So when I rebuilt my computer back in December, I decided to go with an AMD rig instead of an Intel rig, but the only thing that carried over from the old PC (apart from a spare HDD) was a GeForece GTX 460. It's been the little card that could, especially considering the price point, but I'm beginning to notice that certain games (Alan Wake, I'm looking at you) don't run particularly well on it, and whenever I hook the PC up to my HD TV, I get some weird over-scan issues that I can't seem to get rid of, and other people have complained about the issue too online. So I've decided to go with an ATI/AMD video card when I upgrade.

After several hours of reading up last night, and considering the price point I can afford, I've decided to go with the Overclocked Edition of the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850. I've seen nothing but good will toward the card, and I like that it's fairly strong while using less energy than other similar cards (or my current card).

I was wondering if anyone here was using the 7850 (or a similar card) and wondering if they could tell me how well it plays Skyrim? My current card will run it with everything set to ultra (except AA, which I leave at 2x or off) in 1080p with the High Res Texture Pack and other smaller packs (high res blood textures) installed, but it will often drop down to 40 FPS while in town or in heavy combat situations. I'm looking for a card that will run it closer to 50 or 60 FPS fairly constant.

Sadly, AMD is suffering from a bad batch of recent video drivers. 12.2 - 12.4 have caused decreased performance for my Skyrim. I've had to actually downgrade drivers for the first time in years...

I have heard nothing but great things about the 7850 and previous gen 6850 cards. I would think that it would be a rather good upgrade.


A number of those reports are system dependent, personally Ive only ever had issues with 11.6 drivers last year that had a major glitch with my generation of card. In any case since they are updated monthly, it wont be long till outstanding issues are ironed out.

I usually always used a Nvidia card and when I build my gaming system, about 2 years ago, I went to an ATI Radeon HD 5700 series. I love the card and I have no issues with running anything on the highest setting. Skyrim runs very well on it. I've always been into AMD processors, so I'm running a Phenom II x6 right now. I'd say go for it. With the 7850 you should be golden!

I never dl the high res texture pack, because Skyrim looked amazing already. lol

I've gone through the process of adding my current system specs to my signature (I've seen other people do it, so that's probably quite helpful when posting about issues and people want your system specs, never really thought about it before).

I mention this because I've heard that my particular processor can safely be overclocked to a whopping 4 GHz with the right aftermarket cooler and thermal paste applied, which is something else I'm hoping to do when I upgrade to the 7850. I was thinking about getting the 7870, but based on the reading up I've been doing, I can't justify the $100 price difference for the minor performance boost it has over the 7850.

One thing I am concerned about is AMD's inability to use PhysX. I've always been on NVIDIA cards, so I'm not sure how much PhysX actually affects things -- and in this case, I'm not even sure Skyrim uses PhysX. For those of you who've used NVIDIA and AMD GPUs, does PhysX really make that much difference in the grand scheme of things?

No matter what card you go with, if you change brands of chipsets, then use something like Driver Cleaner to completely remove the old video drivers before installing the new set. Old driver sludge can cause some issues with video cards.

Yeah, I keep Driver Sweeper handy (I tend to completely uninstall old video drivers before installing new ones, just in case) and plan to scrub all NVIDIA drivers from my system prior to installing the AMD drivers.

Out of interest, can someone tell me the AMD equivalent of EVGA Precision? I tend to overclock my card just slightly when playing games like Alan Wake, and I like being able to max out the fan speed to keep my video card as cool as possible when playing graphic-intense games.

In my experience PhysX is junk software. I actually have it on this system running under CPU physX, as a couple of games I have absolutely require you have it. In gaming terms it makes bugger all difference to the way the game plays. If you want to read more indepth and accurate info on it and not sensasionalist press check out this article at Toms Hardware. They give physX a run for its money.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-physx-hack-amd-radeon,2764.html

On the overclocking front, if you want advice or tips and nformation about the best and safest way to do so check out this forum
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/

The members there are long time overclockers and many are fully qualified to give you the best advice possible on your hardware and OC'ing it properly.