Graphics card for Modded Skyrim/Fallout

[Rennn]

SMIM and the Distant Detail one will both murder your performance on weak-ish rigs. Especially the rock and mountain option for SMIM. My GTX 660 GC is way faster than a 6790, even faster than a 270x, and it's still a noticeable performance drop. Just an observation.

 

I'd recommend you a GTX 760 as it's the same price as a 270x but with higher performance, but you said Nvidia prices are crap in your country, so never mind...

Anyway, an HD 7870 Ghz will have performance close enough to a stock GTX 660.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Rennn

[Thor.]

Nice mod list, the trick is to toss the High res for 2k textures then we'll talk :D.

or 4k textures.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49661/?

[Werne]

Nice mod list, the trick is to toss the High res for 2k textures then we'll talk :D.

or 4k textures.

As someone who makes 3D models and renders in high resolution, I can tell it to you straight - 4K texture (16,777,216 pixels) looks like 2K texture (4,194,304 pixels) on a 1080p screen, cause you have 1/2 the pixels needed to render it fully (2,073,600 pixels), you can render 1/8 of it. A 2K texture will look better on OP's 1440x900 monitor cause the monitor has just enough pixels to make a difference (1,296,000 while a 1K texture has 1,048,576 pixels).

 

So unless you're running a 2K or 4K screen, you will see practically little to no difference between 2K and 4K textures and you only increase VRAM usage for no good reason, which can only lead to problems in games like Skyrim due to 32-bit engine limitations. Plus, you'd have to spend a fortune on graphics hardware that'll run those textures without stuttering due to texture filling and VRAM bandwidth limitations (R9 290/290X, GTX 780 Ti), and an SSD that'll pump them without I/O limitations of a HDD.

 

And my guess is your next post will be bragging how your 780 Ti can run those textures, even though no one gives a damn anymore.

[ArchangelCassiel]

I agree with Werne 4K textures are completely pointless unless you have a 4K monitor. Hell in some games they even have jagged edges. As for me I can barely notice the difference between 1K and 2K textures so it's even more pointless. Plus it only takes up precious resources that could be used for running an ENB for example. On my 19" screen it is even less noticeable so I think I will stick with 1K unless I can really see a difference. I believe there is a lite version for the Skyrim 2K textures mod.

Rennn is Distant Detail really a performance hog? The mod author says it only has a minor(1-2 FPS) performance drop.

Edited February 12, 2014 by ArchangelCassiel

[ElhajGranny]

Hey, I know I'm a bit late on this but I was wondering if someone could help me out.

I'm looking for a new GPU as the one I've got (GT 630) is showing it's age

My system specs:

Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.4GHz
8GB DDR3 RAM
nVidia GT 630 2GB GPU
500GB 7200RPM HDD
1920x1080p Acer Monitor

My budget would be around £250 (around $400 USD) and I'm looking for the best bang-for-my-buck to run Skyrim, Fallout and some upcoming games (as far as I have seen RPG s really stretch the limit of your PC)

So any help would be appreciated, whether it be a solid recommendation or a helpful hint :smile:

Edited May 25, 2014 by ElhajGranny

[Thor.]

You could get a r280 for under 400$

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125490&cm_re=r280-_-14-125-490-_-Product

 

also a gtx770 for about 400$.

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500303&cm_re=gtx770-_-14-500-303-_-Product

 

the 4 gb models is what you want when it comes to skyrim.

[ElhajGranny]

Thanks for the quick reply! Really helped me out.

I've still got a while to make my decision, but both of these cards look like what I was looking for.

Now the search is on for a UK supplier of these Cards (I live in Scotland so shipping the card would be kinda expensive)

But, as I said, thanks a lot!


Edit: Found both the cards on UK Amazon for... ok prices

http://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-GeForce-Cooling-Graphics-Display/dp/B00E9I99WE/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1401047165&sr=1-3&keywords=GeForce+GTX+770+4GB

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-Dual-X-Radeon-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B00FL8H57W

Edited May 25, 2014 by ElhajGranny

[FMod]

GT630's problem is not age, it's very modern. Its problem is that it's a low-end placeholder card.

 

Who sold you that system? You never put a card like GT630 into a 2600k based system. It's too weak for games and for non-gaming, 2600k has an integrated GPU.

 

Anyway, for your budget, the choice is a no-brainer: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-770-tf-gaming-pcie-30-%28x16%29-7010mhz-gddr5-gpu-1098mhz-boost-1150mhz-cores-1536-dport-dvi

MSI 770 Gaming is one of the better 770s out there, and it just fits. Scan's a UK supplier and 230 is a good price.

 

The benefit from having 4GB of VRAM over 2 ranges from nil to trivial, it's minor even in the most VRAM-demanding situations, while the price difference is major. It's something you'd want if you could take a free pick, but it's not a free pick.

 

 

I would not particularly recommend a 280X. While a good card in its own right, it's more of a card for an experienced user who knows what they want, might do some distributed computing, can deal with issues if these appear. Right not 770 is priced quite aggressively and Radeon prices are still kept high by bitcoin miners.

[Thor.]

Skyrim is very heavily dependent on vram, if you add texture packs you would know what i mean soon enough.

[FMod]

It's been tested by others, and I've run Skyrim with texture packs. Yes, VRAM use climbs slowly as you play, eventually hitting very close to whatever the card's ceiling is.

But when you actually put two different cards, with the same chip but different VRAM, against one another - they perform the same or very nearly the same.

 

Here's a 780Ti vs Titan Black comparison on heavily modded Skyrim:

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Nvidia-Geforce-Grafikkarte-255598/Specials/GTX-Titan-Black-Test-6GB-1110998

 

Not only is the difference very small, more importantly, it's much smaller than in other games in the same test. Massive difference in FC3, Warhead, even Creed. In Skyrim, no appreciable gain. With Titan, it manages to fill up 4.7GB of VRAM, and the gain in performance over a card that only has 3GB is... nothing. Well, 1fps.

 

Skyrim fills up however much you give it, but it basically just craps into memory, requests more and leaves data it will never access again, but rather load from disk anew when it's needed; even can't access again because of its engine's limitations. I don't have a 2GB vs 4GB test handy, but it's been done and the same thing happens there.