How Fast Will Your Computer Need to be for Skyrim?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is another of the high-profile multiplatform games coming out this fall that many gamers may wish to play on PC as opposed to consoles. Content may be the same, but the presence of mods and improved visuals often set the PC version of a game apart from the console offerings. If you're wondering if your computer will be capable enough for Skyrim when it comes along on November 11, we now have the answer.

Your PC struggling to run Battlefield 3 today isn't necessarily an indication that Skyrim is out of the question. Some of the minimum specs are similar between the two, with some noteworthy differences being the relatively small amount of hard drive space Skyrim requires (just 6GB to BF3's 20GB) and no need for a DirectX 10-compatible video card (which BF3 needs).

The minimum and recommended specs follow, courtesy of the official Bethesda Blog:

Minimum Specs:

• Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
• Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
• 2GB System RAM
• 6GB free HDD Space
• Direct X 9 compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
• DirectX compatible sound card
• Internet access for Steam activation

Recommended Specs:

• Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
• Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
• 4GB System RAM
• 6GB free HDD space
• DirectX 9 compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher).
• DirectX compatible sound card
• Internet access for Steam activation

It's not terribly unreasonable. For many, though, it will serve as a wake-up call that (in my case) an 8800 GTS just isn't going to cut it for much longer. That's only reinforced when considering that what's listed as "recommended" still won't allow the game to be played at a good framerate with the settings cranked all the way up to the max.

Source: http://www.1up.com/news/skyrim-pc-minimum-recommended-specifications

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