[SOLVED] need advice with upgrades for a gaming PC for fully modded Skyrim

Jan 8, 2019
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as you know the video game Skyrim has the largest modding community, thus some guides have over 1000 mods in a single build. some mods require a lot of pc power, such as civil war mods that adds many npc and monsters in an open area that all fight each other in a huge battle.

my current setup is a gtx 1060 6vram, an i5 6400k and some kind of motherboard I got along side the cpu so it can't be that old.

my skyrim setup is using over 700+ mods right now, without an ENB (something that enhances visuals but has high fps cost in certain areas of the game) and I am not using any 2k-4k texture packs. I get stable 60 fps most of the time unless I'm standing inside a huge ass forest with lots of trees, then maybe it will go down to 55 fps.

I wanted to get a TI 1080 but figured they don't make those anymore and I am not willing to buy a used one.

I need the bare minimum for perfect 60 fps on 1080p fully modded Skyrim. no matter what happens it can't go down below 60 fps even if the entire area has lots of enemies blowing each other up with magic and dragons flying all over the place. I am also going to use an ENB mod, which means on my current setup my fps will surly go down.

I am not sure if the problem is my gtx 1060 6vram or that I need a new cpu, on the other hand I'm not sure I actually need an rtx card or an i7 7700k cpu. I don't care about the prices, I just need the bare minimum for exactly what I need because I hate spending money on something I am not going to use (like people who buy the newest video card or the new Iphone each year)
 
Solution
what would you recommend? I got no problem replacing the entire computer, I just need to know what exactly I need instead of buying the best. I mean some people are actually buying i9 as if anyone other than someone who works with powerful programs is ever going to need :/
Yeah I understand what you mean.
I've played Skyrim with no mods using an i7-920 and a GTX 1060 6GB...and also with an i7-980 and the same GPU......and I recall getting 60 fps mostly....with some dips...on Ultra @ 1080p.

I would tell you get a 1070 if I KNEW the 1070 would get you to where you want to be....but I'm not sure (especially with the mods).....and as I said.... I wouldn't run a 1080 with that CPU.

As far as CPUs go.....and not going overboard....I...
Here's the thing.....with that CPU.....I don't think I would go over a GTX 1070.....and a 1070 isn't going to be a huge jump from a 1060.

I don't think your current CPU would work well with a 1080 Ti.
I think it would be CPU bound and you would be wasting a good chunk of the card.

So I would be looking at a faster CPU before I upgraded the GPU.
 
Jan 8, 2019
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Here's the thing.....with that CPU.....I don't think I would go over a GTX 1070.....and a 1070 isn't going to be a huge jump from a 1060.

I don't think your current CPU would work well with a 1080 Ti.
I think it would be CPU bound and you would be wasting a good chunk of the card.

So I would be looking at a faster CPU before I upgraded the GPU.

what would you recommend? I got no problem replacing the entire computer, I just need to know what exactly I need instead of buying the best. I mean some people are actually buying i9 as if anyone other than someone who works with powerful programs is ever going to need :/
 
what would you recommend? I got no problem replacing the entire computer, I just need to know what exactly I need instead of buying the best. I mean some people are actually buying i9 as if anyone other than someone who works with powerful programs is ever going to need :/
Yeah I understand what you mean.
I've played Skyrim with no mods using an i7-920 and a GTX 1060 6GB...and also with an i7-980 and the same GPU......and I recall getting 60 fps mostly....with some dips...on Ultra @ 1080p.

I would tell you get a 1070 if I KNEW the 1070 would get you to where you want to be....but I'm not sure (especially with the mods).....and as I said.... I wouldn't run a 1080 with that CPU.

As far as CPUs go.....and not going overboard....I think some like an i5-9600k will run pretty much any GPU out there.....so maybe you want to look into that CPU......or something near that speed.

An i7-8700 is also in that ballpark.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-9600K+@+3.70GHz&id=3337

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-8700+@+3.20GHz&id=3099

I'm running an i7-7800X which is pretty close in speed to those and I'm running it with an RTX 2080 Ti no problem.
 
Solution
Jan 8, 2019
29
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Yeah I understand what you mean.
I've played Skyrim with no mods using an i7-920 and a GTX 1060 6GB...and also with an i7-980 and the same GPU......and I recall getting 60 fps mostly....with some dips...on Ultra @ 1080p.

I would tell you get a 1070 if I KNEW the 1070 would get you to where you want to be....but I'm not sure (especially with the mods).....and as I said.... I wouldn't run a 1080 with that CPU.

As far as CPUs go.....and not going overboard....I think some like an i5-9600k will run pretty much any GPU out there.....so maybe you want to look into that CPU......or something near that speed.

An i7-8700 is also in that ballpark.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-9600K+@+3.70GHz&id=3337

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-8700+@+3.20GHz&id=3099

I'm running an i7-7800X which is pretty close in speed to those and I'm running it with an RTX 2080 Ti no problem.

RTX 2080 Ti is probably to much no? do you actually mod skyrim now? what mod order are you using and what stability do you get? do you use any 4k textures? please share more...
 
RTX 2080 Ti is probably to much no? do you actually mod skyrim now? what mod order are you using and what stability do you get? do you use any 4k textures? please share more...
As I said....I played it with no Mods.

I would expect an RTX 2080 Ti would be too much.....but I don't know how much the mods effect the FPS.

I bought the RTX 2080 Ti to game at 4K....which it does pretty well.

Without the mods, I'd say a 1070 would get you 60 fps @ 1080p on ultra for sure.
With mods I'm not sure.....but as you said....you are only dropping to around 55.....so maybe the 1070 is enough to get you where you want. I just can't guarantee it.
 
Jan 8, 2019
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As I said....I played it with no Mods.

I would expect an RTX 2080 Ti would be too much.....but I don't know how much the mods effect the FPS.

I bought the RTX 2080 Ti to game at 4K....which it does pretty well.

Without the mods, I'd say a 1070 would get you 60 fps @ 1080p on ultra for sure.
With mods I'm not sure.....but as you said....you are only dropping to around 55.....so maybe the 1070 is enough to get you where you want. I just can't guarantee it.

I wish understood the ultimate difference from i5 to i7 and ofc how the motherboard effects stuff other than having more usb ports or even a nice wifi.