Skyrim Skyrim vs. Oblivion system requirements?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Ovenall

Ovenall

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I play PC games on a MacBook Pro in Bootcamp (need the Mac for work). I was able to play Oblivion on this machine with medium/high settings and it ran well.

Can anyone tell me how the system requirements for Skyrim compare to Oblivion's? My graphics card, etc are not the same as the ones in PC land, so I just need to know if the resources needed are similar. I'm hoping based on the fact that they both run on the Xbox 360 that Skyrim won't be too much more demanding. If it's close, I'll get it. If not, I'll wait till next year when I upgrade.

Thanks in advance.
 
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It hasn't been officially announced yet, although I saw some sites claiming to have the info.

Pete Hines just said on his Twitter today official requirements are coming next week.

http://twitter.com/#!/DCDeacon
 
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Oh, OK. I generally don't even pay attention to this stuff because my graphics cards will never match exactly, and I've been playing older games these past years. Dragon Age 2 worked fine, as did Oblivion and the original Witcher Enhanced... Hopefully Skyrim will as well.
 
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Ovenall said:
Oh, OK. I generally don't even pay attention to this stuff because my graphics cards will never match exactly, and I've been playing older games these past years. Dragon Age 2 worked fine, as did Oblivion and the original Witcher Enhanced… Hopefully Skyrim will as well.
Click to expand...

I suspect that Skyrim would require a graphics card with Shader model 3.0 (Oblivion and Witcher needed only Shader model 2.0). I don't know about Dragon age 2 as I don't own it. So check your graphics card specifications, that can give you some idea about your system. Ofcourse there are other requirements that enhances/required for smoother gameplay like the number of cores in your processor and RAM size. Many games nowadays require dual core for the separate process that they run on each core - so that is something to check as well in your computer.
 
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Here are the "predicted" system requirements from www.systemrequirements.in

Minimum System Requirements

* OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
* CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or Althon X2 2.0 GHz
* RAM: 3 GB
* HDD: 15 GB
* Graphics: 512 MB card
* Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
* DirectX: Version 9.0c

Recommended System Requirements

* OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
* CPU: Core 2 Quad 3 GHz
* RAM: 3 GB
* HDD: 15 GB free disk space
* Graphics: 512 MB Graphics Memory
* Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
* DirectX: Version 9.0c

Supported Graphics Cards:

Minimum – 8800 GT
Recommended – Geforce GTX 460/Radeon 5850
Click to expand...
 
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Assuming Skyrim is reasonably well optimised for the PC then I'm quite happy for console hardware limitations holding the graphic quality back a bit. It was at least 12 months after Oblivion was released that I was able to run it at a decent frame rate with medium+ settings, and even then I thought it looked pretty crappy.
 
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Ovenall said:
I play PC games on a MacBook Pro in Bootcamp (need the Mac for work). I was able to play Oblivion on this machine with medium/high settings and it ran well.

Can anyone tell me how the system requirements for Skyrim compare to Oblivion's? My graphics card, etc are not the same as the ones in PC land, so I just need to know if the resources needed are similar. I'm hoping based on the fact that they both run on the Xbox 360 that Skyrim won't be too much more demanding. If it's close, I'll get it. If not, I'll wait till next year when I upgrade.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Which MBP do you have? The graphics cards in the MBP models sold during the past several years have all been either AMD or NVIDIA GPUs that are also quite common in windows laptops.

If you have the 2011 15" or 17" with AMD 6750m graphics card, you should be in pretty good shape, even if you want to run the game on high settings at 1080p resolution.
 
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Heh.

It's a 2007, 2.4 GHz with 4GB RAM, and a GeForce 8600M GT. So it's old... that's why I'm gonna upgrade next year.

I don't need to max everything out, I just want to know if I can play it.
 
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I can only hope Skyrim runs decent on my PC. I had some trouble running Witcher 2 on anything higher than the medium setting. I tend to bump everything to the highest possible setting, but Witcher 2 was the only one I seemed to have trouble with (well, that and DKS, though only when I have shadows maxed, and that's a given for any recent game). My current specs are:

OS: Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM, 2.0 GHz
RAM: 8 GB
Graphics: GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB
 
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Hmm, I would have thought Sandy Bridge, even the mobile one, would run TW2 well. I have an AMD quad 2.8GHZ desktop and a Geforce GTX 560Ti and it runs fine on high (minus ubersampling of course) for me.
 
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Ovenall said:
Heh.

It's a 2007, 2.4 GHz with 4GB RAM, and a GeForce 8600M GT. So it's old… that's why I'm gonna upgrade next year.

I don't need to max everything out, I just want to know if I can play it.
Click to expand...

Hmm… honestly, I'm not sure whether you will be able to run it, even at low settings.

The 8600M is ranked as a class 3 mobile GPU by notebookcheck.net: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-8600M-GT.3986.0.html

Perhaps it would be playable if you dial the resolution way down, but I imagine for a game like Skyrim with lots of panoramic vistas, you would want to at least be running at 1366x768 or higher resolution (preferably 1600x900 or 1920x1080). My suggestion would be to wait to buy the game after you upgrade.

Ragnaris said:
I can only hope Skyrim runs decent on my PC. I had some trouble running Witcher 2 on anything higher than the medium setting. I tend to bump everything to the highest possible setting, but Witcher 2 was the only one I seemed to have trouble with (well, that and DKS, though only when I have shadows maxed, and that's a given for any recent game). My current specs are:

OS: Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM, 2.0 GHz
RAM: 8 GB
Graphics: GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB
Click to expand...

We'll know more after the official specs are released this week. However, the 460m should be able to handle most recent games at 1920x1080 and Skyrim is not likely to be any exception. I have the 5830m in my laptop and I also had a lot of trouble with low fps with Witcher 2, but most other games run fine, I even get excellent frame rates for RAGE.

Whereas Witcher 2 seems to be somewhat poorly optimized, Skyrim will make use of DX11 optimization features for higher frame rate with DX11 cards (such as your 460m)
 
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I've thought about upgrading my graphics card and power supply, but I'm not sure if it'll be necessary. Because I'm lazy and I get a discount, I've got an off the rack Dell Studio XPS 8000. It has an OEM GTS 240 Nvidia card. Any graphics gurus want to speculate on whether that card will be sufficient? The pc only has a 350 watt Power Supply, so if I upgrade my card, I'll probably need more power.
 
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crpgnut said:
I've thought about upgrading my graphics card and power supply, but I'm not sure if it'll be necessary. Because I'm lazy and I get a discount, I've got an off the rack Dell Studio XPS 8000. It has an OEM GTS 240 Nvidia card. Any graphics gurus want to speculate on whether that card will be sufficient? The pc only has a 350 watt Power Supply, so if I upgrade my card, I'll probably need more power.
Click to expand...

I'd wait and see how the game handles before upgrading. Some games are more GPU dependent and some are more CPU dependent. Your graphics card is a bit weak, but the processor (I assume it's the i5 750-2.66 ghz?) is relatively recent and quad core. Since console ports tend to be more cpu dependent you may be okay.

If you do upgrade though, you will definitely need a stronger power supply though. Don't cheap out on it either, get a known brand with Japanese capacitors.
 
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CountChocula said:
We'll know more after the official specs are released this week. However, the 460m should be able to handle most recent games at 1920x1080 and Skyrim is not likely to be any exception. I have the 5830m in my laptop and I also had a lot of trouble with low fps with Witcher 2, but most other games run fine, I even get excellent frame rates for RAGE.

Whereas Witcher 2 seems to be somewhat poorly optimized, Skyrim will make use of DX11 optimization features for higher frame rate with DX11 cards (such as your 460m)
Click to expand...

Ah, good to know. Every other game ran just fine, and Witcher 2 has been the only game to set me back so far. Whatever the case, I'm not too concerned if I can't have every setting at max - only what works.
 
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Motoki said:
I'd wait and see how the game handles before upgrading. Some games are more GPU dependent and some are more CPU dependent. Your graphics card is a bit weak, but the processor (I assume it's the i5 750-2.66 ghz?) is relatively recent and quad core. Since console ports tend to be more cpu dependent you may be okay.

If you do upgrade though, you will definitely need a stronger power supply though. Don't cheap out on it either, get a known brand with Japanese capacitors.
Click to expand...

@Motoki

The processor is i7 860@2.80GHz and I've got 8 gigs of ram. I'm not sure if I7 is better than I5 but the other numbers are bigger, so I'm guessing so. There are several versions of the XPS 8000 so your confusion is understandable. Dell loves to confuse the issue.

This is what dxdiag says about graphic card:

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTS 240
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0607&SUBSYS_073610DE&REV_A2
Display Memory: 4069 MB
Dedicated Memory: 997 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: LG W2040(Analog)
Monitor Model: W2252
 
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crpgnut, if you don't mind me asking how much did that dell cost you?

The following PSU has been as cheap as $130 shipped @ newegg. One of the best for the money, 5 year warranty, 80 plus gold(which means efficiency ranges btwn 87-90% depending on load). Jonnyguru review.

That processor might hold you back a little with those clocks too… IIRC oblivion was somewhat CPU bound, so a boost in CPU speed might translate into a nice FPS boost.

The GTS 240 is really weak. It's actually slower than an 8800gt and the 8800gt struggled to run oblivion(IIRC). Here's a review from Anandtech. HD 6950 or GTX 560 ti can be had for ~$220 AMIR, either card would run laps around your 240.
 
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Like Oblivion before it, Skyrim will still be an XBox 360 game. So, I can't fathom the requirements being that much more than Oblivion's... especially given Bethesda's console-centric design doctrine.

I would still upgrade that video card regardless however. A 240 is woefully weak these days.
 
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MasterKromm said:
crpgnut, if you don't mind me asking how much did that dell cost you?

The following PSU has been as cheap as $130 shipped @ newegg. One of the best for the money, 5 year warranty, 80 plus gold(which means efficiency ranges btwn 87-90% depending on load). Jonnyguru review.

That processor might hold you back a little with those clocks too… IIRC oblivion was somewhat CPU bound, so a boost in CPU speed might translate into a nice FPS boost.

The GTS 240 is really weak. It's actually slower than an 8800gt and the 8800gt struggled to run oblivion(IIRC). Here's a review from Anandtech. HD 6950 or GTX 560 ti can be had for ~$220 AMIR, either card would run laps around your 240.
Click to expand...

To add to MasterKromm's comment, if you don't have a lot of budget available for upgrading, you might want to consider going with something along the lines of NVIDIA GTX 460 or AMD 5770.

Either of those cards will run you around $90 to $130 and should max out nearly any game you want to play at 1680x1050 with the possible exception of Crysis, Metro 2033 or Witcher 2 with ubersampling.

The power requirement for both of these cards is only 450W, so you can go with a cheaper 450-watt PSU as well.
 
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Drithius said:
Like Oblivion before it, Skyrim will still be an XBox 360 game. So, I can't fathom the requirements being that much more than Oblivion's… especially given Bethesda's console-centric design doctrine.

I would still upgrade that video card regardless however. A 240 is woefully weak these days.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I'm hoping for. Fingers crossed...
 
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I run Oblivion and The Witcher 2 on high and get 40+ on fraps. It bogs a little if there are lots of creatures. I'm even running Qarl's highest end textures in Oblivion and doing fine. I guess I'll wait and see. Money isn't an object, but laziness scores high. Also, getting a power supply to fit inside the Dell case can be a pain. The GTS 240 supposedly requires a 450 watt PSU and it runs fine in the Dell. Of course, they could have tweaked the card so it uses less power. Decisions, decisions. If anyone is a power supply guru and has a guess as to what would fit in my Dell, I'm all ears.
 
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