Recommended video card? (time to upgrade) - current GTX 690 causes black face bug

[kurikinton]

This post is actually two questions in one. First, I use a GTX 690 which, being an SLI configuration on a single card, causes the black face bug where the sole survivor, companions, and NPCs randomly get completely black faces which is only solvable by saving and reloading, and even then not always fully effective. If anyone has found a definitive solution (meaning something I can do with the current card, without lowering settings (high settings at 2K), and play the game without ever seeing the black face bug again) I would love to hear it. I Google it almost every day and there hasn't been anything new on this for a while, and no solution. It got much worse after installing CBBE, so it is probably somewhat related to the amount of textures or polys being drawn, and at this point, I can only say that I'll be wanting to add many more mods and further tax my system over time, so tweaking settings *down* is not an option.

The second part is I'm more than ready to give up trying to solve the above and just get a newer card. I got the 690 to play Skyrim, so it's been a few years and maybe it's just time. I was hoping I could stretch a few more years out of it, but that's just frugality and not set it stone. So, I'm interested in upgrading to an nVidia card that will let me play Fallout 4 without needing to tweak the settings *too* much, and without visual bugs, at Ultimate settings on a single 2K monitor (2560x1440). My budget goes up to a GTX 980 ti on the outside, but no more.

I'd like to hear everyone's experiences with their 970s and 980s to be sure it's just safe to order one and plug it in, or whether I need to find a custom .ini recommendation to avoid bugs or what have you. Or let me know if you recommend something else.

Thanks in advance.

Also, other specs on my system just for reference:
i7 3770 3.5Ghz, 32GB ram, Win7 64bit OS on an SSD with Fo4 running off a standard HD to give room for mods etc.
Also regarding the bug, I've got the latest driver (to my knowledge) 359.06, and the latest release version of the game via Steam.

Edited December 27, 2015 by kurikinton

[ff7legend]

If you can afford it, I strongly recommend going with an Nvidia 900 series GPU. I'd go with a GTX 970 or higher. I run a 4-way SLI setup using 4x GTX Titan X GPUs but those are quite pricey ($1K apiece plus tax & shipping). Go with whatever you can afford but I personally recommend at least a GTX 970, if you can afford it.

[Username0815]

In my opinion you should get a custom 980ti, Im going for a 980ti hybrid by inno 3d. Im using a personally modified 290x with a water cooler, which works pretty well actually, but Nvidia cards rule all Bethesda games, in terms of performance compared to ATI. @1440p with alot of mods you definetly want a 980ti, if you dont want to use ENB or alot of 2k+ texture mods, a 980 will do as well.

[jones177]

I use a 980 ti sc at 1440 & 4k.

 

I used a 980 for a while but it was not a great 1440 card. Playing Witcher it was in the low 50s at 1440. Skyrim with ENB & 250+ mods it was in the mid 40s at 1440.

 

The 970 was ok at 1080 but it was not a big leap in performance over the 680 4gb it replaced. As soon as I bought a 4k monitor it had to go. This is a 1080 card.

 

The 980 ti is running Fallout 4 at 4k right now with only a few mods. It looks beyond belief good, like it was designed for 4k. I am playing on ultra except with anti aliasing turned off. It is not needed at 4k. I did not update drivers for this game. There was no need.

 

With the 980 ti I play older games like Fallout 4 & Mass Effect at 4k with ENB.

 

The black face bug happened to me a lot in Oblivion with lots of mods. It has only happened twice in Skyrim with 250+mods & a 980 card. That was after many hours of play. If you are getting it in this game with next to no mods I would say the game engine dose not like your hardware.

 

 

Later

[Username0815]

I use a 980 ti sc at 1440 & 4k.

With the 980 ti I play older games like Fallout 4 & Mass Effect at 4k with ENB.

 

Argh I hate you :p Although comparing ME3 with F4 is like comparing a console game to a real pc game, I had to try 4k myself. I got my 980ti yesterday, but didnt borther to try 4k. I have about 150 graphic mods installed + Vogue ENB, and was just tweaking stuff to get more reserves, you know prepared for the future. So I just removed the falloutprefs ini, and started with a high setting UHD ini, everything else untouched. It actually runs pretty well, even in Downtown DC I get 45-55 fps, some areas are rough, but thats just like in 1440p.

 

I didnt expect that honestly, Skyrim still runs like crap and unstable with ENB, which probably means my setup is messed up, but for Fallout the 980 ti really delivers performance, despite flawed game design.

 

In short, UHD is possible with one 980ti +I7 Core and good ram, but needs to be tweaked, Id say +10 FPS are nessecary, thats something achievable with OC and a few trade offs.

[jones177]

Congratulations on your perches. I found the GTX 980 ti is worth every penny spent.

 

I found Skyrim hard to configure with ENB but not impossible.

 

When my Fallout 4 game gets heavy with mods I will be going 1440. I bought a Samsung U28E590D monitor for its 1440 performance & for the type of games I play 60hz is fine.

 

Later

[Username0815]

Yea, so far the card is great, its completly silent and currently runs at 1352 mhz core clock, the FPS are really stable exept for the though areas in downtown, which is clearly bethesdas fault. 1440 P is definetly the way to go with 1 card, ENBs will become more ressource demanding, as additional texture mods will also drain alot. So its definetly better to run a maxed out 1440p setup than a gimped 4K.

 

 

If you dont mind, Id like to have your Skyrim.ini and prefs.ini, I get alot of FPS drops in some areas like Riverwood, which should not happen in my opinion. So im going to start all over and the inis are the most important thing after the ENB in terms of fps.

[SirTwist]

What is the difference between say a 980 and a 980TI? I have a 750, and a 750TI. The physical difference is that there is 2 fans on the 750, and the TI has one fan. Is the TI more efficient, or what? I'm actually thinking about a new computer, but I want to stick with Nvidia for graphics cards. The old rule of thumb, with Nvidia, was the the x50 and x60 were the game cards, the rest were more for either presentation, or balanced performance, or what have you. I know this has changed, I just am really curious by how much.