Discussion | GPU vs Crossfire\SLI

[DrEllert]

TL;DR

 

Let me start from the beginning.

 

I have a pretty good PC (specs attached in a file). Back in 2014 when I first built this rig, vanilla Skyrim ran as smooth as a baby's behind. My only limit was the amount of mods that I decided to put... which weren't that much. Never liked them 2k texture mods, more like Climates of Tamriel\Convenient Horses\SkyUI type. The game was fun, I finished it like several times (two-handed Nordic warrior, Wood Elf assassin-thief, Dark Elf assassin-mage, Breton Destruction\Alteration mage. Last one was reeaaalllly OPed as hell).

 

Now moving forward to December 2016: I decided to play once again and this time to try an Argonian... But in special edition. Joyous and excited, I started playing. Not surprising, the game was full-o'-bugs (and not the chitin-dropping type) so I decided to lay it to rest. Each month since then I would play for like an hour, just going from one place to another, maybe looting a cave or something I don't know.

 

Today.

 

This week I decided to return fully to the game.

It seems I didn't remember it so well, cause the game was stuttering 48-58 FPS in ultra (mostly 52FPS). High settings works fine, but only indoors: a cave, a dungeon, a room, inside-cities [like Whiterun, Solitude, Windhelm]. but outdoors it still stuttering at about 41-55 outdoors: Open cities [like Falkreath, Winterhold, Morthal], Heavily textured woods [parts of the Falkreath hold and parts of the Rift], heavily snowy places [basically almost the entire north except maybe for solitude and place near Windhelm if I remember] etc.

 

I discovered a lot of things changed, including that tweak with the FPS limit (changing the value of v-sync in skyrimpref.ini didn't work).

 

Long story short, the performance is not pleasing even in high settings. Also forgot to mention that I lowered "depth of field" all the way down.

 

Now I just play on medium to get 60 FPS most of the time. My only drops are about to 55 FPS in those mentioned places and in some of the battles (especially ones that involve more than one NPC).

 

I think my hardware should be able to confront Skyrim special edition smoothly even on ultra settings. It shouldn't be so difficult. Bethesda recommended AMD R9 290 GPU while mine is R9 290X, the better one. My software even came with a Wattman installed, so I tried tweaking a bit with it... and still nothing changed.

 

So I thought to myself... maybe my hardware is old? maybe it's time to do something about it?

 

Thus I decided to research around the internet and tried to get a definite answer to two questions:

 

1. What options do I have exactly?

 

2. What will be the best option for me?

 

Answering them questions:

 

1. Buying of course. But what exactly?

 

I realized I can buy indeed a new GPU. In my research I decided that GTX 1080 Ti would be a great leap from my R9 290X.

There are a few versions of this, and the MSI Aero one is the best I can offer to myself based on price\performance (it makes sense from where I live).

 

Then I discovered there's another option... Buy another R9 290X secondhand\firsthand, and crossfire it.

It would be much cheaper, and hopefully, get the results for Skyrim SE that I desire.

The only problem... most forum threads that I find about crossfire and Skyrim SE are divided.

 

Tom's Hardware - crossfire\SLI vs single card: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3071174/sli-crossfire-single-card.html

 

Skyrim issues and troubleshooting with crossfire on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/5aghz5/any_luck_with_crossfire_in_skyrim_special_edition/

 

Skyrim great performance using R9 295X in reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/5c2cgf/psa_skyrim_special_edition_fixed_crossfire/

 

A Mod by Gutfux "AMD Crossfire Fix" on Nexus Mods: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2805/?

 

Skyrim SE with SLI using GTX 1080 Ti [Nvidia's counterpart for Crossfire] on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDTumR5nNn4&t=182s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5BcETYyxvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nVxdbaDxUo

 

2. Finally... What is the best option for me?

 

I intend to spend up to 950$ and not a cent more.

 

Where I live, the GTX 1080 Ti costs 902.55$

 

My version of R9 290X costs about 564.98$ though I can get it secondhand for 254.24$ which is significantly cheaper.

 

Either way, the true questions being asked here are:

 

Will buying GTX 1080 Ti really will be much more different than what I have now? If I run some harsh tests how will it perform? Will the FPS crumble when I walk through the woods or in rain, and only perform Ultra smoothly in nice sunny days inside a room? Because, what if I spent 900$ on a GPU and got about the same results as my previous GPU?

 

Would crossfire offer me good enough results? Does it even work properly with Skyrim SE?

 

I wish for your consultation. What do you think is the best thing of the above that I can do in order to run Skyrim SE on 60FPS 1920x1080?

 

Yeah also forgot to mention a few technical details:

 

* R9 290X connects via PCI Express x16 while my motherboard connection-slot is PCI Express x8.

At first I thought it might be a major fault until I researched around it a bit, and it shouldn't be an issue. Here are two sources for you enjoyment:

 

Gamers Nexus: http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2488-pci-e-3-x8-vs-x16-performance-impact-on-gpus

Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2129772/pcie-x16.html

 

* Also my monitor is BENQ RL2455HM 24" â1920x1080 connected via DVI.

 

---

 

For those who didn't really read the whole thing:

 

What should I do so I can play Skyrim SE with 60FPS 1920x1080?

Upgrade myself with GTX 1080 Ti or settle for crossfire R9 290X (I already own one)?

 

 

Thanks for anyone who reads and\or comment here. Everything will help me at this point.

 

---

 

* Attached DxDiag report.

* Attached Mods list (installed and managed via Nexus Mod Manager). Also Mods organized via LOOT, cleaned (except for Skyrim.esm, Dawnguard.esm, Hearthfire.esm, Dragonborn.esm because that causes game issues such as crashes at certain points and some graphical issues like missing texture etc.)

* Crimson (attached GPU driver reports 1+2).

* Skyrim Special Edition version 1.4.2.0.8

 

 

 

[LeddBate]

Woof! That's a lot of info. The only thing that confuses me in your description above is about your GPU interface. Are you saying you only have one x16 lane (that your 290 is currently plugged into) and that to go Crossfire, you only have a x8 lane available?

 

Regardless, in answer to your question, my advice would be "neither". Want to save money? A 1070 with 6 or 8GB of VRAM is all the muscle you need for SE even with a texture-heavy load order. I run a plain-old 980 (not ti) on a 32inch at 1080p with every setting cranked up to max and average 70 to 80fps according to FRAPS. A 1070 will save you around $150. The only problem I see is that at the moment there seems to be a strong demand for 1070s and a lot of online retailers are out of about half the available models.

[DrEllert]

Woof! That's a lot of info. The only thing that confuses me in your description above is about your GPU interface. Are you saying you only have one x16 lane (that your 290 is currently plugged into) and that to go Crossfire, you only have a x8 lane available?

 

Regardless, in answer to your question, my advice would be "neither". Want to save money? A 1070 with 6 or 8GB of VRAM is all the muscle you need for SE even with a texture-heavy load order. I run a plain-old 980 (not ti) on a 32inch at 1080p with every setting cranked up to max and average 70 to 80fps according to FRAPS. A 1070 will save you around $150. The only problem I see is that at the moment there seems to be a strong demand for 1070s and a lot of online retailers are out of about half the available models.

 

Yeah I think you can take all that post and put it in a Skyrim lore book lol.

And yes - the card is x16 while my mother board is x8 only. Oh no it doesn't have anything to do with crossfire, just to eliminate that possibility right ahead before anyone asks.

 

Thanks for you advice, it helps a lot :smile:

 

EDIT:

 

Almost forgot to ask: 70-80 FPS everywhere, including heavy-loaded screens (such as heavy snow \ woods etc.)?

 

Also where I live I can get it from the brands Asus, MSI, EVGA and Gigabyte. I think MSI is a good choice, right? A bit new in Nvidia cards.

Edited June 25, 2017 by DrEllert

[HeyYou]

 

Woof! That's a lot of info. The only thing that confuses me in your description above is about your GPU interface. Are you saying you only have one x16 lane (that your 290 is currently plugged into) and that to go Crossfire, you only have a x8 lane available?

 

Regardless, in answer to your question, my advice would be "neither". Want to save money? A 1070 with 6 or 8GB of VRAM is all the muscle you need for SE even with a texture-heavy load order. I run a plain-old 980 (not ti) on a 32inch at 1080p with every setting cranked up to max and average 70 to 80fps according to FRAPS. A 1070 will save you around $150. The only problem I see is that at the moment there seems to be a strong demand for 1070s and a lot of online retailers are out of about half the available models.

 

Yeah I think you can take all that post and put it in a Skyrim lore book lol.

And yes - the card is x16 while my mother board is x8 only. Oh no it doesn't have anything to do with crossfire, just to eliminate that possibility right ahead before anyone asks.

 

Thanks for you advice, it helps a lot :smile:

 

EDIT:

 

Almost forgot to ask: 70-80 FPS everywhere, including heavy-loaded screens (such as heavy snow \ woods etc.)?

 

Also where I live I can get it from the brands Asus, MSI, EVGA and Gigabyte. I think MSI is a good choice, right? A bit new in Nvidia cards.

 

What country are you in?

 

In my opinion, (and I build gaming machines part-time for a living..... sorta.) SLI/Crossfire doesn't give the performance per dollar that just going with a really good single card will give you. That, and the performance increase really doesn't scale well, and varies from game to game. (by quite a bit.)

 

A GTX 1070 8gb will give you more power than you really need, but, I don't think a solution exists that will get you 70+FPS everywhere, with a heavy mod load. But then, you don't really need a super frame rate for these games to be amazingly playable. Anything greater than 30 or so, and you won't really notice a difference.

[DrEllert]

 

What country are you in?

 

In my opinion, (and I build gaming machines part-time for a living..... sorta.) SLI/Crossfire doesn't give the performance per dollar that just going with a really good single card will give you. That, and the performance increase really doesn't scale well, and varies from game to game. (by quite a bit.)

 

A GTX 1070 8gb will give you more power than you really need, but, I don't think a solution exists that will get you 70+FPS everywhere, with a heavy mod load. But then, you don't really need a super frame rate for these games to be amazingly playable. Anything greater than 30 or so, and you won't really notice a difference.

 

 

I'm from Israel (let the hate begin, lol)

 

Building gaming machines for a living sounds AWESOME! So jealous.

Thanks for the tip, really helps!

Let's just say that I'm a really spoiled brat that wants to play Skyrim SE like so:

My Argonian knight fights a dragon and a bear in the most heavily textured forest with fire everywhere, in a snowy-rainy weather in ultra settings... And still get 60 FPS.

'cause like, in old Skyrim I could do that (vanilla textures of course. I don't install them things 'cause I don't know how to uninstall them later).

 

So you also think 1070 could do the trick? I'm starting to get more confidence about investing in one. If you say it's more than enough... I just want the game to perform at best, and with my R9 290X it's not good enough.

currently I'm playing on medium and even then I get 55 FPS more often then one wants.

Edited June 25, 2017 by DrEllert

[LeddBate]

If your mobo does NOT have an x16 PCI-e lane, then you won't get the full use out of current-gen cards. You really need to upgrade to a mobo with a x16 PCI-e lane THEN get a current gen card (like the 1070 we're suggesting.) Unfortunately, replacing your mobo usually requires you to re-activate your windows OS. Annoying, I know.

[DrEllert]

If your mobo does NOT have an x16 PCI-e lane, then you won't get the full use out of current-gen cards. You really need to upgrade to a mobo with a x16 PCI-e lane THEN get a current gen card (like the 1070 we're suggesting.) Unfortunately, replacing your mobo usually requires you to re-activate your windows OS. Annoying, I know.

 

That's what I thought, but then I saw this:

 

Gamers Nexus: http://www.gamersnex...-impact-on-gpus

Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardw...2/pcie-x16.html

 

It made me question the necessity in a new MoBo.

I mean, yeah sure, a new MoBo is always a good idea (CPU's this days, like, mine is 4930k [3.7Gh~] and today you have 4970k [4.4~ I think]) but entirely for Skyrim?

You think that changing the port will make such a big change on my performance? 'cause on that video it said like 1% of better performance (in general, of course).

[LeddBate]

Well, that's an eye opener. I was really convinced that a x8 lane would bottleneck current GPUs, but I guess not. I mean, if you can't trust Tom's Hardware, who can you trust?

 

Nevermind the mobo advice then. Just get yourself a nice 1070 with 8GB of VRAM and enjoy. Of course, if you decide your budget can handle a 1080, then go for it. When I upgraded to a 980 from my old 670 I was blown away by the performance increase. SE runs at 70 to 80 FPS for me at 1080 with a decent mix of 1K and 2K texture mods. The only frame-rate drop I get is when there are massive numbers of NPCs on the screen (e.g. battle fields with 50+ soldiers.) Then I see drops as low as 40 to 60 FPS.

[QuagaarWarrior]

Hi

 

You've had some good advice so far. I have a 1070 8gb and it's great in Special Edition. I've not done any benchmarks but it runs smooth with a heavy mod loadout. Looking at your loadout it should have no problems whatsoever. In fact I'd say you'll have plenty of room for more mods and an ENB if you want it.

Disclaimer: the rest of my system is more 'modern' than yours so I guess there's a chance another part of your system could cause a bottleneck.

My advice: get a 1070!

[DrEllert]

Well, that's an eye opener. I was really convinced that a x8 lane would bottleneck current GPUs, but I guess not. I mean, if you can't trust Tom's Hardware, who can you trust?

 

Nevermind the mobo advice then. Just get yourself a nice 1070 with 8GB of VRAM and enjoy. Of course, if you decide your budget can handle a 1080, then go for it. When I upgraded to a 980 from my old 670 I was blown away by the performance increase. SE runs at 70 to 80 FPS for me at 1080 with a decent mix of 1K and 2K texture mods. The only frame-rate drop I get is when there are massive numbers of NPCs on the screen (e.g. battle fields with 50+ soldiers.) Then I see drops as low as 40 to 60 FPS.

 

That's probably what I'll do eventually. Thanks for all the help, I mean it.

 

Hi

 

You've had some good advice so far. I have a 1070 8gb and it's great in Special Edition. I've not done any benchmarks but it runs smooth with a heavy mod loadout. Looking at your loadout it should have no problems whatsoever. In fact I'd say you'll have plenty of room for more mods and an ENB if you want it.

Disclaimer: the rest of my system is more 'modern' than yours so I guess there's a chance another part of your system could cause a bottleneck.

My advice: get a 1070!

 

Thanks!

âby "bottlelneck" you mean the MoBo?