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Here’s what PC gamers will need to run Bethesda’s ‘Skyrim Special Edition’

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Bethesda said on Monday that Skyrim Special Edition has gone gold, which is an “old school” way of describing when development is complete and the resulting game is now in the hands of the publisher for manufacturing and distribution. Skyrim Special Edition is a revamped version of 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim slated to arrive on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC on October 28.

That said, here are the minimum and recommended PC requirements:

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Minimum Recommended
Operating system 64-bit Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit Windows 7/8.1/10
Processor Intel Core i5-750 or
AMD Phenom II X4-945
Intel Core i5-2400 or
AMD FX-8320
System memory 8GB 8GB
Storage 12GB 12GB
Graphics card Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 or
AMD HD 7870 2GB
Nvidia GTX 780 3GB or
AMD R9 290 4GB
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Not too shabby, right? If you plan on playing the game on a console, here is the amount of storage you’ll need:

PlayStation 4 Xbox One
United States 20GB 17GB
Europe 33GB 25GB

Remember, Skyrim Special Edition will support mods, so all customers will need additional storage space for these downloads. As mentioned last week, Skyrim Special Edition will kick off Bethesda’s official mod support for the PlayStation 4 console, and will be followed by an injection of mod support in Fallout 4 once Skyrim Special Edition is out the door. Fallout 4 on the Xbox One already supports mods.

For customers with their eyes on the upcoming PlayStation 4 Pro and their wallets locked and loaded for a quick-draw purchase, Skyrim Special Edition will include support for 4K visuals at no extra cost. The console will retail for $400 on November 10, packing AMD-based x86-64 “Jaguar” CPU cores (eight) and Radeon graphics with a performance of 4.20 TFLOPS. Skyrim Special Edition should make for an awesome launch title for this hefty console.

“What’s most exciting to us is that Special Edition also means a new generation of players can create new Skyrim Memories and learn what it means to be Dragonborn for the very first time,” Bethesda said. “Skyrim Special Edition going gold also marks the first time we’re celebrating a release as an international studio. We can’t say enough about the hard work and love our Montreal studio poured into this project.”

For Steam customers who already own Skyrim and the three downloadable content (DLC) packs (Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn) on the PC, they can get the revamped version for free. That includes all Steam customers who purchased Skyrim Legendary Edition as well. According to Steam, all Skyrim vanilla-based purchases must be made on Steam on or before October 27 to get a free copy of the revamped version. Skyrim Special Edition will be served up as a separate title in your Steam library.

PC gamers wanting to get their hands on the Skyrim revamp can purchase it through Steam starting at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET on October 27. This version includes remastered art and effects, a dynamic depth of field, screen-space reflections, volumetric god rays, and more. It also consists of the core game, the three DLC packs, and includes mod support, plenty of additional quests, environments, armor, and more.

Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
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