Graphic card and Skyrim...

zahratustra

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Right now I am using 1gig 4670 Radeon card (Vista 32 bits OS) and I am able play Skyrim on low settings only. On medium or high I can load the game but it turns into slideshow and it crashes when I try changing zones. Anticipating Guild Wars 2 and KoA: Reckoning I seem to be in dire need of a new graphic card!
Could anybody recommend a budget (up to about $120 but cheaper if at all possible) which would allow me to play Skyrim on high settings and with a good chance to be able to cope with future games like KoA: reckoning?

All help will be appreciated!
 
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These graphic cards here :
http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Search?N...rd;model:Radeon HD 5750&SortBy=priceLowToHigh

all can run Skyrim and some other future games on highest settings ( and their price is in your desired range too. ) I say it because I have the one with the lowest price ( Radeon HD 5750 which is 80$ ) and it can run demanding games like L.A. Noire, Battlefield 3, etc on highest settings without any frame drop. But of course, it depends on your other PC specs especially RAM and CPU. If those are high enough ( Like 2.90 GHz for CPU and 4 or 3.5 GB for RAM ) and your only problem is graphic card, by getting one of those, your PC is good to go.
 
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Thanks FF! I have Intel Duo 3.0 GHz CPU and 4 gigs of RAM.
 
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Your welcome, happy to help.
Well, then you only need a great graphic card to have the perfect gaming PC of these days. Also since you have 4 Gigs of RAM, it's not a bad idea to change your windows to 64 bit next time you want to reformat. Since as you might know, 32 bit windows don't support more than 3.25 to 3.5 GBs of RAM normally. ( Although it is just a suggestion, 64 bit windows can be a bit tricky for some programs and games. )
 
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I have a MSI 260GXT and I run on max settings and it runs smooth as silk. I should also say I have 4 gig of RAM, 3ghz quad core AMD and win7 64bit. I think one of your major issues is Vista. Generally speaking it runs ~20% slower gaming wise then win7
 
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You might be right but my GPU is getting old and I certainly can not afford new card AND 64 bits OS :)
 
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Yeah Vista... *sigh* I have 2 laptops and unfortunately my gaming one has Vista 64. Drives me freaking nuts how slow everything is to get running and the restore from hibernate is atrocious. The Windows 7 laptop has switchable graphics but its not really gaming worthy but boy is it fast.
 
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How about Radeon HD 6670 GDDR5 1 GB card? I can get it for $100 from Amazon. Any opinions about that one compared to 5750?
 
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You might be right but my GPU is getting old and I certainly can not afford new card AND 64 bits OS :)

You can get a OEM win7 version for less then $100.

Also a decent video card for ~$150. So for $250 tops you can get both.
 
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In such a PC you'll probably want a mainstream card. Nothing spectacular, just a gaming card with a lot of bang for the buck.
I would start with an nVidia 560GTX and start comparing price and performance from there. Such a card can play nearly everything in FullHD if combined with an adequate CPU.

A used 460GTX or a Radeon 6850 could be an option too.

What I'm not sure about is how much faster current cards are compared to a Radeon 4670 though.
 
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It's not fps Gorath, it's the fact that with 4670 I can play only with "Details" on the low setting. High resolution textures for Skyrim coming thick and fast and I am unable to use any of them.
My problem might be a combination of crappy GPU and 32 bits Vista but, right now, I can only afford to update one or the other.
 
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Here's a detailed technic check for Skyrim by a German print mag. It should give you an idea where you stand with your PC.

Ignore the OS for now. A change to Win7 might bring 5-10%, but that's it.

Did you consider overclocking while you save up some money?

The new graphics mods for Skyrim could need a lot of video RAM. You should know this before you buy a card.
 
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Thanks Gorath! Your post gave me a lot to think about! When you say "overclocking" you mean CPU or GPU? From what I read, not much can be gained by trying to overclock a card like 4670…

BTW can you tell me what row 3 in your link represents?
 
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The row marked "3" is the amnount of RAM. You don't have a RAM problem.

Overclocking the CPU could bring quite a bit, depending on the CPU model and the specific game. What's your CPU-load while playing Skyrim? I'm not sure how useful GPU overclocking is.

How old is your Windows installation? Maybe it's time to clean things up and disable all the rubbish like auto-indexing.
 
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