Heavy moded Skyrim - requirements

[Sexyowl]

You simply have too many mods for a 1gb graphics card. I have 199 plugins with 195 active, only one ENB (Gameplay Performance) , no texture mods apart from the 2K Texture series and Real Roads. I have a FX 8320, 8Gb RAM and a GTX 660 2GB and they strain my system. I am thinking of upgrading to a 3Gb with an SSD. Remember that many ENBs use ENBoost that places most of the memory load on the GPU. There are settings in either the enblocal.ini or enbseries.ini where you can change this and let your system RAM handle more of your load (maybe not as much as you have but more than at present). If that works, then an SSD may reduce any retrieval bottleneck after the game caches to your HDD.

[kseon12]

You simply have too many mods for a 1gb graphics card. I have 199 plugins with 195 active, only one ENB (Gameplay Performance) , no texture mods apart from the 2K Texture series and Real Roads. I have a FX 8320, 8Gb RAM and a GTX 660 2GB and they strain my system. I am thinking of upgrading to a 3Gb with an SSD. Remember that many ENBs use ENBoost that places most of the memory load on the GPU. There are settings in either the enblocal.ini or enbseries.ini where you can change this and let your system RAM handle more of your load (maybe not as much as you have but more than at present). If that works, then an SSD may reduce any retrieval bottleneck after the game caches to your HDD.

 

Thanks for answer.

So i am really confused. I don't know what shoud i do. I think, that buying SSD is really will be usefull not even to skyrim(and i will buy it). But what about video card and proc i don't know. I can buy or R9 280x or change motherboard and proc to Intel(or maybe there is some analog from AMD). But what will be more usefull, and where i will see the video card power increment except Skyrim. Because for now my card can handle games (I think ?)

Edited August 1, 2014 by kseon12

[Sexyowl]

The Phenom II x 4 is a decent card. It may be a bit outdated when matched against the newer Intels or AMD proc, but according to Xelan 255 "... Skyrim isn't very CPU consuming, but instead very GPU consuming..." it may make financial sense to focus on the R9 280x and SSD. You have enough system RAM to handle it. That way you can look at a better/faster processor later..maybe a FX 8350 if you want to stay with AMD

 

Remember though most of the best rigs use Intel chips though and skyrim seems to perform best on a high end i5 (based on all the reviews and tests I have seen). That said, AMD chips give good value for money depending on the games you may want to play.

[kseon12]

The Phenom II x 4 is a decent card. It may be a bit outdated when matched against the newer Intels or AMD proc, but according to Xelan 255 "... Skyrim isn't very CPU consuming, but instead very GPU consuming..." it may make financial sense to focus on the R9 280x and SSD. You have enough system RAM to handle it. That way you can look at a better/faster processor later..maybe a FX 8350 if you want to stay with AMD

 

Remember though most of the best rigs use Intel chips though and skyrim seems to perform best on a high end i5 (based on all the reviews and tests I have seen). That said, AMD chips give good value for money depending on the games you may want to play.

Yes, now i understand it. Thanks, you really explained it to me.

In this case there is reason to change system to Intel later. However i read that Intel is less multitasking that AMD

[Sexyowl]

If its Skyrim, then the Intel chips are better. Bethesda used a 32 bit engine for the game so its not really optimized for more than 4 cores. So unless you tweak the Skyrim files it will not use more than 4 cores. In reality it will most likely use 2. Other games that use newer/better engines which are optimized for more cores or multithreading will be different.

 

That said, the AMD 6 and 8 core chips do not really have 6 or 8 cores physical cores. They have 4 modules with 2 cores each and so they share some resources. The same with some hyperthreaded i7 chips. The i5 has 4 modules with one core each. Thus, depending on your application one will outperform the other. The FX 8 core chips tend to perform better with video editing, playback, graphics editing etc. For an old game like skyrim the i5 performs better since the 8350 4 modules x 2 cores are slower than the i5 4 modules x 1 core.

 

If you are running a game or application that uses or needs 8 cores then the 8350 will outperform the i5. The majority of games use 4 cores so the i5 is generally better. However, if you are looking to the future, more games and multicore applications will be released and you may not have to upgrade the AMD chip for 2 - 3 years.

 

So yes the AMD chips may multitask better because of the extra cores but it depends on what are the tasks. For most people its the cost factor that wins out with the AMD chips being much cheaper than the Intel ones. They give the best "bang for your buck".

[kseon12]

If its Skyrim, then the Intel chips are better. Bethesda used a 32 bit engine for the game so its not really optimized for more than 4 cores. So unless you tweak the Skyrim files it will not use more than 4 cores. In reality it will most likely use 2. Other games that use newer/better engines which are optimized for more cores or multithreading will be different.

 

That said, the AMD 6 and 8 core chips do not really have 6 or 8 cores physical cores. They have 4 modules with 2 cores each and so they share some resources. The same with some hyperthreaded i7 chips. The i5 has 4 modules with one core each. Thus, depending on your application one will outperform the other. The FX 8 core chips tend to perform better with video editing, playback, graphics editing etc. For an old game like skyrim the i5 performs better since the 8350 4 modules x 2 cores are slower than the i5 4 modules x 1 core.

 

If you are running a game or application that uses or needs 8 cores then the 8350 will outperform the i5. The majority of games use 4 cores so the i5 is generally better. However, if you are looking to the future, more games and multicore applications will be released and you may not have to upgrade the AMD chip for 2 - 3 years.

 

So yes the AMD chips may multitask better because of the extra cores but it depends on what are the tasks. For most people its the cost factor that wins out with the AMD chips being much cheaper than the Intel ones. They give the best "bang for your buck".

 

Yes, i read about that. There is one big question, which game will use more than 4 core. It's not that characteristic which is announce like something common or even talking(if iit's not a feature of game). It can be found in some info about game engine, but only in popular one i think(cryE,unrealE,frostbyte ...)

And there is one more - software or hardware request separation(force to use N core). If something like this will appear, AMD will be unbeatable. But still, there isn't something like this in common way). I find some tweak's that force Skyrim to use 2,4 or even 8 core's. Interesting is it give some nice result and how would it be compered to i5

 

So did you tweak you Skyrim to use all 8 cores and what was the result ?

Edited August 3, 2014 by kseon12

[Sexyowl]

Actually I was (and still am) wary of that tweak, so I have not tried it nor do I have any intention of doing so. In the case of Skyrim it simply does not make any sense to do it IMO. Although some people have reported improvements, they are small (reductions in micro-stutter), with no real performance improvements. The actual architecture of the game engine inhibits any real attempt to spread the game over more than two cores. Also it should only be done if you have no stability issues to begin with. It can actually cause more CTDs. By default mine is set to use 4 cores. The game itself only uses 2 cores I think and ancillary processes like physics use the others. Remember, you have to leave cores vacant so that necessary background programs can run. As I said, AMD cores are slower than Intel's, so in my case I think that my issues are related to a combination of GPU and maybe too many mods with a platter HDD.

 

I think I get a better results If I tweak the game to use more system RAM when my GPU is maxed. In theory, on a balanced system (SSD, good GPU, fast RAM etc) this might give better, less riskier results.

[kseon12]

Well i used to that changing to Intel should give me a more powerfull system, even compare to top AMD.

 

So i want to buy:

1)Radeon XFX 280x BE

2)Intel i5 4670K

3) One of this motherboards:

1. GigaByte G1.Sniper Z97 ATX
2. MSI Z97-G43
3. MSI Z97 Gaming 3
4. Asus Z97-A

 

I'm a novice at Intel system, so after a week of searches i still don't know what i'm buying :blush:

So my questions are:

 

1) Is the proc i want to buy good ?(actually i know the answer, because it's the best i5 in model line. But still)

2) What motherboard i should to choose ?

It the most difficulte thing for me. I have a Asus essention sound card, so i don't need good audio chip. And with that, it's critically to have at least 1 PCI slot for it.

I do like AMD cards, so SLI mode i think is unnecessary. In future not to buy new card, i can maybe buy the second R9 280x, if it would be chiper than new one.

I don't think that i will really do overclocking but still i want that option.

And the most necessary things are quality, durability and stability. I do want a system, that allow me not to think of any upgrades at least 2 year.

And, if you know better mb model- tell me(but i think i will not pay for mb more than the proc cost).

3) Do you think system i want to buy is good with looking to the future ?

 

 

P.S.

I know that my questions are not about Skyrim. But i do really hope you will help me :blush:

[Novem99]

1) Is the proc i want to buy good ?(actually i know the answer, because it's the best i5 in model line. But still)

 

The best i5 is the 4690. But it doesn't matter since the 4670 is a very good CPU.

 

As for the MB. That depends if you are planning to overclock. If so you will need a MB from the Z97 series and all of the manufacturers are fine. If you don't plan to overclock I recommend to look for the H97 series. These are cheaper (extra money you can spend on other components) and they will perform exactly as long as you won't overclock.

[kseon12]

 

1) Is the proc i want to buy good ?(actually i know the answer, because it's the best i5 in model line. But still)

 

The best i5 is the 4690. But it doesn't matter since the 4670 is a very good CPU.

 

As for the MB. That depends if you are planning to overclock. If so you will need a MB from the Z97 series and all of the manufacturers are fine. If you don't plan to overclock I recommend to look for the H97 series. These are cheaper (extra money you can spend on other components) and they will perform exactly as long as you won't overclock.

 

I prefer to have option to overclock proc )

I thoght maybe some one know which is better. Or which create less problem to its user ) If i plan to use crossfire, there better to be x8/x8 than x16/x4 mode. And since i have good external card(asus essension) i don't need good internal chip(like creative in g1.sniper).

So my choose should be Asus Z97-A ?

 

-----------------------------------EDIT-------------------------------------

The bad thing is that, if i set second graph card, it override PCI slot. And the last i need to set my audio card. So i am return to the begining - i don't know what mb i should to pick.(

 

The only one mb where crossfire mode x8/x8 and the PCI din't override is GigaByte GA-Z97X-SLI. It has intel z97 express. Will it be the best choise ?

Or should i not to be so obsessed with x8/x8 ?

Edited August 8, 2014 by kseon12