6870 not cutting it?

[nemesis108]

6870 really chugs on 2k textures and enb mods you guys have this prob? i know its not a cpu problem mines at 4.4ghz.

[xlcr]

hi nemesis108, i think the stock AMD Radeon 6870 only has 1GB dedicated VRAM memory; however, i know there are 2gb models out there so i could be wrong.

- guessing you might be alittle low on available GPU memory for all the 2k textures/enb mods you're probably running.

 

Skyrim game engine is relatively CPU intensive and so is ENB processing; but, i doubt your 4.4ghz CPU is a bottleneck as you know.

Suggest trying your AMD graphics control panel, experiment by dialing down some of the performance settings until things start chugging along acceptably.

(antialiasing, texture filtering, rendering-buffering, vsync..)

Consider bumping down some (not all) of your built-in Skyrim display settings from ultra to very high.

There are also a whole bunch of Skyrim INI tweaks you can adjust to improve performance for loaded grids, distance rendering, and shadow/lighting.

 

i haven't been in the AMD camp for awhile, hopefully AMD has somekind of specific Skyrim game profile program settings in their control panel you can tweak.

Search the net, you'll probably find people discussing recommended Skyrim settings for their 6870's running 2k textures and ENB.

Many people resort to carefully overclocking/cooling their GPU to get more speed/mileage out of them.

Your rig with the 6870 can run Skyrim fine, you're probably just pushing it to the limit, go for it! lol.

 

edit: fyi, i think smelgafeld below is referring to this mod: FXAA Post Process Injector v2.1 by some_dude

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=131

(instead of ENB).

Edited March 9, 2012 by xlcr

[Smelgafeld]

I have a 6870 and its running fine with 2k textures ( nearly everything). However i dont use ENB and i suspect thats whats causing the performance hit. Maybe try FXAA PPI? Hit is minimal compared to ENB from what ive read. Also my monitor is low res (1366 x 768) so maybe thats it too.

[eltucu]

6870 really chugs on 2k textures and enb mods you guys have this prob? i know its not a cpu problem mines at 4.4ghz.

The thing is not so much your GPU power but your vRAM.

 

1Gb works, doesnt do wonders, just works. I have a GTX 560 Ti, also 1Gb (the same bandwidth as an HD6870 if you didnt OC it) and the stutter when loading stuff is noticeable (plus some slight popping here and there).

 

That said, the stutter will be worse the higher res you play. I play on an old CRT monitor, 1152x864, so probably my vRAM usage isnt that far from 1Gb. But if you want to play at 1600x1200 or 1080p (1920x1080) or with heavy AA, AF, i think you're going to be pretty limited.

 

Several factors start to matter a lot once you surpass the ammount of vRAM your card has (or you're very close to its limits). Constant streaming start to appear between HDD and RAM, and between RAM and your VGA, so all the system has to work more.

 

For reference, i use the official HQ texture pack, no other graphical mod, 8xAF forced in drivers, ambient occlusion (quality) forced in drivers, 2x transparency SSAA forced in drivers, 4x AA ingame, and no FXAA (plus a bunch of LOD and shadow tweaks).

[scot]

I also have a GTX 560 TI and I can run skyrim on ultra with the official HD textures DLC and clutter, clothes and body/face HD textures with no crashes nor lagging.Though if I use 2k textures or serious land textures my game may crash.I´ll be saving money for a GTX 590 with 3 GB VRAM.

[PsYchotic666Joker]

I also have a GTX 560 TI and I can run skyrim on ultra with the official HD textures DLC and clutter, clothes and body/face HD textures with no crashes nor lagging.Though if I use 2k textures or serious land textures my game may crash.I´ll be saving money for a GTX 590 with 3 GB VRAM.

 

I would advice you to ignore the 590, and go with perhaps the Evga gtx 580 classified 3GB version instead.

Tons of people have problems and end up selling their 590's.

 

I literally just woke up so i won't bother going into detail about this issue though.

 

Oh and if you're looking for a new cpu and do some overclocking, the i7 2600k is a GREAT choice. :D

[xlcr]

hi nemesis108, fyi, another nexus member todd92371 fixed a game physics issue he was having on another thread:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/598442-inn-sound-bug/

you may have some luck smoothing your graphics performance lag issues using an FPS Limiter also, you never know!

here's an fps w/render-ahead limiter i use sometimes for skyrim (there are others out there):

FPS Limiter v1.01 by GriefReaper

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=34

Edited March 9, 2012 by xlcr

[Nunyabiz]

I have heard the Nvidia cards/drivers work better with skyrim.

Especially the latest Nvidia driver (295.73) which gives a 45% performance increase.

 

I am running on my home built 5 year old PC, Q6600 quad core stock 2.4gz, 8 gigs ram, GTX570 Twin Frozr 1280mbVram (updated video card) Vista 64bit.

 

Never had a problem, no crashes, nothing and I am running at 1600x1200 with everything maxed, Ultra and HD Textures mod installed.

Runs smooth as silk.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

I would check your cooling system. A monster card will not run well when it gets hot.

 

I'm only running a Nvidia 480 with maxed graphics, ENB and hires. I get some slow down sometimes but not enough to change.

[scottmack]

Im using a 4890 with 3.2 GHz and Im not having this problem. Maybe the issue lies elsewhere and not with your graphics card..