Upgrading my box !

[ArchNihil]

Hey there !

 

I was looking to upgrade my computer soon enough, and Id like to have some advices.

 

First, my objectives :

I already run Skyrim on High (Cant see the difference with Ultra, really.) with a few graphic enhancement mods (A few large HD replacers (1024), WATER, Lighting Overhaul and the likes) at 60FPS. I sometimes drop in the 40 during battle, but this is no issue. However, Id REALLY enjoy running ENB as I think it really enhances Skyrim, but the FPS hit on my machine is HUGE. I get 40FPS most of the times, but during battles, it can drop as low as 20. ;S Same goes for interiors where it drops to an abysmal 18 in Dragonsreach. I deem this is unplayable. (30 during combat or in interiors would be great.)

 

Second, my specs :

 

Intel I7 920, currently at 2.67. I can easily overclock it to 2.92 or even 3.2, however, I was wondering... Is it really a good idea ? Does Skyrim support OC better than Oblivion, and is It worth it ?

6GB RAM DDR3 Tripple Channel 1600MHz (I figure this is sufficient.)

ATI Radeon 7850 1Gb VRAM (I figure this is most likely the culprit for that...)

500GB Sata HD, I bought this on eBay a few years ago for 50 bucks and I figure this could also be an answer...

 

Third, what I think Im gonna do :

 

I thought of either upgrading my GPU for a 2GB card or buying an SSD Drive.

 

Which you think would be the best ? Any other ideas ? Is OCing my CPU a good idea ? If youd buy a new GPU, which one would it be ?

 

Cheers

 

Arch.

Edited January 28, 2013 by ArchNihil

[FiftyTifty]

When you say hi-res texture replace-rs, do you mean textures above 1024x1024? Skyrim's textures, by default, are all at 1024x1024 (Even the falling leaves and pine needles), with a few sky textures being 2048x2048.

 

What resolution you running at?

What level of AA are you using?

 

If you are unwilling to lower your resolution, and don't want to suffer jaggies, you could always get RadeonPro and use the inbuilt SMAA (Not MSAA, mind you) or FXAA injectors to AA Skyrim at a much lower cost of performance than if you were to use MSAA.

 

An SSD drive won't help with framerates. All that would do, is make transitions between cells (and possibly loading times) much less noticeable/non-existant, but the same effect can be done just by buying a high-end (£60 for a 1TB, £75 for a 2TB, £100 for a 3TB), traditional hard drive, namely the Seagate Barracuda line of drives, supposing you haven't choked Skyrim with a gajillion high-res meshes and/or textures.

 

Your CPU is a lil' slow. 3GHz should make quite a noticeable difference.

 

 

However, one solution that will solve all your woes, albeit at a slight visual impact (Or benefit, depending on if you like shadows or not), is to disable Skyrim's shadows. I can game quite comfortably (constant 40fps minimum) with a 6670 DDR3 and a few increased spawn mods @ 1152x864.

[Georgiegril]

If I were to suggest anything, it would be to get an NVidia graphics card. You will find all kinds of posts on this website from people lamenting even their high-end Radeon card's performance with Skyrim. Not that Nvidia is without it's flaws, of course, But they do seem to be having a few less inherent issues with this game.

 

I have an i7 920 (but mines closer to 2.8...my performance is really limited by my graphics card (9800GT 512 MB)

Personally I would get the best graphics card your system, power supply, and wallet can handle, see how it plays, and then, maybe, think about overclocking.

[ArchNihil]

When you say hi-res texture replace-rs, do you mean textures above 1024x1024? Skyrim's textures, by default, are all at 1024x1024 (Even the falling leaves and pine needles), with a few sky textures being 2048x2048.

 

What resolution you running at?

What level of AA are you using?

If you are unwilling to lower your resolution, and don't want to suffer jaggies, you could always get RadeonPro and use the inbuilt SMAA (Not MSAA, mind you) or FXAA injectors to AA Skyrim at a much lower cost of performance than if you were to use MSAA.

 

An SSD drive won't help with framerates. All that would do, is make transitions between cells (and possibly loading times) much less noticeable/non-existant, but the same effect can be done just by buying a high-end (£60 for a 1TB, £75 for a 2TB, £100 for a 3TB), traditional hard drive, namely the Seagate Barracuda line of drives, supposing you haven't choked Skyrim with a gajillion high-res meshes and/or textures.

 

Your CPU is a lil' slow. 3GHz should make quite a noticeable difference.

 

 

However, one solution that will solve all your woes, albeit at a slight visual impact (Or benefit, depending on if you like shadows or not), is to disable Skyrim's shadows. I can game quite comfortably (constant 40fps minimum) with a 6670 DDR3 and a few increased spawn mods @ 1152x864.

 

For your questions :

I run Skyrim at the highest resolution my TV supports. 1360x768 here and 1920x1080 on my big TV. Is the FPS Impact really that bad ^

My AA is set to 16 I believe, default High settings. I used to have Ultra Settings and it would run fine, but that was not worth it.

 

I didnt knew all Skyrim textures were at 1024x1024. I effectively use the 1024x1024 texture replacers. (Skyrim HD Lite, Serious HD) Guess this is why I really havent noticed any performance loss when installing those. They still improve the visual quality a bit though, so its a plus.

 

Thanks for the SSD tip. I think Ill be getting one someday, but today definitely aint the day. ; )

 

As for the CPU... Would you suggest I overclock ^ I can overclock to 3.2GHz fairly easy earlier, so would that really help ^ (I guess the more mod I add, the more it will help right ^ And I really intend to get lots of those. ; )

 

As for the shadows... I HATE them ! I, however, couldnt play without them at all. From what Ive seen though ENB seems to fix most shadow problems, this is why Id really enjoy being able to run it. 50% FPS loss is sorta unnaceptable when you barely have 60fps and dip in the high 30s (38-39) in certain areas.

 

If I were to suggest anything, it would be to get an NVidia graphics card. You will find all kinds of posts on this website from people lamenting even their high-end Radeon card's performance with Skyrim. Not that Nvidia is without it's flaws, of course, But they do seem to be having a few less inherent issues with this game.

 

I have an i7 920 (but mines closer to 2.8...my performance is really limited by my graphics card (9800GT 512 MB)

Personally I would get the best graphics card your system, power supply, and wallet can handle, see how it plays, and then, maybe, think about overclocking.

 

Thanks for the suggestion ! Looks like Ill look into a new gpu... For once it looks Ill even go with NVidia... Same quality for a bunch more if you want my opinion, but as this is NOT the only time Ive heard of ATIs having problem with games, this could be a change for the best.

 

I also do agree Id rather leave the CPU unOCed until then.

 

Well thank you both for the answer !

 

P.S : Im still lost as to what card to buy though. I thought about the NVidia GTX670 but its a little expensive... Any good alternatives ^

Edited January 28, 2013 by ArchNihil

[Zancharthus]

It's funny but Skyrim runs smoother on Ultra then it does High on my computer in FPS , my two cents is this go with AMD for your graphics card. AMD Phenom 2x4 quadcore CPU with Radeon GPU is what i have currently. Edited January 28, 2013 by Zancharthus

[ArchNihil]

It's funny but Skyrim runs smoother on Ultra then it does High on my computer in FPS , my two cents is this go with AMD for your graphics card. AMD Phenom 2x4 quadcore CPU with Radeon GPU is what i have currently.

 

I used to get around 40 FPS in town on High... Now that I'm on Ultra with only Shadows on high (They look better that way) and AA to 4, I never drop below 60. It's awesome. Impossible to understand. But awesome nonetheless.

 

By the way, according to suggestions on here and elsewhere, I'm going to get a GTX660Ti 3GB GDDR5.

 

Soon after, I think I'm going to water cool my machine and get the real power out of my i7 920. 3.2-3.6 should be really easy to attain then and give me that little plus I need.

 

Thanks all for answering.

Edited January 30, 2013 by ArchNihil

[ssz12345]

Have you tried overclocking your GPU? I just got a new computer and it's actually pretty easy while making a significant difference I have the 2GB edition of the 7850 and without changing the voltage, I OC'ed the core clock from 860 MHZ to 1100MHZ as well as the memory clock from 1200 to 1375 which gives around an extra 10 fps.

 

EDIT:Getting the 3GB GTX660 Ti is probably a good idea, I wish I got that card instead. In grassy forests, my VRAM usage is constantly at the max of 2GB(lots of 4k textures and K ENB btw).

Edited January 30, 2013 by ssz12345