Need help to improve fps in SR:LE on good hardware

[xxx78]

Hi guys

 

I have a general question regarding what I can do to increase my fps in SR:LE with this system:

 

CPU:       i7 4790k @ 4.7ghz

RAM:      16GB ram @ 2800mhz

GPU:       GTX 980 sli Overclocked

MB:        Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1

Monitor:  Asus PG279Q @ 2560x1440

 

So what can I do to increase fps without completely ruining the visual effects in SR:LE? I'm open for any suggestion.

 

My aim is to have around 40fps in battles, 50-60fps outdoor and around 40fps in cities.

I know there is some suggestions/tips to run SR:LE on lower end hardware but Im not sure what I can use since I have good hardware.

What I have started to do is to install lower resolution versions of mods in the guide, typical 1k outside and 2k inside. Will this help with fps, and will it cause issues for SR:LE?

 

I appreciate any help :)

Edited December 12, 2015 by xxx78

[wisethug]

Disable SLI and overclock one of your cards ! SLI doesn't work well with skyrim.

[Darth_mathias]

I would personally first look at the ENB as this has the biggest impact on performance. I would use the performance version of Vividain ENB (or maybe ebe look for something else) and then if you still want more consider using the Medium Setting of DynDoLod instead of high as this is the next biggest killer.

 

can i ask what your current Average FPS is cos with a rig like yours you would thought you could maintain a high FPS most of the time.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Darth_mathias

[xxx78]

Disable SLI and overclock one of your cards ! SLI doesn't work well with skyrim.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tested this before and I get higher fps with sli than single gpu.

This test also support that:

'

 

Source: https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-GTX-980-3-Way-and-4-Way-SLI-Performance/Skyrim

Edited December 12, 2015 by xxx78

[xxx78]

Hi and thanks for your relpy.

 

I would personally first look at the ENB as this has the biggest impact on performance. I would use the performance version of Vividain ENB (or maybe ebe look for something else) and then if you still want more consider using the Medium Setting of DynDoLod instead of high as this is the next biggest killer.

 

 

Ok, I will do some more research about ENB and DynDoLod.

 

 

can i ask what your current Average FPS is cos with a rig like yours you would thought you could maintain a high FPS most of the time.

 

 

First of all, at this moment I have not installed all visual enhancing mods due to the fact that my fps is getting lower than expected, so I think final SR:LE installation will give even less fps.

I have not tested that many places yet, but I have tested a little after exiting the cave after Helgen intro.

After leaving cave and after the dragon and npc is gone, standing right outside the cave and putting my crosshair i the middle of the lake below, I have around 50-55fps, when standing still.

In vanilla I have around 85-90fps at this point.

When running from the cave following the road down to Riverwood I have between 35-60fps on the road, and between 22-45 inside Riverwood.

In vanilla I have 50-100fps in Riverwood.

I did a benchmark on that road run down to Riverwood in fraps and I got: Average 48fps, Min: 9fps, max:100fps. I have put a limit in nvidiainspector at 100fps.

Inside caves, building etc I usually have from 70fps and up  in the few places I have tested.

 

I think the fps inside Riverwood is horrible and I was hoping for more with this system. Acceptable fps in Riverwood would be above 50fps, and out on the road above 60fps.

I dont even want to think about how low the fps will go in cities and battles.

Do you think my fps score is ok for my system, or is it way to low?

 

One important thing, do you think it have any effect reducing mod textures in the SR:LE guide from 2k/4k to around 1k for outside enviroment?

Edited December 13, 2015 by xxx78

[darkside]

You have 4g VRAM. Reducing texture size will not improve your FPS.

[Neovalen]

Meshes, LODs, and ENB are the only big fps killers.

[xxx78]

You have 4g VRAM. Reducing texture size will not improve your FPS.

ok thanks for your reply, I leave the textures alone then :)

Meshes, LODs, and ENB are the only big fps killers.

ok, that is really great to know, I need to look at size of meshes, use of DynDOLOD and TES5LODGen and ENB settings then.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Edited December 13, 2015 by xxx78

[Neovalen]

Just don't expect 60 all the time if you want the game to look great... the Skyrim engine has a lot of flaws and many of the improvements are third party and thus slower.

[xxx78]

Just don't expect 60 all the time if you want the game to look great... the Skyrim engine has a lot of flaws and many of the improvements are third party and thus slower.

yeah, I can hope but it is probably unrealistic. I was planning to upgrade to gtx 980 ti but the results I have seen seem to give very little improvement in skyrim. It seem that the skyrim engine is the limit here and thats a little sad.

 

Anyway, you have done a awesome work with SR:LE and Im looking forward to the SR:LE explorers pack. I really hope you have time to make that great also.

I'm motivated to donate money to your Explorers pack to help keep you going :)

Edited December 15, 2015 by xxx78

[George79]

 

Hi and thanks for your relpy.

 

Ok, I will do some more research about ENB and DynDoLod.

 

 

First of all, at this moment I have not installed all visual enhancing mods due to the fact that my fps is getting lower than expected, so I think final SR:LE installation will give even less fps.

I have not tested that many places yet, but I have tested a little after exiting the cave after Helgen intro.

After leaving cave and after the dragon and npc is gone, standing right outside the cave and putting my crosshair i the middle of the lake below, I have around 50-55fps, when standing still.

In vanilla I have around 85-90fps at this point.

When running from the cave following the road down to Riverwood I have between 35-60fps on the road, and between 22-45 inside Riverwood.

In vanilla I have 50-100fps in Riverwood.

I did a benchmark on that road run down to Riverwood in fraps and I got: Average 48fps, Min: 9fps, max:100fps. I have put a limit in nvidiainspector at 100fps.

Inside caves, building etc I usually have from 70fps and up  in the few places I have tested.

 

I think the fps inside Riverwood is horrible and I was hoping for more with this system. Acceptable fps in Riverwood would be above 50fps, and out on the road above 60fps.

I dont even want to think about how low the fps will go in cities and battles.

Do you think my fps score is ok for my system, or is it way to low?

 

One important thing, do you think it have any effect reducing mod textures in the SR:LE guide from 2k/4k to around 1k for outside enviroment?

 

It is really weird that you get the FPS you get with the hardware you have. I get around 43-50 fps outside, 60 flat inside with a single GTX770 and not a single LOD, mesh, ENB tampered with. Without ENB I get flat 60 everywhere.

 

Have you enabled triple buffering for Skyrim in nvidia control panel? Also double check your AA settings are off in the .ini files. I thought I had them off but they were on in the .ini files. Another impact would be the shadow resolution. If you have both primary/secondary at 4k then lower it to 2k/1k respectively. With ENB shadows look nice and smooth no matter what anyway ;)

[hishutup]

Meshes, LODs, and ENB are the only big fps killers.

The 980 can take those on fine, the limiting factor is shadow performance.

The actual 980 usage is probably quite low ~70%.

 

All you have to do is look at fo4 and its horrendous performance on similar hardware

[Electrocutor]

I run an almost constant 60fps with 2x670 SLI at 1440p except in heavily grassy/treed areas where it dips into the 30s...

The GPU utilization of both are pretty low; just a symptom of the inefficient engine.

 

I noticed, however, that you need to have your GPU drivers with everything set to clean driver defaults except with triple buffering enabled. Adjusting almost any setting to be higher or lower seems to reduce the framerate in Skyrim. You also have to set the ini vsync off, save, then on again before the setting will hold (because the default vsync setting is in the wrong file).

Edited January 31, 2016 by Electrocutor