Yet another upgrade question (Skyrim related)

[JagFan86]

Hello, All
I Just upgraded my comp with the following:
Z68XP-UD3
I5-2500K (from a amd9600+)
8gb Ripjaw 1600mhz
650w Corsair
However, I'm still running a 4870 1gb. My question is this. Would it be worth it to upgrade to a 6000 series or maybe crossfire a 4890. Or should I wait until the 7000 series starts to come out. I upgraded mainly for Skyrim and SWTOR, however, I do game primarily on console (due to my comp being upgraded). I do use a 1920X108 on a 23" monitor. Thanks In advance!

 

[hunter315]

The recommended GPU for Skyrim is a 4870 so it will probably do quite well, it wont be doing 1920x1080 maxed out with 8x AA, but it should be able to handle medium high at 1920x1080. The 7000 series isn't due out for a while, personally i would try with you 4870, it should do quite well, but if you need more you could always upgrade after trying, no point in upgrading, spending money, and never knowing if you needed to.

 

[cwu]

For the most part you should be fine on med/high settings as Skyrim is primarily developed for the xbox 360.

Directx 11 will be limited as stated here: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/The-Elder-Scrolls-Skyrim-Todd-Howard-RPG-DirectX-11,12495.html

Here's the PC specs for Skyrim

Minimum System Requirements
* OS: 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
* CPU: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
* RAM: 2 GB
* HDD: 6 GB
* Graphics: 512 MB card
* Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
* DirectX: Version 9.0c
* Internet for Steam activation
Recommended System Requirements
* OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP (32 or 64 bit)
* CPU: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
* RAM: 4 GB
* HDD: 6 GB free disk space
* Graphics: 1 GB Graphics Memory
* Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
* DirectX: Version 9.0c
* Internet for Steam activation
Supported Graphics Cards:
Minimum – ?
Recommended -Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher

If you plan on using mods developed by the community later on (~1yr), expect a lot of the mesh, texture, graphic extenders to really TAX your system - so eventually getting a nice graphic card will be beneficial.

Basically if you expect to run everything at MAX settings, an upgrade now is advisable. If not, you can wait for the 7000 series.

 

[JagFan86]

Thanks for the quick replies and the well thought out answers. I figured that I should wait and medium/high is quite decent for me as the load times will be much improved over consoles. Wish I could give both best answer but bonus goes for the response! Thanks again, and sorry for the double post not sure what happend there.

 

[bwrlane]

If playing Skyrim is the only consideration and you don't very much mind about maxing out all the eye candy then your 4870 should be just fine.

However, if you care about other games I would consider upgrading. Your system has a fabulous CPU, mobo and RAM combination so it's starting to look a bit unbalanced for games.

You would get a seriously substantial boost by getting a GTX 560 Ti or an AMD 6850. Both these cards can easily cope with most modern games with all settings maxed and are not too expensive.

The great thing about either of these cards is that instead of splashing out on a next gen card in 6-12 months (or whenever), you can just add another one for a cheap boost. This will give you a level of performance that will easily surpass whatever you'd have bought instead.

 

[kevinator]

Hello, All
I Just upgraded my comp with the following:
Z68XP-UD3
I5-2500K (from a amd9600+)
8gb Ripjaw 1600mhz
650w Corsair
However, I'm still running a 4870 1gb. My question is this. Would it be worth it to upgrade to a 6000 series or maybe crossfire a 4890. Or should I wait until the 7000 series starts to come out. I upgraded mainly for Skyrim and SWTOR, however, I do game primarily on console (due to my comp being upgraded). I do use a 1920X108 on a 23" monitor. Thanks In advance!

I've got the exact same video card that you do and have also wondered about what I should do about Skyrim. The thing is, I want to be able to max out the draw distance (it's kinda lame to see the environment teleporting in as you go). Also, I want to see the higher resolution textures that was said to be on the PC version. Because of things like that, I'm going to get a HD 6970. I'm guessing with our cards that we won't be able to crank the draw distance and still have the game look good. But it doesn't hurt to try it out and see what it can do. I'm just set on playing Skyrim maxed out.