i5 4690k vs i7 4790k For Skyrim Mods

[Synthetic-Pulse]

I know for gaming there is almost no difference between the two cpu's for frame rate, but will the i7 help when dealing with a lot of mods? I like to mod skyrim to extremes with hundreds of graphic mods and I also enjoy modding gta iv. Will the i7 be worth getting in the modding department?

[dragoon20005]

Skyrim uses more of GPU horsepower than CPU

 

also mods will push the VRAM usage to it max

[Dabombinable]

Skyrim uses more of GPU horsepower than CPU

 

also mods will push the VRAM usage to it max

Yep, my Xeon X5450 @ 3.2GHz did just fine, my GTX 970 though just hits 4GB-when at 1080P and turns the game to shit (ie. The GPU prevents me from modding Skyrim until it crashes)

[Synthetic-Pulse]

Yep, my Xeon X5450 @ 3.2GHz did just fine, my GTX 970 though just hits 4GB-when at 1080P and turns the game to shit (ie. The GPU prevents me from modding Skyrim until it crashes)

 

Because of the slow part of the 970's vram?

[VolkA]

Because of the slow part of the 970's vram?

Most likely yes. Therefore for CPU wise, I think i5-4690K would be good. Save the extra money from the CPU and get a better GPU like GTX 980 or r9 290x. 

[Synthetic-Pulse]

Most likely yes. Therefore for CPU wise, I think i5-4690K would be good. Save the extra money from the CPU and get a better GPU like GTX 980 or r9 290x. 

 

A evga gtx 980 is being ordered but I am unsure on the CPU because I have heard the i7 helps when dealing with mods.

[VolkA]

A evga gtx 980 is being ordered but I am unsure on the CPU because I have heard the i7 helps when dealing with mods.

Awesome choice of GPU I might said. I kind of (just a little bit) regret on getting 2 x r9 290x for my casing as my country (Singapore) is so &*!#^%!#%@!#&*^ hot.

 

With regards to dealing with mods, I can't help you here (Sorry). I don't really play those games personally and have no idea if they are more CPU bound or GPU.

[Dabombinable]

Because of the slow part of the 970's vram?

 

Most likely yes. Therefore for CPU wise, I think i5-4690K would be good. Save the extra money from the CPU and get a better GPU like GTX 980 or r9 290x. 

No, all 4GB gets used up then it moves to system RAM, and I'm only running it at 1333MHz.

[Samfisher]

Skyrim is very CPU bound as well as all shadows are done on the CPU.  Both my 3570K at 4.4GHz and GTX 970 at a 20% overclock (980 performance) struggle with a nicely modded Skyrim, although I am able to maintain 60 fps in most cases.

[TechFan@ic]

Hey buddy, the CPU doesn't matter nearly as much with modded Skyrim vs vanilla Skyrim. In fact in my own personal testing a $130 FX 8320 at 4.6Ghz was a tiny bit faster than a $330 i7 2600K at 4.4Ghz in modded Skyrim. Even though in Vanilla Skyrim the i7 was measurably faster.

My own Skyrim goodness.

 
Mod list :
High-Res texture pack.
Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Enhanced Lights and Effects
Revamped Exterior Fog
Grass and Grass
Better Dynamic Snow
Realistic Water 2
Unfortunately the Kountervibe ENB used to take these screenshots is no longer available, a good alternative is Sharpshooter's ENB.
 
System :
CPU : FX 8320 @4.6Ghz
GPU : Gigabyte Windforce R9 290 @1040mhz
Memory : 16GB 1600mhz CL9

[Dabombinable]

Hey buddy, the CPU doesn't matter nearly as much with modded Skyrim vs vanilla Skyrim. In fact in my own personal testing a $130 FX 8320 at 4.6Ghz was a tiny bit faster than a $330 i7 2600K at 4.4Ghz in modded Skyrim. Even though in Vanilla Skyrim the i7 was measurably faster.

My own Skyrim goodness.

 

Mod list :

High-Res texture pack.

Skyrim Flora Overhaul

Enhanced Lights and Effects

Revamped Exterior Fog

Grass and Grass

Better Dynamic Snow

Realistic Water 2

Unfortunately the Kountervibe ENB used to take these screenshots is no longer available, a good alternative is Sharpshooter's ENB.

 

System :

CPU : FX 8320 @4.6Ghz

GPU : Gigabyte Windforce R9 290 @1040mhz

Memory : 16GB 1600mhz CL9

That's all of the mods you use? Seriously?

[TechFan@ic]

That's all of the mods you use? Seriously?

These are the graphics mods that I used to capture the above screenshots. I use a lot more mods, but those are the ones specific for graphics.

[Faceman]

These are the graphics mods that I used to capture the above screenshots. I use a lot more mods, but those are the ones specific for graphics.

There are a plethora of mods, really good and popular mods, that demand a good CPU.

 

Skyrim even without mods runs a lot better on an Intel processor because of the strong single core performance, but when you turn that game into a GPU bound one, which you have done, that is when your FX doesn't matter as much.

[numnums]

Hey buddy, the CPU doesn't matter nearly as much with modded Skyrim vs vanilla Skyrim. In fact in my own personal testing a $130 FX 8320 at 4.6Ghz was a tiny bit faster than a $330 i7 2600K at 4.4Ghz in modded Skyrim. Even though in Vanilla Skyrim the i7 was measurably faster.

My own Skyrim goodness.

 

Mod list :High-Res texture pack.Skyrim Flora OverhaulEnhanced Lights and EffectsRevamped Exterior FogGrass and GrassBetter Dynamic SnowRealistic Water 2

Unfortunately the Kountervibe ENB used to take these screenshots is no longer available, a good alternative is Sharpshooter's ENB.

 

System :

CPU : FX 8320 @4.6Ghz

GPU : Gigabyte Windforce R9 290 @1040mhz

Memory : 16GB 1600mhz CL9

Good gawd @_@

༼つ☯﹏☯༽つ

[libremaster]

Hey buddy, the CPU doesn't matter nearly as much with modded Skyrim vs vanilla Skyrim. In fact in my own personal testing a $130 FX 8320 at 4.6Ghz was a tiny bit faster than a $330 i7 2600K at 4.4Ghz in modded Skyrim. Even though in Vanilla Skyrim the i7 was measurably faster.

My own Skyrim goodness.

 

Mod list :

High-Res texture pack.

Skyrim Flora Overhaul

Enhanced Lights and Effects

Revamped Exterior Fog

Grass and Grass

Better Dynamic Snow

Realistic Water 2

Unfortunately the Kountervibe ENB used to take these screenshots is no longer available, a good alternative is Sharpshooter's ENB.

 

System :

CPU : FX 8320 @4.6Ghz

GPU : Gigabyte Windforce R9 290 @1040mhz

Memory : 16GB 1600mhz CL9

 

I really liked Skyrim. But never had the patience to mod it. I regret it though.

[itachipirate]

Skyrim is really GPU bound, until you Install an ENB preset. I get perfect fps/full gpu usage with a FX-6300 4.2gh and GTX 970 with any mod I throw at the game. But after installing the RealVision ENB preset with DoF my fps would get around 45 max with 40% GPU usage. It's the only bottleneck I've seens with this chip but I'd assume an i5 would have no problem. Going from i5-i7 in gaming shouldn't really give that big of a boost since the main difference is hyperthreading and Skyrim doesn't use many threads anyway. You should probably get an i5 and spend a little more money on your graphics card

[Faceman]

Could you guys please not quote someone who posted a ton of pictures, or at least remove the pics, or spoiler them, or @ the person.

[Sintezza]

If you can afford a 4790k then by all means why not?.

There are games that slowly start to take the advanice of those extra threads.

Next to that, the 4790k will allways be a great solution for streaming, if you ever might be into that.

 

But the 4690k will basicly be fine aswell.

[TechFan@ic]

There are a plethora of mods, really good and popular mods, that demand a good CPU.

 

Skyrim even without mods runs a lot better on an Intel processor because of the strong single core performance, but when you turn that game into a GPU bound one, which you have done, that is when your FX doesn't matter as much.

Even the mods which are purported to demand a faster CPU run excellent on the FX 8320. The lighting mods for example, the grass mods, water mods and the snow mods just to name a few aren't as CPU heavy as you would imagine because they're sufficiently multi-threaded. They also require a lot of GPU horsepower tipping the equation back in favor of the GPU, so the game becomes more GPU bound. Which does end up meaning that a $130 FX 8320 with a modest overclock is really all you need to mod Skyrim to the moon.

Simply put once you mod Skyrim for better graphics it will always end up being GPU bound so long as you're running a decent multicore CPU like an i5 or an eight core FX. The older dual cores will struggle.

 

[Faceman]

Even the mods which are purported to demand a faster CPU run excellent on the FX 8320. The lighting mods for example, the grass mods, water mods and the snow mods just to name a few aren't as CPU heavy as you would imagine because they're sufficiently multi-threaded. They also require a lot of GPU horsepower tipping the equation back in favor of the GPU, so the game becomes more GPU bound. Which does end up meaning that a $130 FX 8320 with a modest overclock is really all you need to mods Skyrim to the moon.

Simply put once you mod Skyrim for better graphics it will always end up being GPU bound so long as you're running a decent multicore CPU like an i5 or an eight core FX. The older dual cores will struggle.

 

You need to talk to @Suika

[TechFan@ic]

You need to talk to @Suika

No need for that, I know what I'm talking about

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Until your Skyrim starts looking like this, the whole game would be very dependent on the GPU.

Very minimal performance boost with stronger CPUs... 

 

[Majestic]

lol @ 3 people qouting the same stream of images.

[Blackie Sheen]

That's all of the mods you use? Seriously?

Dont quote images. Remove them and then use write -snip- to mention you have taken some elements of the quoted post