For the people unhappy with the specs

[Zav_]

Well, i dont mean to fuss about it and sound shallow, but i think the specs are a tad bit overboard.Now i spent quite a bit on my pc back in july 2007.I got some pretty decent hardware too, it ran crysis fairly decently.These requirements are just far off, i mean crysis looks way better than gta iv, be realistic about it, yet crysis didnt need specs this great to look good.

 

Also note how the requirements are heavy in the cpu area, but moderate in the graphics area.I smell a bad port.Dont get me wrong, the pc version looks terrific.But there's more to it than that, there's alot of coding as i'm sure you're all aware, which i dont think they have put into this.

 

Go back and have a look at the vice city and san andreas minimum requirements.They were quite reasonable for the time, unlike this.

[TheRealPcGamer]

Thx for the info, Flyboy and elanman.

the other question:

1. which one i must take for RAM : ddr2 or ddr3 ? in my country ddr3 is about 3X more expensive than ddr2.

2. what's the benefits of 64bit? just coz can handle more than 4gb? while there are many programs can't run on 64bit.

 

[aidan87]

 

Thx for the info, Flyboy and elanman.

the other question:

1. which one i must take for RAM : ddr2 or ddr3 ? in my country ddr3 is about 3X more expensive than ddr2.

2. what's the benefits of 64bit? just coz can handle more than 4gb? while there are many programs can't run on 64bit.

1. DDR2. DDR3 is useless and pretty much waste of money, not to mention that it'll need a mobo that fully supports it. I'd go for a fast quality DDR2.

2. It's future proof, supports more ram and some applications have already started to make use of it.

 

 

@Topic: I'm okay with those specs. I have already built a monster PC that will chew this game. But I was somehow surprised when I saw a quad as a recommended. But I'm sure it'll run on dual cores great.

Edited October 31, 2008 by aidan87

[JasonThummel]

I have a 3.4 Ghz hyperthreaded core, 7800GTX 256Mb, 2GB memory. I think even with that it should be able to run on low settings no problem. Especially since I can play Rainbow Six Vegas decently on fairly high settings.

[Abel.]

 

Thx for the info, Flyboy and elanman.

the other question:

1. which one i must take for RAM : ddr2 or ddr3 ? in my country ddr3 is about 3X more expensive than ddr2.

2. what's the benefits of 64bit? just coz can handle more than 4gb? while there are many programs can't run on 64bit.

64 bit will utizilize more RAM, whereas 32 bit will only use up to 3.5 gigs of it. DDR3 is a waste of money right now, DDR2 is a better option,

then you can spend more on other PC components.

 

 

aidan87 : I've seen your monster PC, good work .

[S1LV3R_W0LF]

I'm just giving my 2 cents on this, since I'm in the PC's world more then 10 years.

 

For my own experience the demand on Reqs it's always higher then they really need. The only reason it's to make companies like M$, AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, ATI, etc... sell more.

 

Also they base it on some Low/High settings.

 

I remembered playing old GTA's at 800x600, and after a little upgrade to the ram and graphic card I could get it to 1024 all max without problem.

 

So what I recommend to people that can't spend money is this:

 

Buy and extra 1Gig RAM, they are very cheap now, also get a new Graphic Card ... something like Gforce 9600 GT 512 GDDR 3 ... They are very very cheap and very high quality. No need for a monster Processor. Also use XP SP3 instead of VISTA, turn off all simultaneous programs, use a low quality wallpaper or no wallpaper at all, turn off MSN, any RS Feeds on desktop, animated cursors, remove the sound scheme from windows ... turn off al the extra processes before entering the game and you will be fine.

 

Also if it's possible, turn off blur effects, ansiotropic Filters and Vsync that will give you a boost.

 

Try it in a game that is already out. For example Tomb Raider Underworld Demo came out yesterday night, download it and test ...

 

And good luck.

[A.I.R]

If you are not happy about the spEC

 

BUY A NEW PC

 

 

you know,not everyone has a lot of money,its not just easy as that.

BUY A NEW PC,my god....

You can steal them with GTA-Style. You will have about 100 greatest rig in ur home.

 

1.Come to the store

2.Act like a buyer

3.Point a Combat Pistol on his head

4.Force him to give the parts freely

 

That's a brief guide how to steal a hardware store.

 

But what can you people expect.If you want the game whit those nice graphics,and other new things,you better save for a new PC

[A.I.R]

 

I'm just giving my 2 cents on this, since I'm in the PC's world more then 10 years.

 

For my own experience the demand on Reqs it's always higher then they really need. The only reason it's to make companies like M$, AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, ATI, etc... sell more.

 

Also they base it on some Low/High settings.

 

I remembered playing old GTA's at 800x600, and after a little upgrade to the ram and graphic card I could get it to 1024 all max without problem.

 

So what I recommend to people that can't spend money is this:

 

Buy and extra 1Gig RAM, they are very cheap now, also get a new Graphic Card ... something like Gforce 9600 GT 512 GDDR 3 ... They are very very cheap and very high quality. No need for a monster Processor. Also use XP SP3 instead of VISTA, turn off all simultaneous programs, use a low quality wallpaper or no wallpaper at all, turn off MSN, any RS Feeds on desktop, animated cursors, remove the sound scheme from windows ... turn off al the extra processes before entering the game and you will be fine.

 

Also if it's possible, turn off blur effects, ansiotropic Filters and Vsync that will give you a boost.

 

Try it in a game that is already out. For example Tomb Raider Underworld Demo came out yesterday night, download it and test ...

 

And good luck.

i agree whit him.Upgrade your pc and you will have the game running fine

Edited November 1, 2008 by A.I.R

[BAMJ6]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

[oc student]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

What does the specs coming out have to do with you changing your mind and pirating the game? Piracy is never good and you are one of those people who will never be considered as a PC gamer since you are killing the industry!

[CharmingCharlie]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

If you think you have a licence to steal the game because YOU didn't keep up with PC technology then really we don't need your kind in this forum.

[BAMJ6]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

What does the specs coming out have to do with you changing your mind and pirating the game? Piracy is never good and you are one of those people who will never be considered as a PC gamer since you are killing the industry!

It's a second hand pirate. My bro form another town is the one who downloads games not me.

 

[CharmingCharlie]

It doesn't matter what, where, why or how if you play this game without it being purchased you are simply harming the PC format. Now if you can't see that then you really are not very clued up to the reality of life. Either way this topic is for discussion about being unhappy regarded the specs not a "boo hoo I am not going to buy it now I am going to steal it" topic.

[Smiler-Online]

*Removed*

Edited November 1, 2008 by smiler_16

[xrk]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

You're to cheap to buy some good enough hardware so I suppose it makes sence you'd be enough of a c*nt to not bother buying a game you obveiously want.

 

 

[CharmingCharlie]

Let's get back to the subject in hand I personally think people are reading the specs the wrong way myself. If you look at the minimum specs they are exactly what a lot of people would say the xbox 360/PS3 are equivalent too. Now I can see where Rockstar are coming from here, the lowest graphical and physics setting of the game is the same as the console version. So if you have a PC that meets the minimum spec then you will get a game very similar to the console version. I believe that is fair those minimum specs are in-line with the power of the consoles and if you have those specs that is what you can expect.

 

I can understand where the confusion is coming from though, traditionally minimum specs have been equivalent too "you can start the game but that is it". However I really do not think that is the case this time. Now we have all been crowing about wanting better graphics, further draw distance and a more populated world. That comes at a price, to do all these "better" things you will need better hardware than the consoles. I mean it is logical if you think about it rationally.

 

Now trust me if this turns out to be a bad port I will be first in line to bitch and moan as much as the next guy. However no one knows how good the port is till they actually have it on their machine and creating a 30 car pile up.

[GTA3Freak-2001]

People need to remember that requirements are a funny thing, you can easily have one aspect fall below the minimum or recommended yet still have good performance you just need to juggle the settings so you don't have the CPU or GPU or RAM intensive things on high. We have that option now, we have proper PC settings so that we can make the game run to our liking. I think its best to wait and see how it actually performs before people start going crazy upgrading and whatnot, you may be surprised and if not then go and do those upgrades!

[TruXter]

 

 

In the mean time, how about you tell us your tales of running games on machines that were below the minimum specs.

 

When gtaiii came out, I had an epox motherboard (remember those?) with a 400 mgh cpu, 64 mb ram and an sis/ecs 305 video card 32mb.

 

I would jam settings down till it was almost nasty looking. I later evolved to a soyo motherbaord with 750 mghtz cpu , 128 mb ram and an sis/ecs 315 video card 64mb. I ran that till vice city came out. Learned to over clock on this machine. My very first full on build.

 

When vice city came out, I moved to an ecs/sis motherboar k7s5a in fact with an amd athelon 1.1 processor, I bought an mx440 video card and it seemed to perform slightly better, even though it was a 64 mb card also. I over clocked that machine like you would not believe. Later evolved to 1.8 athelon for that motherbaord, then a 2.5 that was over clocked to 2.8 ghtz. ram maxxed out at I think 1.7 gig,, but unsure . 5200 nvidia next , 5600 gs next , 6200 next , Infact I bought three , they where a blast to o/c. then a 6600

 

That machine was a blast but I had to sell the parts and evolve a bit more when San andreas came out. I sold the mx 440 for 65 bucks. 755 a2 motherboard with a 64 bit sempron 2.8 then I upgraded that to 3.4 sempron with two gigs pc 3200 ram. I got really good at over clocking as the over clocking world died off. I got remarkably great at cooling computers now, so overclocking got really fun. I just wanted to see all gta games at full on resolution My video card was a 7600 gt 512 mb it held out till this year I sold it like two months ago the whole kit minus case. for a wopping 130 bucks. which is fine , because my total upgrade to dual core was 300 pretty close to even 300 bucks.

 

Current machine am2 5600 dc . 2 gigs pc6400 ddr2 memory, bfg 9600 gt 512 mb ddr2. current temps are all under 105. video at max task is 104. everything else under 90 degrees (F).

 

All my upgrades are always for Grand Theft auto. I buy parts and overclock untill I think the game plays good and smooth.

Edited November 1, 2008 by TruXter

[S1LV3R_W0LF]

I noticed a funny thing, before everyone was unhappy with the quality of the game. That looked ugly like it was a console game, bad textures, effects, etc... Now they shown how good it can be, everyone complains because it need too much power. Well make your mind.

[GycuBrun]

Let's get back to the subject in hand I personally think people are reading the specs the wrong way myself. If you look at the minimum specs they are exactly what a lot of people would say the xbox 360/PS3 are equivalent too. Now I can see where Rockstar are coming from here, the lowest graphical and physics setting of the game is the same as the console version. So if you have a PC that meets the minimum spec then you will get a game very similar to the console version. I believe that is fair those minimum specs are in-line with the power of the consoles and if you have those specs that is what you can expect.

 

Could you or anyone else tell what exactly are the settings on console ( resolution and other stuff ) ?

 

Just so I can do some calculations.

[joelthief]

Yeah! GTA never let us down I was able to play GTA III, VC and SA on a crappy PC. Now since I upgraded my system I know GTA 4 is gonna be awesome. I am not too worried about the specs but the XP SP3 thing is putting me down I dont wanna change my SP2.

[Flat Face]

if my PS3 lags when theres a high action sequence then a PC will no doubt asplode.

[oc student]

 

if my PS3 lags when theres a high action sequence then a PC will no doubt asplode.

Oh no...here we go again. A PC exploding, while playing GTA 4 in comparision, would make your PS3 nuke your whole city.

[-vilx-]

Let's get back to the subject in hand I personally think people are reading the specs the wrong way myself. If you look at the minimum specs they are exactly what a lot of people would say the xbox 360/PS3 are equivalent too. Now I can see where Rockstar are coming from here, the lowest graphical and physics setting of the game is the same as the console version. So if you have a PC that meets the minimum spec then you will get a game very similar to the console version. I believe that is fair those minimum specs are in-line with the power of the consoles and if you have those specs that is what you can expect.

 

I can understand where the confusion is coming from though, traditionally minimum specs have been equivalent too "you can start the game but that is it". However I really do not think that is the case this time. Now we have all been crowing about wanting better graphics, further draw distance and a more populated world. That comes at a price, to do all these "better" things you will need better hardware than the consoles. I mean it is logical if you think about it rationally.

 

Now trust me if this turns out to be a bad port I will be first in line to bitch and moan as much as the next guy. However no one knows how good the port is till they actually have it on their machine and creating a 30 car pile up.

whats the xbox/PS3 specs ?

[RedEnd]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

If you think you have a licence to steal the game because YOU didn't keep up with PC technology then really we don't need your kind in this forum.

charlie, why you give a damn about him?

he is gonna be lonely in the singleplayer while all others IV players like me and you and a lot more will play multiplayer

i have a E4600 CPU, soon getting a E8600 one + P5Q mobo + Vedetta 2 cooling so i can nicely OC it (even 500mhz will do, at the best i prefer getting to 4Ghz, even if i can get more)

 

i myself didnt want to buy the game when the specs were out, but i can get over it

[Zav_]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

I'm not bashing him for this, and I hope i dont get bashed for what I'm about to say, but he's right to an extent.I hate piracy and all, and yes its wrong.I buy my games, but why would anyone want to pay for a game or something that might not work or run correctly? Its a risk.

 

Personally I'll wait until its been out for some time, and read here about your experiences playing it, and from there I'll decide to either buy it or not buy it.

 

I will not pirate this game.

[RedEnd]

Bottom line is now the specs are out and they are what they are the only thing that's changed is i'm not paying for it.

 

This is where piracy is good

I'm not bashing him for this, and I hope i dont get bashed for what I'm about to say, but he's right to an extent.I hate piracy and all, and yes its wrong.I buy my games, but why would anyone want to pay for a game or something that might not work or run correctly? Its a risk.

 

Personally I'll wait until its been out for some time, and read here about your experiences playing it, and from there I'll decide to either buy it or not buy it.

 

I will not pirate this game.

now thats an holy game

who pirates it deserves a bitch-slap

 

im getting a E8600 plus a P5Q mobo and a vendetta 2 cooler so the specs are absolutly fine

but i did pay for san andreas while my old P3 1Ghz 5200 128MB GPU 300 and something RAM did ran it very good (on 16bit, i could even record with fraps with some nice decent FPS!)

[-vilx-]

now thats an holy game

who pirates it deserves a bitch-slap

 

 

good post

[texan1985]

Maybe a moderator could email the writer of the article that stated "they lowered the settings all the way down to see the difference" and ask him/her if it resembled the console version. Just a thought.... oh and mention that you are a moderator at the gtaforums.com One of the largest gta sites blah blah blah....

[CharmingCharlie]

 

Could you or anyone else tell what exactly are the settings on console ( resolution and other stuff ) ?

 

Just so I can do some calculations.

The Xbox 360 runs GTA at 1280 x 720 with 2 x AA and at a frame rate of around 20 - 30fpa. The PS3 runs the game at 1160 x 640 with 2 x AA at a frame rate of 20 - 29fps.

 

 

whats the xbox/PS3 specs ?

The Xbox 360's GPU is eqivualent to a X1900XT the GPU in the PS3 is faster than 2 x 6800ultra's which would put it in line with the 7800gtx.

 

It is more difficult to explain the processors, on paper the processors look fantastic running at 3.2ghz and 3 or 7 cores but that is all window dressing. The CPU's in the consoles have no execution window and are in-order processors with a severely reduced instruction set (think pentium 1 level instruction set). At some tasks the console cpu's will operate slower than a 800mhz P1. Both processors are hampered by an incredibly low amount of L2 cache, the PS3 only has 512mb and the 360 only 1mb in contrast most dou2cores have 2 - 4mbs of L2 cache However the percieved wisdom is the cpu in the consoles are eqivualent to a 1.5ghz duo2core.

 

Memory wise both consoles have less than 512mbs of ram due to the operating systems. The 360 has 480mbs of ram after OS considerations and the PS3 has 224mbs of GPU ram and 224mbs of system ram after OS considerations.

 

I personally think those specs put the minimum specifications in a more objective light.

 

 

charlie, why you give a damn about him?

It isn't just him RedEnd there is an increasing amount of "Piracy bragging" starting on this board. As a fan of the GTA series I don't want this board infested with scum that steal the game. I am not naive to think I can stop people from stealing this game however there is no call for it to be openly bragged about on a board set up for those that truly appreciate the GTA franchise and want it to continue on the PC.