BLUcody Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Right now, I have a AMD Phenom II X4 965 and a Radeon HD 6870. I can handle Skyrim with the vanilla HRDLC fine with around 45-60 FPS outdoors and 60 FPS indoors on max settings at 1080p, as I start to add mods from the Skyrim STEP baseline it starts to tank at 28-40 FPS outdoors in wide expansive areas, and fully modded it's down to 15-19 FPS outdoors at areas like Whiterun. I want to upgrade to a I5 processor, is a 4690k decent? I'm thinking about a GTX 960 4GB for my GPU. Part updates have always been at the back of my mind and this experience only solidified my experience. I want to run at least 45-60 FPS outdoors with Skyrim STEP baseline and gameplay mods like immersive monsters/mods that add items to the leveled lists, overhaul mods like Perkus Maximus etc etc. I already have other decent specs, a SSD hard drive and an excess of 16gb RAM. Will these upgrades let me do what I want? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iraido Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) I think so, 4 GB VRAM is really good for modding and this is an high-end i5. Edited July 6, 2015 by iraido Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUcody Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 I think so, 4 GB VRAM is really good for modding and this is an high-end i5. Some people said I should jump to a 970 and I'm not too sure, and another that I should stick with my CPU and just get a new GPU. I'm not too sure on that idea because an AMD phenom seems really outdated by now, and I need a good CPU to keep up with my GPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vram1974 Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Cheap answer: New GPU. I made an upgrade from the exact same video card and it really did improve everything, including crashes from VRAMExpensive answer: Why bother wasting money on a new GPU when Fallout 4 is coming out? May as well upgrade the system and get ready for the inevitable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUcody Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Cheap answer: New GPU. I made an upgrade from the exact same video card and it really did improve everything, including crashes from VRAMExpensive answer: Why bother wasting money on a new GPU when Fallout 4 is coming out? May as well upgrade the system and get ready for the inevitableNot a new CPU? Someone else suggested that too but I'm skeptical as to how my CPU could support a new, more powerful GPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novem99 Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I have this CPU and it works absolutely fine for Skyrim. The GPU...I wouldn't buy that. If affordable go and get the 970 or an AMD R9 290. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laereal Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Get Skyrim Performance Monitor to see whether or not it's your CPU or GPU that's being pushed to the limit. It'll help you decide which parts you need to upgrade. If its the CPU then you might also need to get a new motherboard as you need another one for Intel. It's all up to your budget what you buy. You only really need a GTX 970 if you're planning brand new 2k-4k HD textures and a heavy ENB. Consider the performance versions of both if you're not hell bent on aesthetics, and a GTX 960 is more than enough to run the game if that's what you can afford. Funnily enough, my FPS actually was actually better with an ENB than without it once I turned off all antialiasing and ambient occlusion on my graphics card and Skyrim settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iraido Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 In my opinion the GTX 960 is largely sufficent for 2k textures and a heavy ENB. a 660/660ti can already do that, so a 960 will have no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts