best graphic cards for Skyrim LE?

[Aslan.]

Hey guys!

 

A question about skyrim and graphic cards:

 

Two years ago i bought myself a new machine to play skyrim smoothly in 1080, here's my actual PC specs:

 

Processor: AMD FX - 8350 Eight Core 4.00 GHz / 16gb RAM (x64)

GPU: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

 

Currently using Win10 Fall creators update that remove the 4gb cap usage.

 

I've installed a lot of 4k and 2K textures and with Snapdragon Prime ENB high settings i get 15-20 FPS during combat (yes i use it for gameplay and i don't want to change it ) and 25-30 FPS walking in nature with high grass density.

 

Now because i've finally managed to make my skyrim beautiful after years of pains, i need a graphic cards that let me play al least at 40 FPS.

 

I've read that the best solution in terms of quality / price would be the gtx 1080 ti 11gb, but also i saw that the RTX 2080 TI gives a lot more FPS.

 

As said i would be happy even with 30-40 FPS during combat, i've also tried by turning off Antialiasing and Anisotropic filter and switching from High to medium settings but didn't help much.

 

Even tried by getting rid of mods with heavy scrpts but only got 5 more FPS at max.

 

Do you guys think that by only changing the graphic cards i could get 15-20 more FPS?

 

I leave the word to the most experienced!

 

Thanks!

 

[yarz96]

I had 1060 6gb and had 40-60 fps with freeze.
I bought 1660 ti and have 55-60 fps without freeze.
I have 300+ mods, 2k textures + realvision enb

Anyway rtx 2080 ti will better

[WhatRules]

I have exactly the same specs except 16g RAM(have 8 ), and I have 30+ FPS in outdoor areas, with Rudy ENB and a lot of heavy script mods. I asked for upgrading advice on a hardware forum. They told me to keep the graphics card and get a new motherboard and an AMD Ryzen processor. Not sure if it's good for Skyrim though.

 

You can also try this guide and see if it helps: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/3j4sul/how_to_easily_improve_enb_performance/

I haven't tried it myself yet, so please tell me if you get an improvement.

 

I wouldn't turn off AA. It gives nice smooth edges for very little cost. Maybe 1-2 fps.

[Aslan.]

27 minutes ago, yarz96 said:

I had 1060 6gb and had 40-60 fps with freeze.
I bought 1660 ti and have 55-60 fps without freeze.
I have 300+ mods, 2k textures + realvision enb

Anyway rtx 2080 ti will better

Wow so you've gained some nice FPS just by upgrading the graphic card? I really don't understand how skyrim works, even after years of play and modding hahah

 

Anyway thanks for the info!!

[27X]

Bethesda games rendering that aren't Wolfenstein rely on brute force, period.

 

The more powerful and faster the card, the higher the gap between min and max frames. Real simple. Memory and storage speed also matter.

[Aslan.]

48 minutes ago, saltshade said:

I have exactly the same specs except 16g RAM(have 8 ), and I get around 30 FPS in outdoor areas, with Rudy ENB and texture mods. Haven't really checked my combat FPS but it seems okay for the most part. However Skyrim LE isn't designed for newer CPUs or graphic cards so I doubt very much that you would see an improvement worth the investment. If you want more FPS try disabling some stuff in your ENB, like that exaggerated DoF it sometimes comes with. Heavy script mods can also eat a lot of FPS. Without mods I'm pretty sure I'd play on 60 FPS.

 

The bottleneck for us isn't the GPU, it's probably the CPU. AMD with it's 8 cores is actually bad for a game like Skyrim that use maybe 2 cores? You would be better off with an I7 in this case. I've heard AMD Ryzen gives more value for the money though, so if you want a processor for the future, go with one of those.

Thank you really much Saltshade, that was helpful.

 

Fortunately i asked before spending undreds of dollars on a graphic card that probably isn't worth the performance gain.

 

Also thank you for the CPU suggestion, i will move that way then and see.

 

I've tried once to remove all the most heavy mods and got around 100FPS but then the game was pretty much "empty" haha

 

EDIT: Soory i saw now the link for the guide, i'll try it and see what happen, thanks a lot!

[27X]

48 minutes ago, saltshade said:

I have exactly the same specs except 16g RAM(have 8 ), and I have 30+ FPS in outdoor areas, with Rudy ENB and a lot of heavy script mods. I asked for upgrading advice on a hardware forum. They told me to keep the graphics card and get a new motherboard and an AMD Ryzen processor. Not sure if it's good for Skyrim though.

 

You can also try this guide and see if it helps: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/3j4sul/how_to_easily_improve_enb_performance/

I haven't tried it myself yet, so please tell me if you get an improvement.

 

I wouldn't turn off AA. It gives nice smooth edges for very little cost. Maybe 1-2 fps.

AA is the hardest hit on wasted frames outside ambient occlusion and Skyrim can use five threads. Those are facts, not opinions.

[Aslan.]

15 minutes ago, 27X said:

Bethesda games rendering that aren't Wolfenstein rely on brute force, period.

 

The more powerful and faster the card, the higher the gap between min and max frames. Real simple. Memory and storage speed also matter.

Hey!

 

I'm sorry i'm italian, i didn't get well what you mean, you're saying that a GTX 1080 will not give me much more FPS?So you don't suggest me to upgrade the graphic cards?

 

Sorry XD

[yarz96]

30 minutes ago, Aslan. said:

Wow so you've gained some nice FPS just by upgrading the graphic card? I really don't understand how skyrim works, even after years of play and modding hahah

 

Anyway thanks for the info!!

Yeap, only by upgrading graphic card
Btw, if you don't have 4k monitor, 4k textures is useless and use a lot of gpu memory

[yarz96]

3 minutes ago, Aslan. said:

Hey!

 

I'm sorry i'm italian, i didn't get well what you mean, you're saying that a GTX 1080 will not give me much more FPS?So you don't suggest me to upgrade the graphic cards?

 

Sorry XD

Ah, and another one, edit your enblocal, it helps me boost my fps on 15-20, when i had 1060 

[27X]

7 minutes ago, Aslan. said:

Hey!

 

I'm sorry i'm italian, i didn't get well what you mean, you're saying that a GTX 1080 will not give me much more FPS?So you don't suggest me to upgrade the graphic cards?

 

Sorry XD

The opposite of that.

 

Skyrim isn't optimized. The stronger your card, the better it will perform.

[Aslan.]

5 minutes ago, 27X said:

The opposite of that.

 

Skyrim isn't optimized. The stronger your card, the better it will perform.

Oh ok now i get it, thank you really really much!

[Aslan.]

14 minutes ago, yarz96 said:

Ah, and another one, edit your enblocal, it helps me boost my fps on 15-20, when i had 1060 

Really? Wow...

 

Well i have followed some tutorials on tweaking enblocal.ini but didn't get me that much FPS, do you by chance remember what have you edited to get that performance boost?

So maybe i can try as well

[yarz96]

1 minute ago, Aslan. said:

В самом деле? Вот это да...

 

Хорошо, я следовал некоторым учебникам по настройке enblocal.ini, но не получил мне столько FPS, вы случайно помните, что вы отредактировали, чтобы увеличить производительность?

Так что, может быть, я могу попробовать

Try my enblocal, but change VideoMemorySizeMb to your value

enblocal.ini

[Aslan.]

14 minutes ago, yarz96 said:

Try my enblocal, but change VideoMemorySizeMb to your value

enblocal.ini 1.71 kB · 0 downloads

Thank you very much!

 

I'll try it and let you know

[yarz96]

9 minutes ago, Aslan. said:

Thank you very much!

 

I'll try it and let you know

?

[MadMansGun]

1 hour ago, yarz96 said:

if you don't have 4k monitor, 4k textures is useless

that's not always true, Eg: the "Murals That Don't Suck" mod with it's 8k textures:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/79640/?

[RitualClarity]

You need at minimum 6gb of VRAM for a graphics card.

 

1060 with 6gb VRAM is a starting point for Skyrim. Of course bigger more powerful graphics card and other hardware will make things better.. however, $$$ will be the result and each step up in $$$ hardware will only give you a few FPS more. (judging on your current hardware specs)

 

I'd start looking into learning how to optimize the mods (textures and such ) you have, minimizing the scripts that aren't needed, and other game and mod tweaks (to combine with any upgrades you decide to do) 

 

I went from a GTX970 to a GTX 1080TI and only got a few more frames a section. {to clarify .. this is running on a 1080p 60 hertz monitor... 2k or 144 hertz monitors you can see the difference. Mentioning it due to the post below) The responsiveness of the graphics and such was nice. I have now room to run ENBs and other stuff but keep in mind Skyrim is a 32 bit system.  Perhaps look into the big brother of Skyrim .. Skyrim SE... I hear that the graphics is much better on that. (can do more) as it has more memory.  I believe this is so as I have a much easier time loading up Fallout 4 which is based on a similar engine to SE.

 

On my 970 I was able to do quite a bit once I started working on the mods (changing out textures where needed... smaller texture packs for small item and more detailed for more visual results etc. Lots of work.. lost it )

Spoiler

 This was on a i7 4790K  and a GTX970 with playable frame rate.. (most of the time)  Very heavy load order but.. more important.. most of the mods included were tweaked... (changed out the textures necessary) lots of work and lots of attention to detail as you could see with some of the chains, stonework, lighting and even weather.  Before Steam decided to delete it.. (didn't have a backup) when I reinstall the game (problem with a configuration of Steam) I only had water to work on to fix. had some major glitches in it)  The above also included a basic SexLab install as well (about 5~10 mods)  along with high quality bodies and some custom eyes and such from an author that hasn't released their product.

 

Edit:

So if you (the OP or whomever is intrested in this subject) learn how to modify and change out textures (simple find a texture you want and transfer it along the same path (overwrite the original) You can then start to change out your Skyrim far more than previously imagined. I found low texture low quality textures for small stuff and then put in 1K textures for common items and 2k or better for the larger more visual items to make a very custom texture replacement mod but so much nicer than just putting mods together.

 

TL;DR.. learn how to mod and how mods work.. Optimized them, alter them with the stuff you need. Merge them (for ability to add more and to minimize processing use) and you will be able to eventually have the very skyrim you wish. You belong to a community that will answer questions on how to do some of the above.. do some small things, first.. then move on to bigger and better things.

 

Spoiler

 

[27X]

1 hour ago, RitualClarity said:

I went from a GTX970 to a GTX 1080TI and only got a few more frames a section. The responsiveness of the graphics and such was nice. I have now room to run ENBs and other stuff but keep in mind Skyrim is a 32 bit system.  Perhaps look into the big brother of Skyrim .. Skyrim SE... I hear that the graphics is much better on that. (can do more) as it has more memory.  I believe this is so as I have a much easier time loading up Fallout 4 which is based on a similar engine to SE.

Then something's wrong with your 1080 because it's a straight across the board 60-100% upgrade.

 

 

[RitualClarity]

2 hours ago, 27X said:

Then something's wrong with your 1080 because it's a straight across the board 60-100% upgrade.

 

 

I don't see much of "real life" change.  (running 1080p)  when I got my 1080ti I was still running a 1080p 60 hertz screen  on occasion it would drop below 60 but most of the time it stayed on 60.  I doubt the OP has a 144 or better hertz screen to see that difference you are mentioning.  (I later moved to a 2k 144 hertz screen and yes, it does make a big difference in Skyrim, Skyrim SE and any other game ... like Witcher or the like. )

 

In order for the OP to get that.. he'd have to buy a 1080ti or better/equivalent AND a 144 hertz screen, and do some setting changes (turn off Vsync etc) to achieve the ability to see the full power of the 1080TI (or equivalent)  At that point he may or may not start running into issues (buffering) with his older hardware not being able to keep up with the power of the graphics card. (I don't have an issue but I am not pushing my hardware as hard as some do.. I have heard some people with issues related to hardware being older and a super powerful current graphics card) and that isn't what the OP wanted.. he wanted a few more frames per second..

 

If money was no object.. he should get a 3700X Rysan card, (or better) and a 2080, or better with 16 gigs of ram (fastest possible ) along with M.2 drive(s) yes, two of them. One for the OS and one for the games he would be playing to avoid any slow downs or buffering.  Money is the object. The Op is working with older hardware and wants to just add a bit more to his system.  A 1080TI is overkill In my opinion with the older hardware and setup.  An SSD running the OS and game would be an improvement (less buffering and quicker access to the game and such)  and perhaps if he could afford it 2 to 3 levels higher in graphics card at most. Anything beyond that would start to get very costly and possibly mean he would have to start changing other hardware and getting more complex.

 

Where the OP is cost might be different but he can get a 1070TI for about 159 dollars (US)

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1070-Ti/3639vs3943

 

A bit pricey but.. an improvement over the 1060 but not as costly as a 1080 or equivalent.  In reality a 1060 should be great for all 1080p gaming a staple of gamers everywhere but Skyrim and how inefficient and how much is going on when you mod it.. unfortunately you have to step up to a slightly higher card to get decent results.

 

@Aslan.  You can use the above link and play around with the various graphics cards to find something that is hopefully in your budget without being to far out there. With your hardware you should be safe with any mid level graphics cards you decide to purchase (below 500 dollars etc) the super high end.. I'd check with some people that have similar hardware to yours to make sure you don't end with with possible buffering. I am way outside of where I should be for my 1080TI but I am not getting buffering although others state I should . (I don't push my graphics as hard as many people do) and I am willing to turn down some of the effects to get a resolution etc that I desire to avoid the buffering. (I buy my hardware for the next 6~10 years so sometimes one part is much more powerful than the next. .. the next is likely going to be a 2700x (for cost) or if possible a 3700X~3900X processor with a nice motherboard and matched ram (high or advised speed) Then the oldest equipment I have would be the case, power supply (3 years) and/or hard drives.. (don't care about ages for those. I replace/upgrade as needed throughout and use the old ones as backup drives. )

 

Edit..
Oh if I did go with the 2700X for cost I would still get the newer (PCI express 4) motherboard anyway so that later I could change out to the higher processor when the prices drop.. (which they usually do before the next gen process or (AMD) are released.. the 2700X was about the price of the 3700X when it was released   Sad thing is I hear the socket they are using won't likely be going beyond this generation..   so not as future proof as I would like.. but that didn't stop me getting the 4790K when it was being discontinued   lol. got some good years out of that one.

 

In any case, the above link along with PC Parts Picker and such can allow you to play with configurations and cost options for your future purchases. See how they related (as best as possible but real world uses are different ) and help you (and anyone else reading this ( make a reasonable decision on their future purchases)

 

[Aslan.]

2 hours ago, RitualClarity said:

I don't see much of "real life" change.  (running 1080p)  when I got my 1080ti I was still running a 1080p 60 hertz screen  on occasion it would drop below 60 but most of the time it stayed on 60.  I doubt the OP has a 144 or better hertz screen to see that difference you are mentioning.  (I later moved to a 2k 144 hertz screen and yes, it does make a big difference in Skyrim, Skyrim SE and any other game ... like Witcher or the like. )

 

In order for the OP to get that.. he'd have to buy a 1080ti or better/equivalent AND a 144 hertz screen, and do some setting changes (turn off Vsync etc) to achieve the ability to see the full power of the 1080TI (or equivalent)  At that point he may or may not start running into issues (buffering) with his older hardware not being able to keep up with the power of the graphics card. (I don't have an issue but I am not pushing my hardware as hard as some do.. I have heard some people with issues related to hardware being older and a super powerful current graphics card) and that isn't what the OP wanted.. he wanted a few more frames per second..

 

If money was no object.. he should get a 3700X Rysan card, (or better) and a 2080, or better with 16 gigs of ram (fastest possible ) along with M.2 drive(s) yes, two of them. One for the OS and one for the games he would be playing to avoid any slow downs or buffering.  Money is the object. The Op is working with older hardware and wants to just add a bit more to his system.  A 1080TI is overkill In my opinion with the older hardware and setup.  An SSD running the OS and game would be an improvement (less buffering and quicker access to the game and such)  and perhaps if he could afford it 2 to 3 levels higher in graphics card at most. Anything beyond that would start to get very costly and possibly mean he would have to start changing other hardware and getting more complex.

 

Where the OP is cost might be different but he can get a 1070TI for about 159 dollars (US)

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1070-Ti/3639vs3943

 

A bit pricey but.. an improvement over the 1060 but not as costly as a 1080 or equivalent.  In reality a 1060 should be great for all 1080p gaming a staple of gamers everywhere but Skyrim and how inefficient and how much is going on when you mod it.. unfortunately you have to step up to a slightly higher card to get decent results.

 

@Aslan.  You can use the above link and play around with the various graphics cards to find something that is hopefully in your budget without being to far out there. With your hardware you should be safe with any mid level graphics cards you decide to purchase (below 500 dollars etc) the super high end.. I'd check with some people that have similar hardware to yours to make sure you don't end with with possible buffering. I am way outside of where I should be for my 1080TI but I am not getting buffering although others state I should . (I don't push my graphics as hard as many people do) and I am willing to turn down some of the effects to get a resolution etc that I desire to avoid the buffering. (I buy my hardware for the next 6~10 years so sometimes one part is much more powerful than the next. .. the next is likely going to be a 2700x (for cost) or if possible a 3700X~3900X processor with a nice motherboard and matched ram (high or advised speed) Then the oldest equipment I have would be the case, power supply (3 years) and/or hard drives.. (don't care about ages for those. I replace/upgrade as needed throughout and use the old ones as backup drives. )

 

Edit..
Oh if I did go with the 2700X for cost I would still get the newer (PCI express 4) motherboard anyway so that later I could change out to the higher processor when the prices drop.. (which they usually do before the next gen process or (AMD) are released.. the 2700X was about the price of the 3700X when it was released   Sad thing is I hear the socket they are using won't likely be going beyond this generation..   so not as future proof as I would like.. but that didn't stop me getting the 4790K when it was being discontinued   lol. got some good years out of that one.

 

In any case, the above link along with PC Parts Picker and such can allow you to play with configurations and cost options for your future purchases. See how they related (as best as possible but real world uses are different ) and help you (and anyone else reading this ( make a reasonable decision on their future purchases)

 

Wow hey thank you very much RitualClarity, you gave me a nice and clear explanation

I think you're right, i should start learning to edit my game on a more deep level than just put together mods that i like, actually you just inspired me to do it, the thing is, i've never had enough time and patience to do it hahah but nothing comes without a little of hard work i guess.

Also understanding how the game works more deeply will surely give me the knowledge to improve and increase the performance in game.

 

Also for the monitor i do have an Asus VG248QE, 144hz, 1ms.

Not the best for image quality haha but It's good, it have really nice colors in my opinion.

 

So based on what you previously said, with a 144hz monitor i will see a noticeable performance boost if i decide to upgrade my GPU with a GTX 1080 11GB? But then i will maybe have buffering problem because of my hardware too old for the new GPU right?

Damn these machines are complicated haha XD

 

So you think that a GTX 1070 would be a better choice than a GTX 1080 for my system?

To be honest i'm tempted to give a try to the GTX 1080...and in the meanwhile learning to mod in the right way to get the best results.

 

i wanna thank you again for your generous reply and disponibility and also for the link provided 

 

 

[MadMansGun]

2 hours ago, RitualClarity said:

the newer (PCI express 4) motherboard

i hear that some x570 are having overheating problems, also i'm not a fan of the fact that it needs a fan.

[RitualClarity]

3 hours ago, Aslan. said:

Wow hey thank you very much RitualClarity, you gave me a nice and clear explanation

I think you're right, i should start learning to edit my game on a more deep level than just put together mods that i like, actually you just inspired me to do it, the thing is, i've never had enough time and patience to do it hahah but nothing comes without a little of hard work i guess.

Also understanding how the game works more deeply will surely give me the knowledge to improve and increase the performance in game.

 

Also for the monitor i do have an Asus VG248QE, 144hz, 1ms.

Not the best for image quality haha but It's good, it have really nice colors in my opinion.

 

So based on what you previously said, with a 144hz monitor i will see a noticeable performance boost if i decide to upgrade my GPU with a GTX 1080 11GB? But then i will maybe have buffering problem because of my hardware too old for the new GPU right?

Damn these machines are complicated haha XD

 

So you think that a GTX 1070 would be a better choice than a GTX 1080 for my system?

To be honest i'm tempted to give a try to the GTX 1080...and in the meanwhile learning to mod in the right way to get the best results.

 

i wanna thank you again for your generous reply and disponibility and also for the link provided 

 

 

You can stat with some simple texture swaps.. The process is this... grab a low texture (less than 1k) and some mid range / high range... Look through the files (difficult part) figure out what is what and transfer those smaller lighter textures to objects you don't care about looking as good.. then get the high one. I started with the h ighest versions possible (for best results) then just overwrote those with smaller texture ones as needed. Took time but I also had to play the game to find out if my changes were good.  Kept my copies outside of the game for continuing work with versions. There are also other optimizations that can be done. I even read something about optimizing the bSA flies (for original Skyrim)

 

If you have a 144 hz monitor.. then, if you have a few more dollars you might benefit from a higher graphics card.. strong enough for now and the future.  Playing with the site I gave you can see the 1080 and even the 1080TI is doing quite well (also older and might be a better deal and cost less) 

 

The 1070 is a bit better than your 1060.. The 1070TI or 1080 would be much better and likely to give you more of what you want. If you can swing it.. a 1080TI or equivalent 20XX graphics card will be much better and perhaps even push you over 60 htz.

 

As for buffering..  I don't have any real issues (that can't be corrected by scaling down my settings) I am however running these games on SSDs

comparison
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-vs-AMD-FX-8350/2384vs1489

 

If you start to change that out.. you will also have to change many other things ... I'd cross that road when I come across it if I was you.  You can change setting and do other things to help with the buffering.. (like perhaps turn on vsync for your game to limit it to 60 htz.. not sure )  if you do start to experience it. At least you have an FX processor. Those usually were quite good for gaming. in their time   keep in mind that processor was released 2012 and Skyrim was released 2011.. so it is newer and should be fine for playing Skyrim. It is also a 4.0 ghtz processor to boot.

 

Now, i'd start learning how to get the mods optimized.. select what you need and be responsible with what you decide to install tweaking what you can and learning and growing that skill. As money becomes available make a decision how far up you want to go with your graphics card purchase.  Keep an eye out for a great sale etc. (avoid second hand... many of those are used by crypto miners .. at least unless you know the seller)

2 hours ago, MadMansGun said:

i hear that some x570 are having overheating problems, also i'm not a fan of the fact that it needs a fan.

yes, PCI x4 is going to have some issue with some of the cards and such as they come out to work. Reason I am waiting for a bit (if possible and my rig willing ) for a more mature bios and hardware to come out for AMD processor's and graphics before I can recommend them. (or change over)

[RitualClarity]

Here. compare your system to my  system..  run the benchmark system from there and see how it compares. my processor is 2 years newer.

Spoiler

I love that they rate my gaming as "UFO".. lol.  

[WhatRules]

22 hours ago, 27X said:

The opposite of that.

 

Skyrim isn't optimized. The stronger your card, the better it will perform.

What about the CPU? I've heard Skyrim is a CPU intensive game, especially if you have a lot of scripts.

 

Also, my vramtest is showing me an error "unable to initialize dx9 device". How much vram would I have with 8GB ram and 6gb GPU?