new animations, gameplay overhauls, NPC overhauls etc, then it shouldn't affect performance

if you want to use graphical mods and enhancements, you'll need a stronger graphics card (and PSU probably), so if you have the patience to upgrade this PC into something stronger then an idea would be to sell the PSU and the graphics card, and get about 50-60 bucks out of it.

Then buy a nice mid-ranged grpahics card like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121686
and an okay PSU with enough wattage like:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGHKK7M/?tag=pcpapi-20

it'll cost a bit more than 750 (even after selling the old graphics and PSU) for the whole thing but you can save up money for the 2nd part, and after it's all done you'll have a PC that can handle Skyrim on high or ultra with a ton of mods like texture enhancements, ENB, parallax mods, etc.

Thanks alot! Do you know what kind of FPS this would get me?

 

[lmaonade200]

in vanilla skyrim? around 60+ on medium settings probably, skyrim is not a terribly demanding game, it just has a lot of issues, I ran it on my sandy bridge i7 laptop at 1080p medium settings no problem, so this should do much better, hell you probably can run it on high/ultra settings with no mods on 60+ FPS.

with mods it's a different story, start out with non graphical mods. If you decide to get the newer graphics card and PSU you should be able to run high res texture overhauls with a soft ENB at about 40+ FPS

IMPORTANT EDIT:

I linked to the CyberPowerPC one because it was a good system for the price, however some of the components in there are questionable, like the Thermaltake PSU, which is very iffy and maybe even somewhat dangerous. According to the reviews nothing much is wrong with the PC and you should be able to run with it just fine for a while. But just be careful because people (here and in other places too) don't like CyberPowerPC and other similar companies for custom pre-built PCs.

 

[jbuss23]

in vanilla skyrim? around 60+ on medium settings probably, skyrim is not a terribly demanding game, it just has a lot of issues, I ran it on my sandy bridge i7 laptop at 1080p medium settings no problem, so this should do much better, hell you probably can run it on high/ultra settings with no mods on 60+ FPS.

with mods it's a different story, start out with non graphical mods. If you decide to get the newer graphics card and PSU you should be able to run high res texture overhauls with a soft ENB at about 40+ FPS

IMPORTANT EDIT:

I linked to the CyberPowerPC one because it was a good system for the price, however some of the components in there are questionable, like the Thermaltake PSU, which is very iffy and maybe even somewhat dangerous. According to the reviews nothing much is wrong with the PC and you should be able to run with it just fine for a while. But just be careful because people (here and in other places too) don't like CyberPowerPC and other similar companies for custom pre-built PCs.

Thanks!

 

[DarkSable]

What kind of PC from Costco would you suggest? And I didn't think that you got warranties when you built your own pc

Lmaonade's suggestion is probably a better option, but yes, you absolutely do, of course!
Every part comes with a warranty so that if it's not working, you can send it in for repairs or a new part. And if you buy from a site like newegg, you can buy an extra warranty that lasts up to three years (though the expensive parts come with 2- or 3-year warranties standard). Personally I don't find it's worth it, as I haven't ever had to RMA a part before the 30 day return window, but yes, you have some coverage. Just something to think about.

 

[jbuss23]

Would this PC be just as good for running the game as the last one?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gamer-ultra-desktop-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/9177192.p?id=1218994544437&skuId=9177192#tab=overview

It is the same price as the other one after shipping and has more memory. Im just unsure about the graphics card and processor

 

[DarkSable]

Yeah, no, the graphics card is absolute trash. The processor is fine. All that having more memory does is makes multitasking smoother.

The trouble is that pretty much all the options presented to you right now have rather low-end graphics cards in them - if you want to be able to crank the details, you'd have to upgrade the graphics and the power supply.

 

[lmaonade200]

that PC is not nearly as good as the last one, the 6670 is a decent graphics card in its own right but it's old and outdated, I don't think it'll be able to run Skyrim at the levels that you would like it to, but it'll run it.

the processor is alright but weaker than the one I linked for Skyrim, Skyrim is very single thread power dependent, and the AMD FX processors are weak at that.