Do I need a new CPU for Skyrim?

[adam54321]

I have the Phenom 955 X4 II at 3.2ghz do I need to upgrade this? I want to be able to play Skyrim maxed out with 4xAA and 16xAF, 1080p on a 42" screen. I have 6bg DDR3 and am getting a Radeon 6970 2GB.

Thanks

 

[Orcvader]

No, just overclock the 955 to 3.6ghz+ and you'll be fine.

 

[NinetyOne]

Not at all, you probably won't even need to overclock.

 

[Troezar]

Will also add the screen size doesn't matter, resolution is everything

 

[fowler002]

yes you'll NEED a i2700k, asus maximus iv extreme-z/gigabyte g1 sniper 2, 16gb 200mhz ddr3(6gb wouldn't work as 1155 boards take dual channel not triple channel) and at least a 2nd 6970 if not a 6990 oh and don't forget a ssd

 

[muon]

Skyrim would have to be rubbish not to be gpu bound at those settings.

Also if you're cpu bound at 60+ fps, who cares? Turn on vsync and let your 6970 relax.

 

[eddiew]

Well my i5 uses about 30-40% on each core to run 1920x1200 on highs - I don't think it's quite THAT much faster than a Phenom

In other news, almost no games are CPU bound with a quad core over 3 GHz

 

[Hudzy]

The Tom's Hardware review suggests you're going to get a min fps between 25 and 29 on full details.

Skyrim seems very much CPU bound to me so far. My Q6600 at 3.6 is averaging 30-40 fps.

 

[eddiew]

Step 1; turn off the FPS display.
Step 2: see if it's actually a problem

 

[Merlin5]

At the start where there's lot of soldiers firing arrows in the sky at the dragon and generally a lot of stuff happening, I average around 30 to 35fps, and it did dip to 18 at one point. Since then, my framerate has been around 45 to 60fps, and 60 mostly when it's just me and the landscape, or if I'm inside a building. I'm guessing it'll dip when there's lots of characters/action on screen. This is with a 5850 and phenom 550 at stock 3.1Ghz. The game selected high quality for me, with AA at 4x and AF at 8x. I'm pretty pleased with that for a modest rig, and tbh, it doesn't really need to be maxed out, game detail looks great at the current settings.

 

[bhavv]

Skyrim is a CPU hungry, not a GPU reliant game:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html

The Phenom X4 is fine at 3 Ghz and higher, but I doubt it will suffice for any future graphics mods.

Console ports FTL.