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Here are Skyrim Special Edition’s system requirements

Things have changed a bit since 2011

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition

Later this month, Bethesda Softworks will re-release an enhanced version of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, nearly five years after the open-world role-playing game first hit PlayStation 3, Windows PC and Xbox One. Skyrim Special Edition, which is bound for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well as PC, will (understandably) have more demanding hardware requirements to go along with its many graphical improvements.

Bethesda released the minimum and recommended system specs for the Special Edition version of the game today, which you can see below.

Minimum

  • Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
  • Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 12 GB free HDD space
  • Nvidia GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB

Recommended

  • Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
  • Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 12 GB free HDD space
  • Nvidia GTX 780 3 GB /AMD R9 290 4 GB

Skyrim Special Edition’s specs aren’t particularly demanding for a 2016 release, but they help illustrate how things have changed over the years. Compare them to the original Skyrim’s system requirements from 2011.

Minimum

  • Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
  • Dual Core 2.0 GHz or equivalent processor
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 6 GB free HDD Space
  • DirectX 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
  • DirectX compatible sound card

Recommended

  • Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
  • Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 6 GB free HDD Space
  • DirectX 9.0c compatible Nvidia or AMD ATI video card with 1 GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher)
  • DirectX compatible sound card

Skyrim Special Edition’s bump in hardware requirements will bring with it a number of enhancements not seen in the vanilla release of the game: remastered graphics, volumetric lighting, dynamic depth of field and more.

Bethesda will release Skyrim Special Edition on Oct. 28. Players on PC who already own the game and all of its expansions (or Skyrim Legendary Edition) will get the Special Edition upgrade for free.

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