Some input on another PC?

[gvman3670]

I lost my desktop (and lots of other stuff) in a house fire a while back. So I've been reduced to playing games on XBox and my laptop. While the laptop is perfect for web browsing, picture taking/editing, watching movies on the go and lots of other things....it leaves a LOT to be desired while gaming. It's got integrated graphics and a Celeron 900 (2.2) processor with 4gb of RAM.....so it kinda' sucks for Skyrim, Oblivion and FNV.
 
I found a smoking deal on a refurbished machine that will come with a 12 month parts and labor warranty. It will come with AMD Athlon II X2 3.0GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1.5TB HDD, DVDRW, and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. I have the peripherals it would need already (monitor, mice, keyboards, etc.). The GPU is a ATI Radion HD 4200 series video card.

 

My question is how you guys think this thing would play Skyrim? I already know it'd be worlds better than what I'm already forced to use. But what could I expect from it? Is the Radeon 4200 still a capable GPU?

 

Thanks in advance, folks!

[gvman3670]

Wow, after doing some more homework I think I'll pass on this one. Eegads, now I know why I can get it so cheap!

 

Time to keep sniffing around I guess.

[gvman3670]

Maybe I should be asking what would be the minimum graphics card I'd need to run Skyrim at a nice and pretty setting?

[Aprilsun]

Think you'll need a 650 ti or 660 to run Skyrim and such with mods. A ATI would be 7750 or better.

[Wolfoftheshadows]

When it comes to graphics for skyrim... It depends on how you want the game to look... I'm trying to think of the best way to explain this, but basically if you want skyrim to look as real as possible. You might run into some mods that need a higher end machine. Some mods like ENB's offer settings for machine that aren't top of the line with graphics. If you're just talking about running the game vanilla Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon HD 4890 or higher.

[gvman3670]

Thanks for the input so far. It's appreciated.

 

I did some 'net shopping/snooping and found a $750 machine on TigerDirect that looked like it would fit the bill. Not familiar with the brand at all (although all the internals were good stuff). It just seemed borderline low in power with a 500W PSU.

[wayra]

Why not build one? At 750 dollars you can get a beast setup that can run skyrim with ENB no problemo. Building is super easy, think of it as high-risks legos , plus it's pretty cool knowning the inside of your computer.

 

Here is a list of resources:

• r/buildapc (the least time consumming is to browse this subreddit and copy the recommended builds that fits your budgets, the research has been done, everything else is super easy, you can build a pc within 2 hours, i)
  
• r/pcpartforsale
  
• pcpartpicker (gets the cheapest price possible)
  

Although you kinda missed the sweet spot for buying 7950/7970 cards... , but nvidia has pretty good cards ( I think they are optimized for skyrim)

[prideslayer]

Skyrim ran "ok" on my GTX560Ti with some settings turned down, much better on current GTX760. Neither one is terribly expensive. Don't skimp on the power supply. Read the specs on whatever card you want, and make sure the PSU can meet it.

[gvman3670]

So a 4ghz CPU, 8gb of DDR3 RAM and a 2gb video card should do it? I found one on newegg for under $700 with those specs. I think I can afford that pretty easily, and am sure I'd be adding more "goodies" along the way. It seems upgradeable enough and kinda' future-proof as well.

 

Building one also isn't entirely out of the question. I've built two years ago and I can build just about anything (I've even built cars and motorcycles plus have worked construction most of my life). I just don't know about getting some of these kits/parts then having to spend a ton on an OS, too. It seems less expensive to get one that's already built and loaded with Windows.

[prideslayer]

A 4ghz processor is way more than you actually "need." I'm still using a 2.9 personally -- Athlon II x4 635.

Building a real PC is real easy, but the past few years, buying a machine or barebones kit has usually been cheaper than building your own. I've been building my own since 386s were hot shit, but lately I've considered just buying an off the shelf box myself when the time comes.

If your budget is around $700, I'd put newegg off to the side for a bit and check tigerdirect.

Edit: scratch that, windows not included, and you need that?

[prideslayer]

This seems like a reasonable start, with money left over in the budget to upgrade the video card. A 650Ti or R7 should keep it around the $700 mark, though it'll probably be 1G. You might be able to make some back selling the 520 on craigs/ebay. You'll have to inquire/research about the PSU included to ensure whatever GPU you choose will work.

[none1980]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard:  MSI H87M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory:  G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card:  Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card  ($225.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case:  Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply:  XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive:  LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer  ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $746.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-10 13:57 EST-0500)

 

Just buy those parts and build it yourself, much better than any other option shown here thus far. Also, there is far more to CPUs than just clockspeed and far more to GPUs than just VRAM. A 2GB card is useless if the GPU will throw in the towel before it ever uses that much VRAM. Likewise, 4Ghz clocks on a CPU sounds nice and fast, but in reality, if the architecture of the CPU is not efficient, it simply uses the higher clocks to try and compensate. AMD CPUs are very much budget oriented right now, they run hot, have high TDPs, are fairly poor in single threaded applications (which most games are, including Skyrim) and just cannot compete with Intel. That doesn't mean it won't work for Skyrim, but an i5 will work better for not too much more. So why not? Luckily the same does not apply to AMD GPUs, as they are constantly improving to the point they compete very well (often beating them in FPS alone) with comparable Nvidia cards. A 270x will easily run Skyrim on Ultra, being roughly equal to a 660Ti.

[prideslayer]

You're going to need to toss another $100 or so onto your price for a copy of Windows. Win7 home 64bit is about $90 and the poster said one of the reasons he's considering *not* building is the cost of the OS. It's also why I linked to a built system that includes it.

Otherwise the only other issue I have with that post is related to threading. As clockspeed drops, the more cores you have the better, and it doesn't matter if the game you're playing is threaded or not. Windows itself will have 70-100 processes running, many of them threaded, even with all apps but your game closed. The more cores you can spread those processes around, the less competition there will be for the core the game is on.

Note I'm not saying anything about AMD vs. Intel. You're right, Intel has been beating the snot out of AMD for a few years now on performance, but getting a good *enough* Intel chip for the money, when a copy of windows and a GPU need to be purchases as well, is not an easy task.

[...0...]

Better get a videocard with more vram then a cpu with alot ghz if you want to play a modded skyrim.

 

Spphire r9 270 4gb vram is good deal.

[gvman3670]

This seems like a reasonable start, with money left over in the budget to upgrade the video card. A 650Ti or R7 should keep it around the $700 mark, though it'll probably be 1G. You might be able to make some back selling the 520 on craigs/ebay. You'll have to inquire/research about the PSU included to ensure whatever GPU you choose will work.

 

Yeah, that's one that I was looking at. It just seemed that the video card might have been a bit weak. And it only has a 350W PSU as well.

[...0...]

 

This seems like a reasonable start, with money left over in the budget to upgrade the video card. A 650Ti or R7 should keep it around the $700 mark, though it'll probably be 1G. You might be able to make some back selling the 520 on craigs/ebay. You'll have to inquire/research about the PSU included to ensure whatever GPU you choose will work.

 

Yeah, that's one that I was looking at. It just seemed that the video card might have been a bit weak. And it only has a 350W PSU as well.

 

 

Dont forget a PSU is more importend then may think if you get a cheap one you will regret it never go cheap on PSU.

[gvman3670]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1413551

[prideslayer]

This seems like a reasonable start, with money left over in the budget to upgrade the video card. A 650Ti or R7 should keep it around the $700 mark, though it'll probably be 1G. You might be able to make some back selling the 520 on craigs/ebay. You'll have to inquire/research about the PSU included to ensure whatever GPU you choose will work.

 

Yeah, that's one that I was looking at. It just seemed that the video card might have been a bit weak. And it only has a 350W PSU as well.

I did not notice it was 350W That's a deal killer, as it's very unlikely to work with a newer GPU.

You can still DIY as has been suggested, at least then you know what you're getting. As I mentioned in another post, Win7 x64 Home is about $90 retail -- don't do an 'upgrade' deal. Factor that into your budget and you can probably still manage something decent.

[gvman3670]

Yeah, as long as W7 is under $100 now that isn't too bad. I didn't realize it was that cheap now.

I don't think I even want to get involved with W8 anyway. I loved XP and hated Vista. But W7 really won me over (especially with how it can run damned near any program made in the last 15 years). W8 just seems to be another Vista with extras (extras I don't want or need).

[prideslayer]

I'm with you 100% on windows.

Loved XP (and still use it on my HTPC), hated vista so bad that my work supplied laptop got wiped and XP installed, and love Win7. Win8 looks absolutely terrible, and I have no interest in a touch interface on my PC. My current laptop is Win7 + Surface, with a touchscreen, and I never use the touch.

Why MS thinks the desktop version of their OS needs such an interface is beyond me, but if they don't correct it for Win9, I think I'm going back to the "old ways" and will once again run the corporate OS on my workstation, as I did during the windows 95 era.

I proudly did not ever run or own Windows 95, 98, or ME.

[Guest endgameaddiction]

Yeah, as long as W7 is under $100 now that isn't too bad. I didn't realize it was that cheap now.

I don't think I even want to get involved with W8 anyway. I loved XP and hated Vista. But W7 really won me over (especially with how it can run damned near any program made in the last 15 years). W8 just seems to be another Vista with extras (extras I don't want or need).

 

I bought my Win7 OEM System Builder Pack for under $100 over a year ago. You should be fine.

 

I vouch on Win7 for gaming too. But I have never operated Win8 so I can't tell you it sucks. I personally have no interest in a touch screen for my PC. I have my smart phone and tablet for that. And yeah... the thought of having smeared finger prints on my PC screen and gaming = no effin thank you... And having the option to change win8 to the old fashion keyboard + text defeats the whole purpose of Win8 and touch screen to begin with.

 

As for a PC. You can't beat anything with building your own gaming rig. You can build a pretty good rig with $700. Even a bit cheaper than that. If you are just looking for some decent rig. You can build one just as good as big name brand PCs for a lesser price is what I mean.

[gvman3670]

I had 95 on a Packard Bell at the time it was new. You know, "enhanced" Pentium 1 chips that ran at a smokin' 67mhz , analog modems and enough time to make and eat a sandwich before a small pic downloaded from the 'net. Ahhh....the good ol' days.

 

I had a machine running ME and a couple with XP. The one that had Vista got wiped and reloaded with XP just as you mentioned. But a couple IT guys I know were just raving about W7 when it was still in early beta and they promised me that I'd like it. They were right.