Best hardware for new build to handle many mods

[brucecy92]

Ive been looking for components for a new build and when I search with "mods or can handle multiple mods" I don't get anything that can tell me how these components will perform with mods. I am considering a Ryzen 5 paired with a b450 tomahawk, with a Nvidia 1660.I will be playing Fallout 4 mostly with a minimum of 150 or so mods.I have also played F4California with my alienware 13 with a GTX 840m and it lagged a lot.Future plans include California,Miami,New York,Fusion city rising,war of the commonwealth, and Sim settlements.Has anyone played with these mods or with 150 mods with these components and if so,did they perform well? I was also thinking of going Linux now that steam supports it for some games but Ive never used linux. All the videos Ive watched say its easy especially Linux Mint Cinnamon which is close to how windows works.If not Linux, then windows 7 as I cant deal with 10.Anyone out there using these components for a lot of mods? Or for the bigger Mods like California?Id appreciate feedback on what your using and how it performs.I am also not a computer whiz, I have been modding for a while but have limited skills mostly just as it pertains to fallout 4 so I probably would be reluctant to overclock.Thank You.

 

[niphilim222]

Nice i would recommend getting some real horses under the hood. What is your budget for this build of yours.

And windows 10 isn't all that bad right now, you just have to try it at least. Plus ryzen does not fully support windows 7 though. USB does not work.

Edited April 24, 2020 by niphilim222

[JimmyRJump]

You have to know that every mid-tier AMD GPU is cheaper and faster than what NVidia has. I'd go for an RX580 8GB or an RX 5600 instead of that 1660. And of course a GTX840M will lag a game. It's a low-tier GPU and a laptop from Bloatware to boot. Laptop GPUs are clocked lower than their desktop counterparts for heat generation purposes and Alienware are just good in advertising their products without there being any substance to it. A GTX840M isn't a gaming GPU.

 

Fallout 4 is a game that doesn't like overclocked hardware. Anyway, get a gpu with as much RAM as you can get/afford (8GB at least) and a decent amount of system RAM. Like 2x8GB minimum. RAM speed doesn't matter that much. The few frames per second you'll gain with higher speed RAM isn't worth the investment.

 

Be aware that Fallout 4 is a game that performs bad on PC because of its below standard optimisation when it comes to rendering textures (it uses a streaming variation instead of direct rendering) and you will experience fps drops in certain areas, no matter the size of your GPU and/or amount of RAM.

 

I myself use an R7 2700X with a Vega64 GPU and 2x16GB of RAM@2800MHz. I get an average of 50fps (fps is locked at 61fps) and a use of between 5 and 8GB on the GPU and around 5 to 7GB of system RAM use. I run 664 mods (with 456 plugins) and use quite a lot of 2k textures and a few 4k textures. I play in 1080p.

 

Get a good power supply from a known brand like Silverstone, Antec, Corsair or CoolerMaster. A PSU is the most important component in a desktop computer because it powers all the costly hardware inside. You want to enjoy your computer, not sit around a pile of ash lamenting to the gods of electricity about your misfortune.

[niphilim222]

Ya you need some real horses like amd or Nvidia, they are equally as good as one another.

 

JimmyRjump do you use loot when you have that many mods, i have 200 or so without errors and patched to heck. :geek: :geek:

[xrayy]

for a fast responding modded skyrim or fo4 game i would recommend a fast ssd solution. if you play 2k resolution or higher you need ram (32GB+) and vram (8GB+) if you want to minimize stutter. my modded fo4 setup with ultra settings occupies at least 15GB ram (up to 27GB!) and the full 11GB of my 1080ti. i would also recommend ryzen 5 3600 or i5 8600 cpu and a GPU with fast 8GB Gddr 5 VRam or better.

[coldman910]

This is, essentially, the very question I have been looking to answers for.

 

Does the same rule here apply to a PC one would be building for FNV? I'm planning a budget build ($300-$500), but I thought since NV is an older game and the base game requirements wouldn't be so high that I'd have more room for mods.

 

I know I won't be able to heavily mod with this rookie PC/modding setup, but I still enjoy vanilla NV so an enhanced couple of playthroughs will suit me just fine for the time being. Any recommendations for parts?

Edited December 1, 2020 by coldman910

[HeyYou]

This is, essentially, the very question I have been looking to answers for.

 

Does the same rule here apply to a PC one would be building for FNV? I'm planning a budget build ($300-$500), but I thought since NV is an older game and the base game requirements wouldn't be so high that I'd have more room for mods.

 

I know I won't be able to heavily mod with this rookie PC/modding setup, but I still enjoy vanilla NV so an enhanced couple of playthroughs will suit me just fine for the time being. Any recommendations for parts?

Stay away from script heavy mods, and high res graphics, and you should be able to get a playable game.

 

As a general rule of thumb, there is no such thing as Too Much Ram. In fact, more is better. Same goes for Video Ram. (memory on your vid card.) More is better, too much is almost enough. :) Running the game from some variety of solid state drive is VASTLY superior to any mechanical drive, even the hybrid fellers. NVME are currently the fastest, and storage has gotten dirt cheap. Again. :D

[coldman910]

Stay away from script heavy mods, and high res graphics, and you should be able to get a playable game.

Â

As a general rule of thumb, there is no such thing as Too Much Ram. In fact, more is better. Same goes for Video Ram. (memory on your vid card.) More is better, too much is almost enough. :) Running the game from some variety of solid state drive is VASTLY superior to any mechanical drive, even the hybrid fellers. NVME are currently the fastest, and storage has gotten dirt cheap. Again. :D

Thanks for the advice. I have a few more questions though.

 

Is it better to split the RAM between two cards or just one that's good at what it will be doing?

 

I read on the General Mod Use Advice section that NV isn't made to run with multiple processors, should I still purchase a dual/quad processor or will that just be useless?

 

Since more VRAM is better, should I make the video card the most expensive part I buy?

 

How can I figure out if a mod is script heavy?

Edited December 7, 2020 by coldman910

[HeyYou]

In my opinion, multiple video cards is a waste of money. Spend your money on ONE really good vid card, and call it a day. Performance scaling simply isn't worth the investment of any more. The more VRAM the card has, the better as well.

 

I don't think you can even buy single-core processors any more..... and the game CAN make use of at least two cores.... at least, in my experience. Still and all, a multi-core processor is what you want anyway. I run the intel i7-9700KF. It's unlocked, if I was interested in over-clocking, I could, and it doesn't have any on-board video. It also doesn't have hyper-threading, but, it's 8 cores...... so, I don't see the real need for hyper-threading. :D

 

Look at what a mod does...... if it changes how some aspect of the game works, in a significant manner, it is quite likely script-based..... My take on it is, install the mods you want, for the game experience you want, and see what happens. If you find the game is lagging/bogging down, take steps to figure out why, from there, and then address the issue. :)