best graphic cards for Skyrim LE?

[Texmarker]

I upgraded from a 970 to a 1080 and while the 1080 is better, there are still fps drops all around the usual areas like riverwood and whiterun. LE engine is unoptimized and it can not utilize all the power the card has. I remember boris stating that there are a lot of internal engine limits he had to work around in LE ENB that restrict performance regardless of the hardware you have. So neither my i5 CPU nor the GPU get to 100% load most of the time. But the better card allows you to run a heavier ENB with less of a performance detriment.

[27X]

14 hours ago, saltshade said:

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?

Skyrim requires speed and brute force same as any other unoptimized generally scratched together game.

 

12228.

[Zor2k13]

I have been thinking about getting the new ryzen 2 or 3 stuff but I want to stay with windows 7 and so far only ryzen 2 can kind of do that but full support is only available in windows 10:-(

 

I don't like windows 10 I really don't and I'm trying to find a way to play the new games we get next year without using windows 10 somehow either by sticking with windows 7 or going to linux.

 

As for video cards we know that nvidia is better but most people are not going to pay those insane prices this year. I think only if the games coming out next year are really good will people spend some money and buy a video card they would not normally buy at such a high price. I would like to be able to run this dam porn simulator of a game (thanks to this place) with fancy enb stuff and all the extra stuff turned on and still get 60fps on a 1080p monitor. I don't plan on going 4k any time soon.

[MadMansGun]

i'm sort of in the same boat, the only "good" version of 10 is that LTSC (Long Term Service Channel) version that they don't want anyone to have.

 

right now i'm wondering how hard it would be to get all of my modding tools & plugins to run on Linux mint.

 

then there's the shit show of computer parts:

Spoiler

 

after some more studying of financial mathematics and other problems:
the Core i5 9600k costs $350 but does not include a heatsink, so adding a noctua cooler adds $100 to it's price making it $450, the same price as a Ryzen 7.
the Ryzen 7 3700x costs $450 and comes with a heatsink, but all the (affordable) x570 motherboards have a priority fan attached to them creating a potential failure point later on, and i'm not seeing any aftermarket replacements/alternatives.

 

for 6GB GPUs the GTX1660ti is slightly slower than a rtx2060 but is $100 less expensive at $370+ so the rtx2060 looks pointless to me.
for 8GB GPUs the rtx2060Super costs as much as a standard rtx2070 at $600+ but is slightly slower, so the rtx2060Super also looks pointless to me.
so is the extra 2GB actually worth a $300 cost increase (GTX1660ti vs rtx2070) ?

 

my build priorities are:
durability/life expectancy, i want it to last 10+ years.
future proofing, i want to avoid replacing/adding parts for at least 5 years.
minimizing cost where possible, i sure as fuck don't need 64GB of ram or a core i9 or a fuck load of LED lights on everything.

 

 

so right now my build thinking is:

 

Core i5, because the new AMD motherboards sound like a "fire hazard", and in the gaming tests comparing i5 to i7 there was no real difference to justify the extra cost of a i7.

 

Noctua NH-C14S (or) be quiet! Dark Rock Tf, they look like they would be easier to clean than the NH-D15S.

 

MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk, not actually sure about this one, but the fact that it has 2X rj45 ports on the back reminds me of my currant computer, also the usb ports are not a strange mishmash of different versions....not the best deciding factors.

 

16GB of ram at 3600 speed, i think that should be good enough.

 

random PSU, not sure what brand i want yet but they are all around the same price.

 

GPU is still undecided (GTX1660ti vs rtx2070 / 6GB vs 8GB)

 

all remaining parts (possibly) cannibalized from currant computer (case&fans, hard drives, dvdrw drives).

 

but it sounds like AMD is trying to start another price war so i'm wondering if i should try to hold out a bit longer.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/amd-ryzen-may-force-intel-to-drop-processor-prices/

also gen10 is starting to show up

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-ice-lake-i7-benchmark-leak-beats-amd-ryzen-9-3900x/

 

 

[Zor2k13]

Never get a random psu it really does matter how good it is and how well it is made which is exactly why most places love to charge a lot for them or stick a dam rebate on the good ones that takes forever to get in the mail. Hopefully all the alt coin mining crap finally dies off completely soon if it hasn't already I have not kept up with it for some time now so I don't know for sure. It helped a lot to kill off the whole bit coin alt coin craze that govts everywhere decided to get their unfair share by adding taxes fees and fines to ALL exchanges in the world basically taxing any transaction at all even trades from one alt coin to another or alt coin to bitcoin. Registering at any exchange now is just like dealing with all the crap required to trade on the S&P 500 so that should finally kill off the whole thing to a point anyway.

 

My cougar brand PSU is still working after eight years running and most of that time overclocking too.

[MadMansGun]

1 hour ago, Zor2k13 said:

.

my definition of random is Antec, Corsair, EVGA and Enermax at or around 650 watts.

my currant computer has been running a "Antec Truepower Trio 650W" for 12 years.

 

[sativa]

all you need is singlecorepower and lots of vram

this damed creationengine calculated the shadows with the cpu.

 

with a threadripper 2970 (for renderjobs)  and a 1080ti  looks so,

 

 

+14 more

 

[Rayblue]

On 7/28/2019 at 5:46 PM, MadMansGun said:

random PSU, not sure what brand i want yet but they are all around the same price.

I swear by Seasonic for being solid and backed by warranty, though others are either using Corsair, EVGA, or Antec. If you like making your cabling neat, go for a model that has modular wiring.

 

Also, the game will work great as long as you're not overloading it with so many NPCs.

[zer02]

In this case - Skyrim.
And this does not mean that it is not optimized,it means that our theme author will stuff it with an unknown number of mods that will load both RAM and video memory and even the processor.
From this we get that trying to measure the required power is silly,because the necessary video card in this matter is proportional to the number of graphical mods that will set the author of this topic,and their number is not known to us as the author himself.

RTX 2080, and then Snapdragon will show its charms ?

[Narcolepsy]

On 7/28/2019 at 5:46 AM, MadMansGun said:

i'm sort of in the same boat, the only "good" version of 10 is that LTSC (Long Term Service Channel) version that they don't want anyone to have.

 

right now i'm wondering how hard it would be to get all of my modding tools & plugins to run on Linux mint.

 

then there's the shit show of computer parts:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

after some more studying of financial mathematics and other problems:
the Core i5 9600k costs $350 but does not include a heatsink, so adding a noctua cooler adds $100 to it's price making it $450, the same price as a Ryzen 7.
the Ryzen 7 3700x costs $450 and comes with a heatsink, but all the (affordable) x570 motherboards have a priority fan attached to them creating a potential failure point later on, and i'm not seeing any aftermarket replacements/alternatives.

 

for 6GB GPUs the GTX1660ti is slightly slower than a rtx2060 but is $100 less expensive at $370+ so the rtx2060 looks pointless to me.
for 8GB GPUs the rtx2060Super costs as much as a standard rtx2070 at $600+ but is slightly slower, so the rtx2060Super also looks pointless to me.
so is the extra 2GB actually worth a $300 cost increase (GTX1660ti vs rtx2070) ?

 

my build priorities are:
durability/life expectancy, i want it to last 10+ years.
future proofing, i want to avoid replacing/adding parts for at least 5 years.
minimizing cost where possible, i sure as fuck don't need 64GB of ram or a core i9 or a fuck load of LED lights on everything.

 

 

so right now my build thinking is:

 

Core i5, because the new AMD motherboards sound like a "fire hazard", and in the gaming tests comparing i5 to i7 there was no real difference to justify the extra cost of a i7.

 

Noctua NH-C14S (or) be quiet! Dark Rock Tf, they look like they would be easier to clean than the NH-D15S.

 

MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk, not actually sure about this one, but the fact that it has 2X rj45 ports on the back reminds me of my currant computer, also the usb ports are not a strange mishmash of different versions....not the best deciding factors.

 

16GB of ram at 3600 speed, i think that should be good enough.

 

random PSU, not sure what brand i want yet but they are all around the same price.

 

GPU is still undecided (GTX1660ti vs rtx2070 / 6GB vs 8GB)

 

all remaining parts (possibly) cannibalized from currant computer (case&fans, hard drives, dvdrw drives).

 

but it sounds like AMD is trying to start another price war so i'm wondering if i should try to hold out a bit longer.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/amd-ryzen-may-force-intel-to-drop-processor-prices/

also gen10 is starting to show up

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-ice-lake-i7-benchmark-leak-beats-amd-ryzen-9-3900x/

 

 

You could choose an X470 or X450 board instead of the X570 if you want to avoid the extra fan. If you don't plan on overclocking, any board is fine. If you want PCI4, X570 and some select X470/B450 boards have that. If you don't need PCI4.0 but want SLI, then choose X470.

 

The fan is there mostly because PCI4 really taxes the SB and causes it to heat up. Some of the X570 boards don't even turn the fan on until it detects that temp is rising. If you aren't going to be using PCI4 NVME drives heavily, then you shouldn't worry about heat.

 

In my experience with Skyrim, more GPU ram is always nice, especially if you plan on playing with ENB and higher res textures. Try and snag a RTX 2070 on sale or used, since most will be swapping out to the new Super cards.

 

Also beware of leaked rumors, they can be very misleading: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3410589/is-ice-lake-better-than-ryzen-9.html

 

Single core performance is becoming less and less important, as CPU's improve. Even though Intel CPU's still beat out Ryzen single core perf (on the high end), it's not like Ryzen can't handle a single core workload just fine. And the huge boost to multithreaded that Ryzen has makes it the winner in my book if you aren't gunning for the i9-9900k. (Also should note that Intel has been having some troubles with security flaws in their chips).

[Zor2k13]

The whole security thing is a big slowdown for both sides and it won't go away any time soon. I remember when those RTX cards came out they were going bad right away and a bunch of people were pissed off about it. Wait a while and see if something newer comes out to displace the old cards and get an older card for cheaper.

 

I was looking at 6th gen intel stuff lately since that was the last gen to support windows 7 and the prices are much better than the new stuff but I am trying to go over the differences between 6th gen and newer ryzen stuff. Also I can't seem to find out if 6th gen intel supported quad channel memory, I'm sure it did since older gens did right?

[Narcolepsy]

1 hour ago, Zor2k13 said:

Also I can't seem to find out if 6th gen intel supported quad channel memory, I'm sure it did since older gens did right?

Skylake-X did have Quad Channel support up to 128gb, but only for their high end cpus I believe.

[Gameplayer]

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 10:54 AM, Aslan. said:

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!

 

Man, there was a thread up the other day a guy was asking how do we even get similar pictures to whats in Snapdragon...I'd like to know the same cause what I saw in game fell far short of what was shown in the gallery pics.

 

My experience with ENB isn't great but Rampage works fine and on my system I have it capped at 60FPS but it sometimes overruns that by a few frames.

I've tried Realvision and recently Patrician ENB...Those look real nice and run fine but don't have functioning Night Eye effect amoung other screen effects that are really needed for Skyrim, like frost shader for Frostfall.

 

But I guess you gotta use Snap Dragon,

Good luck man.

[Fatal]

I seen it said in this thread so I wanted to clear something up, Skyrim doesn't run just on 2 cores. It will use as many as you have, it is limited to the first core on draw calls. I don't know if it actually sticks to your first core for draw calls or if it moves around but it can only use one at a time. This is one of the big reasons high clock cores are important for Beth games.

[spoonsinger]

3 hours ago, Fatal said:

I seen it said in this thread so I wanted to clear something up, Skyrim doesn't run just on 2 cores. It will use as many as you have, it is limited to the first core on draw calls. I don't know if it actually sticks to your first core for draw calls or if it moves around but it can only use one at a time. This is one of the big reasons high clock cores are important for Beth games.

 

That said this is probably a benefit on an 8350, (due to it's special artitecture i.e. 4 dual cores bolted together each with a shared FP unit), in setting the cpu affinity to use alternate cores.

 

eg

 

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "skse" /affinity 55 "F:\Program Files (x86)\Mod Organizer\ModOrganizer.exe" "F:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\skse_loader.exe" -forcesteamloader

 

 

 

[Aslan.]

6 hours ago, Gameplayer said:

Man, there was a thread up the other day a guy was asking how do we even get similar pictures to whats in Snapdragon...I'd like to know the same cause what I saw in game fell far short of what was shown in the gallery pics.

 

My experience with ENB isn't great but Rampage works fine and on my system I have it capped at 60FPS but it sometimes overruns that by a few frames.

I've tried Realvision and recently Patrician ENB...Those look real nice and run fine but don't have functioning Night Eye effect amoung other screen effects that are really needed for Skyrim, like frost shader for Frostfall.

 

But I guess you gotta use Snap Dragon,

Good luck man.

Yep you're right haha, what is shown in the main Snapdragon's page is far from what you actually get in game, but i have to say, after trying several others ENB like Dovah Naakin, HD RGR, AEON, Real Vision and more, the only one that made me say "WOW!", is actually Snapdragon, i don't know why, it is just so beautfiul compared to the others, and i didn't even see its real potential cause i'm playing with a mere 20-25 FPS with Antialiasing and anisotropic filter disabled and with medium settings so....

 

I 've taked a look at the Rampage ENB you've mentioned (thanks for that!), actually it's interesting, i'll give it a try, seems pretty.

 

For now i've ordered the GTX 1080 TI 11gb, tomorrow i'll try how it works with my AMD 8350 and i'll post here the result.

 

thanks for the tips!

 

[Lyreal]

Im not sure if it the GPU that limit your FPS, the cpu is really old.

[Fatal]

12 hours ago, spoonsinger said:

 

That said this is probably a benefit on an 8350, (due to it's special artitecture i.e. 4 dual cores bolted together each with a shared FP unit), in setting the cpu affinity to use alternate cores.

 

eg

 

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "skse" /affinity 55 "F:\Program Files (x86)\Mod Organizer\ModOrganizer.exe" "F:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\skse_loader.exe" -forcesteamloader

 

 

 

I never tested with affinity but I disabled the cores in the BIOS before for testing. I got worse performance doing this. Skyrim will still use those other 4 cores if you don't disable them. I'm not sure how disabling them would improve performance?

[27X]

23 minutes ago, Fatal said:

 I'm not sure how disabling them would improve performance?

 

Because it doesn't. Skyrim can use 5 cores exclusively, and thread with two more.

[faky]

27 minutes ago, Fatal said:

I never tested with affinity but I disabled the cores in the BIOS before for testing. I got worse performance doing this. Skyrim will still use those other 4 cores if you don't disable them. I'm not sure how disabling them would improve performance?

you did what =D

setting affinity means forcing the program to run on a specified core(s) instead of the one windows puts it on, not disabling it

you can set affinity to 1. make sure that the game does not run on the same core that handles all other system crap 2. stop the game from wasting time and frames by constantly switching cores just because (well, because that's how windows works, apparently)

 

i think if you are using amd 8350 then the CPU will be your bottleneck with that 1080ti (which is a beast of a card that can make use of even the most powerful CPUs)

[Fatal]

4 hours ago, faky said:

you did what =D

setting affinity means forcing the program to run on a specified core(s) instead of the one windows puts it on, not disabling it

you can set affinity to 1. make sure that the game does not run on the same core that handles all other system crap 2. stop the game from wasting time and frames by constantly switching cores just because (well, because that's how windows works, apparently)

 

i think if you are using amd 8350 then the CPU will be your bottleneck with that 1080ti (which is a beast of a card that can make use of even the most powerful CPUs)

Setting affinity disables them for that program. Basically it stops that program from being able to run threads on that core. It does not stop Windows from running anything on the same cores that the game is running on. You shouldn't be doing this, I can almost guarantee you that it is hurting your performance. More importantly, you shouldn't be recommending this to other people.

[faky]

7 hours ago, Fatal said:

Setting affinity disables them for that program. Basically it stops that program from being able to run threads on that core. It does not stop Windows from running anything on the same cores that the game is running on. You shouldn't be doing this, I can almost guarantee you that it is hurting your performance. More importantly, you shouldn't be recommending this to other people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_affinity

 

also see

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/z3aEv3EzMyQ?t=435

the interesting part is 7:19 to 7:45, complete with a little graph that shows you got it wrong

 

 

 

[Fatal]

22 minutes ago, faky said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_affinity

 

also see

  Hide contents

https://youtu.be/z3aEv3EzMyQ?t=435

the interesting part is 7:19 to 7:45, complete with a little graph that shows you got it wrong

 

 

 

That is with Ryzen, not a FX processor. Ryzen does show a performance increase for some games doing this but most just disable SMT. You can test your performance, load into game > alt tab out and in task manager you can change your affinity for the application. Alt tab back into game and check your performance with 4 cores and then 8. 

[faky]

16 minutes ago, Fatal said:

That is with Ryzen, not a FX processor. Ryzen does show a performance increase for some games doing this but most just disable SMT. You can test your performance, load into game > alt tab out and in task manager you can change your affinity for the application. Alt tab back into game and check your performance with 4 cores and then 8. 

i guess only thing you have to say is that 8 cores better than 4 and you're just trying to throw in some fancy techy words to appear smarter even if it makes no sense

[Aslan.]

On 8/9/2019 at 12:20 AM, faky said:

i think if you are using amd 8350 then the CPU will be your bottleneck with that 1080ti (which is a beast of a card that can make use of even the most powerful CPUs)

Hey faky thanks for that!

 

I was planning to upgrade my CPU as well, but i don't have a big budget, i was thinking about the AMD ryzen 5 3600, found it for about 150$ new on ebay, you think is a good one?

 

I've compared my AMD 8350 with this one on Userbenchmark.com and the difference is BIG (of course), in term of performance/price, it seems the best choice for me right now, but i could be wrong.

 

Also i think i'll need another PSU, maybe an 600/700 watt?

 

My actual PSU is 450 watts, i don't think is enough for a gtx 1080 ti.