Do you want to play Skyrim? If so, please check whether your PC meets the Skyrim PC requirements. In this post, MiniTool Partition Wizard lists Skyrim requirements for both legendary and special editions.
Introduction to Skyrim
The full name of Skyrim is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which is a fantasy open-world action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studio and released by Bethesda Software on November 11, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.
As its name implies, Skyrim is the fifth work in the Elder Scrolls series. The game was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers particularly mentioning the character advancement and setting, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time.
Subsequently, three downloadable content (DLC) add-ons were released — Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn — which were repackaged into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition and released in June 2013.
Later in October 2016, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition, a remastered version of the game, was released for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Skyrim vs Skyrim Special Edition
In general, Skyrim refers to the Skyrim Legendary Edition, which is the original release of Skyrim plus all three DLCs. It is built on a 32-bit game engine, which doesn’t work as efficiently with newer computer systems, but has more mods available by virtue of it having been around for longer.
You can choose this edition if you play on old PC, love mods, or want to save a little money.
The Special Edition is the game’s updated re-release. It comes with all DLC, has higher-resolution textures and better graphics, and is built on a 64-bit game engine, making it work more efficiently with newer computer systems. In addition, Bethesda has fixed a few of the bugs that were more prevalent in the original release
The defect is that the special edition has less mod support than the original release. Fortunately, the most popular mods have already been ported to it, and more are being added every day. You can choose this edition if you play on new PC, love better graphics, don’t care about modding, or only want the most popular mods.
Skyrim PC Requirements
When it comes to Skyrim system requirements, we should also offer different lists for the two editions. For the legendary edition, the minimum Skyrim requirements are as follows:
- OS:Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
- Processor:Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
- Memory:2GB System RAM
- Hard Disk Space:6GB free HDD Space
- Video Card:Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
- Sound:DirectX compatible sound card
The recommended Skyrim requirements are as follows:
- Processor:Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
- Memory:4GB System RAM
- Video Card:DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher)
As for the Skyrim special edition, its minimum system requirements are as follows:
- OS:Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
- Processor:Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945
- Memory:8 GB RAM
- Graphics:NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB
- Storage:12 GB available space
The recommended Skyrim special edition system requirements are as follows:
- OS:Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
- Processor:Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320
- Memory:8 GB RAM
- Graphics:NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB
- Storage:12 GB available space
If your PC meets the above Skyrim PC requirements, you can then play Skyrim smoothly.