Should I upgrade my graphics card?

[cattywampus4]

Hi

 

I bought an EVGA 970GTX FTW 2.0 4GB card around 12 months ago for £300. Its a nice card and handles FO4 pretty well although when in my heavily built up settlements, the frame rate drops from 60fps to 25-30.

 

I am seriously considering upgrading to something a little beefier but what I want to know is, is the frame rate dropping in my heavily built up settlements dropping because of graphical power or is it a limit of the game that is the cause, and therefore buying a new card would not yield significant improvements?

 

My system specs are:

3770k CPU

16gb RAM

SSD

graphics card as mentioned above.

 

I currently play at 1920x1080 with most settings on Very High/Ultra and get 50-60fps in most places. Fog and lighting sometimes cause a little drop.

 

I actually use a 4K monitor and while playing at 4k would be great, I would be more than happy having a consistent 60fps playing experience.

 

Regarding how much I would be willing to spend...

 

I like the idea of dropping £650 for a 1080 GTX but don't like the idea that in 6 months it will probably be £200 cheaper.

 

Advice welcomed. Thanks

[bmt12]

If it's just for Fallout I would say no, there are just parts of this game that are going to kill your frame rates no matter how many 1080s you cram in there. I had a 970 that died, I upgraded and it still lags in the same places.

Edited September 21, 2016 by bmt12

[Fonger]

play the game with what you already have

 

don't install mega high textures

 

and consider a new card IFF you run into serious troubles - not otherwise documented (like certain areas of certain mods - known FPS killers)

[cattywampus4]

I know only two people have replied but already what I thought might be the case has been confirmed.

 

I was hoping you would all say 'Yes whack a great card in there and you will get 1000 frames per second everywhere in the game' :)

[Vormina]

I think it depends on the size of your settlements.

 

I have i5 4690k, 16g ram, 3-SSDs, ASUS ROG-STRIX GTX1070

I play on 1920x1080, everything on ultra, 240+ mods and my game is smooth anywhere including downtown Boston ( even during big battles ) BUT my fps slows down some in my settlements which have extended borders, 35 settlers each, and infinite build limits. Not to mention I usually use around 40k steel and 40k wood just on buildings alone.

 

And that is expected cause Bethesda didn't intend for us to "bend" their rules so much lol.

I usually don't notice any lag until I get around 3 or 4x the vanilla build limit, so I can't complain. ;)

[Fonger]

I know only two people have replied but already what I thought might be the case has been confirmed.

 

the first clue that people forget is that

 

the official published minimum requirements for this game are a Drunken Lie™

[MissingMeshTV]

I would say yes, do it. Itâs well worth it even if FO4 is the only game you play. I recently upgraded from a 970 to an EVGA 1070 SC and donât regret it. Keep in mind that the 970 is really only a 3.5GB card regardless of that it says on the tin.

 

 

I have an i7-6700 3.4 GHz with 48GB RAM and a Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD on as the primary drive in addition to the 1070. That new card made a good system even better.

 

 

Yes, I was initially underwhelmed by the relatively unchanged crappy frame rates in downtown Boston and in some of my larger settlements, but on the whole it was a worthwhile investment.

 

 

Iâve been blown away at how much better my game now looks with the 1070. Textures look more vibrant and detailed, gameplay is much smoother albeit there are still places where my frame rates drop to 20-30â¦.my Starlight and Nordhagen Beach settlements in particular because that are huge and detailed. But in reality, the game is just not optimized properly and no matter what card you have youâll still get frame rate drops in certain places.

 

 

I was able to eek out noticeably better frame rate improvements by setting my shadow distance to medium while keeping everything else at Ultra. Iâve also replaced as many of the game textures as possible using better optimized (and frankly, better looking) ones from various Nexus downloads, namely all of the Vivid Landscape series. Since I started using these textures, my downtown Boston frame rates now consistently hover between 45 and 50. It was rather stunning to see those numbers in the most densely packed parts of the city, where previously I was getting 25-30. So, textures do apparently make a huge difference.

 

 

I guess what Iâm saying is that yes, upgrade your card but also look into making additional game tweaks to compliment the power of a new card. But also think of other benefits a new card could bring your system beyond gaming. Do you do video or 3D work? If yes, an upgraded card is a no-brainerâ¦.and a good excuse to spend those caps!

[AGreatWeight]

I've heard the 1080 is a pretty good card, but considering what you currently have I don't believe that you'll see too much improvement in your fps. Best to wait for the price to (inevitably) drop before you consider it.

-this advice brought to you by someone using a lowly r9 280x-

[cossayos]

I got Nvidia 650ti. For 126 Euros last year.

 

Fallout 4 plays nicely on medium high, Dragon Age Inquisition on ultra and quite a lot of other games on medium to high settings too.

 

Unless you're an every pixel and particle effect afficionado, you certainly don't need to upgrade. And chances are that you run into yet another bottleneck on the way. Maybe CPU, motherboard of Ram related.

Edited September 21, 2016 by cossayos

[cattywampus4]

Hmm....

 

Thank you for your replies. Giving me something to think about.

 

I am considering ordering a 1070 from Amazon and trying it out. If there aint much difference then I can send it back within 30 days.

 

I have done a little extra reading and the 1080 is probably way over powered and way over priced at the moment while the 1070 is more sensible. Will have a think.

 

Any more thoughts welcomed. Thanks.