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My computer now can hardly run skyrim on lower settings, and I think it's time to get a dedicated gaming computer. But I have no idea what to look for. I want to be able to play it (as well as mods) with the best possible visuals. I also want it to be a gaming laptop, unless there is a good reason to get a desktop instead.

I cannot afford to spend an insane amount of dollars on it, but I may be able to swing $1500-$2000. Cheaper would be better, but not at the cost of performance or quality.

Can anyone point me in the direction of where to look, or maybe instructions on what to research before making my purchase? And please, feel free when talking about the computer hardware to assume I'm an idiot. I know very, very little when it comes to what is inside computers or how they work.

Your price range and the power you're looking for come together to make a really good reason for a desktop instead of a laptop.

For best results, you'd want to put the machine together from parts, but since you say you don't know all that much about how to do something like that, I'd say either find someone in your life willing to help you do that, or look at pre-builts. But for that kind of money, it's very unlikely you'll get top-of-the-line visuals in a laptop.

I would be willing to sacrifice some visual quality. I'm fine with the graphics on the Xbox 360 for example. I don't want to step down any further than that though to be honest. If that helps at all.

Moved to Tech Desk sub-forum.

You might check out the Wiki's page: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:System_Requirements

They have a listing of graphics cards (which is really the most important thing) and what level they should be able to play Skyrim at.

For gaming, desktop is the definitive choice. You can buy a good laptop for gaming, but upgrading it is difficult, if not near to impossible = at least it'll cost your pants off...

1. Avoid big companies' ready-made solutions. They often have limitations, and upgrades require their own solutions, meaning their own components, or meaning them theirselves doing the job in order not to loose warranty.

2. The main factor is perhaps the motherboard. Any of the latest AMD or Intel mobos support enough power to get Skyrim running. I have ASUS Sabertooth 990FX, all is swell. And there's a lot more to be found in power, I trust I should be able to run Skyrim III... So, DO NOT buy anything for this day, DO BUY something for tomorrow. Like Armstrong noted, A small step for man, a giant leap for humankind.

3. I always support small and local business. I have good relations with small IT companies, as well as small car service companies. I need something > I call > I get the service. I'm not mere $$$ to them, I'm also a PERSON. We get quite well along. A rather notable value, I would say. If you can build an at least reasonable relation to someone near you, it may well pay off when you get in trouble. You might have made a friend, as well as an business partner? It's not only about Hz and bits. It's about people.

Best of all,

Andere

You'll get more bang for your buck with a desktop PC rather than a laptop. I have a PC about 5 years old that plays well on high settings important to note that the graphics card was new at the release of Skyrim. If you decide to go the path of building your own PC which is most definitely going to get you the outcome of best performance at lowest price there are a few things to take into consideration.

Firstly as mentioned the graphics card is very important and will probably end up being the most expensive part of the PC. I have always preferred Nvidia over ATI but the companies are basically neck and neck.

Secondly depending on the graphics card and other total components of the PC, a good power supply will go a long way to making sure the PC is always able to run at maximum performance. If the power supply can't get enough juice flowing you will notice everything will run hotter and performance will drop. Power supplies are graded now-days so if you do a Google search and read up on the rating system you should be able to pick out something that will cover your needs. Here's a small bit on it.

Last pointer is the hard drive of the PC. You are always better to have a separate hard drive for installing you operating system and a separate one for games/other programs. If you want to splash out a little more money get a solid-state hard drive as the difference it will make to loading times for EVERY application installed on the PC will be astronomical. They are expensive though but you could get a small 64gb solid-state drive for your operating system and a bigger one for games, 128gb or 256gb depending on how much you are willing to spend/expect to keep on the machine. I currently use a OWC solid-state drive you can get details here.

Hope this helps you

Alright... thanks guys. Would printing out a list of the requirements for Skyrim and taking them to one of my local PC stores be the way to go about it then?

Just tell them I want a computer that is capable of running this very very well, or do I actually need to research every component and order them all seperately and put it all together andstuff? Because I don't even know what is inside a computer, let alone how to assemble it and choose what items to include.

You'll only need 500-650 bucks to max Skyrim. PM me and I'll build you a rig.

Yeah, $1500-2000 would be ridiculous overkill. I have a three-year-old laptop with a 1.6 GHz (albeit quad core) CPU and it runs Skyrim on max settings with no trouble. It has serious heating problems though (CPU temperature regularly reaches the mid-90s... have to get a new computer soon) so laptops are indeed not so good for things like this.

Still, like Andere said, I'd recommend getting a computer that's more powerful than what you need right now, just for future games, since you seem to have the budget for it.

GoatLiver wrote:Secondly... a good power supply will go a long way to making sure the PC is always able to run at maximum performance. If the power supply can't get enough juice flowing you will notice everything will run hotter and performance will drop. Power supplies are graded now-days so if you do a Google search and read up on the rating system you should be able to pick out something that will cover your needs. Here's a small bit on it.

A very good point, and one mostly neglected, since people stair at processor speeds and memories and all... A good and sturdy Power Supply only costs some tens of dollars more than a mediocre, but it will give you a good night sleep for a long time - and keep your PC humming nicely. Definitely the wrong place to save!