Just ordered 970 card..

[magician16]

And I am afraid that it won't run 2/4k textures with an high end ENB on ultra with 4x aa and 16x AF and OK shadow settins, using DyndoLOD. Anyone have anything to share regarding 970 and skyrim mods?

[TechAngel85]

How much VRAM?

[magician16]

Well, i dont know if i should say 4 gb or 3.5. Isn't every 970 a 4/3.5gb cards?

[Pretendeavor]

Depends on your mod setup really. I've seen reports of people running full 2k/4k textures just fine. I really recommend avoiding 4k exterior textures though, unless it's small objects of which there aren't very many (like the standing stones or something). With DynDOLOD on high and pfuschers non-optimized texture packs for example you will hit your VRAM limit in no time at all, and ENBoost won't save you there. I've also seen people complaining about stutters. Including myself. I have a setup that contains the packs SR:LE, REGS and some more mods, also with DynDOLOD (medium), so it is to be expected I guess.

 

About the slow 500mb VRAM 'issue' of the 970, it seems like no one really agrees on how it influences Skyrim & ENBoost. I mostly have stutters when turning around the camera in places like Whiterun or the Solitude Docks, no matter my enblocal.ini settings (and I think I've tried every single combination of values/settings by now). I can't say for sure if that is caused by a combination of the Skyrim engine, my inis, mod setup and ENBoost or if that 500mb slow VRAM is really causing issues.

 

I wish I had the money for a 4gb VRAM 980 so I could compare this exact setup on both cards and once and for all rule out what the f--- is causing the stutters :P

 

Anyway I still recommend the card. I have not seen any recent STEP benchmarks, but I don't think the STEP Core & Extended packs reach the amount of VRAM of my perhaps a bit too ambitious mod setup.

 

As for 'high end ENB on ultra', that depends on your definition of ultra. K ENB's extreme presets for example will definitely cripple your system with a 970. Atm I'm using Rampage ENB (which is based on K ENB but tweaked for performance) and in exteriors I mostly get 40+ fps, which I aim for. It might be higher with just STEP installed. With the 970 interiors should be no problem at all no matter the ENB, you'll probably hit 60 fps unless you downsample to 4k.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Pretendeavor

[TechAngel85]

The resolution you're playing at is going to play a big part of what you can and can't do. If you're on a 1080p monitor, then there is really no point of going any higher than 2K textures since you will not be able to really see the extra detail and it'll simply look overly sharp (usually in a bad way). This has been my experience. If you're gaming at higher resolutions, then it'll take more processing power and you might just cripple your system without realizing it.

[magician16]

Yeah, that explains it. I am playing 1080p. I'll just have to look around then and stick to 1k/2k textures.

That and DyndoLOD + ENB + Verdant should not push everything too hard I hope. :D

[hishutup]

I run pretty much anything I can cram in an install, mostly 2k stuff with some 4k here and there and it does fine.

[scorpgul]

I wish I could run 2K textures on everything without stutters with my GTX 980 Ti 6GB. The more 2k textures I add, the worse the stuttering gets, eventually turns into minifreezes.

 

I still haven't been able to pinpoint the issue. If you can play at 2k/4k textures with a GTX 970 with no stutters, I will be jealous lol :(

Edited August 20, 2015 by scorpgul

[Pretendeavor]

Again, it depends so much on your mod list it is unfair to compare without mentioning your mods.

 

If you have mods that add 10000 objects near you that all use 1k-2k replacers stutters will be more noticeable than with a near-vanilla Skyrim with 2k/4k textures that only replace 10 objects in the immediate vicinity..

 

So, for a similar-to-vanilla install full 2k/4k replacers could go just fine, for a heavily modded setup that expands every town and area full 2k/4k replacers WILL occasionally cripple your card, no matter everyone bragging about how much their cards can handle.

 

"But you can say that for any card, it's just common sense?!?!" - yes, that's why I try to give a point of reference. With a full SR:LE + REGS install (plus mods like Skyrim HD Parallax Tribute landscape textures, a couple of handpicked parallax landscapes from Pfuscher, Unbelievable Grass Two, Rampage ENB and a lot of 2k replacers and other mods in addition to that) it will tax your 970 heavily in the VRAM area around cities etc. Overall FPS is still good.

 

I still pick 2k over 1k most of the time because I think the quality is worth the potential loss in performance. The only exception here are landscape textures, I have some 1k versions. Just watch out for installing too many 4k ones, the quality isn't always worth it. As Techangel noted before 4k will sometimes even look worse than 2k because textures can be too sharp on 1080p, especially when using ENBs that use a lot of sharpening.

 

So yeah, I'd start with picking the 2k variants over the 1k ones when you have the option, and only using 4k textures occasionally for things like skin, some armors, weapons, statues etc. Not for landscape. If you notice any significant performance loss revert to a lower res variant or optimize them.

 

As for Verdant (or Unbelievable Grass Two), 2k is very much worth it ^^ those grass mods can be taxing but they're really beautiful.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Pretendeavor

[scorpgul]

Again, it depends so much on your mod list it is unfair to compare without mentioning your mods.

 

If you have mods that add 10000 objects near you that all use 1k-2k replacers stutters will be more noticeable than with a near-vanilla Skyrim with 2k/4k textures that only replace 10 objects in the immediate vicinity..

 

So, for a similar-to-vanilla install full 2k/4k replacers could go just fine, for a heavily modded setup that expands every town and area full 2k/4k replacers WILL occasionally cripple your card, no matter everyone bragging about how much their cards can handle.

 

"But you can say that for any card, it's just common sense?!?!" - yes, that's why I try to give a point of reference. With a full SR:LE + REGS install (plus mods like Skyrim HD Parallax Tribute landscape textures, a couple of handpicked parallax landscapes from Pfuscher, Unbelievable Grass Two, Rampage ENB and a lot of 2k replacers and other mods in addition to that) it will tax your 970 heavily in the VRAM area around cities etc. Overall FPS is still good.

 

I still pick 2k over 1k most of the time because I think the quality is worth the potential loss in performance. The only exception here are landscape textures, I have some 1k versions. Just watch out for installing too many 4k ones, the quality isn't always worth it. As Techangel noted before 4k will sometimes even look worse than 2k because textures can be too sharp on 1080p, especially when using ENBs that use a lot of sharpening.

 

So yeah, I'd start with picking the 2k variants over the 1k ones when you have the option, and only using 4k textures occasionally for things like skin, some armors, weapons, statues etc. Not for landscape. If you notice any significant performance loss revert to a lower res variant or optimize them.

 

As for Verdant (or Unbelievable Grass Two), 2k is very much worth it ^^ those grass mods can be taxing but they're really beautiful.

Assuming OP is using STEP as a base, I am using the STEP: Extended 2.2.9.1 modlist exclusively and nothing else that does not belong on that list so my mod list is very "tame" compared to the craziness that some people are using. I used the 2k variants and the stuttering was atrocious. I have since downgraded EVERY single one of them to the very modest 1K versions and the microstuttering still happens when Distant object details is set at ULTRA, but I notice a significant difference in the severity of the stuttering.

 

As for VRAM consumption, my card has 6GB and Skyrim with the full 2K textures did not even use more than 3.3k. Now using ENB could increase that.

[Pretendeavor]

Assuming OP is using STEP as a base, I am using the STEP: Extended 2.2.9.1 modlist exclusively and nothing else that does not belong on that list so my mod list is very "tame" compared to the craziness that some people are using. I used the 2k variants and the stuttering was atrocious. I have since downgraded EVERY single one of them to the very modest 1K versions and the microstuttering still happens when Distant object details is set at ULTRA, but I notice a significant difference in the severity of the stuttering.

 

As for VRAM consumption, my card has 6GB and Skyrim with the full 2K textures did not even use more than 3.3k. Now using ENB could increase that.

Hmm with that card and 'just' STEP:Extended you wouldn't expect that much stuttering. Perhaps a matter of ENBoost [MEMORY] ini settings? With Distant object details do you mean DynDOLOD or ini settings? You could try the Medium or Low presets if you use DynDOLOD.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Pretendeavor

[Astakos]

Stuttering with just STEP Extended and GTX 980 Ti????   

 

Something must be seriously messed up in your configuration...ENBoost, Memory Patch, ini files, etc!

 

i mean I am running Skyrim with SR:LE + REGS + a ton (i mean myriads) of other mods, 2K/4K graphics where applicable (not 4K landscape textures, just clutter here and there) + Vividian ENB default version on an AMD 7970 3GB and only encounter a very small stutter when i load up exterior cells for 2-3 seconds and then all normal.

I mean in my case you could have expected that but on a 980 Ti & Step Extended only??

I am in shock! ...and I was thinking of purchasing an MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB on September...!!!

[scorpgul]

Hmm with that card and 'just' STEP:Extended you wouldn't expect that much stuttering. Perhaps a matter of ENBoost [MEMORY] ini settings? With Distant object details do you mean DynDOLOD or ini settings? You could try the Medium or Low presets if you use DynDOLOD.

 

 

Stuttering with just STEP Extended and GTX 980 Ti????   

 

Something must be seriously messed up in your configuration...ENBoost, Memory Patch, ini files, etc!

 

i mean I am running Skyrim with SR:LE + REGS + a ton (i mean myriads) of other mods, 2K/4K graphics where applicable (not 4K landscape textures, just clutter here and there) + Vividian ENB default version on an AMD 7970 3GB and only encounter a very small stutter when i load up exterior cells for 2-3 seconds and then all normal.

I mean in my case you could have expected that but on a 980 Ti & Step Extended only??

I am in shock! ...and I was thinking of purchasing an MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB on September...!!!

 

I don't mean to hijack magician16's thread so you can post on my thread instead and we can talk about it I have quoted your posts already:

 

https://forum.step-project.com/topic/7517-microstuttering-in-3rd-person-runninghorseback-riding-on-good-rig/

 

Thanks

Edited August 21, 2015 by scorpgul