What would I need to upgrade to get more performance out of Skyrim?

[InDarkestNight]

I was just checking out graphics cards, and decided to look up the specs for mine. However, I found something that shocked me: I ALREADY HAVE 4GB OF VRAM ON MY CARD. I thought it had 2gb according to the box this whole time. However, looking at the box again (this time with a magnifying glass, why do they make the text so f*#@ing tiny for?), that's actually how much RAM you need to use the thing! Its not how much vram the thing has.

This whole time I was thinking I had a 2gb card and it was holding me back. Now it would that's not actually what I have. Now I don't know what I could do to make it so I could use a freaking enb for once without tanking my performance (of course, right now I suspect my game's running at more than 60 fps, so it may not matter).

Here are my specs as best as I can tell:

Graphics card: Geforce GTX 1080 ti

Processor: intel i5-6400 at 2.70 ghz 4 core

Ram: 8 gb

I noticed when I checked Antique Dragon Enb's page that the mod author was running worse equipment than me (a 980 ti, which my card is over 50% faster than apparently). I noticed though oddly that the maker was running an i7 processor. How could they even have that? What, did my comp here come with a cheap processor in it? Its a $1000 gaming computer. The only part I've put in this thing is the graphics card and recenrly a 2 tb SSD. It still has its original processor in it.

Why can I not run this enb without losing over 40 fps of performance? The MO claimed it only took off about 10 for them! What is wrong with my computer? Was it because I was running windows 10 before? I've found that proton 8 ge is a far better emulator, and I do seem to be getting better performance now. Am I already able to run this enb? How could I even test it when its such a hassle to remove the damned things?

Btw, given my 4gb graphics card, does this mean I can run full 2k textures and not 2k-1k like I've set up to do? I did download full 2k versions of things when I could planning to install those once I upgraded the graphics card. Now that I know what I have, is that really necessary? Would upgrading to a 6gb really help me even? The game can't use more than 4gb of memory, so what's the point? I was only looking into a 6gb to over compensate. The ram I know is twice what the game can use, so no point in upgrading that unless I plan to run s#*! edition again someday (which is looking increasingly unlikely). The only thing I could upgrade that may be worth something is the processor, but how could I know if I would get something from it?

On a final note, the only reason I was running performance textures in the past is because I thought 2k was giving me crashes! I later found though that what textures I used had no effect on the frequency of crashes. My game is far more stable now than ever after switching to linux and using a clearly superior emulator to what windows 10 comes with. Don't know how far that's going to get me though. Keep in mind, when I did play SE, I was running 4k parralax textures on everything and any enb I wanted. Even the most intense ones only gave me like 3 or 4 fps loss. This is why I'm so mystified that I can't seem to run any enb in LE. I actually recreated my texture load out in LE with literally the exact same texture mods I was using for SE (at the time I thought they didn't need to be converted), and it made the game lag to hell!

I'm done now, so what would be best for me to upgrade? Would anything really help with Skyrim LE? Do I actually have a 4gb graphics card? Is my processor decent? Right now the RAM is the only thing I'm certain about.

[RomanR]

This CPU is too weak to not bottleneck 1080Ti. It was similar to for example AMD FX 6350 and such CPUs were popular thanks to their CPU power vs. price ratio, that's why were used in many pre-build computers, but its days are over. It propably bottlenecked your 980Ti too (I had a 980 non Ti for  a brief moment, remembering that my FX 6350 was able to load it at 75% max).  Regarding CPU upgrade, it was recommended to use i7-8700K or i5-8600K for Intel and 2700X/3600 Ryzens for AMD, but for today it would be best to look for yourself. Propably AMD AM4 platform would be still a best choice, at least for now (as AMD user I can't speak for Intel much).

 

[InDarkestNight]

So, my processor is limiting my graphics card? That would explain some things. I've long been mystified why I couldn't get LE to run setups that other people's computers could run without issue YEARS AGO, even though I exceed the system requirements for LE by leaps and bounds.

That said, I was looking into this processor here:

AMD Ryzen™ 5 4600G, 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler

Its only $100, which is the main reason I've picked it. According to a website, its 50% better than my current processor. The page also advertises it can run modern games even without a gaming graphics card. Would this be sufficient for my current graphics card, or would it render it unnecessary?

edit: Also, the previous graphics card (not sure what it was now) was on a completely different computer. Different processor, ram, everything. It was so old I couldn't transfer any of its parts over to the new computer. It was a frankenstein computer a local shop put together for me, so I don't know what its components were. It was specifically made for gaming, though around 2010. I never did try to run an enb on that I don't think. I only started with them when I got this computer and switched over to SE for a year or two. As I've said in the past, mysteriously I could run grpahics mods in that which LE could not support. I was running 4k parallax textures on everything, and literally any enb I wanted. Simply trying to install my old texture mods alone made LE lag, which is why I decided to downgrade a bit. Besides, its not like there's much of a difference between 2k and 4k anyway (at least on my monitor, though I do also have vision problems, before I got glasses I could barely see any difference between 480p and 720p on youtube, with no difference at all for higher resolutions to give you an idea, the difference became FAR more obvious once I got prescription glasses).

edit: Oh, and I know nothing about processors. Its only a few years ago I found out that you can even switch them out! I thought before they were baked into the motherboard. So I know nothing about them, or even what I could put on my motherboard. I know there's different ports for them, but how can I know if I could put any processor into mine here?

Edited January 24 by InDarkestNight

[RomanR]

Yes, this CPU isn't bad choice, but you need a new motherboard and RAM too, if it isn't DDR4 . You really can't expect to put new CPU to almost decade old motherboard, unfortunately. AM4 motherboards are affordable and there still choice of various chipsets and sizes of motherboards. Chipset which supports this processor should be from B450 onwards (in fact I have MB based on older X370 chipset, precisely ASUS Prime X370-A which should support it too, but not without an UEFI Bios update, which I done to version 6042). If you're in doubt ask a seller what MB would be best and request an UEFI Bios update if needed (it's made often for free).

I'm sorry, I didn't know that you know nothing about a PC Hardware, I would tell it sooner. But you said that your old computer was made for you, can you use that service again?

[InDarkestNight]

I'm not using the same motherboard from the windows 7 machine. I bought this computer new. That said, wouldn't the processor in it give a hint as to what processor port it may have? If it matters, its an off-the-shelf Lenovo ideacentre 710-25ISH. The only hardware I've put into it are the graphics card and the new 2tb ssd. Can't remember if it came with the ram or not. Think I may have just bought the largest module I could get so I could put more in the other slots later.

edit: Looking up the computer myself, best buy says it has ddr4 slots for RAM. I was looking to upgrade the processor, not the ram. I don't need more ram to play Skyrim, since I can't use more than 4gb of it anyway. The only game I could imagine that would benefit is Shadow of Mordor, which I haven't played in YEARS and ran fine last time I checked.

edit: Well, this is worrying. Decided to see if amazon had my current processor listed, and it did. The problem is; it lists a different socket for it than the new processor! Am I stuck with what I got here now? Trying to look up processors that my motherboard would accept, it appears they're all old intel processors that aren't any better than what I got. Am I stuck then with a crap computer? Guess I'm stuck then using 'performance' mods.

Edited January 24 by InDarkestNight

[InDarkestNight]

As for the older computer, the shop that made that has moved on. The guy running it decided he would make money working on computers for businesses than individuals, so he closed up shop and moved on. Last I heard of him he got 'fired' for trying to talk sense into some boss who was clearly losing his marbles. The only computer shop in town is staples. I actually went there earlier to ask their tech guy about this, because he obviously knows his s#*!. Sadly, he had a day off today, so oh well.

As for the motherboard, there are motherboards that would accept that processor and my current ram. It would cost as much as the processor though. At that point I would essentially have a new computer. New motherboard, the new ssd with unbuntu on it, a new processor. All I'd have left from the original computer is the ram and case. Wouldn't know a thing about messing with motherboards though; I do know things about computer hardware (I am a certified programmer), but I've had no practical experience swapping out processors or motherboards. Funny enough, the staples guy did tell me that the connector for my sshd was being phased out. Based on that, don't know if I could even hook up this ssd to a new motherboard. Its a sata with a power cable w/e that's called if you care.

[RomanR]

According to specs of i5-6400, it can use DIMM DDR4 or DDR3L, that's why I mentioned it. But a new motherboard is a must. Regardless you buy new Intel or AMD CPU, it will not fit into your MB CPU socket anymore. 

Looking at the official specs of 25ISH 90FB now - i5-6400 with Intel H170 chipset, DDR4 at 2133MHz, GTX 750Ti as graphic card... - it was propably good middle-range computer back then, a little overpriced in my opinion for what it offers. Its RAM could be propably used (seems standard DIMM), but I don't know about speed - 2133MHz is very low. Fortunately 16GB DDR4 which can go at 3200MHz costs a pitance now.  And PSU only 250W?

Edit: To answer last post... recomended price for i5-6400 was 182$, so 200$ for CPU and motherboard doesn't look so bad. But if you're not experienced and can't get someone to do it for you... Still, fitting a PC parts is mostly fool-proof, all you need is to read a manual which come with motherboard and to be carefull to not use extensive force (most connectors can't be connected in wrong way).

Edited January 24 by RomanR
to answer IDN's last post

[HeyYou]

1 hour ago, InDarkestNight said:

As for the older computer, the shop that made that has moved on. The guy running it decided he would make money working on computers for businesses than individuals, so he closed up shop and moved on. Last I heard of him he got 'fired' for trying to talk sense into some boss who was clearly losing his marbles. The only computer shop in town is staples. I actually went there earlier to ask their tech guy about this, because he obviously knows his s#*!. Sadly, he had a day off today, so oh well.

As for the motherboard, there are motherboards that would accept that processor and my current ram. It would cost as much as the processor though. At that point I would essentially have a new computer. New motherboard, the new ssd with unbuntu on it, a new processor. All I'd have left from the original computer is the ram and case. Wouldn't know a thing about messing with motherboards though; I do know things about computer hardware (I am a certified programmer), but I've had no practical experience swapping out processors or motherboards. Funny enough, the staples guy did tell me that the connector for my sshd was being phased out. Based on that, don't know if I could even hook up this ssd to a new motherboard. Its a sata with a power cable w/e that's called if you care.

The techs at staples have zero qualifications. I used to be one, years ago, when the techs actually WERE techs. Today, they are just bench monkeys. If they know how to hook up the cables properly, they are a 'tech'...... The staples here, (where I used to work) regularly sends work to where I now work, which is an actual PC shop. WE have a clue. Staples does not. Some of the crap they have inflicted on their customers here is laughable...... I do NOT recommend them for anything even remotely resembling 'knowledge'...... Yours might be different, but, I wouldn't hold my breath. Corporate stupidity took over there more than a decade ago, and it just hasn't gotten any better.

[InDarkestNight]

What would I even have to do to replace the processor (assuming I could), or even the motherboard? Other than harddrives, I'm used to just being able to plug something in and have my computer work like nothing happened, no fuss. I suspect though that motherboards don't work like that, especially if you're plotting to replace them with a different brand. Don't know about processors though. If I did put my ssd into a computer with a different brand motherboard and processor, would it be able to make sense of it? Would it have to install drivers or something? Would I even get a display before everything was setup? I'm really in the dark here.

That said, I'm not so sure all of this would be worth it for Skyrim and maybe Shadow of Mordor. My specs already exceed what Skyrim LE can handle, so why bother upgrading further? The only reason I'm contemplating it is because I thought I had a garbage computer that couldn't even run a game made 6 years before it.

That said, I've also since found out that nvidia graphics cards don't work too well on linux. I have been having graphical glitches that I can't seem to get to go away. I would be better off if I just replaced the graphics card too with something from another brand (note I've never used a graphics card that WASN'T nvidia).

Maybe I need to just stick with what I have. Maybe I do have too powerful of a graphics card for my processor, and I don't know how well its working with the ssd either (the staples guy did question me about it, claiming it may not fully work with an ssd). I do suspect that now since I'm not noticing much of a difference at all in load times. I should be loading things significantly faster, but the only noticeable difference seems to be when I'm transferring files around between folders. Either way, it seems like it would be a lot of trouble to replace essentially me entire computer just so I can have my ultimate retrogaming rig. Who knows if it would even help with the games I want to run. Skyrim is literally the only game I own that's giving me problems, which it always has, so why invest at minimum $200 and who knows how much work just for this one game? Besides, doing that may cause more issues, given that the hardware will be even further from what the game was originally made for, and of course having too powerful of a rig can cause problems. Lately I've been experiencing the cart flipping out glitch, which I can't seem to diagnose. My fps isn't going above 60 according to steam, and I wasn't having this issue before I installed mods. Keep in mind, mostly all I installed were texture mods. The only mods I have that add in actual content are Immersive Creatures, Elemental Dragons, Immersive Armors, and Skyrim Underground, that's it. Yes, over 40 esps and only about 6 of them aren't graphics or sound related. Its honestly surprising how many texture mods require esps. Why on earth btw does Book of Silence require 2 esps for? I've also found that the thing doesn't work if I disable textures.bsa (I've been doing that to find which textures I still need to replace), an issue that doesn't come up with any other texture mods except for Enhanced Vanilla Trees and Skyrim Flora Overhaul. Still haven't received an answer to why that is.

[InDarkestNight]

Okay, I diagnosed the bouncing cart issue. After extensive testing, I found the culprit was IMMERSIVE ARMORS. Seriously. Investigating further, it would appear this issue occurs with computers with weaker cpus. If that's true, then why was I able to run immersive armors without issue on windows 10?

The reason I'm posting this here is it would appear I do need to replace the processor. As stated, getting that and the new motherboard would surely be quite an upgrade. My graphics card would run better with a better cpu, and the new board could load RAM far faster. Point is, its going to be more of an upgrade than it would appear from simply replacing the cpu. So I guess I am upgrading afterall. I'm essentially getting a new computer by doing this; no idea what I'm going to do with the old components, especially since they still clearly work. Why trash tech that's still working? Maybe I'll build a hobby computer out of them or something. I've heard of people recycling old motherboards to do interesting things, so guess this will give me some parts for tinkering.

Still not sure about what cpu to get though. That one I'm looking at could clearly be an upgrade, but should I go for something better? Since its being discounted, I suspect that's because its being phased out. I could get a rhyzen 7 for $50 more. Looking at it, its half off right now. So maybe that would be the better choice. So yeah, guess I may be getting this instead:

AMD Ryzen 7 5700G 8-Core, 16-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics

Comparing it though, it doesn't appear to be as much of an upgrade over my old cpu. Comparing the two though, it appears to only be slightly better than the rhyzen 5. It was also made in 2021, so it may be a bit dated. It is one of the top results on amazon though. However, the top search is an intel i7. Decided to check how that compares to the rhyzen 7, AND IT TURNS OUT BETTER:

Intel i7 vs rhyzen 7

Thought maybe I could plug that into, they both use LGA, but they seem to be different versions. My current i5 needs an lga 1151, while this i7 THAT'S MORE POWERFUL THAN THE MORE EXPENSIVE RHYZEN 7 requires lga 1700.

So maybe this i7 is better? That's the type of cpu that the MO of antique dragon enb was using when they made that enb, so maybe it would be a good idea? Also, comparing it to my current cpu, it would be more of an upgrade compared to the rhyzens:

Intel i5 vs intel i7

I would still a new motherboard probably either way. Also, maybe the rhyzen would be excessive given that I already have a graphics card. Do I really need that? I could possibly get more out of this i7, especially considering that it would similarly let me get more out of my current graphics card. So maybe an intel is a better idea. Also, the new motherboard could be slightly cheaper. Again, so maybe that's the better buy?