Low End PC Performance Guide: Skyrim

Set 200 years after the events from Oblivion, Skyrim is the next open-world RPG from the Elder Scrolls series. Developed by the same Bethesda Game Studios, it utilizes the new Creation engine exhibiting lush environments, rocky mountains, and realistic weather effects. It also incorporates Havok’s Behavior technology which renders non-playable characters with smooth and lifelike behavior. The game won Best RPG and Game of the Year 2011 awards from various gaming websites.

 

 

Test System & Requirements

	TEST SYSTEM	MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz Dual-core	Dual Core 2.0GHz
Memory	3GB DDR2 800MHz	2GB
Video Card	nVidia GeForce 9600GT 512MB DDR3(Green Edition)	DirectX 9 compatible with 512 MB of RAM
Driver / Patch version	nVidia Forceware 295.73	1.4.21.0.4 with High Resolution Texture Pack
Operating System / DirectX	Windows 7 SP1 64-bit / DX 11	Windows XP 32-bit / DX 9.0c

 
If we will be basing from today’s technology, it’s very easy to get past the minimum requirements and our 4-year-old system can definitely play this. But in a game like this, you would want to turn every graphical detail on high as possible for this is where you would really appreciate the beauty of the game. Playing on Low preset will look like you are playing an older game than its predecessor.

 

 
Skyrim can use the two cores of our processor and the 2GB memory requirement is sufficient to play this game.

 

Image Comparison

Anti-aliasing

 

Texture

 

Anisotropic Filtering

 

Radial Blur

 

Shadows

 

Decal Quantity

 

Water Reflect

 

Object Fade

 

Detail Fade

 

Actor Fade

 

Grass Fade

 

Specularity Fade

 

Light Fade

 

Item Fade

 

Distant Object Detail

 

Settings

	LOW	MEDIUM	HIGH	ULTRA	CUSTOM
Anti-aliasing	Off	4x	8x	8x	Off
Anisotropic Filtering	Off	Off	8x	16x	16x
Texture	Low	High	High	High	High
Radial Blur	Low	Low	Medium	High	Low
Shadow	Low	Medium	High	Ultra	Low
Decal	None	Medium	High	Ultra	None
FXAA	Off	On	Off	Off	Off
Reflect Land	Off	On	On	On	Off
Reflect Trees	Off	Off	On	On	Off
Reflect Objects	Off	Off	On	On	Off
Reflect Sky	Off	Off	Off	On	Off
Object Fade	1	2	7	15	8
Actor Fade	2	3	6	15	8
Grass Fade	0	3	5	7	3
Specularity Fade	2	5	10	20	2
Light Fade	2	10	25	35	2
Item Fade	1	3	4	15	8
Distant Object Detail	Low	Medium	High	Ultra	High
Object Detail Fade	Off	On	Off	Off	Off
High Resolution Textures	Off	Off	Off	Off	On

 
We didn’t use the actual Low preset because some of the settings were not exactly set in its lowest value like the texture quality was set on medium; instead, we altered and set every detail in its lowest value. Our altered version of Low preset is what we used in Preset Image Comparison and in our benchmarking process.

 

Preset Quality

 
Our custom setting has three obvious differences from High preset – it lacks grass from the left side; lower shadow quality under the carriage and well; and rugged edges of wood on the right side. Ultra setting will give you more grass and more detailed mountains.

 

Performance

For our benchmarking process, we used a 90-second FRAPS benchmark from the scene right after you and Hadvar escaped the dragon from Helgen Keep.

 

 
Also, we disabled the VSync by adding “iPresentInterval=0” to the bottom of the Graphics section of the Skyrim.ini file (\Users\Username\My Documents\My Games\Skyrim).

 

Settings Benchmarks

For this benchmark, we used our Low preset as a baseline to see which detail cripples our system when set to its highest value. 

 

 
Using the results from this and image comparison, we came up with our Custom settings. Basically we turn off or set to the lowest each detail that doesn’t display visual enhancement, set to medium or high otherwise.

 

Preset Benchmarks

 
If you looked back at our Preset image comparison, our Custom setting is comparable to High preset but performance-wise, you will have smoother gameplay with the Custom setting across all three resolutions. Low and Medium preset will give you the best performance but as we said earlier, this is a game where you want the best graphics possible. Playing at Ultra preset is a pain in the eye and this is where our 4-year-old system is reaching its maximum capability to play this game.

 

 

Summary

Based on our Preset Benchmark results, you can either play Skyrim at High or Custom setting. We even didn’t have to overclock and tweak to gain more performance as our system is capable of playing the game even on high preset. We really liked games like this where you don’t need a monster gaming rig. Even though this is just a DirectX 9 game, visuals are fantastic plus the High-Resolution Textures adds more detail without taking much of the performance. For additional content, we added a video comparison between Low and Custom settings. Notice that our custom setting has more grass, and rocks, items, and NPCs are seen from afar.