Current state of SLI & Skyrim

[craighl4]

@Neovalen

Once SR Legendary Edition is complete, I intend to go through the process of installing it. In the past I have used ENB's but found the frame rate hit too much to make them worth it.

 

In your opinion, does SLI work well with Skyrim and does it significantly improve performance when using ENB's?

 

I have also read that you need to enable 3DVision to fix some issues. Is this still the case?

 

I have a single GTX 670 2MB (will be using 1K textures) and a i3570K at 4.4Ghz. I can currently run Skyrim at 1920x1200 and maintain 50-60 FPS. I am considering the purchase of a second GTX 670.

[DanielCoffey]

Ugh - that is pretty extreme flickering there... but thanks for the video.

 

You mentioned HDR being a second issue - how does that manifest itself? Are there options to do with lighting that you can't use because of it?

 

EDIT : Oh, it is the Eye Adaptation, yes? Do you miss not having that and does Night Vision still function?

[Aiyen]

Yes HDR is adaptation. If you disable adaptation you do not have true HDR anymore. You can still load in the adaptation code, but limit the amount of the effect.... so you get a sort of semi true HDR. (It is still HDR compared to having adaptation disabled.)

As for night vision, then as long as you use a preset that uses the original post processing code for nightvision then it will work.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

I was going to make a thread asking about Crossfire and Skyrim. Now I won't even bother, lol. If there are problems with SLI, there will be 9000x more problems with Crossfire. Nothing ever works well with Crossfire :-/.

[Jormungand24]

Here is two vids I took of my ENB + Crossfire issues:

 

 

The focusing in and out is my camera, the bad quality is my camera, BUT the flashing is the ENB + Crossfire combo. When ENB off and Crossfire on, all works well.

[Neovalen]

Ouch! By comparison SLI issues are minor as they only affect water and can be mostly covered up by mods.

[Aiyen]

Kinda also need the ENB on, and crossfire off option! ;)

 

But yeah AMD has the short end when it comes to this.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

I'm hoping to have enough spare money in the Spring to get either a 780 or R9 290x.

[Jormungand24]

Kinda also need the ENB on, and crossfire off option! ;)

 

But yeah AMD has the short end when it comes to this.

With ENB on and crossfire off, it worked as intended.  Just nuked my GPU usage spiking it to 95%+

 

Though, I'd assume by going to 1k normals it would help that out.  I was using 2k textures and normals.

[Aiyen]

I honestly do not understand this aversion some people have to the fact that their GPU operate at peak levels.

If you buy quality hardware, then the card is supposed to be designed to operate at these levels for years without incident. And if there is one then you have warranty.

 

I know for AMD this can be a bit different, since they have a long history with sub optimal cooling solutions, which can cause some noise, but this is not AMD´s fault, it is again the specific brands that deal with that.

 

Assuming you play Skyrim and it operates at peak, then you what... play a few hours a day, tops! I would think any card can handle that just fine! Even for many months. Again if it cannot, then you have issues with bad hardware, and that is what warranty is there for.

 

Also this does not even mention the fact that those GPU load figures and temperatures are to be taken with a grain of salt.

Example. My friend has an AMD card... it can say that it is 90C hot from one second to the end depending on what it claims it is doing (This can be something as silly as playing a card game). Yet if you actually measure the real temperature it is hardly ever above 80C. (Not to mention that thermodynamically is makes no sense that a temperature fluctuation of 20-40C over a few seconds take place. )

[Jormungand24]

It was just an observation :)

 

Crossfire I have like 60% GPU load, and running 1 card it's like 95-99%.

 

Only thing that would ever worry me is, am I bottlenecking myself?

[Aiyen]

Well since when you use multi card setups you each card should only render half the frame, then obviously the load would be about half of what one card can do. ;)

 

Bottlenecks are normally easy to spot, since they cause stuttering, long load times, or just an upper limit to the FPS that you cannot get above. All computers have bottlenecks, the only real question is where!

[prolific666]

Aiyen is correct... if its just for Sky rim then don't get SLI.

 

Bethesda's engine is too old and not made for it and neither is enb.

 

That said... its great for many other games. :)

I challenge you to name one current game where you think SLI makes a significant difference. I use a single EVGA GTX 680 4 GB after coming from duel SLI MSI GTX 470 1.25 GB. For modded Skyrim it is memory that counts.  I have yet to see any game a single GPU (though high powered) can't handle (tosses down the gauntlet). Having SLI with two screaming GPUs only really gives you bragging rights, like having a large penis. Size really does not matter, it is what your do with it that counts.

I know you posted this a few months back but I saw your gauntlet laying there and had to pick it up.

 

Im not sure about 1080p gaming but on a 2560 x 1440p monitor I can't think of a game released in the last year or two that doesn't benefit from a second GPU. I have 2 GHz Edition 7970's with a i5 3570k @ 4.8ghz...

 

 Arma 3(Cant max it out), Crysis 3(Cant max it out), Sleeping dogs(cant max it out) ,all 3 Batman Arkham Games(Can't max out the last 2), BioShock Infinite, Dishonored, Tomb Raider, Skyrim using STEP (even with the micro stuttering its about 30fps better than one 7970,) Metro Last Light, Battlefield 3... I could go on but I think that should be sufficient. Im not saying that multiple GPU set up is for everyone.  But a single Titan(6gb of VRAM) on Crysis 3 at full settings averages 45fps at 1080p.  And the lifting is only gonna get heavier from here on out. 

 

   Its pretty much a law that you will always end up with more performance for less money if you buy a second card instead of upgrading to any new single card (Unless you're jumping from 3 or 4 generations back in which case the monetary difference will be much bigger). Now there are caveats built into the performance benefit you get from a multicard rig... the configuration can be tedious for some and a few games (such as Skyrim) don't play nice with crossfire/SLI but those instances are getting pretty rare.

 

   I just wanted to make the point that a CF/SLI rig has more use than for bragging rights. And while configuration and driver conflicts can be a headache sometimes (and that is the best argument for getting one high dollar card over 2 cheaper cards,) the performance gain is undeniable. If you are playing games at anything higher than 1080p, currently you're using a CF/SLI config or you are below 30fps on most modern games.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

 

Aiyen is correct... if its just for Sky rim then don't get SLI.

 

Bethesda's engine is too old and not made for it and neither is enb.

 

That said... its great for many other games. :)

I challenge you to name one current game where you think SLI makes a significant difference. I use a single EVGA GTX 680 4 GB after coming from duel SLI MSI GTX 470 1.25 GB. For modded Skyrim it is memory that counts.  I have yet to see any game a single GPU (though high powered) can't handle (tosses down the gauntlet). Having SLI with two screaming GPUs only really gives you bragging rights, like having a large penis. Size really does not matter, it is what your do with it that counts.

I know you posted this a few months back but I saw your gauntlet laying there and had to pick it up.

 

Im not sure about 1080p gaming but on a 2560 x 1440p monitor I can't think of a game released in the last year or two that doesn't benefit from a second GPU. I have 2 GHz Edition 7970's with a i5 3570k @ 4.8ghz...

 

 Arma 3(Cant max it out), Crysis 3(Cant max it out), Sleeping dogs(cant max it out) ,all 3 Batman Arkham Games(Can't max out the last 2), BioShock Infinite, Dishonored, Tomb Raider, Skyrim using STEP (even with the micro stuttering its about 30fps better than one 7970,) Metro Last Light, Battlefield 3... I could go on but I think that should be sufficient. Im not saying that multiple GPU set up is for everyone.  But a single Titan(6gb of VRAM) on Crysis 3 at full settings averages 45fps at 1080p.  And the lifting is only gonna get heavier from here on out. 

 

   Its pretty much a law that you will always end up with more performance for less money if you buy a second card instead of upgrading to any new single card (Unless you're jumping from 3 or 4 generations back in which case the monetary difference will be much bigger). Now there are caveats built into the performance benefit you get from a multicard rig... the configuration can be tedious for some and a few games (such as Skyrim) don't play nice with crossfire/SLI but those instances are getting pretty rare.

 

   I just wanted to make the point that a CF/SLI rig has more use than for bragging rights. And while configuration and driver conflicts can be a headache sometimes (and that is the best argument for getting one high dollar card over 2 cheaper cards,) the performance gain is undeniable. If you are playing games at anything higher than 1080p, currently you're using a CF/SLI config or you are below 30fps on most modern games.

Guys, that's great and all but this thread is about the current state of SKYRIM AND SLI/CROSSFIRE. No one's arguing that dual cards will give you better performance in MOST games....but not Skyrim. 

[Aiyen]

I can run STEP at 1440p and have an average FPS of about 45 with a single 660 GTX.... No ENB ofc.

Using default ini settings. If I optimize the ini´s then I can get even more out of it.

Skyrim just does not benefit from this. Only if you are doing some serious ENB quality action etc. does it make sense.

 

Also since you mentioned it.... Since Crysis 1 then that game has lost all rights to be used as a benchmark for anything. That initial engine was so woefully badly optimized that it just hurts to think about. Even the later games had some effects that would bottleneck even the top end of cards due to bad optimization of their shaders, since they decided to only use DX9 due to console releases.

 

In general this is true for all games of the previous few years.... they have tried to squize every last bit out of dx9 compatible only shaders, while they could be done in dx10/11 more efficiently. Most of the time you do not notice this unless you go to high resolutions. But even then its a case of just bad optimization, since they only optimize their codes for 1080p since that is the console resolution.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

Every Crysis game is terribly optimized. Crysis 3 is probably the worst optimized out of all 3 of the games. I don't even get the appeal of those games. They don't look that great. Metro: Last Light blows Crysis 3 out of the water in terms of graphics and lighting in my opinion, and it runs 10x better. I can get 60 fps in that game with 4xMSAA (supersampling turned off) with one 7970. You can't even get anything higher than 2xSMAA in Crysis 3 without like SLI titans or something. The game looks like a jagged mess without AA. You can barely see clearly 10 ft in front of your character. Not to mention that series had one of the worst stories I have ever seen. That game is just bragging rights for high schoolers building computers and is used for a marketing tactic for new hardware.