Will a GTX 680 2GB handle all the Skyrim mods?

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Ranguvar

Limp Gawd
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Oct 23, 2011
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I'm considering breaking the bank this once and getting a GTX 680.
I run a single 1920x1200 monitor, though it's conceivable that I might upgrade the display before I upgrade the card.

If I get the 2GB GTX 680 and don't wait for the double-RAM version, will it handle all the Skyrim texture mods?

I'm talking the official mod, plus the unofficial Skyrim HD Full and a very good assortment of miscellaneous texture upgrade packs, with 4x or 8x AA thrown on top.

Does anyone have the GTX 680 or a different 2GB card? What are you able to run, do you run into limitations?
 
I dont see why it wouldnt? if your only running 1200P resolution 2GB sounds enough the only real way to put the hurt on a card like that is to up the AA to ridiculous amounts
 
Some of those texture packs are downright massive :p

I'd really prefer to hear from someone who has experience.
 
I ran Skyrim maxed 8xAA on a GTX580 with tons of texture enhancing mods, I have also tried the official high-res mod which I did not like as much. Never had a single issue at 1200p.
 
ShadowDragon, what mods specifically? Just the official Bethesda mod or the full SkyrimHD pack on top of that + other texture mods?
What level of AA?

Did hitting the vram cap cause issues, or none at all?

Thanks a lot.
 
Ranguvar said:
ShadowDragon, what mods specifically? Just the official Bethesda mod or the full SkyrimHD pack on top of that + other texture mods?
What level of AA?

Did hitting the vram cap cause issues, or none at all?

Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...

Bethesda mod,
Skyrim + http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=16423
Dødmann's Workshop http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=16410
AA 8
AF 16
Everything set to max in Advanced options. Usually stays at the vsync cap of 60 but I've seen it drop down to 42 in the extremely grassy areas.
 
This is a topic that I was curious about as well, as I'm interested in applying the hi-res texture mods for Skyrim (once I upgrade from my aging GTX 295). With the GTX 295, I ran into vRAM issues with Oblivion and Fallout 3 hi-res mod packs, and because of that, I naturally avoided installing the Skyrim hi-res mods. However, with an upgrade to the GTX 680, I'm hoping to reverse that situation.
 
I posted this in another thread, but it applies to your case, so I'm just going to copy and paste it.

I upgraded from a 1.5GB 580 to a 3GB 580 Classified Ultra because I was hitting the VRAM wall pretty hard. The only games that I hit VRAM limitations with the 1.5GB 580 were BF:3 (rarely), Skyrim (severe), and Fallout 3/New Vegas (severe). I now run with everything on max with 8x AA & 16x AF. I game on a 23" 1920 x 1080 monitor, the most memory I have seen used has been 1.8-1.85 with Skyrim. I am currently in the step-up que with EVGA for a 680 and will do some more testing when that comes. To give you an idea of the mod load I was running:


(I opted for the very highest quality version package for each of these mods)

Caliente Non Nude Female Body Replacer (nude was a nice novelty but gets old and makes you feel a little weird when you're constantly looting dead girls).
SkyUI
Quality World Map
Skyrim HD - 2K Textures
Better Circlets
Deadly Dragons
Detailed Faces
Detailed Lips
Dragonbone Weapons
Realistic Water Textures & Landscapes
No More Blocky Faces
Glowing Ore Veins
Enhanced Blood Textures (usually leave this off as there have been some conflicts)
Jaysus Swords
Enhanced Night
Dovahkiin Hideout
High Quality Eyes
Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Improved NPC Clothing
Lockpick Pro (So nice after you finish your first run-through)
Lush Grass
Midas
FXAA Post Process Injector
Nicer Snowflakes
Realistic Smoke and Embers
Deadly Spell Impacts
Serious HD Retexture
Shadow Striping Fix
SKSE
Sounds of Skyrim the Wilds
Sounds of Skyrim the Dungeons
Deadly Serious Shrouded Armor
Visible windows
Weapon Retexture
Weathered Warpaint & Improved Dirt
Skyrim Enhanced Shaders
Sunglare
Detailed Bodies
Lush trees
HiRes legible Road Signs

And a few more but I can't recall their names as I deleted the Zip files for them. :/
 
As long as you don't go nuts with AA you can run the game perfectly fine on less than 2 GB VRAM.
 
I play Skyrim with texture mods, 8 x AA + 2 x TRSSA + Ambient occ, 1080p on gtx 580 3gb with 50-60 fps all the time and vram usage dosent pass 1800mb, often less. Latest drivers made 580 a lot faster and Ambient occ. works great..

For 1080p and 1200p with all AA force and candy 2gb is more than enough in all games.
 
Will 2GB of VRAM be enough for 2560 x 1600 on Skyrim with lots of high res mods if I don't use any AA?
 
Just a reminder:

Screen resolution is exactly 1/2 the equation here. The OP describes a scenario where, unless he goes all out in AA, it is TOTALLY irrelevant to performance impact from VRAM limits.
The issue he presents is obvious: will x card be able to allocate enough texture memory for y game with crazy amounts of texture mods.

My answer: Probably. For now. I would not buy a new card with less than 3GB of video memory. Your frame buffer need (which includes tri buffering/Vsync, AA, etc) is going to be relatively static if the applied options are the same. Texture memory required will vary wildly from game to game, with texture mods adding....textures that take up more room.

Texture resolution is not related to screen resolution.
 
Compddd said:
Will 2GB of VRAM be enough for 2560 x 1600 on Skyrim with lots of high res mods if I don't use any AA?
Click to expand...

In my experience 1.25 GB has been enough for 4x FSAA at 1080p with lots of high-res texture mods. So my guess is 2 GB should be plenty for 1600p with no AA. Probably even 4x AA would be fine.
 
I run 2560 x 1600 and am waiting for the 4GB 680. My current 1GB 5870 cannot run most of the HD texture mods in Skyrim. Don't want to run into the same situation a couple of years down the road.
 
Arizona_Steve said:
I run 2560 x 1600 and am waiting for the 4GB 680. My current 1GB 5870 cannot run most of the HD texture mods in Skyrim. Don't want to run into the same situation a couple of years down the road.
Click to expand...

Couple years down the road you are probably going to need to buy a new card anyway. :p
 
I'm running a 6950 2GB and it hovers around 60fps at 1920x1200 with 8xAA, 16AF, and a ton of textures installed. The only thing that kills the performance for me are ENB mods when slow SSAO and/or SSAA are enabled.
 
6950 2gb at 1080p here with tons of texture packs, etc. So far not having any texture issues (like fail to load, etc.) and frame rates are usually pegged at 60.
 
My GTX 680 at 1920x1080 runs the 2K HD texture pack + ENB Shaders + Better Indoor Lighting + 5 other visual mods + 20 other gameplay mods with Ultra settings, 8x AA 16x AF etc.. at 60 FPS (vsync) capped pretty much all times. Rarely every dips below 30.
 
I'd just wait a bit longer for the 4GB 680GTX from MSI or whatever company if I was going to drop 500 buckaroos on that GPU. There is nothing to brag about with a 2GB framebuffer :p
 
No issues with VRAM limits on my GTX 680 with the 2K texture pack, SMIM, and a bunch of other texture enhancements. It seems to use around 1.5GB of VRAM according to EVGA precision X. If you can wait, though, and don't mind the price premium, go for the 4GB cards.
 
teletran8 said:
I'd just wait a bit longer for the 4GB 680GTX from MSI or whatever company if I was going to drop 500 buckaroos on that GPU. There is nothing to brag about with a 2GB framebuffer :p
Click to expand...

Except its likely the 4 GB versions will be more like $600+.
 
I play at 1920x1200, 2xMSAA, 16xAF, ENB (with DoF), with lots of texture mods (mostly 1024x1024 res), and Skyrim uses over 2GB in some areas of the game. Most of the time it stays in the 1700-1950MB range.
 
Do we have any eta's for when the 4gb models are due out, or just a wait and see?
 
I got my card (1gb) about a year ago and debated heavily on whether it would be better to get a card with more vram or if it was worth the extra money. It wasn't too long after I got it that I was thinking I should've sprung for the extra memory. Of course that's when I transitioned from playing WoW to playing Skyrim, so when I bought the card I wasn't as concerned with how it would play future games.

If I were going to buy now, I would probably go with the 7970 with 3gb of vram. If I could wait 1~2 months I would wait for the 4gb versions of the 680, and just accept that there will be a price premium. Maybe try and sell some older hardware (or garage sale some crap) to make up the difference in the meantime.

4gb 680's have already been announced and word from the evga boards is that they are targeting a May release date.

Oh, and FWIW I play Skyrim with a bunch of texture and graphics mods and it doesn't bother me too much if it slows down from time to time. If playing TES games have taught me anything, it's don't expect to play it full bore with all the cool mods until I build a system that's about 2 years more advanced than the game. Then again, being designed for consoles has left Skyrim A LOT more forgiving on my system than previous titles were.
 
I'm in the same dilemma, I have so many mods in Skyrim that my 6970 went from 80 fps to 30.

What would be best? Upgrading to a GTX 680 or xfire my rig?
 
WildMonkey said:
I'm in the same dilemma, I have so many mods in Skyrim that my 6970 went from 80 fps to 30.

What would be best? Upgrading to a GTX 680 or xfire my rig?
Click to expand...

If you don't mind the driver, heat, noise, and power consumption dilemma of crossfiring, picking up another 6970 would be cheaper and faster than a single 680.
 
I'm about to pick this game up as I haven't yet. Any advice on what mods to get besides skyrim HD, skyui and the FXAA mod?
 
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