Does Skyrim become GPU bound after heavy modding?

[Tacitus]

Title says all really, vanilla Skyrim is known for being CPU bound, but when you start piling on the graphics mods does that shift from being CPU to GPU bound? I know VRAM starts increasing a lot...

 

If so, does that mean that once fully modded it would make no odds whether I had a 4670 or a 4670k with an overclock applied?

[Toddwjp]

yeah it gets taxing

[Hirad123]

When you have a ton of texture mods and a really nice ENB, I'd say it starts to really pound the shit out of your gpu.

[Tacitus]

yeah it gets taxing

 

 

When you have a ton of texture mods and a really nice ENB, I'd say it starts to really pound the shit out of your gpu.

 

To the point that it doesn't matter which CPU I'm using, because the GPU will be at max usage before the CPU?

[Si3Rra_7]

Yes, 4k resolution textures + ENB + Extra foliage + detailed foliage + extra render distance + FXAA injector = SUPERB LOOKING GAME , but it's kinda GPU taxing 

[Si3Rra_7]

To the point that it doesn't matter which CPU I'm using, because the GPU will be at max usage before the CPU?

At least an overclocked g3258 or a lower tier i5 . From memory Skyrim is quite single-threaded or doesn't use alot of cores

[Aniallation]

To the point that it doesn't matter which CPU I'm using, because the GPU will be at max usage before the CPU?

With an i5 you'll be wanting more VRAM long before you'll want to overclock to get better performance

[Toddwjp]

To the point that it doesn't matter which CPU I'm using, because the GPU will be at max usage before the CPU?

 

nah, an oc cpu has other uses

 

however with an i5 youd be fine stock

[Tacitus]

At least an overclocked g3258 or a lower tier i5 . From memory Skyrim is quite single-threaded or doesn't use alot of cores

 

 

With an i5 you'll be wanting more VRAM long before you'll want to overclock to get better performance

 

 

nah, an oc cpu has other uses

 

however with an i5 youd be fine stock

 

 

Yeah, it's just an i5 4670k is £165 and an i5 4460 is like £125, not too sure if it's really worth the extra spend when I'll just be gaming and writing essays.

[exyia]

I wouldn't go lower than a good i5 with overclock - a lot of base effects in Skyrim are done with the CPU (like shadows)

 

but ENB really pushes your GPU as hard as mining if you want it to. The values you can input for Ambient Occlusion scaling are infinite for example

 

and lots of hi-res texture packs can push your vram utilization. I've easily hit the 6gb cap on my Titans @ 3440x1440 with tons of textures

[Toddwjp]

Yeah, it's just an i5 4670k is £165 and an i5 4460 is like £125, not too sure if it's really worth the extra spend when I'll just be gaming and writing essays.

 

 

the non oc version will be fine

[Si3Rra_7]

i'd say wait a week or two , get more money , and buy the 4690k

[Aniallation]

Yeah, it's just an i5 4670k is £165 and an i5 4460 is like £125, not too sure if it's really worth the extra spend when I'll just be gaming and writing essays.

Don't forget you won't need the beefy cooler since you can't overclock, saving you even more bucks

[AlwaysFSX]

Yes, 4k resolution textures + ENB + Extra foliage + detailed foliage + extra render distance + FXAA injector = SUPERB LOOKING GAME , but it's kinda GPU taxing 

Why an FXAA injector instead of the regular MSAA?

[brownninja97]

To be honest it doesnt use the cpu like crazy, i mean ive got 4k textures basically everywhere and i get around 40-50fps average.

 

 

eg

 

Why an FXAA injector instead of the regular MSAA?

enbs break the way that MSAA works, fxaa is the only option

[Tacitus]

Don't forget you won't need the beefy cooler since you can't overclock, saving you even more bucks

 

I'd probably still get the better cooler, but I suppose I could ditch that and save £60

[Tacitus]

So is it really the case then that the vast majority of AAA games won't benefit from an overclocked CPU. Or to flip the question another way, I won't be missing out if I get a locked i5?

[Aniallation]

I'd probably still get the better cooler, but I suppose I could ditch that and save £60

Stock cooler is more then enough for a locked i5 especially if your case has good airflow

[Profquast]

I don't know what kind of magic it is, but I believe even at stock my 8320 at 4.4 GHz keeps my 7950 (23% overclock) almost always above 95% and mostly at 99%. With mods it's the same story and I get about 35-40 fps outside and 60fps in dungeons and cities. Mods I have installed are Quality World Map, Better Dynamic Snow, Climates of Tamriel with weather patch and Supreme Storms, Dust Effects, ELFX, improved vanilla thickets 1k, HD Ivy, Realistic Aspen Trees, RSE High, RealVision ENB, Ruins Clutter Improved, SkyFalls + SkyMills, SMIM Meshes, Static Mesh improvement mod, Unique Grasses and Groundcovers, xVivid landscapes and W.A.T.E.R.

 

Edit: reading that shadows are CPU rendered but I guess ELFX fixes that or something, I have quite realistic shadows and the CPU doesn't seem to be the limiting factor. There is one spot at the companions bedrooms in whiterun where the fps drops to like 15 when I look in a certain direction, but GPU usage still is at 99%.

[AlwaysFSX]

enbs break the way that MSAA works, fxaa is the only option

That's pretty lame..

[brownninja97]

That's pretty lame..

if you get the depth of field correct then its possible to not have jaggies, the screenshot i showed as no AA

[Verne]

Title says all really, vanilla Skyrim is known for being CPU bound, but when you start piling on the graphics mods does that shift from being CPU to GPU bound? I know VRAM starts increasing a lot...

 

If so, does that mean that once fully modded it would make no odds whether I had a 4670 or a 4670k with an overclock applied?

Fully modded is relative. Depending on the mod, it might be more CPU or GPU intensive. Any task that is handled by CPU will be handled by CPU no matter how many GPU intensive mods you install. You cannot really "offload" CPU load to GPU with mods. If something is being held back by stock 4670, then overclocked 4670k will help.