Choosing a Graphics Card

[vile83r]

Right now I have a 560 ti but its only the 1GB version. I can pick up the 2GB version of the 560 ti for around 220 bucks or just grab a 670 or 680 for considerably more. My question is, will the 2GB version of this card give me the power I need to run this game with all textures and enb? I have never had any issues with other games with this card, in fact, vanilla skyrim runs full blast with this card. Its only when I start adding on those textures and other mods that I get the FPS hit. 

 

I admit, I dont fully understand what is affecting the FPS. I realize the vram is an issue with the textures but is the vram affected by ENBs as well or is that a GPU issue. 

 

I have this along with 12GB system ram and an i7 970 btw. 

[frihyland]

You should be fine as long as you run all the lowest resolution graphics and don't use AA (use SMAA instead).

 

If you decide to upgrade, you can also grab a 660 3GB for $320, most cards over 2GB are PCI Express 3 though, so make sure your motherboard supports them. The best deal for the long run is the 670 4GB, I'm waiting for a sale where they drop to around $400 to snag a couple.

[Besidilo]

PCI-E 3.0 is backwards compatible, and there's really no need for PCI-E 3.0 mobos yet.

 

IMO if you're going to game at a standard resolution (up to 1920x1200), 2GB VRAM is more than enough. I could play any games at 2560x1440 with that much VRAM and the only problem I encountered was when I started using 4K resolution textures with Skyrim, which are frankly an overkill anyway (since a lot of content is lower resolution and they don't blend in very well).

 

IMO go with GTX 670 2GB or Radeon 7950. Unless you're willing to try SLI/Crossfire out.

 

Radeon 7950 3GB - $280 after rebate.

GeForce GTX670 2GB - $360 after rebate.

[SmegmusMagnus]

Okay-this will likely sound very naive, but I'm comfortable with my self, so what the hell;

 

...do I read correctly that a motherboard that fits a 560 ti will not be able to fit a PCI 3.0 card?

 

Thank you.

[frihyland]

No the form size is exactly the same, but I didn't know if the chipsets were compatible, so I cautioned to check first.

 

Besidillo said the 2 versions are completely compatible and after doing some research I can confirm that. Now all you have to do is make sure the card will actually fit in your case (some are very long and wide) and not obstruct anything on the motherboard.

[SmegmusMagnus]

I appreciate your response-you're always so quick!

 

...in for a penny, in for a pound; I don't suppose you happen to know if the 560 ti has the same measurements as that 670? If you don't know, please don't bother to find out (it can't be that hard for me to track this info down)-I just figured I'd ask since I was here.

 

ADD: also; I saw the 3GB 660 recommended above, as well as the 2GB 670. Can you tell me why you recommend the 2GB card over the 3GB card? BTW; the system I have is 4x 2.9 GHz w/ 4GB RAM and a 560 ti 1GB.

 

Thanks, as always, for your always helpful responses.

[frihyland]

Actually each card is different, even cards with the same chip and manufacturer often have different sizes based on the cooling system used.

[vile83r]

This are great responses. I appreciate it gang. 

[vile83r]

One more question. The 560 ti I have now is 256 bit. If I get a 660 that is only 192 bit, am I looking at a similar performance because of the 192 bottleneck?

[Besidilo]

One more question. The 560 ti I have now is 256 bit. If I get a 660 that is only 192 bit' date=' am I looking at a similar performance because of the 192 bottleneck?[/quote']

 

GTX 660 Ti is a fair bit faster.

 

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/647?vs=547

[vile83r]

Well that about sums it up. The 660 is the way to go. 

[Besidilo]

Well that about sums it up. The 660 is the way to go. 

Are you going with GTX 660 or 660 Ti?

[SmegmusMagnus]

I just bought a 670 4GB for $476 from Best Buy online: I think my motherboard fits it-but I might be wrong. The only problem might be the 'additional requirement' of a particular 'pin count' regarding an adaptor off the power supply. However, I'm not too savvy, do there might be complications I don't know see, yet.

[vile83r]

Alright, I went to Microcenter, I big computer store here near Cincinnati and I grabbed a Zotac 660 Ti. This is my first Zotac. I have only ever owned EVGA and PNY so we will see. All of the 660 Ti's were roughly similarly priced at about 299. The superclocked ones were a little higher and I think the EVGA card was 329 it had a few extra Hertz on the clock but wasn't worth 30 bucks to me. I put the 30 into the extended warranty. Cool thing about the warranty is I can take this card back for store value and do an even swap or put the price I paid toward another card so when the higher cards come down to the 400 range I can take this in, give them 100 bucks and walk out with the next beast card. 

 

Results are night and day. I fresh installed Skyrim, used all hi resolution stuff, put every step mod in, got Countervibe ENB in there it is rock solid at 60 and drops to 59 here and there. I am set at 4xAA, 16 AF at 1920 x 1080. I play on a home theater pc. The only thing difeerent I am trying versus against the 560 Ti is Adaptive Sync in the Nvidia console. Fraps has never went above 60 which is my refresh rate so to be honest, I am not sure if the Adaptive Sync is doing its thing or not. 

 

My verdict: this was money well spent. 

[vile83r]

I just bought a 670 4GB for $476 from Best Buy online: I think my motherboard fits it-but I might be wrong. The only problem might be the 'additional requirement' of a particular 'pin count' regarding an adaptor off the power supply. However' date=' I'm not too savvy, do there might be complications I don't know see, yet.[/quote']

If your PSU doesnt have the 8 pin, you can get adapters like this https://compare.ebay.com/like/190679885230?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

 

Mine uses 2 6 pins, I think they could have got away with one 8 pin but, what can you do?