Recommend me a GPU suitable for nice modded visuals

[Mortimer]

My current setup can run Skyrim with some light visual mods.

Intel® Core i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3701 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory 8.00 GB
AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series

Gigabyte Tech H67MA-USB3-B3 motherboard

 

Not sure what kind of power supply I have.

 

So I was thinking maybe its time to drop in a new GPU, if it would viably let me boost Skyrim's performance, or if it would be more suitable to hold out for a new rig later down the line. So far I've had it suggested I drop in another 8GB of RAM aside from the new GPU.

 

Any suggestions? Any good way to see if a what GPU would do nicely with my current system?

Edited September 9, 2016 by Mortimer

[KENNETHC]

EVGA FTW GEFORCE GTX 1070 or 1080

[LeddBate]

The 1080 is overkill taking his CPU into account. The 1070 however would be a verrrry nice upgrade. Assuming he wants to shell out $400.+ AND assuming his PSU can handle it. Which brings me to:

 

@Mortimer: Please take a look at your PSU and let us know what it is. It will really help us with making recommendations for you. I'll be offline soon for a day and a half, but I promise to check back in on this thread later. Oh, and if you're an AMD fan, assuming your PSU is up to snuff, I would recommend an aftermarket brand R9 390. It'll set you back about $300. -but it will give you performance very near the 1070 for about a hundred bucks cheaper. Note: Most R9s are double-wide cards. Add in the extra bit of space for the aftermarket brands' cooler and it can get a bit crowded. Of course, this is true of many Nvidia cards too. Check to make sure there's sufficient space for your card to A): Actually physically FIT into the space and B) Make sure there's plenty of room for it to breathe.

[Mortimer]

Yeah its a bugger really, looks like I need to remove the whole power supply to find out what it is, they seemed to have installed it with the info obscured by the casing (well, I HOPE thats the case, otherwise the info's been scrapped off completely). From the look of my rig though it is definately roomy and I think should have no problem accommodating something new.

[LeddBate]

Is your rig an OEM from a store or did you build it yourself from parts? (I'm guessing the former.) Even so, if you have your original paper-work and manual(s) that came with it, you should be able to glean the info from that. If not, and you cannot determine the PSU's stats after getting a better look at it, there's still a way to tell. You can take it to a computer shop you trust and simply have them disconnect the leads from the PSU to the components and test it. If a Best Buy Geek Squad is your only choice, you might be able to get a reduced fee (they're usually quite expensive) if they think you're going to buy a GPU from them. Anyway, they can tell you what the wattage is.

 

However, if you get a closer look at your PSU and it does NOT have anything indicating it's wattage (or, indeed, who actually built it) then you probably have a very cheap, low-powered generic PSU. If you can remove it from your case without too much fuss, heft it in you hands. Does it feel very light weight? If so, that's an indicator of a cheap PSU right there. Quality PSU's have a solid, heavy feel to them. To quote Marco Chiappetta from PCWorld: "Higher-quality power supplies almost always use bigger and better capacitors, chokes, and other internal components, and they come outfitted with larger heatsinks for superior heat dissipation—all of which translates into more weight. Larger cooling fans, which typically move more air while making less noise than smaller fans, are another plus."

 

Translation: if you believe you have a cheap no-name PSU, get rid of it and get yourself a good name brand PSU to replace it with. Corsair, Seasonic and Antec are some good examples of quality PSU makers. Why should you do this? Because a cheap PSU can short out and send a surge through your PC's components, damaging them in it's death throes. In a worst-case scenario, a cheap PSU can catch fire when it (literally) flames out.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

Custom gtx 1070 shouldn't use more than 225W. HD 7700 showed ~220W power consumption in benchmarks, so as long as you have a good quality PSU (preferably a good brand 500W+ Bronze -up to Platinum-) there shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't risk running your new graphic card on dieing psu.

Evga has the best RMA policies and good customer service. If you will be ordering your card online, I would go with this brand. I had really good experience with them. The cards might cost tiny bit more, but it's great for people that can't afford new card when something happens.

For other brands I would go with a local store, which has official partnership and a technician, so that RMA can be solved within few days. Otherwise you might be stuck without your card for few weeks, as they send it to manufacturer for checkup.

If you have space below and above the gpu in your PC case, go with custom dual fan cooler model. They tend to be more efficient, achieving lower temperatures at lower noise level. Original Nvidia blower style cooler (single fan) is for SLI and very small PC cases where the dual fan card can't properly get rid of the hot air.

Personally I would also swap PC case, if it's not optimal for cooling or new psu.

New cards don't support VGA, all are designed for HDMI output only. I don't know what kind of setup you have right now, but in case you have old VGA monitor (or one of the popular korean ips models), you will have to buy decent converter for around 20-30$.

[Wouter445]

I don't know your budget nor really do not care about it, but I would think you want the most bang for your $$.

So I would recommend a GTX 970 this card have most value for its price.

Also more memory would do nothing consider it's only a 32 bit program.

[Project579]

Actually is not the 32-bit that limits Skyrim but DX9..... and is limited to 4GB of vram on modern windows (Win8/Win8.1/Win10) that are really easy to reach if using 4k textures.

[Wouter445]

Actually is not the 32-bit that limits Skyrim but DX9..... and is limited to 4GB of vram on modern windows (Win8/Win8.1/Win10) that are really easy to reach if using 4k textures.

Me not sure where you get this information from but memory values are reserved by it's program not by dll's

Their are many software that use dx11 and still are written in 32 bits, (3,8 gb memory values) and skyrim uses only 712 mb memory that's why it glitches from time to time.Way it's lot easier and less time consuming.

This is also the reason Beth soon have skyrim in 64 bit native which can't be runned on a 32 bit os.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Wouter445

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

 

Actually is not the 32-bit that limits Skyrim but DX9..... and is limited to 4GB of vram on modern windows (Win8/Win8.1/Win10) that are really easy to reach if using 4k textures.

Me not sure where you get this information from but memory values are reserved by it's program not by dll's

Their are many software that use dx11 and still are written in 32 bits, why it's lot easier and less time consuming.

This is also the reason Beth soon have skyrim in 64 bit native which can't be runned on a 32 bit os.

 

 

He is talking about Win8/10 limitation for DX9 games.

 

https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/1263324/gpu-memory-allocation-limit-on-directx9-windows-8