so i have a 3.2 ghz amd quad core processor from 2008 (according to the date on the chip) i think it was a BE pretty sure.

and a nvidia 460 gtx

im upgrading my lcd to a hd flat screen 20 inch, and was wondering which one i should buy a amd processor upgrade or a videocard upgrade

also would you go nvidia or radeon? ive always used nvidia but radeon is amd and despite its difficulties lately ive been a amd really devoted fan for quite some time. but id like to know the pros and cons.

edit: i already have 8g 1600 gaming grade ram (2 4gig sticks) and its on windows 7

The 460, because its a single part you can swap out with another card with very little fuss. What i'd replace it with is of course very much dependant on your budget, but since most people don't consider 'unlimited' as an option I'd go for something in the ATI lineup that's got the extended amount of vram.

(I'd have also opted to go for a larger monitor too, if you haven't bought that new one going from lcd to 'whatever hd is to you' isn't that awesome, going from a 20" to a 24" is though)

Nvidia if you plan on running GNU/Linux, AMD for more bang for buck.

I'd get a new motherboard and i5 2500k. That won't increase your performance nearly as much as a GPU, but it will prevent future bottlenecks. Before you upgrade, though, can you post the wattage on your PSU, RAM, and motherboard?

What will the native resolution of your new screen be? The resolution determines what parts you will need. Your current system is actually pretty good.

There isn't any significant difference between nvidia and amd's video cards. AMD tends to offer slightly better price/performance ratio, but it depends on your budget. Drivers for both companies are unpredictable.
Edit: and as Orphanix said, your motherboard and PSU wattage would be very helpful .

I have a Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.2 Ghz (overclocked to 3.6 Ghz) and a GTX 460 1GB (overclocked to 875 Mhz). I use a 22" monitor with a 1680x1050 resolution. The game runs very smooth on Ultra with shadows backed down to "High" - especially since the 1.4 patch. Do you really need to upgrade anything?

the upgrading is more cuz i want to, plus if have a lot of texture replacements that actually bump my performance down noticeably to like...16fps at some places. aside from that, skyrim isnt hte only game i play.

i have a 750 watt power supply, coolmaster full tower, i have the sabertooth 990fx motherboard, so im not switching to a intel mobo...i know the I's have it atm, but ive never liked intel. besides that i already paid the money for that mobo, so mine as well stick with amd processors for now.

the monitor is 1600x900, got a good deal on it, its a 1080p monitor.

edit: i was hoping not to spend more then 250 bucks on a vid card tops in all honesty.

linux is a alt operating system i know that...what is gnu? i said in my post im on windows 7.

The proper terminology for the system is GNU/Linux http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html

And, personally, I'd go with Nvidia and Intel over AMD. Nvidia's GPUs, I find, actually do a better job in the display department and Intel's chips perform better than AMD's. AMD is just good for budgets, in my experience.

Then don't upgrade anything because that's the range you'd need the really replace either of those parts with worthwhile better, or sink it into a better monitor instead.

If you are using a lot of texture replacers, upgrading to video card with 2gb or more memory could help quite a bit. One of the new 7000-series radeon's would be a significant upgrade, but they would be bottle-necked by your processor. An alternative would be to get a 2gb 6950 or 6970 on sale. They offer similiar performance at a lower price.


Your monitor isn't 1080p, it's 900p.

To get a 1080p monitor, you would need a 23 or 24 inch monitor with a resolution of 1920x1080, hence the "1080p".

Edit: I have seen the 6950 2gb on sale for 250$... but if you are on a budget, you might want to wait a year and spend that money on a significantly better gpu for the same price.

250 on the vid card, that doesnt factor in the monitor, seperate purchases. so there isnt much reason to upgrade from a 460 to say a 560? no real benefit? kinda svcks means im stuck at the 16fps range on skyrim lol.

Get rid of the texture packs then, your FPS will improve. Word of advice: always know the limits of your system.

oh, 900p then lol, what i get for going with what the retailer says lol.

waiting a years no good, i wanna upgrade now lol.

Well, I wouldn't call it '250$ worth of benefit' that's all. But, you may find something comparible in the ATI 6xxx series more to your liking, they also have the higher counts of vram and again that's pretty much what skyrim loves to devour. So yah in that budget range if you really want a new video card then AMD/ATI is your better bet to be looking within, at least until Nvidia starts showup with their 600 series cards but that's not around yet.

unless gtx 460 is some janky low end card, you should spend all your money on a better cpu as it will always be the bottleneck for skyrim.

ideally youll want a 2500k running at around 4 ghz and a mid end gfx card like hd 6870.

and how do you find your limit? i do thru experimentation. i found that my rig getting between 16-35 fps depending on the area and whats going on. i wanna improve that, instead of telling me its not gonna happen without a 500 dollar graphics card, maybe help me out ?

Yeah, a lot of retailers call everything "1080p" or "HD" just because they can

My favourite is the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKYKyIObXyM

You are getting pretty crappy fps though... do you have ugrids set to anything higher than the default? Also make sure that shadows are set to medium or low.
A cheap upgrade would be to overclock your processor. 40$ or so can get you a great cpu heatsink for overclocking. That might give you some extra fps.

ya, bought a amd mobo and dont really have the money to re-invest in a intel mobo atm. i may keep the processor where it is and hope the piledriver and/or trinity cpus coming out this year are worthwhile at least for gaming.

sounds like a radeon then for me, if i bumped up to 300 does that provide a significant boost? budget per power wise.

Well that drastically changes the nature of the thread, it was originally 'what new video card can I buy', anyways we can help you out with tuning your skyrim settings. To start that, post the contents of your skyrimprefs.ini file, you'll find that in my documents\my games\skyrim. Just post the whole thing into the thread and I can offer advice on adjustments that'll improveme performance. Gotten quite f amililar with those values myself.

i dont understand, 300 dollars for a graphics card? even with 2x 7970 in crossfire (the most powerful setup on the market and will set you back 1400) i would still imagine your fps would not improve by 10% because your cpu is going to be choked to death.

No, what I'm telling you is that you're trying to run the game above what your hardware will run it at a decent performance level. Start there, that's the best place to start with your budget.

:| As someone who has 'the most powerful setup on the market' before the 7970s showed up, I can assure you that video cards still play a very significant role in Skyrim's performance, very very significant. Also the CPU plays a much less significant one then you think or are alluding to.

i know that, and i found that out by putting the game at that level. now i want to try and meet that level or at least close the gap somewhat. i admit i shoulda posted a budget from the beginning i sometimes forget about the rediculous 500+ dollar graphics cards.

as for other posters. i did ini tweaks, i believe ugrids is set to 7. not on the desktop atm so cant get the ini files out.

as for the person saying my cpu being choked to death...well the topic is which do i buy, a cpu or a graphics card? cpu im stuck with amd atm, and up until now people have been saying graphics cards would lend me a bigger boost. just trying to figure this all out.

edit: and if people must know, im upgrading now both because of tax returns nad because i can use my old parts and my gf can have a rig to play star wars online and sims 3 heh.

While the gpu does make a big difference, I wouldn't feel right recommending that the OP spend more than his 250$ limit on a gpu at the moment. He simply won't see the difference in performance until he also upgrades the cpu, or at least tries overclocking.

Skip the monitor then. Just forget about it. Get yourself a good GTX 560, even though a GTX 460 is still a damn good card.

Though, you need a CPU overhaul. AMD uses an old architecture that is not very good. Intel is way better.