Make it Beautiful! [Help required]

Hello my fellow members of SF!

Okay, so I know a million of these threads exist but I couldn't find any resembling my system at all, except maybe CPU. I built my computer and am currently saving (and waiting) on a good price drop of some good cards, but in the mean time I was wondering if it was possible to make Skyrim look better on a rig using iGPU.

I have a i5-4670k@3.8Ghz being cooled by Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO with 8GB of RAM. I have only the iGPU to play by and at the moment, in Skyrim on a custom resolution, I get 32-38 FPS outside of towns and the same for in towns (sometimes it jumps to 45 or down to 31 if looking at multiple light sources). I do plan on a getting a GPU, it is my priority for my savings after bills and whatnot, but for right now I'd like to enjoy Skyrim as best as my computer can handle it.

Is this impossible? If it is possible, am I supposed to overclock, assuming that the overclock will somehow change the iGPU? (please note I don't need 60+ FPS at the moment)

*I currently have a list of mods installed and will happily provide them if it matters*

Do you have any mods installed that help with performance or have you looked into the different ini tweaks to enhance skyrim's bad reliability on the CPU over the GPU? Granted since you don't have one atm it might be better, but definitely look into them when you do.

Ivory said:

Do you have any mods installed that help with performance or have you looked into the different ini tweaks to enhance skyrim's bad reliability on the CPU over the GPU? Granted since you don't have one atm it might be better, but definitely look into them when you do.

Click to expand...

I don't think I'm using any performance mods at the moment. I have used Skyrim Configuration program to tweak the settings but nothing else.

Where do I go to look into it? What should I look up?

The start up menu must have menu or options check that if you having performance issues or if you want better graphics get an ENB or EMB what ever its called sorry if im no help I use xbox

Ilrita said:

Where do I go to look into it? What should I look up?

Click to expand...

A good one is called OneTweak. It lets you play windowed mode with full screen and helps with as much as 5-10 fps with my experience. Out of curiosity, what GPU are you looking into?

Ivory said:

Ilrita said:

Where do I go to look into it? What should I look up?

Click to expand...

A good one is called OneTweak. It lets you play windowed mode with full screen and helps with as much as 5-10 fps with my experience. Out of curiosity, what GPU are you looking into?

Click to expand...

I'm looking into OneTweak right this second!

I'm looking for cards that I can invest in that will allow me to play Star Citizen as well. But for now, on a smallish budget, I've been looking into:

HD 7850 or 7870
GTX 660 or 660ti

Though I was thinking about saving up for MSI R9 270x because I hear its good? I'm not entirely sure. I'm new and slow to learning computer stuff and which is best bang for my buck. I just want to be able to game on high at least on my games (possibly in full screen!). lol

edit

okay, the OneTweak helps by about 5FPS, but that's something I say. I did have to turn down some of the graphic settings in the Skyrim menu and set the resolution to 1024x640 (and no ENB of course! lol) to get a steady 36 with a swift drop to 29 if I spin around too fast. With an ENB on () it is about 32-35 with a drop of 27 in really lit up places or when doing sharp turns.

Any other ways I can further increase performance without loss or too much loss of quality?

So, I just wanted to let those who were looking or wondering, or perhaps those who are like me, that I found a way to increase FPS.

At first I tried to overclock the iGPU via Intel Extreme Tuning Utility because I couldn't find the options via my BIOS. However, any sort of change put my PC in a reboot loop. So that was out of the question. Next, I decided to OC my RAM. Luckily for me, my Corsair had a default profile to kick it up to 1600mhz.

This improved my performance by 20FPS in Battlefield 3, completely overhauled Mass Effect 3 (constant 60!), made Tomb Raider entirely playable at 35-38FPS and then finally, for Skyrim...47FPS on custom settings! A lot of the time in the wild I het 57 for only for a few seconds. So the average is 37-43, with the lowest drop to 29 when near GIANT fires, Mammoths and Giants but it is so short that it it can hardly count as a drop since it does it for like a second or two before jumping back to 33+.

However, this changes when I turn on my ENB. I then get an average of 34-39 FPS outdoors, a drop to 28-29 when near large fires and still amazing 40+ FPS in towns. Skyrim has benefited from this RAM OC more than any other game. lol

So, with Skyrim Configurator, OneTweak and some personal edits to ini files for my CPU and shadows, I have made Skyrim more than playable on Intel HD 4600. I plan to further tweak it for visual quality improvement. If anyone who is in the same boat as myself wishes to do this, then feel free to contact me if you are having troubles. I will be more than happy to help.

So, now back on topic...

Does anyone have any good ENBs that aren't so heavy on performance? So far I've gotten Skyrim to look as good as it will get with textures and settings etc, now I just need a perfect ENB for my system. xD

Overclocking your RAM should have almost zero impact on your gaming experience, MAYBE 5% but not a 20fps jump. I would highly suggest not overclocking your RAM, it is almost never worth the headache, and for gaming it is rarely important (as far as RAM speeds go) and can only cause you problems.

You should just refrain from trying to squeeze more juice from your machine while waiting on a real GPU. Just thank your lucky stars that your integrated GPU can make the games playable until you find yourself a new GPU.

How long are you planning on waiting until getting that GPU? The prices of the GTX 7xx cards are dropping significantly. Might be worth a look.

TheNatural said:

Overclocking your RAM should have almost zero impact on your gaming experience, MAYBE 5% but not a 20fps jump. I would highly suggest not overclocking your RAM, it is almost never worth the headache, and for gaming it is rarely important (as far as RAM speeds go) and can only cause you problems.

You should just refrain from trying to squeeze more juice from your machine while waiting on a real GPU. Just thank your lucky stars that your integrated GPU can make the games playable until you find yourself a new GPU.

How long are you planning on waiting until getting that GPU? The prices of the GTX 7xx cards are dropping significantly. Might be worth a look.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

For iGPU it made a significant jump in performance for me and there seriously was a 20fps gain in Skyrim and BF3. Games like Tomb Raider and Metro 2033 didn't get much of a performance boost though.

And I used Corsair's standard XMP to up it to 1600MHz, which is one of the defaults for the RAM. It has been safe so far, no issues or anything. And the heat on my system has remained the same. But I do plan to revert it once I get a GPU.

And yea, I am extremely grateful I am able to game comfortably/decently on iGPU. The Intel HD 4600 has surprised me with its level of performance. But I have decided not to overclock anything else or to push my RAM any further. I realized it isn't worth the headache or the potential stability issues or even hardware death that is often associated with it.

Well, if my dog's stomach swelling doesn't come back and needs another drain, I should be getting a GPU real soon after his next set of vet visits (probably around August). I was looking at the MSI R9 280 on Amazon or the GTX 760 (MSI probably). The GTX 780s are way too expensive at $500+ currently so I think that might definitely be out of the option.

Ilrita said:

TheNatural said:

Overclocking your RAM should have almost zero impact on your gaming experience, MAYBE 5% but not a 20fps jump. I would highly suggest not overclocking your RAM, it is almost never worth the headache, and for gaming it is rarely important (as far as RAM speeds go) and can only cause you problems.

You should just refrain from trying to squeeze more juice from your machine while waiting on a real GPU. Just thank your lucky stars that your integrated GPU can make the games playable until you find yourself a new GPU.

How long are you planning on waiting until getting that GPU? The prices of the GTX 7xx cards are dropping significantly. Might be worth a look.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

For iGPU it made a significant jump in performance for me and there seriously was a 20fps gain in Skyrim and BF3. Games like Tomb Raider and Metro 2033 didn't get much of a performance boost though.

And I used Corsair's standard XMP to up it to 1600MHz, which is one of the defaults for the RAM. It has been safe so far, no issues or anything. And the heat on my system has remained the same. But I do plan to revert it once I get a GPU.

And yea, I am extremely grateful I am able to game comfortably/decently on iGPU. The Intel HD 4600 has surprised me with its level of performance. But I have decided not to overclock anything else or to push my RAM any further. I realized it isn't worth the headache or the potential stability issues or even hardware death that is often associated with it.

Well, if my dog's stomach swelling doesn't come back and needs another drain, I should be getting a GPU real soon after his next set of vet visits (probably around August). I was looking at the MSI R9 280 on Amazon or the GTX 760 (MSI probably). The GTX 780s are way too expensive at $500+ currently so I think that might definitely be out of the option.

Click to expand...

While I do root for the AMD cards (because competition breeds good prodects/prices!), I would be amiss if I didn't recommend the nvidia cards over the comparable AMD models. As of right now, the base numbers of the cards may match up, but over and over it seems that, in practice, the nvidia cards perform markedly better in practical gaming situations. Something else to consider: many people end up going the SLI/Crossfire route, and right now, in my opinion, SLI blows Crossfire out of the water. If you can grab the 760 now, wait until the price drops in a couple months, you can always add another and be assured you will get a great experience with nvidia's SLI configs.

TheNatural said:

Ilrita said:

TheNatural said:

Overclocking your RAM should have almost zero impact on your gaming experience, MAYBE 5% but not a 20fps jump. I would highly suggest not overclocking your RAM, it is almost never worth the headache, and for gaming it is rarely important (as far as RAM speeds go) and can only cause you problems.

You should just refrain from trying to squeeze more juice from your machine while waiting on a real GPU. Just thank your lucky stars that your integrated GPU can make the games playable until you find yourself a new GPU.

How long are you planning on waiting until getting that GPU? The prices of the GTX 7xx cards are dropping significantly. Might be worth a look.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

For iGPU it made a significant jump in performance for me and there seriously was a 20fps gain in Skyrim and BF3. Games like Tomb Raider and Metro 2033 didn't get much of a performance boost though.

And I used Corsair's standard XMP to up it to 1600MHz, which is one of the defaults for the RAM. It has been safe so far, no issues or anything. And the heat on my system has remained the same. But I do plan to revert it once I get a GPU.

And yea, I am extremely grateful I am able to game comfortably/decently on iGPU. The Intel HD 4600 has surprised me with its level of performance. But I have decided not to overclock anything else or to push my RAM any further. I realized it isn't worth the headache or the potential stability issues or even hardware death that is often associated with it.

Well, if my dog's stomach swelling doesn't come back and needs another drain, I should be getting a GPU real soon after his next set of vet visits (probably around August). I was looking at the MSI R9 280 on Amazon or the GTX 760 (MSI probably). The GTX 780s are way too expensive at $500+ currently so I think that might definitely be out of the option.

Click to expand...

While I do root for the AMD cards (because competition breeds good prodects/prices!), I would be amiss if I didn't recommend the nvidia cards over the comparable AMD models. As of right now, the base numbers of the cards may match up, but over and over it seems that, in practice, the nvidia cards perform markedly better in practical gaming situations. Something else to consider: many people end up going the SLI/Crossfire route, and right now, in my opinion, SLI blows Crossfire out of the water. If you can grab the 760 now, wait until the price drops in a couple months, you can always add another and be assured you will get a great experience with nvidia's SLI configs.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the information! I am still very new to this and generally have fanboys telling me what to get without actually being honest. lol

Oh. I was under the impression the AMD cards were better in performance and cheaper now. I would definitely prefer nVidia (my board supports both though) because I have never been disappointed with them.

If I get the GTX 760 later on, which should I get, the 2GB or 3GB? People said 3GB is better if you like modding games but I have no idea what they mean by that. Does having a GPU with a larger vram mean a game can handle more texture mods/mods or that you get a stronger performance out of the card?

And where may I purchase GPUs, if I may so ask? Newegg seems to be out of a lot of cards lately (some of which aren't even in the search engine anymore).

Ilrita said:

TheNatural said:

Ilrita said:

Thanks for the reply!

For iGPU it made a significant jump in performance for me and there seriously was a 20fps gain in Skyrim and BF3. Games like Tomb Raider and Metro 2033 didn't get much of a performance boost though.

And I used Corsair's standard XMP to up it to 1600MHz, which is one of the defaults for the RAM. It has been safe so far, no issues or anything. And the heat on my system has remained the same. But I do plan to revert it once I get a GPU.

And yea, I am extremely grateful I am able to game comfortably/decently on iGPU. The Intel HD 4600 has surprised me with its level of performance. But I have decided not to overclock anything else or to push my RAM any further. I realized it isn't worth the headache or the potential stability issues or even hardware death that is often associated with it.

Well, if my dog's stomach swelling doesn't come back and needs another drain, I should be getting a GPU real soon after his next set of vet visits (probably around August). I was looking at the MSI R9 280 on Amazon or the GTX 760 (MSI probably). The GTX 780s are way too expensive at $500+ currently so I think that might definitely be out of the option.

Click to expand...

While I do root for the AMD cards (because competition breeds good prodects/prices!), I would be amiss if I didn't recommend the nvidia cards over the comparable AMD models. As of right now, the base numbers of the cards may match up, but over and over it seems that, in practice, the nvidia cards perform markedly better in practical gaming situations. Something else to consider: many people end up going the SLI/Crossfire route, and right now, in my opinion, SLI blows Crossfire out of the water. If you can grab the 760 now, wait until the price drops in a couple months, you can always add another and be assured you will get a great experience with nvidia's SLI configs.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the information! I am still very new to this and generally have fanboys telling me what to get without actually being honest. lol

Oh. I was under the impression the AMD cards were better in performance and cheaper now. I would definitely prefer nVidia (my board supports both though) because I have never been disappointed with them.

If I get the GTX 760 later on, which should I get, the 2GB or 3GB? People said 3GB is better if you like modding games but I have no idea what they mean by that. Does having a GPU with a larger vram mean a game can handle more texture mods/mods or that you get a stronger performance out of the card?

And where may I purchase GPUs, if I may so ask? Newegg seems to be out of a lot of cards lately (some of which aren't even in the search engine anymore).

Click to expand...

If you plan on modding Skyrim the more vram, the better. There are ways to optimize texture packs, and tweaks you can do to get away with less vram, but, at the end of the day, all of that tedious work can be circumvented by just having more vram in the first place!

As for where to buy it, if newegg doesn't have it, check amazon, they have very similar prices, and they have deals all the time. If you want to buy at a store, Fry's and Micro Center both do price matching, so, given they have it in stock, you can just walk in and get the card for a newegg/amazon price.

TheNatural said:

Ilrita said:

TheNatural said:

While I do root for the AMD cards (because competition breeds good prodects/prices!), I would be amiss if I didn't recommend the nvidia cards over the comparable AMD models. As of right now, the base numbers of the cards may match up, but over and over it seems that, in practice, the nvidia cards perform markedly better in practical gaming situations. Something else to consider: many people end up going the SLI/Crossfire route, and right now, in my opinion, SLI blows Crossfire out of the water. If you can grab the 760 now, wait until the price drops in a couple months, you can always add another and be assured you will get a great experience with nvidia's SLI configs.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the information! I am still very new to this and generally have fanboys telling me what to get without actually being honest. lol

Oh. I was under the impression the AMD cards were better in performance and cheaper now. I would definitely prefer nVidia (my board supports both though) because I have never been disappointed with them.

If I get the GTX 760 later on, which should I get, the 2GB or 3GB? People said 3GB is better if you like modding games but I have no idea what they mean by that. Does having a GPU with a larger vram mean a game can handle more texture mods/mods or that you get a stronger performance out of the card?

And where may I purchase GPUs, if I may so ask? Newegg seems to be out of a lot of cards lately (some of which aren't even in the search engine anymore).

Click to expand...

If you plan on modding Skyrim the more vram, the better. There are ways to optimize texture packs, and tweaks you can do to get away with less vram, but, at the end of the day, all of that tedious work can be circumvented by just having more vram in the first place!

As for where to buy it, if newegg doesn't have it, check amazon, they have very similar prices, and they have deals all the time. If you want to buy at a store, Fry's and Micro Center both do price matching, so, given they have it in stock, you can just walk in and get the card for a newegg/amazon price.

Click to expand...

I plan to mod Skyrim almost heavily, so I guess that means 3GB at the minimum!

I don't have a Micro Center near me (sucks really ) but I can see if I have a Fry's or something similar though I do have Best Buy near me, I'll have to check their prices. If not any of them, I'll just use Amazon.

Thank you once again for the help TheNatural!