Speculated Skyrim graphics requirements

The more I'm reading/seeing about this game, the more I'm getting a bit concerned. The graphics look really amazing, and I want to be able to play on max settings. I'm getting ready to buy a new laptop, and am deciding between a system where I can only get the 560M and another where I can get the 6970M (before it runs out).

What are people thinking right now -- will I be able to play max settings with the 560M? Anyone have any inside info on this?

Thanks.

 

Well, since Bethesda already announced that consoles are the main platform, I would think a 560 would play the stock game on high. Who knows what level the high texture mods that are sure to be released will push things to.

But really, there is no consideration to be made. Buy the machine with the 6970 or be prepared to kick yourself over and over for the next few years of your life.

 

The 560M shouldn't even be a consideration, especially at 1920 x 1080 resolutions. Your only choice is the 6970M and it shouldn't cost much more anyway.

 

What the heck do you mean?

The 560m is a kickass card for probably any game out there at 1920x1080 except Metro 2033 or Witcher 2 with ubersampling enabled.

To get decent framerates for most recent games at 1920x1080, MAX DETAIL SETTINGS (maybe AA reduced a bit down from 16x), all you need is the NVIDIA 460m, 555m, or AMD 4830/5830m or better. The 560m is significantly faster than all of these.

Most likely, Skyrim is not going to be more demanding than most other 2010-2011 games. Also it will make use of DX11 optimization features, so a DX11 card will have even better performance.

 

Yeah, if they are focusing Skyrim with X360 credentials, I doubt the core engine is going as powerful as a mid-high end DX 11 card specifications. I think with mods, you could push it but I doubt it really.

 

They want to be able to play it on Max settings, the 560M is unlikely to allow that and if the 6970M does not cost much more then it should be a priority. However, I keep on hearing that the 6970M is being discontinued.

Also bare in mind that the 6970M is still over 50% more powerful than a single 560M and in my laptop config, it would have only cost me an extra £50. I don't know how much extra it would cost the OP but I bet it wouldn't be very much.

 

It's actually a steep upgrade over here, at $245US, and it's already getting difficult to find.

As a side note, I don't play any FPSs, so up until I started looking into Skyrim more, I felt extremely comfortable with getting the 560M. It might just be that the graphics requirements won't be as high as I was thinking, which would be great

 

Eh the Skyrim graphics don't look that spectacular (looks great but certainly not one of the greatest in 2011) partly due to the consolization. Any middle-range card will run it fine on medium (e.g. mine), and to max it out should not be difficult either - it's just a recoded Gamebryo.

 

Thanks for the input, everyone. Looks like the 560M should be fine for it, then.

 

Like another poster said, the High Res mod will be made available pretty quickly, game is based on console, which means they barely run at 720p and with low draw distance and LOD probably be played on something like 8800gt. Something like my 5870m will be able to play it full at 1080p with a texture mod to allow higher res textures. Although the dev Todd Howard has already said the pc will benifit from higher res textures to start, and DX 11 optimization which makes me a happy camper . Can't wait for a morroblivion mod for skyrim to add another 500 hours of gameplay to the 300 speculated already in it. Looking at the E3 demo though it doesn't seem like load screens exist, which is also some great news and doesn't have to be modded to take out loading areas.