Upgrade suggestions for modded Skyrim

[hi100040]

I want to improve my rig to play my heavily modded Skyrim more smoothly.
Specs:
PCI-e 2.0 complient motherboard
Intel Core2 2.4Ghz
8gb of ram
Evga Nvidia GT440

I play at 1080p resolution and get about 20-25 fps except when in heavily modded areas, which it drops to 10 fps or less. Most of my mods are graphical in nature. I have a feeling that the weak link is my graphics card which if it is I would like suggestions that would bring me up to 30-40 fps most of the time. I also favor Nvidia over AMD.

 

[17seconds]

I would take a look at the GTX 760 4GB model. It all depends on your price range though. Lower down the ladder, you should check out the GTX 660 and GTX 750 Ti.

 

[zaysk]

^ What he said. With Bethesda games that have been heavily modded, you want as much VRAM as you can get. The 4GB 760 would be a great upgrade for you.

 

[hi100040]

^ What he said. With Bethesda games that have been heavily modded, you want as much VRAM as you can get. The 4GB 760 would be a great upgrade for you.

I wasn't sure if RAM or VRAM was more important. Thank you so much for clearing that up!