Can I Run The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?
Bethesda Game Studios released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2016. It is a role playing game, published by Bethesda Softworks. It offers a single player campaign. There are 75 achievements to chase. With more than 214 thousand player reviews on Steam, its behaviour on real hardware is well documented. Critics scored it 74 on Metacritic. At more than a decade old it predates every current graphics architecture, which helps compatibility and limits how well it exploits a modern card. Progress follows the account through Steam Cloud rather than sitting on one disk. Only some of the game is mapped to a controller. 9 languages are covered by the store listing. Steam gates it behind an age check at 17. Windows is the only supported platform, which is what the figures below describe.
Can your PC run it? →System requirements
Minimum requirements
| CPU | Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945 |
|---|---|
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB |
| VRAM | 1 GB |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 12 GB |
| OS | Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version) |
Recommended requirements
| CPU | Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 |
|---|---|
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB |
| VRAM | 3 GB |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 12 GB |
| OS | Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version) |
Verified from Steam · 9 Jul 2026 source
Scores are deterministic, computed by fixed rules and benchmark tables, not written by an AI. How we score. Maintained by Farhad Ali. Spotted a wrong specification? Tell us.
Setting and environment
Players spend their time in a fantasy world, moving through one continuous open world. That openness is what costs performance. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has no loading walls to hide behind, so terrain and detail keep flowing in as the player moves. The view is from a first person view. The publisher supplies 8 storefront screenshots of these environments.
Why The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is demanding
The graphics requirement for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is light. Hardware around NVIDIA GTX 780 is enough, so The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim runs on machines never bought for gaming. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim needs only 3 GB of video memory. System memory expectations are modest at 8 GB. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim needs 64 bit Windows. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes about 12 GB of disk space.
This reading comes from the published requirements and our own benchmark tables, not from the store listing.
Can you run The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim targets a mainstream modern PC: NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB and 8 GB of RAM for the minimum, stepping up to NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB for the recommended experience. No single part dominates the requirements, so a balanced mid-range build clears it.
Bottleneck: GPU
Projected by resolution
| Resolution | Projection | Headroom |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | Comfortable | 2.7x |
| 1440p | Runs well | 1.52x |
| 4K | Below the bar | 0.67x |
A projection, not a measurement. We scale the published GPU requirement by pixel count, since 1440p draws 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p and 4K draws 4 times as many, then compare against RTX 3060 / Ryzen 5 build. The publisher did not state a target resolution, so 1080p is assumed as the baseline. We hold no frame rate data, so no FPS figure is claimed. Headroom above 1 means the reference machine has room to spare at that resolution.
Common GPUs
| Graphics card | Verdict |
|---|---|
| GTX 1060 6 GB | Runs great |
| GTX 1060 Laptop | Runs great |
| GTX 1650 4 GB | Runs great |
| GTX 1650 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 2060 6 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 2060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 3060 12 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 3060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 4060 8 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 4060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 3070 8 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 3070 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 4070 12 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 4070 Laptop | Runs great |
| RX 6600 8 GB | Runs great |
Each card is compared against The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's published GPU requirement, assuming an otherwise-capable PC. Laptop rows use the real mobile chip's benchmark, a mobile GPU is always slower than its desktop namesake.
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Frequently asked questions
Can my PC run The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?
Upload your DxDiag file to Idxdiag's free checker and get a component by component compatibility verdict for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in seconds. No install required.
What are the minimum system requirements for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?
The minimum requirements are CPU: Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945; GPU: NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB; 8 GB RAM; OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version).
How much storage does The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim need?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim needs about 12 GB of available storage.
Can an RTX 3060 run The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?
The RTX 3060 runs The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comfortably, clearing the title's GPU requirement with room to spare.
What is the bottleneck for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?
On a typical modern PC (Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 3060, 16 GB RAM), the tightest component for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the GPU.