Best GPU for Skyrim?

Viridian112

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Oct 11, 2012
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Not sure if this question has been asked before (I'm new on these forums).


I want a GPU that can max it out completely at a stable 60fps on ultra settings and 1920x1080 resolution. I can afford practically anything except the GTX690. Suggestions?


I saw a link HERE:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-680-sli-overclock-surround,3162-7.html

that suggests the NVIDIA cards are coming out on top in terms of frame rates (I'm not planning to use SLI/CrossFire atm though).


but then HERE:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-benchmark-review,3279-9.html

all the Radeon cards are coming out on top.


:eek:


So basically, yeah, help a newb out. I just need some advice on what's a good purchase (pairing it with an i5-3570k).


Many thanks. :)
 

EzioAs

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AMD driver's have improved GCN performance so it's not surprising at all. If you can afford almost every card, then I suggest the 7970. It's on par/better with the 680 right now and comes with 3 free games. Also, 7970s are well known for their overclocking capability (most of them can achieve 1180-1250MHz on the core), so if you ever need the extra performance, you'll know that there's a lot of headroom.
 

Viridian112

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Wow, thanks for your replies.

So it looks like the 7970 is best? I've seen some YouTube videos (admittedly not much to go on) and it does look pretty wonderful.


I don't know if this is relevant anyhow but I was turning over in my mind whether or not to post specs of what I'm considering getting all in all - just to make sure everything's compatible. My main worry is that the PSU or MOBO won't be entirely compatible.


Case: CIT Jupiter Black
PSU: Corsair 2 PCI-E 600w (haven't actually bought this yet though)
CPU: Intel i5 3570K (intending to do some mild overclocking on this)
Cooler: Xigmatek Gaia Heatsink + CPU fan with Arctic Cooling MX-2 Paste
MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V LX
RAM: 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3
GPU: Based on your decisions, the Radeon 7970?
HDD: 1TB SATA III HD
SSD: Silent OCZ 120GB Ultrafast Sandforce
Optical Drive: Samsung BluRay
OS: Windoes 7 Home Premium

My monitor's an ASUS VE228T LED 1920x1080 100000000:1 contrast ratio blahblah.

So yeah, if someone could please tell me this is all compatible (or if not, what I need to change), I'd be very appreciative. Thanks! :3
 

EzioAs

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Not anyone can wait that long, especially if one needs the gaming performance now
 

EzioAs

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It's compatible, don't see any problems there, provided you'll eventually buy a good 600W psu. If it's Corsair, I recommend getting the GS series rather than the CX series. If you could spend a little more, get the TX650W
 
I would get a 670 or 7950 they will max out most games at that res and it would be cheaper if you want the best card then 7970GHZ or GTX 680
 

Anik8

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Sep 17, 2010
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In skyrim the 7970 ghz is well ahead of the gtx 680.
 

Anik8

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Its all about how each game pulls the resources.There are games like witcher 2 and skyrim that favors memory bandwidth more and hence the amd cards have always came out winners when all eye candy is turned to max.
While BF3 stresses the memory more and presumably the radeon cards having higher vram had higher expectations,yet the nvidia cards having a track record of efficiently using their frame buffers pull ahead and the amd cards suffer from paging as a result of coming with higher vram.
 

Viridian112

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Right, so atm a Radeon 7970 still looks like the best choice? I'll be making this purchase in the next few days. The only discouraging thing I've heard about it is that it apparently doesn't "work to its full potential" in certain games, whereas cards like the GTX670/680 are at 99-100% in every game tested.

However, as long as it'll give me a stable 60fps on ultra settings @ 1920x1080 with possible room for extra texture mods to install in the future, there's nothing more I could ask for...
 

Limerick

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Radeon are better cards. They just came out with low clocks. Once overclocked they beat every single gtx card in every price range. Example: My 7950 is clokced to 1235 Mhz. It outperforms stock 680s. Those are 200 dollars more than the 7950 and it leaves them in the dust. I would suggest getting a 7870 for skyrim. Overclock it and voila you have a beast of a card.
 

Limerick

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Actually yes. The 7970 overclocked to 1325MHz beats the 680 overclocked to 1300MHz. 1325 and 1300 are the highest clocks that can be achieve by these 2 cards and remain stable. The 7950 overclocked which the equivalent to GTX 670 in performance will beat any overclocked 670 and low overclocked 680s.
 

twelve25

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Beats it by how much? I mean are we talking 10fps or 3?

I think often these differences get exaggerated into something that we pretend is meaningful. If you sat down to a machine with either of these GPUs, you are going to get superb performance in any game.





 

Limerick

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Yes the difference was at about 5 fps. And I agree they are exaggerated. They both will get superb performances either way and that 5 fps won't matter anyway.
 
Actually we can't even say for sure now apparently nvidia has a beta driver http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/geforce_310_33_beta_driver_download.html out since the release of CC 12.11 that increases the performance of the 660/680 cards and according to some posts on the 3D guru forum; the GF 110 gpu also.


a
 

 

Viridian112

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There's a shop near me that's selling XFX 7950's for £140 for a limited time only. Since it's basically the next best thing to a 7970 but at a pretty cheap price, is the 7950 a good choice? I've heard some stuttering issues are present in this card for Skyrim although they can be solved by downloading new drivers (although I'm not sure which would be best).

Can someone tell me if the card is worth buying for my needs, and where I could find the drivers that will work fine with Dx9 games? I hope to make the purchase by the end of the week and start my build next week.

Many thanks for all your help so far!