Minimum specifications
OS: Win XP/7/Vista (32 or 64 bit)
CPU: Dual core 2ghz
Memory: 2GB RAM
GFX: DX9c video card w/ 512MB RAM
Internet Access for Steam activation

Recommended specifications
OS: Win XP/7
CPU: Quad-core Intel/AMD CPU
Memory: 4GB RAM
Hard-drive: 6GB HD space
GFX: DX9 vid card w/ 1 GB. GTX 260/Radeon 4890 or higher

Minimums get you playing, recommended gets you to high, but ultra needs more.

Personally, I find the GPU requirements to be quite vague. VRAM matters very little when it comes to benchmarking your GPU, what you want to look at are the clock speeds (core, memory, and shader) and memory bandwidth. Those are the most important specs. VRAM simply determines your ideal texture and screen resolution, nothing more.

Example: here is my card right now (8800 GT):

Core Clock: 600 MHz
Shader Clock: 1500 MHz
Memory Clock: 900 MHz (1800 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 57.6 GB/sec

Compared to the GTX 260:

Core Clock: 576 MHz
Shader Clock: 1240 MHz
Memory Clock: 999 MHz (1998 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 111.888 GB/sec

Not too much difference there (except the memory bandwidth). My card, which was high-end back in its day, is now comparable to most mid-range GPUs on the market today. That should get me somewhere between medium and high with good framerates, and probably high with a small loss in FPS. Maybe not Ultra, but we'll see soon enough. Considering my card can handle Oblivion nearly maxed out with heavy graphics mods, I am expecting a good performance.

Win7 64 bit ✓

Intel® Core™ i7-2600 CPU ✓

8192MB RAM ✓

ATI Radeon HD 5770 ✓

I see the Recommended Settings have no mention of a Steam activation. Does that mean Bethesda recommends you not have Steam on your PC? Or just everyone who does not want malware on their computer?

TK didn't post it, but an internet connection was said to be required for steam activation.

You must be connected to the Internet for the first-time activation via Steamworks.

I'm going to grin and bear it, personally. I don't like Steamworks, but there has been worse.

Here's my specs:

MoBo: MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)
>Intel P67 Northbridge
>SLI Ready
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3GHz
>Quad Core
Memory: 8Gb DDR3 @ 1333MHz (2X 4Gb)
>Dual Channel
GPU: XFX nVidia GeForce 8800GT
>512Mb GDDR3 VRAM
>DirectX 10
PSU: 700Watt
Audio: Creative SB X-Fi Titanium
>ALchemy enabled
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
>64bit
Hard Drive 1: Seagate Baracudda 7200 SATA
>500Gb
>7200 RPM
Hard Drive 2: Seagate Baracudda 7200 SATA
>500Gb
>7200 RPM

Blue = achieves or exceeds recommended specs
Green = exceeds minimums, but below recommended

I was being facetious.

I will not play a game that requires me to put malware on my computer. I am sure it will be possible to play Skyrim without Steam within a day or two of it release however. Not legal of course, and certainly I would not recommend anyone break the law, or do so myself.