Which gpu is better for skyrim?

[asdasdGamer]

I am planning to buy a new GPU i am thinking about a gtx780 or a gtx960 can anyone tell me which one can handle skyrim better with 2k texture mods and with a medium enb? and field grass mod?

[JimboUK]

The 780 is the faster card but the 2GB VRAM might be an issue going forward, you'd be better off with a 970 if your budget will stretch to it.

[LeddBate]

Agree. And not just for Skyrim. 4GB of GPU mem buffer is becoming the new minimum. Once the modders have had time to work on the new 64-bit version of Skyrim, the old RAM limit that the 32-bit engine forced you to deal with will be a thing of the past. And that means more, and memory heavy, mods. Big, big texture mods and lots of them. Yeah, get a card with at least 4GB of GDDR5 memory buffer.

 

If by any chance a windfall should come your way, the 1070 is the new king of "bang-for-the-buck".

[Darkstyler35]

Hello,

 

<I am planning to buy a new GPU i am thinking about a gtx780 or a gtx960 can anyone tell me which one can handle skyrim better with 2k texture mods and with a medium enb? and field grass mod?> I don't know which is better...but if you intend to use a more than 4GB VRAM GPU, stay on windows7, do not use win 8 or 10 because of this : (I quote my own post from another topic)

• If you're using win8-10 + a GPU with more than 4GB VRAM + a heavily modded game and experiencing stuttering, random freezes or / and FPS drops, this may occur when the VRAM usage exceeds 4GB, read here for more details.
• <In that case do I need to limit my modding in any fashion?> Use the skyrim performance monitor to manage this issue and stay below 4 GB VRAM or install a dual boot with Win7 for skyrim.
• <this is a _VRAM_ limit not a _RAM_ limit> This article explains the differences : ENB graphics / ENB haxx. (See ENB haxx).
• <I don't even know what DirectX I have> open dxdiag.

 

Good luck.

[LeddBate]

@darsyler: is that stuttering/freezing issue with WIN 8, 10 and a heavily modded game on a 4GB+ card a common problem? I'm just curious...

[twiztedmongoloid]

780 has 3gb not 2. 780 is the better choice over a 960.

 

But the standard today is definitely something with at least 4GB.

 

@leddbate: depends how heavily modded. I have a 970 on windows 10 and use the mod list in my sig and it does ok.

 

If you use a ton of 2k and 4k textures you will quickly go over 4GB and have issues. My game is around 3.3 and i used mostly 1k.

 

I do have issues in combat tho that i believe are memory related.....but the answer is it depends on your definition of heavily modded. You need to keep texture sizes to a minimum.

Edited August 26, 2016 by twiztedmongoloid

[Darkstyler35]

<is that stuttering/freezing issue with WIN 8, 10 and a heavily modded game on a 4GB+ card a common problem? I'm just curious...it>'s an operating system limitation. So if windows can not use more than 4GB and you mod your game like if you have 8, you'll probaly have those issues mentioned above, (on Dx9 games only...). In that case, using a 1070 is almost the same as if you're working with a 970 4GB. What's happening when you don't have any VRAM left ?

[Project579]

The more vram, the better; Skyrim is not really intensive for the GPU processor but mods especially 4k textures tend to fill vram pretty quickly. 1070 is a perfect card thanks to its 8gigs of vram. Anyway a 780 in probably unfinable now and will cost more that a gtx960 so the gtx960 will be the best one (4gig version not the 2gig). even the 1060 (the 6gig version) is a great card for skyrim. just get cards with 4 or more gigs of vram.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Project579

[LeddBate]

@twiztedmongoloid: Thanks! I just retired my old warhorse GPU (a GTX 670 with only a 2GB buffer) and replaced it with a GTX 980 due to the recent price drop. I'm about to start with a fresh install and a new mod list. I wasn't aware of this issue, but I'll keep an eye out.

[LeddBate]

@darstyler: Thanks for the clarification. Well, I guess a 4GB buffer in your GPU is optimum for now. Hopefully someone will work on the OS end of the problem 'cause games (and the mods for them) are only going to get more memory intensive.

 

Edit: Just saw your "Direct X 9" edit. Ohhh, that makes sense. Well, then I doubt we'll see any OS patching of the problem since games are now in the DX10/11 territory these days. Hmm. Will "Skyrim Remastered" be DX10 or 11? Does anyone know?

Edited August 26, 2016 by LeddBate