scoobnut Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I'm planning on replacing my Nvidia GTX 760 for something with more omph to handle skyrim and my mods. So far I have picked... MSI GTX 780 TWIN FROZR GAMING LE 3GB (http://www.ebuyer.com/667421-msi-gtx-780-twin-frozr-gaming-le-3gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-n780-tf-3gd5?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CJyu9fz1_MECFfHKtAod0HMAjw) OR... MSI R9 290X GAMING 4GB (http://www.ebuyer.com/614553-msi-r9-290x-gaming-4gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-r9-290x-gaming-4g) AMD used to have problems with their drivers but I hear they are much more stable now. I have a cosair 800wt PSU and an Intel I5-4670k CPU, also 8 gigs of ram. I am also adding a SSD but its the graphics card I'm unsure of Out of the two, which would be best? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amyr Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 The winner is 290X. It's not even open to debate.More power, more vram. Everything you might need for a heavily modded Skyrim. Although I would suggest you to get a GTX 970 if you can afford it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnitedStrafes Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 The 290 but I'd seriously consider waiting till you can afford a 970-80 they're actually very decently priced compared to Nvidias other new releases and are well worth the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobnut Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 I looked at the GTX 970 but was put off as they have 4gb ram but a memory bus of 256. I thought the two cards were better as the GTX 790 has 3gb ram and a memory bit rate of 384 while the R9 has 4gb ram and 512bits so both can actually utilize the ram they have. So confused... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amyr Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 That's irrelevant.Bus Width alone doesn't mean anything, bandwidth is calculated by both Bus Width and Memory Speed. You can have low Bus Width and high Memory Speed to get the same bandwidth. They are just 2 different ways of doing the same thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that one is better than the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynard131 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 That's irrelevant.Bus Width alone doesn't mean anything, bandwidth is calculated by both Bus Width and Memory Speed. You can have low Bus Width and high Memory Speed to get the same bandwidth. They are just 2 different ways of doing the same thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that one is better than the other. I picked up an EVGA KR ACX 2.0 GTX 970 about a week after launch the early drivers were ok but last week the 344.65 drivers solved all the little issues. I could have gotten a discounted GTX 780 3GB but was glad I passed. they have the same value as the 970 but the 9xx cards are much cooler running with a TDP of 170 watts. It is much cooler and have not had coil whine. The overall efficiency is much better. When I bought Zotac and Gigabyte were the only other cards available. I'm able to stream YouTube/Twitch @ 4000 kbs on Ultra and still be solid 50-60 FPS @1080p GTX 970 is definably the bang fer the buck card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amyr Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Have no idea why you quote me tho, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marat569 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Okay with skyrim and modding there are a few factors that are more important then others. 1) A SSD! Unless you enjoy painful loading times and possible in-game lag (look at a HDD usage monitor, it will constantly be reading large amounts of information from the data files) -- a good SSD is almost a nececity. (Samsung 840 pro is on sale right now on newegg) 2) Other than a good graphics chip inside your GPU, the amount of ram your video card has is CRUCIAL. The more GDDR ram you have the better.An example of a chip is a Nvidia gtx 660. A gigabyte gtx 660 2gb ram version and Asus gtx 660 3gb ram version have the same GPU inside, just a different amount of ram. Try to find the chip set you want but with the most amount of ram, usually a higher ram version is not that much more in terms of price. The rest is all the basics, but if you don't have a SSD and high amount of ram on your GPU -- you're going to be bottle-necking your system skyrim mod wise. As for regular DDR3 memory, you don't need more than 8GB of some quality ram. You can have the best intel i7 government secret edition, but without an SSD your experience will be greatly hindered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynard131 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Have no idea why you quote me tho, lol. Just confirming your point GPU horsepower is king the memory controllers are not that critical. The cards R9 290X and the GTX 970 are both using the same TMSC TW 28 nm silicon they are different only in the photo-lithography process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marat569 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?N=100007709%20600473871&IsNodeId=1&Submit=ENE Those are all R9 290X's, but look at the price difference -- For skyrim modding it's essential to have a lot of GDDR (Ram in your videocard) and a fast read SSD (samsung pro's are #1); this is just the way skyrim and skyrim modding works. you'll get more performance from certain things than others, while in other games you wont get as much by having a ton more ram in your video card -- but it's never a bad thing. All of those r9 290x's have the same exact chip-set in them, the only different is 1) the manufacturer 2) the amount of memory I suggest watching this video: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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