Special Issue: Skyrim LE - Benchmark & Comments Part 1

Special Issue

- Skyrim LE - Benchmark & Comments Part 1 -

Introduction

Hi....and a new theme👍

      In this new special issue number one, we are going to benchmark the game: Skyrim Legendary Edition.
     The legendary edition is badly optimized, and that's not a myth.
For this reason, you always need to fight with performances. Skyrim LE asks some effort and patience.
     I'm not speaking about stability. In my opinion, Skyrim LE is very stable if you avoid sensible mods.
In my case, my stability is near 100%. So, this is not an improvement point.
     Lots of players have a stable Skyrim, and in 2019, I believe that most of us know what is secure and what is not.

By performances, I mean "regularity" and "smoothness" or constant fps. That's the most difficult point to improve in this game. In my humble opinion, the only answer is Time and Patience.

      So, today, I share with you some tests in game. For this benchmark, I use MSI afterburner.
All datas are on screen, so you can watch and compare. I believe that I display the most important datas about the CPU, the GPU, the RAM and the framerate. I added blackbars, so you can see clearly datas.

Important: FPS are unlocked!!!! It's better for this benchmark and more precise.
Important 2 : My ini setting are quality oriented. I could make them more performant, but I just like wide and detailled lods.

Screen captures are very simple. The goal is just to see performances of a Skyrim LE. On each screens, I write a comment about the performance and datas. I hope this article will answer to some of your questions and you can of course compare with your own machine, your own rig.

1) The rig
Yes, before I start, it's important to write what is my rig exactly.
Your rig will determine your global performances of the game. However, do you really know what parts are important? Well, I hope to answer to this question.

So, my actual rig:

- CPU Intel Core I7 3930K @3.20Ghz (Turbo 3.8 Ghz)
An old CPU (2011).....but with pretty good reputation 👍. Despite its age, the I7 3930K is 6 cores and 12 threads. My CPU doesn't bottleneck my Graphic card. That's the most important. This CPU runs @3.20 Ghz. A turbo boost is available automatically up to 3.8 Ghz. You'll observe that the CPU is almost always in Turbo mode for Skyrim LE ( 3500, 3600, 3700 Mhz.....sometimes 3800..)
The I7 3930 K is famous to be easily overclocked ( up to 4.5/4.7 Ghz) , however my water cooling is not very good. During the turbo mod, the heat is already important, so I prefer to not overclock my CPU. 

- Liquid Cooling Antec Kühler H2O 620
This is my water cooling. Not the best, but it works fine. However, it does not allow me to overclock my CPU. The cooling is not enough..........cool 😄
 
- Motherboard Gigabyte X79-UD3 Sandy Bridge-E
The famous Gigabyte Sandy Bridge 😁. It just works good with the I7 3930K. It's an old product but hard as a rock.
This motherboard is still efficient in 2019. However, If you use like me an old plateform, you need to flash your bios to install the last version. If you don't flash your bios with the last drivers, the motherboard simply doesn't recognized new GPUs. Well, in any cases, always install last drivers of your motherboard for latest upgrades.
 
- 16Gb Ram /G.Skill RipJawsX 4GbXL DDR3 1600Mhz
Yes, 16 Gb of Ram. 8 is a bit limited for a modded Skyrim. 16 is a good choice and this is necesarry for Skyrim.

- Graphic Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 MSI Gaming X 8Gb
The GTX 1080 does all the job on my machine and in my game 😅 Hopefully, I have it. It's a very good GPU, powerful for sure. I like it. The question is: Is it enough powerful for a modded Skyrim?
Fact: I never buy new GPU. I mean, I never buy them at the release. When I want to upgrade my GPU, I generaly search for used products...a second hand. New GPUs are generally very expensive at the release, and honnestly I'm not ready to pay this full price even if I like technology and beautiful products. So, in this case, I bought my GTX 1080 Gaming X last year for 150 euros (170 US Dollars). A very good deal in my opinion. In fact, this deal was even better because the seller received it as a present but he wasn't a PC player😂. So, the product was unpacked. To be honnest, I'm almost sure that he wasn't really aware of what he was selling.
I recommend you to search for used GPU. You can definitly find good deals for a low price if you are in "budget mode" like me.
If you are not in "budget mode", well, take the best and the most poweful😊

- Hard Drive Western Digital WD20EFRX Red 2Tb (Game)
- Hard Drive Western Digital WD2500AAKX 250Gb (Windows)
I have 2 classic Hard drives. I bought them long time ago and they just work fine. An SSD could be better. SSD improve loading times but not really FPS. Well, it's like that!

So, you know how I run the game. As a first conclusion, my rig is a bit old, I agree. However, components are reliable. The only strong point of my computer is my GPU. It definitly saves me.

2) Resolution

For this test, I run the game @1440P. This resolution is my choice when I simply play the game. It's a bit more demanding compared to the 1080p, but the 1440P just looks really better on my monitor.
So, I'm ready to pay the price for more pixels. However, I moved to 1440p because my fps was already solid on 1920*1080.
So, the article shows images @1440P, Jpg compressed format. It should load the page faster than my usual 4K resolution.
Images will be totally random.

3) The game content

It's a modded Skyrim LE with a lot of mods. Trees, grasses, retex, npc, quests, animations, scripts etc, etc, etc, everything..... Well, it's simply fully modded.
How many mods?
I don't really know. The list is between 200 and 230, but a bunch of mods are directly into the data, like core mods or retexture or unique mods that will never be overwriten. I use my organizer for sensible mods, only.
So, my estimation is between 400 and 500 mods. I do a lot of manual and precise changes, it's just very difficult to tell you an exact number.

It's important to tell that the game includes a lot of new textures (2K and 4K) and meshes (some high poly meshes). Keep that in mind. My game isn't only focused on characters...that means all the game is improved.....and it cost fps. My game is not a 4K character in a vanilla environement. I give the same attention between my characters and the environement.
I also use Dyndolod on a medium setting. The total size of my dyndolod is 4Gb all included (esp + meshes + textures + skse).
Ugridstoload are 5.

At last, I use an ENB (my current creation) and I run almost all effects. It costs... 😀

4) Benchmarks & comments

a) How many FPS cost an ENB?

Without my ENB: 177fps@1440p

With my ENB: 80fps@1440p

 In interior, you can reach best performances. It's also a good place to watch the real cost of an ENB. Well, the result is just insane: My ENB cost 97 fps (without ENB=177fps/ with ENB = 80fps).
You can also see that the GPU is only 53% usage without the ENB. Once activated, the ENB pushes the GPU to 98%. A big jump!!
Of course my friend!!! Beauty has a cost!!!
I consider my ENB as performant. I have already tried a lot of ENBs which eat way more fps.

b) How many fps cost my character?
Without my character: 93 fps

 With my character: 76 fps

My character cost 17 fps. It's heavy 😄 Despite her UNPetite size, Diana has an impact on performances😊. That's simply due to her 4K textures and her HDT body. Simple.

let's try another test 😂
nobody!

 And she's here!

14 fps...only. Performances could be better with 2K textures, but my main characters are just essential and deserve the best.

c) Tundra randoms

Performances are decent in the tundra. Verdant is not too much fps killing. Some new structures and new trees cost some fps. FPS are between 55 and 65 whatever the view. The climate have an impact on FPS. Rainy days are a bit more demanding (-4fps).

d) Coasts

No problems with coasts. It's fps friendly. Less grasses, less trees and a few lods. FPS are generous. Between 70 and 85 fps.

e) Winterhold: Global view

Winterhold is fps friendly, and fps are decent. Lods work fine. My snow (terrain) is 4K, but it doesn't have a huge impact on performances. Roads are 3D. This place doesn't have a lot of grass and trees, so, it's smooth. Between 55 and 80 fps.

f) Water

 Again, no problems with water and river edge. I use realistic Water 2. However, you always have more fps when you watch the ground, so this image is not really revelant. Well, water mods shouldn't eat your fps.

g) Foggy lods

I run NLVA, and NLVA may be demanding sometimes. In this case, the 60fps is not solid just because of Lods and fog. It's an hard mix. You can also see more structures in the tundra and an add-on trees. It cost my friend!!! The game stays playable.

h) On the road again

A road.....simple. Some lods, some trees and some bushes. The game is generally smooth on roads.
I use 3D roads, but I noticed that it cost some fps. Original flat roads have less complex meshes. But I prefer bumpy roads, it's just a better visual.

i) Dwemertech

I really like Dwemer ruins. 2K for walls/grounds and 4K for mechanisms. They are generally very vast and huge and you can observe some fps drop. However my recent change to Relighting Skyrim + ELE give me a huge boost compared to ELFX. A matter of taste. Between 70 fps and 100.

j) Lushy

Forest and lushy places are very hard to optimized. Grass and trees are fps killing. You also have lods in the background. So, that's very demanding. Very hard for me to maintain a 60 fps in lushy forests: Pines and aspens. I also use some 3D plants...it doesn't help me. I'm still trying to improve these places, but without removing any mod. Technicaly, I use some David's trees which is one of the most performant tree mod. David's trees contains very light meshes and the performance is here. However, Addon Trees decrease my fps. It's not easy. Between 49 fps and 62 fps.

k) Lods and Lods

I run Dyndolod on a medium setting. The highest setting is too heavy for me, the lowest setting does not include enough meshes in my opinion. So, I always select the medium setting. Lods have a huge impact on your global performance, and particulary Dyndolod. Before, I used Tes5LodGen. It's less detailled but it definitly cost less fps. Long distance views are between 55 and 80 fps.

l) Night Lods

Volumetric fogs from NLVA cost fps. 53 fps on this view, sometimes between 45 and 50. Lods and fog are responsible. NLVA has a little price in game but you can optimize it with lower textures. I recommend you to use optimized textures for your climate system. I really don't see a lot of difference between 1K and 2K textures for climates. 512 are sometimes also available. It's up to you but climates are always a very good point of improvement...in my humble opinion.

m) Caves

Huge or small, caves are generally not a problem and are fps friendly. The giant is agree with me. Currently i run 2k caves. It's not demanding.

n) Tundra again

Oh yes! The tundra is a good place to test your performances. So, here are 2 new places.
Not very easy to maintain a solid 60fps. I had it when I used Tes5lodgen, but my passage to Dyndolod broke my 60@1440p. So, I need to work more on Dyndolod.
Infact, and in my humble opinion again, the fps cost comes from the intermediate/middle lods that Dyndolod adds. Very distant lods and terrain hasn't a huge impact, but this middle distance need more work.
Visualy better...but it cost. I can edit it in the MCN menu. So, it's on my list-to-do. I'll give you a feedback about that.

o) Solitude view

Again, lods are demanding, as usual.

p) Snowflakes

I'll be honnest, I run shitty snowflakes 😁...and raindrops too.
They are really really low resolution in my game. I just think that 4K snowflakes is a non sense. It's a waste of ressource. I strongly recommend you to lower to the maximum your snowflakes and your raindrops. I believe it's just better to use these ressources for a more important content.
NLVA has one very heavy snowflake....and that's the first thing I optimized in NLVA. During rain or snowstorm, fps are constant. Here 74 fps in the middle of nowhere...a snowy land If I remember correctly. All snowy landscapes are generaly fps friendly.

q) Effects

Typically a demanding place.
By night, with some waterfall in the background and with lanterns on a bridge. Performances are decent, but these sort of places are just terrible in my case. I tried to lower the resolution of Realistic water 2 but it doesn't change anything. I already run performance waterfalls.
But I believe that lanterns which reflect and illuminate sprays are responsible.
Well, a point to improve. 

r) Ruins

Let's finish this first article with a ruin. Like caves, forts and mines, ruins provide a huge amount of fps. Again, my change from ELFX to Relighting Skyrim + ELE has given me a huge FPS boost. My ruins are mainly 2K.

CONCLUSION:

Well, we have a first part with some values. Benchmarks do not lie.
Interiors are generally not a problem and are generous with FPS.
About exterior, it's another story.
Despite a GTX 1080, the solid 60fps is difficult to reach @1440p.
The reason is probably the mix between:

- my ini settings
- dyndolod
- and the 1440p resolution.

In the past, the game was 60 solid with TES5LODGEN.
Beauty has a cost, and it's a rule.

About my rig, we can notice important points:

- Despite its old age, my CPU usage is between 15% and 30.%. You don't see this detail on my images , but the game uses all 12 threads equally. 6 cores and 12 threads run fine in this case. So, the game is not very demanding for the CPU and even a small CPU like mine does the job. A lot of people have a better CPU than me, so I think that a lot of people have the right CPU to handle a modded game. Just be careful that your CPU does not bottleneck your GPU if you wan't to upgrade your GPU.

- The GPU takes all the charge. Definitly. With the ENB on, the GTX 1080 is between 90% and 98% all the time. The GPU is simply at its maximum and Skyrim LE is definitly demanding for the GPU.
Interior or exterior doesn't matter. A high resolution and better textures will force to kneel your GPU.
Skyrim LE requires a strong GPU. No doubt about that.  A strong GPU allows more fps and more HD textures usage.

- RAM. In this test, you can see my RAM between 5000 and 8000. Sometimes, I can reach 10000 and a bit more.
So, for Skyrim LE, I recommend 16Gb ram. You reach 8000 too easily (if you have 8Gb).
16Gb is a good deal. 32 could be better but I doubt that you can use all your RAM

Skyrim is really very demanding. It's a constant fight. The bad optimization of the game is the guilty. Well, I don't complain 😉, the game is from 2011!
I played The witcher 3 on the exact same computer, and this game works like a charm at 1440p.....and 60 fps ultra solid. However, the Witcher 3 does not have 2K and 4K textures on landscapes.
But this game is simply very well optimized.

Skyrim SE is a bit more optimized than Skyrim LE. I have one and I saw several videos about it. In fact, Skyrim SE makes a better usage of the CPU and of the GPU. With the use of Directx11, the SE version uses more memory and in a better way. However, Skyrim SE starts to be more and more modded and performance issues begin to appear. That's a reality.

Skyrim LE test

On my computer ,
here are values for the memory usage
of Skyrim LE (right) and Skyrim SE (down).
 Well, you can see that Skyrim LE can use  16224 Mb on my actual computer.

Skyrim SE can double this number (38400 Mb)

Skyrim SE test

Despite its age, Skyrim LE is still a wonderful game and a marvelous tool. It's a game 😄. Skyrim LE requires time and precision.
The thing is that the huge amount of available mods encourage everybody to install a bunch of mods.

I believe that It's important to stay resonable. In my case, I'm to the limit of my GPU in 1440p. Ijust have a few improvements to reach a very solid game. That's the good new.

I had several GPUs on Skyrim. Modding is interesting from 4Gb memory. Modding with less than 4Gb memory is limiting if your wanna use high texture packs. In the past, I had a GTX 680 and a GTX 970 and I had a lot of fun but I used lower textures and lods was very .....simple.
Another solution is to adapt your resolution to your GPU. 1080p remains the most popular resolution.

Final words,

I hope you liked this article. A small change is always welcome, isn't it? You are free to share your thoughts or your experience here. A second article will be done with different locations ( cities, mountains, new locations, etc...).
Every interesting experiences and comments will be added to this article ( noted as " visitors add-on" or simply your name if you don't post anonymously).
If I made an mistake, a comment is highly appreciated to correct this error.

Stay strong!....even if you realize that your ENB cost 97 fps 😅

Thank you

MARMOTTE