Graphics Card Upgrade?

[QuagaarWarrior]

Hi all,

 

So I currently have a 780ti 3gb and was considering upgrading to a 1070 8gb or 1080 8gb.

 

The main reason for the upgrade will be to mod skyrim remastered. Now that the game will have no VRAM limit I can make use of all that extra VRAM and my game should run smoother (in theory).

 

Firstly, do you think it's worth upgrading to the new card?

Secondly, should I go 1070 or 1080?

 

My instincts are that the 1070 will be the best option as I'll be able to make use of the extra VRAM and the 1080 will be overkill as I'm only gaming at 1080p

 

Thanks,

[LeddBate]

Actually, the big thing about the Special Edition of Skyrim is the upgrade to a 64-bit engine. This mainly means a lot more stability. There will still be VRAM limits (based on what others here have told me) but you can now push textures, etc. with a good GPU.

 

Anyway, my opinion is that since you specified 1080p, I would recommend the 1070. 8GB of VRAM is good "future proofing" for new games and the 1070 has none of the memory shenanigans that the 970 had. This will save you quite a lot of money.

 

You also asked whether it is worth it to upgrade for the sake of Skyrim Remastered. Given the minimum GPUs are GTX 470 / Radeon HD 7870 and the recommended GPUs are only GTX 780 (3GB) and Radeon R9 290 (4GB), I don't believe you need to upgrade your GPU since your 780 is a ti model. However, I am also a firm believer in "The More VRAM, The Better". And since the new Skyrim WILL let you load up higher-resolution textures, it certainly can't hurt to up that 3GB limit of your current GPU.

 

tl/dr: Get the 1070. It has all the horsepower you need for the foreseeable future and 8GB of VRAM is sweeeet!

[pyrophiliac777]

I too am upgrading my video card from a 1GB 560ti to a 8gb 1070. My main reason for doing this is so games from the ps4/xb1 generation will actually run on my system. Min req for those games is about a gtx 640 but I'm a go big or go home type. I've done my research and the 1070 will run pretty much every thing in 4k on ultra settings at about 30 fps and it will just absolutely wreak anything you throw at it in 1080p. average fps in 1080p is 70-90 or somewhere around there. Lowest minimum fps I saw was gta, but hey: it's gta. Block all 4 lanes of a freeway with a bus, wait for cars to pile up and "accidentally" drop a grenade and watch the fireworks.

 

Now your hard descision is which 1070 to buy. Basically, there's about 5 or so main brands (including nVidia). Basicly the differences between all the different cards are the clock speeds and coolers. I could ramble on for 24 minutes and 24 seconds about 7 different versions but why dont you watch someone else do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf__ZGD9SUQ.

IMPORTANT: Make sure your power supply has enough power and the right connectors. I think I read somewhere that 500-550 watts is enough but do your research and dont go off of just what some random guy on nexus says.

 

The gtx 1080 has about 25-30% more performance of the 1070 at about 70% more cost.

Edited October 27, 2016 by pyrophiliac777

[QuagaarWarrior]

Hi LeddBate,

Yeah I probably should have mentioned I'll be modding Remastered extensively which is why I want the extra VRAM. You're right though I do think my 780ti will be good enough for vanilla Remastered (will find out on Friday) but once I start adding mods it may start to struggle.

Think I'll follow your advice on the 1070 :)

 

Hi pyrophiliac

Thanks for the video link I'll give this a watch tonight. I'm not worried about the rest of my system (the power supply is 750w Corsair so should be more than adequate).

 

I have £235 worth of vouchers for a certain electronics retailer so will be putting this towards a brand new 1070!

 

Thanks for the comments.

[spookymunky]

8gig will definitely future proof things for a while (hopefully hehe), just a shame that nvidia's 70 range of cards are yet again in the news for cheaping out on vram... I would personally avoid any card that has recently gotten a vbios update / has a vbios update in the pipeline. I could be wrong but if it's dodgy vram rather than some silly mistake, then the update will probably just limit it into safe running voltage and clock ?. Same as I have had to do a few times in past when testing the limits of overclocking vram and noticing flickering and random blocks, for some cards people seem to be getting these even without overclocking, or maybe using factory overclocked cards...

 

After a (seriously) quick (and lazy) google search the only manu I have noticed that so far hasn't been affected is gigabyte, though they are apparently unsure which ram they ended up buying, lol.

 

Edit: Not that it is likely to make a huge difference in performance or anything, I think all vram is pretty much pushed to the max these days at stock clock and voltage settings ? hehe. I would just prefer samsung vram that is maybe running at 90% of its potential rather than vram from a company I have never heard of that is struggling to keep up with stock speeds to the point that every manufacturer that cheaped out is having to do the update of shame :wink:

Edited October 27, 2016 by spookymunky

[LeddBate]

 

I'm not worried about the rest of my system (the power supply is 750w Corsair so should be more than adequate).

 

Yes, Corsair's PSUs are usually good quality. If your PSU is at least 80+ bronze rating, then you've got all the power (and just as important, reliability) that you need.

 

Heck, that PSU will even run one of those R9 power hogs...

[greeny187]

Do I need to upgrade my GTX 960 with 4G of vram to a 1050 or 1060? Will there be a improvement?