hangarspace Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) I'm sure this topic has been done to death, but would appreciate some advice as I'm not sure what the benefits are of some of the gpu options. Coming from the console world, Skyrim will be my first PC game and I'm wanting to play it with all the great mods/textures that I can reasonably get away with. Existing relevant hardware consists of I5-2500K, 1920x1080 monitor, 8GB ram and crappy onboard graphics. PSU will be upgraded. I already found that my mobo doesn't support sli, only xfire and I don't really want to replace it right now cos it's barely two months old, but if sli offers me significant benefits then I would consider it. I also understand that there are/maybe xfire issues with the game at the moment, but am prepared for them to be fixed in due course. Considered options (overclocking where possible) 1) GTX560ti single2) Radeon 6850 single or xfired?3) Radeon 6950 2GB single4) GTX 460 overclocked - but need new mobo $$$$ How do you think a pair of xfire 6850 would compare to a single 560TI ? What difference will 2GB of vram make over 1GB? How would the performance vary between a single 2GB card and two sli/xfire 1GB cards? Sorry for asking what must seem like dumb questions, but performance gpu's is totally new to me. Cheers! Chris Edited February 20, 2012 by hangarspace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donniemunro Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 If it's any help, I had a pair of HD5770 cards in CrossfireX with game settings on High. There were problems with flickering which disappeared when CrossfireX was disabled - Skyrim played better using just one card. That prompted me to upgrade to a single 2GB HD6950. I use all the highest resolution textures mods, with all settings on Ultra and the game plays perfectly smoothly. (Other stuff: Core 2 Extreme X9650 @ 3.6GHz, 4GB RAM, 2 Vertex 2 SSDs.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daver219 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Prior to upgrading my gpu I was running two 250s (1GB each) in SLI, and that is how I started playing Skyrim. Before deciding on my next GPU, I overclocked my Core I7 860 to 3.9ghz which improved things but left me far from happy with my frame rates, and that was without the Hi Res Texture Pack. Even though the 250s were not really up to Skyrim, I thought they would do a little better. I finally decided to add a single MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB and see where it got me. All I can say is I love the card! I am running quite a few mods including Hi Res Textures, every setting maxed out, and I will occasionally drop to an FPS of the upper 50s in places like Whiterun, but generally stay at 60FPS. Now that being said, my RAM and CPU are different from yours, but simply by dropping my two 250s in SLI and going to the single 560 was like the difference between night and day. Not sure what results you will get from your current rig by adding this card, but for the money, it is a sweet card! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hector530 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 The 560ti is a great card but the new 560ti 448 core is a beast and it makes no sense why nivida would make a 448 core 560ti because it's cheaper then the 570 and beats it in every benchmark but it's good for everyone else. Go with an EVGA if you go with a nivida card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyfizz Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I have a Radeon 6950 2Gb, and it kicks the ass of any game thrown at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatalmasterpiece Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I wouldn't touch an ATI card with a ten foot pole. All good developers are doing so with nvidia in mind and you will likely have all sorts of issues with ATI. Skyrim specificly runs best on nvidia and ENB can have issues with ATI. I also wouldn't waste time with SLI or multiple cards unless you are buying top of the line cards. The benifits you gain from paying double price from two good cards will not be greater than paying for a top of the line card. Also, EVGA is where it's at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a7x5631 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I wouldn't touch an ATI card with a ten foot pole. All good developers are doing so with nvidia in mind and you will likely have all sorts of issues with ATI. Skyrim specificly runs best on nvidia and ENB can have issues with ATI. I also wouldn't waste time with SLI or multiple cards unless you are buying top of the line cards. The benifits you gain from paying double price from two good cards will not be greater than paying for a top of the line card. Also, EVGA is where it's at. AMD* But I agree to an extent. Nvidia has 60% of sales, while AMD has 40%. Which leads to some developers supporting Nvidia a little more. Plus AMD's CTO just stepped down (he ran the graphics department). So there's no telling where they're going from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunado3 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I have a Radeon 6950 2Gb, and it kicks the ass of any game thrown at it.This, although mines only 1 gb and it still kicks the ass of any game I throw at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkwingDirk Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 If you're looking at a 6850, just get a 6870 instead. Best GPU for under $200 atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OminousVoice Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 If you're looking at a 6850, just get a 6870 instead. Best GPU for under $200 atm. As a 6870 owner I concur. It'll sling this game around almost as well as a 6950. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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