Skyrim and PC's.

[KingFall]

I've just finished playing through the Elder Scrolls series for the final time, as a sort of brush up for Skyrim. I wanted to try out Nehrim, but my limiting factor has been my computer. I recently got a job, and with the extra money that will be coming in, I hope to save enough money to get a computer that can run the new Elder Scrolls game, when it finally comes out - flawlessly.

No lag, no jumping, settings pumped to high or suchlike. The game and it's world, the mechanics, the beards flowing int the icy wind, all of it.

I'm fairly confident that just going out and spending the cash on a PC from BestBuy wouldn't get me what I needed... or would it? I figure that I'd need something that could handle Crysis with no problem.. but I really have no idea.
I reckon (Or dare to hope) that I'll have 500-1000 dollars to spend on it.. do I have any options other than just going out and buying one, hoping for the best?
And, assuming I could get the cash, what would be an optimal system configuration?

I'm good with computers, I like to think, but not this good. Help a guy out?

I'm also shopping around myself, but not for parts. Best Buy, Walmart, and stuff like that. If I have to, I'll grab a PC or whatever from there and hope for the best.

 

[Zantos]

Bit of a budget you're working on. There'll be a PC out there, just don't limit yourself to major high street retailers. In this case, your choice is probably going to be to get something that can play it on ultra high spec but build yourself or get a prebuild which can only play it on a lower setting but requires no work.

Seems only the ultra rich can afford to have their cake an eat it

 

[Kabutos]

Seriously don't buy a prebuilt for gaming. You can build a top of the line PC for $900.

 

[grigjd3]

You need to know what to focus on. Recently, the GTX 260 graphics card was the accepted standard to run The Witcher 2 on the highest graphics settings. It's not too expensive these days but you might want something a bit better just to make sure there is no lag on busy scenes. The other thing you'll want to over spec is memory - since the game will almost certainly get a deluge of user made mods over time. Anyhow, you can probably find what you need if you pay attention to sales and what-not. I checked like a week ago for a new machine from Dell and found everything that I'd want for about a thousand dollars (monitor included). On the low end of your budget, you'll be a bit more limited.

 

[artanis_neravar]

I've just finished playing through the Elder Scrolls series for the final time, as a sort of brush up for Skyrim. I wanted to try out Nehrim, but my limiting factor has been my computer. I recently got a job, and with the extra money that will be coming in, I hope to save enough money to get a computer that can run the new Elder Scrolls game, when it finally comes out - flawlessly.

No lag, no jumping, settings pumped to high or suchlike. The game and it's world, the mechanics, the beards flowing int the icy wind, all of it.

I'm fairly confident that just going out and spending the cash on a PC from BestBuy wouldn't get me what I needed... or would it? I figure that I'd need something that could handle Crysis with no problem.. but I really have no idea.
I reckon (Or dare to hope) that I'll have 500-1000 dollars to spend on it.. do I have any options other than just going out and buying one, hoping for the best?
And, assuming I could get the cash, what would be an optimal system configuration?

I'm good with computers, I like to think, but not this good. Help a guy out?

I'm also shopping around myself, but not for parts. Best Buy, Walmart, and stuff like that. If I have to, I'll grab a PC or whatever from there and hope for the best.

You can always build your own computer that meets the prebuilt specs, for a lot cheaper. In other words, don't buy pre built, build your own. And Newegg is a good place to start for parts

 

[KingFall]

Alright, Newegg it is. Thank ya.



EDIT:And for some reason it didn't display any other posts besides the one recommending Newegg. x.x
Alright, thanks for the advice Escapists. Tiem to go shopping.. Well, eventually, anyway. >>

 

[Griffolion]

I've just finished playing through the Elder Scrolls series for the final time, as a sort of brush up for Skyrim. I wanted to try out Nehrim, but my limiting factor has been my computer. I recently got a job, and with the extra money that will be coming in, I hope to save enough money to get a computer that can run the new Elder Scrolls game, when it finally comes out - flawlessly.

No lag, no jumping, settings pumped to high or suchlike. The game and it's world, the mechanics, the beards flowing int the icy wind, all of it.

I'm fairly confident that just going out and spending the cash on a PC from BestBuy wouldn't get me what I needed... or would it? I figure that I'd need something that could handle Crysis with no problem.. but I really have no idea.
I reckon (Or dare to hope) that I'll have 500-1000 dollars to spend on it.. do I have any options other than just going out and buying one, hoping for the best?
And, assuming I could get the cash, what would be an optimal system configuration?

I'm good with computers, I like to think, but not this good. Help a guy out?

I'm also shopping around myself, but not for parts. Best Buy, Walmart, and stuff like that. If I have to, I'll grab a PC or whatever from there and hope for the best.

Hmm, for $1000 you're going to be looking at building one yourself to get the maximum bang for buck.

I would advise a quad core Athlon II or Phenom II if you can squeeze it in. 4GB of DDR3 RAM at 1600MHz will be advisable so you have headroom to overclock the processor. At that budget, you'll be looking at something like a GTX 560Ti or HD 6950. Unless you're adamant on Crossfiring or SLI'ing later on down the line, you'll only need something like a 650W PSU, one from Corsair or Antec is advisable. You won't be able to get anything special on the Hard Drive front, just a regular mechanical HDD like a Samsung Spinpoint F3, an SSD is a little out of your range. As far as a case goes, you'll be wanting cheap but good performance, of which Coolermaster are the *ahem* masters of. So their lower range is something to look at. If you want we can go through parts listing on here using newegg?

 

[KingFall]

Sure, sounds fantastic. Been browsing Newegg in my freetime this summer. (EDIT: Well, since I heard about it. Here.. )
Also, Crossfiring and SLing are unknown terms to me. So.. what are those? Heh.

I can deal with out hard drive space, so long as it doesn't limit performance. I've had this computer for two years and I haven't used up the 160G it has. I'm also assuming you're talking about hard drive space, so yea. I don't need space, just capability.
Also, based on the setup you just described, how powerful would it be, if you had to hazard a guess?

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

I threw together one hell of a PC on Newegg for $750 just for fun last night, not including a hard drive. Custom building is definitely the way to go.

Also, this little tool helped me compare Nvidia graphics cards and motherboards really easily.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/HelpMeChoose/fx2/HelpMeChoose.asp?lang=en-us

 

[KingFall]

Oh? What did you build, Sniper? I'd like to see it - if not to outright buy the parts and build it. If anything, I'll use it as a reference and build my own for slightly less or more. It'd be a great guideline if you could list the parts and stuff here.
Still trying to scrounge up the cash. 750 should be an easy goal, I hope.