Best GPU for Skyrim?

[Anik8]

It will definitely be worth this price so go and buy two of these and use 'em in crossfire.
As for the drivers,use the latest catalyst 12.11 drivers from amd's website.

 

[determinologyz]

I smell bias/subjective answers soon

 

[bigcyco1]

I smell bias/subjective answers soon

I have a feeling you always will sadly that's just the way it is mate

 

[Limerick]

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!

I haven't had a problem with any stuttering issues in Skyrim with my 7950s. It could just be a manufacturer problem. I'd say get in and overclock it.

 

[chub]

I would probably say either the GTX 670 or the 7950, as both cards can be overclocked to achieve better performance than their big brothers so in my opinion save the money from buying a 7970/680. Both the 670 and 7950 overclock reasonably well although I would recommend that you buy a non reference card as then you have a little more overclocking headroom with a better cooler.

 

[Chief7285]

you all do realize the skyrim engine favors nvidia cards right?

look at the specific performance in skyrim

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=555

 

[determinologyz]

i play on high settings/default v-sync on and get 60 fps

 

[Viridian112]

you all do realize the skyrim engine favors nvidia cards right?

look at the specific performance in skyrim

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=555

Yes, but I'll be running it with vsync on anyway. It isn't a case of "I want the slightest edge over another card!", it's simply that I want to run Skyrim at 1080p on ultra settings with a smooth 60fps. I know I can do that now with the 7950, and at this price it's an extremely viable option - especially knowing that the extra 1GB of vram is there to cater for any wondrous texture mods I may install.

 

[Viridian112]

It will definitely be worth this price so go and buy two of these and use 'em in crossfire.
As for the drivers,use the latest catalyst 12.11 drivers from amd's website.

Hmm, I might just do that. I could at least afford to if I wanted - thanks for the idea!

And thanks, I will download those drivers!

 

[Viridian112]

Finally, both Limerick and Chub here have suggested I do some overclocking on my GPU. I'm new to the idea of overclocking GPU's (my current PC is equipped with a NVIDIA GeForce 9200 256MB) so is there any special sort of cooling I need to put in place? Thanks.

 

[Anik8]

there'll be no benefit in overclocking a 9200.As there's too less processing cores and functional units in it and hence higher clockspeeds will hardly multiply your performance.

 

[EzioAs]

Agree with Anik8, it's pointless to overclock your card right now. If you have the money, spend it on a 7850 or 7870

 

[Viridian112]

Haha, I wasn't referring to my current card.

I meant for overclocking the 7950, if extra cooling was required.

 

[ProVisionOman]

Haha, I wasn't referring to my current card.

I meant for overclocking the 7950, if extra cooling was required.

If you get a good one (MSI, XFX, Gigabyte meh, ASUS ok, etc.) You're FINE. You get all the cooling you need. But make sure it doesn't look like an ordinary AMD card with stickers on it please. That's no different then any other reference card. Have fun!

 

[Anik8]

if the price is only valid for reference ones then you may add these on 'em.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dracula-7970-accelero-xtreme-7970-review,3288-2.html

EDIT: For compatibility check here -
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail/index/sArticle/502/sCategory/2182

 

[Viridian112]

Ah okay, thankyou! Just discovered the same shop has an XFX 7870 on sale for £110, but I'll probably still stick with the 7950 and OC it a little. Many thanks to everyone who replied, you were great help

 

[toyftw]

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

^ +1