Skyrim Special Edition PC Requirements Are Much More Demanding

Games
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The remastered version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has gone gold in advance of its October 28 release, and Bethesda has released the recommended PC specs for running the prettier version of the 2011 RPG.

As anyone who’s played around with mods for Skyrim on PC knows, the set of requirements for the 2011 release were fine for running the vanilla version of the game, but beefing up the graphics required a meatier machine. The same goes for the remastered Special Edition dropping later this month.

Here are Skyrim’s original minimum specs from 2011:

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
And here are the minimum specs for the Special Edition, via Bethesda:

Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945.
8GB of ram.
12 GB free HDD space
NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB
While modest by today’s standards, the minimum spec has jumped quite a bit, quadrupling the required RAM, doubling hard drive space and bumping up the CPU requirement. And the minimum video cards have names now!

The recommended specs have taken quite a jump as well. Here’s 2011:

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).
And here’s the Special Edition:

Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320.
8GB of ram.
12 GB free HDD space
NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB
When the required specs for the new edition represent less PC power than the recommended specs of the previous, you know you’re in for some next-level, remastered, volumetric god ray-having adventuring goodness.

The Skyrim Special Edition launches for PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 28. PC players who own the original game and all DLC will get the remastered edition for free.

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I never played this on Xbox, so I will be looking to pick this up at some point. Probably not at release, but crazier things have happened.

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It is great. I still haven’t beat it yet. I think I get it free on PC. I have to check to see if I have all the DLC or not.

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It was fantastic. Put a lot of hours into it, so not sure I will have the time to revisit. If you haven’t played it, its definitely worth a try.
How are you getting it free on PC Dig?

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I never put a ton of time in to it so am waiting for the special edition at this point which I will be getting free.

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If you have it on pc and all the DLC you get the new version for free.

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OK. Yea, played on the xbox. So much fun, it will be nice to have that house building earlier in the game. Nice place to hoard everything.

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It’s funny all the graphical stuff they are adding in is stuff I used to spend hours on adding to the game as mods. There are some amazing mods out now too so it really is going to add to it.

I just modded up Fallout 4 this weekend and It got me hooked again. @Grex would be jealous of my chracter :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I just picked up the game and all dlc on steam to get the free upgrade. I think i played maybe 10 hours of the original so i am looking forward to this

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I saw you on F4 this weekend. lol, im being budget conscious right now. I would love to try another pc game to play with mods but I am going to be picky. Just trying to resist minecraft for now.

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Stop, just stop. I have like no time to get sucked back into Fallout.

1 Like
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Pretty shaders lol