New card for modded Skyrim

[tommybhoy]

Yes there was, mine were fantastic clockers, Heaven 3@1GHz put them in third place in comparison with single 6/79 series cards bearing in mind mine were only on air.

1920x1080 - Single GPU Top 10

1. 2529 - AMD 7970 - 8 Pack
2. 2473 - AMD 7970 - Besty
3. 2472 - AMD 6950 x 2 - tommybhoy***
4. 2439 - AMD 7970 - pgi947
5. 2432 - AMD 7970 - Locky
6. 2413 - AMD 7970 - StonerDude
7. 2373 - AMD 7970 - theCrim
8. 2362 - NVIDIA GTX680 - gregster
9. 2358 - NVIDIA GTX680 - OptimaLnrg
10. 2295 - AMD 7970 - borley
11. 2283 - AMD 7970 - dave_beast

***Obviously I threw my result in there for the sake of this post

Unlocked with a 25% OC on the 6950's was not to be be sniffed at for the money, compare them with a more expensive 580(+£40) at the time and it was a no brainer tbh.

If I didn't game on 3D, I guarantee you they would still be sitting proud in my rig, they were faster on every game I play in 2D than my OC'd 7970 is apart from the modded Skyrim above when the vram hit the wall.

 

[foxrocks]

Well waddya know, the MSI 7950 is down to £240, as is the Sapphire FleX Edition 7950. Anyone got experience of that card?

Techpowerup reviewed both and managed to overclock the Sapphire a bit higher, but whether that's indicative of general performance I don't know.

 

[C64]

how accurate is vram usage reading software is modded skyrim 100% proven to need more than 2gb vram ? I know that gpu-z readings cannot be trusted for example ? but I guess if you start slowing down the more mods you enable it either proves its the gpu or cpu ?

 

[C64]

Well waddya know, the MSI 7950 is down to £240, as is the Sapphire FleX Edition 7950. Anyone got experience of that card?

Techpowerup reviewed both and managed to overclock the Sapphire a bit higher, but whether that's indicative of general performance I don't know.

msi all the way they have a better turnaround rma time although i read recently that you have to send to holland now ? i presumed they had uk based services like gigabyte anyway msi if you cant get gigabyte

 

[Surveyor]

msi all the way they have a better turnaround rma time although i read recently that you have to send to holland now ? i presumed they had uk based services like gigabyte anyway msi if you cant get gigabyte

OcUK deal with the full 3 year warranty for MSI.

From the MSI Rep:

We offer a three year warranty, the terms provided to our major resellers provide special terms in exchange for their agreement to handle the full three years of that warranty. This is a new arrangement made at the time that we extended our warranty from two to three years. The terms of our RMA provide a maximum 14 day turnaround for resellers (typically half that) from the day they ship the fault card out to the day that they receive the replacement.

The simple answer why we operate the RMA system like this is that the reseller will test the board and return them in batches. We can then replace the product and get the replacement back to the end user much faster than having to receive, test and dispatch multiple RMA's from multiple different people. in general, this method provides much better service as it allows us to keep turnaround times to a minimum, it also allows the reseller more freedom to handle the RMA by their own methods.

I hope this helps

 

[Defy Belief]

how accurate is vram usage reading software is modded skyrim 100% proven to need more than 2gb vram ? I know that gpu-z readings cannot be trusted for example ? but I guess if you start slowing down the more mods you enable it either proves its the gpu or cpu ?

Would be interesting to see the actual amount used, i'd imagine a chunk is cached.

 

[C64]

OcUK deal with the full 3 year warranty for MSI.

From the MSI Rep:

Yes but someone sends to you and you send it to holland and wait ? either way i have heard nothing but mainly positives about msi customer service

 

[Surveyor]

Yes but someone sends to you and you send it to holland and wait ? either way i have heard nothing but mainly positives about msi customer service

You send it OcUK and they sort it out with MSI.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This review from a well known German review website,actually tests Skyrim with mods:

http://translate.google.com/transla...arten/2012/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-ti/24/

The HD7950 3GB does much better than a GTX660TI and is consistently faster than a GTX670.

 

[foxrocks]

That appears to just be standard Skyrim with an ENB applied. It's mainly all the texture mods that kill the performance and hit the VRAM, but the German site doesn't mention what textures they're using.

 

[Rusty0611]

I'm not going to pretend to understand people who make purchasing decisions based on one game and a game which is heavily modded with unofficial inefficient mods.

Each to their own though and with the cards all so close in this generation you aren't exactly losing out by going AMD and 3GB anyway.

(not criticising)

 

[Durzel]

This. You may well breach 2gb vram with modding.

I hit 2GB usage in Skyrim easily on dual GTX 690s. You definitely want a card with more memory if you're using mods and HD texture packs.

 

[subbytna]

I hit 2GB usage in Skyrim easily on dual GTX 690s. You definitely want a card with more memory if you're using mods and HD texture packs.

haha...you monster

Dual 690s...

 

[tommybhoy]

I'm not going to pretend to understand people who make purchasing decisions based on one game and a game which is heavily modded with unofficial inefficient mods.

Each to their own though and with the cards all so close in this generation you aren't exactly losing out by going AMD and 3GB anyway.

(not criticising)

I hear you, and agree with you, but...


there is a hardcore element in love with Skyrim who simply want more, the modding scene is simply massive with this title along with other Bethseda titles that can be modded up to the hilt too.

I have even seen guys spending big, big bucks and getting into PC gaming(building from scratch) having played it on console and wanting a bit more magic on the PC-in part because of the 360 controller too in windows.

With the 7950, it isn't literally costing the world either, while being able to play every other title out there with the big boys.

Until Nvidia stop being tight and relying on brand awareness, they'll lose a certain percentage of sales to the competition just for that extra 1Gb* of vram.

I'm assuming the threads with 'Gpu for BF3' resulted in Nvidia getting a few recommendations though(back in the day), so maybe it's six and half a dozen.


* Before some smart git comes out with memory bus differences etc, I'm well aware how it works.

 

[OCPete]

NV do sell cards for the small percentage who need over 2GB. They are aimed at the premium 4GB models.

Yes they cost more. I'm just saying NV do cater for them.

Its marketing.

NV Don't offer "plenty" of VRAM as std. They offer enough for most (2GB), and a tempting more expensive 4GB model. Sound marketing ploy IMO.

 

[tommybhoy]

£380 4Gb 670 vs 3Gb £240 7950 is mental though, PhysX apart, they both do the same thing performance wise within a very small percentage of each other game dependant.

 

[OCPete]

£380 4Gb 670 vs 3Gb £240 7950 is mental though, PhysX apart, they both do the same thing performance wise within a very small percentage of each other game dependant.

Agreed!

Its ALL about maximising the money NV (and their partners) can make. Quite clever really. Offering tempting but costly upgrades. Trying to make the cards different enough to prevent direct comparison.