GTA IV lagging heavily on PC - FPS drop

[Sayak96]

Hi, I have a fully legit purchased copy of GTA IV. When I run it, Inside safehouses and buildings, the game gives good fps( around 30)

but when I go out, the fps fluctuates heavily and when I drive a car, the game lags like hell and fps drops even to 4!! I have unchecked the windows event log and event collector from msconfig, but the problem remains same.

I have seen people with my configs or even lower PC than me, are getting good fps and less lags, with the same graphics settings, then why can't I get a smooth gameplay?

I have tried many commandlines, but they have no effect on the game. I have even tried to keep in game graphics settings to lowest,

with view distance, detail distance, vehicle density all to 1, but still there's no improvement! Please help me!!

I use GTA IV 1.0.4 patch. My game is completely clean, no mods are installed.

I have tried many tweaks, various Nvidia control panel settings and various commandlines. I have also used things like CCleaner, but It didn't help me at all!

Among the various combinations I used, the settings which gave me relatively good performance than others are given below:( still lagging like hell)

I have run benchmark over 30 times with various permutations and combinatons, but no great improvements are seen!!

My PC specs:

------------

CPU: Intel Pentium D(2 cores) 925 - 3.0GHz.

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 210 - 1GB DDR3.

RAM: 4GB DDR3.

Hard Disk: Western Digital Calvier Blue 160GB HDD.

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

Nvidia Control Panel settings(latest driver installed):

-------------------------------------------------------

Ambient Occlusion - Off

Anisotropic filtering - Application controlled

FXAA - Off

Antialiasing-Mode - Application controlled

Antialiasing-Transparency - Multisample

Maximum prerendered frames - Use 3d Application settings

Texture filtering-Anisotropic sample optimization - on

Texture filtering-Negative LOD bias - Allow

Texture filtering-Quality - High Performance

Texture filtering-Trilinear Optimization - On

Threaded optimization - Auto

Triple Buffering - off (turning it on or off doesn't make any difference)

Vertical sync - Use 3d Application settings

GTA IV in-game Graphics settings:

---------------------------------

Video Mode: 1024 x 768 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Reflection Resolution: Medium

Water Quality: Medium

Shadow Quality: Off

Texture Filter Quality: Medium

View Distance: 18

Detail Distance: 28

Vehicle Density: 14

Shadow Density: 0

Definition: On

Vsync: On

Benchmark( GTA IV version 1.0.4):

---------------------------------

Statistics

Average FPS: 9.21

Duration: 37.46 sec

CPU Usage: 94%

System memory usage: 63%

Video memory usage: 38%

Graphics Settings

Video Mode: 1280 x 720 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Texture Filter Quality: Medium

View Distance: 18

Detail Distance: 28

Hardware

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 210

Video Driver version: 340.52

Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Intel® Pentium® D CPU 3.00GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

Benchmark( GTA IV version 1.0.7):

---------------------------------

Statistics

Average FPS: 6.71

Duration: 37.83 sec

CPU Usage: 98%

System memory usage: 48%

Video memory usage: 23%

Graphics Settings

Video Mode: 1024 x 768 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Shadow Quality: Low

Reflection Resolution: Low

Water Quality: Low

Texture Filter Quality: Tri-Linear

Night Shadows: Off

View Distance: 8

Detail Distance: 11

Hardware

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 210

Video Driver version: 340.52

Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Intel® Pentium® D CPU 3.00GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

I once updated it to 1.0.7, but things got worse, so I reinstalled GTA IV and applied 1.0.4 patch again, but the super lag stays the same when I last played 1.0.4!

Please help me fix this super lag and play GTA IV smoothly!! After all, I spent $10 on the game!! :-(

[TheMostKnowledgable]

You're going to get very limited results with that CPU, and that GPU isn't helping, however, here are some tips to start with, and then we will move on - let's see just how good we can get it running!

 

First, set nvidia panel to not use anything special for IV, we'll return to it later, for now, restore it to default.

 

I'm going to give you a couple of settings to try with just a couple variations - there are good reasons for it, just go with it and try these settings out:

 

Video Mode: NATIVE (60 Hz) <--is your monitor 1024 native? Is it 1280? Is it 1680x1050? What does your desktop run on native? USE THAT RESULUTION FOR GTA IV! This is key.*

Texture Quality: Medium <---this is fine, but try with high textures since you have a 1gb card. If it's worse, switch right back. If it makes it better, I will say "weird, huh? Me too when I was on lower spec!"

Reflection Resolution: Medium <---this is fine

Water Quality: Medium <---put it on low, you will barely ever see water in normal gameplay unless you free roam out there. The few missions on water you can switch it for that moment without restart.

Shadow Quality: <---put it on medium, just to tell me what happens. How does it effect the performance?

Texture Filter Quality: Medium <---if your game is legit, patch it. That setting has actual values and not "medium/high/etc" on an up to date legitimate game. You need 1.0.7.0.

View Distance: 18 <--- change to 40

Detail Distance: 28 <--- change to 20. How do these two settings effect the game? Now, switch them from 40/20 to 20/40 - don't worry how it looks right now, tell me how the two new settings effect it.

Vehicle Density: 14 <--- drop it to 1 for now, we will bring it back up if we can.

Shadow Density: 0 <---good. But update so you get the proper setting which is "Night Shadows"

Definition: On <--- turn that off. Definition on is a lie. It just disables the motion and dof blur, which you actually want enabled.

Vsync: On <--- this is hurting you the most *for now* turn that off *for now*.

*It's key because the smaller you make the screen res to try and get performance, it helps in some ways, but bogs it down and you get slow down because it's processing way more than you are seeing. Game works best in Native screen resolution.

Try these settings and report back a new list with the ones that work best, and tell how they perform. Try texture resolution High AFTER investigating the other settings (since it requires a restart, and I want to know how the other settings effect first, and then how they effect with the higher textures. I had a 512mb card when game came out, I needed to set high textures or else it ran 10fps slower FOR ME)

Edited February 27, 2015 by TheMostKnowledgable

[Sayak96]

Thanks @TheMostKnowledgable for the fast suggestion! I will try out everything that you said and I will definitely give the results.

And yes, enabling shadows slows down my game a lot. Keeping shadows totally Off is comparatively better. Shadows purely kill my game performance. I get aroung 5 FPS with shadows medium on benchmark.

 

And also, the 1.0.7 patch drops the fps and slows down my game. Twice I tried it, but it further slowed things down, so I kept the game on 1.0.4, it works better than 1.0.7 with the same settings.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Sayak96

[GrindoLindo]

here's my suggestion;

 

patched shaders for 1.0.7.0 that disable all forms of blur.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/rfmjgpj6zj6yrnp/Grand+Theft+Auto+IV.7z

 

plus tweaked visual settings;

 

no blur

no bloom

no dof

no draw distance fog

 

the following is a tweaked timecyc;

 

draw distance tweaked (3500) shows the whole map, improves fps, varies though from what it read.

also tweaked the colours so it's no longer washed out / dull

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/lwfbduegr11qxt5/timecyc.dat

 

you have to set draw distance to 1.

 

 

The game is very cpu heavy, meaning the faster you cpu the better the game will run, this is due to it being a sloppy console port. This applies to all ported games (usually).

 

You still require a fast gpu as well, as video memory plays a big part. That's why the graphics settings shows how much vram is used by the settings you choose, if you use too much vram performance will suffer.

 

What you need to do is keep it low on your machine.

 

You cpu is 9 years old, at least it 3ghz, but it lacks L3 cache and lacks hyper threading, and you gpu is weak. A quad core or a modern fast dual will give you a fully playable experience.

 

I understand that not everyone can afford the right specs to game on, that's why you need to ask yourself, is it fun playing at sub 30fps? I was in your shoes many years ago, I hated playing on a slow machine, it wasn't fun at all.

 

You need to be realistic, there's not much you can do to get it running decently.

Edited February 28, 2015 by GrindoLindo

[Sayak96]

@GrindoLindo Yeah you are right, I originally bought Intel dual core E5200 2.5GHz cpu when I bought my PC 5 years back, but the sad thing's that Once the motherboard became dead, I gave it to the same shop for servicing, but they stole my E5200 and fitted me with the Pentium d. Back then, I did not know much about computers, so I didn't feel a difference, until I started playing GTA IV. I will buy a new PC, but it will take few months.

 

But on the internet(There's a video on YouTube), I see that people are getting better performance with Pentium IV 2.8GHz and My GPU. How's it possible? P4 is ven older than mine!

 

@TheMostKnowledgable I tried with the settings you prescribed. With view distance 40 and detail distance 20, I got 4 fps n benchmark,

and with view distance 20 and detail distance 40, I got around 6. Now what??

[GrindoLindo]

@GrindoLindo Yeah you are right, I originally bought Intel dual core E5200 2.5GHz cpu when I bought my PC 5 years back, but the sad thing's that Once the motherboard became dead, I gave it to the same shop for servicing, but they stole my E5200 and fitted me with the Pentium d. Back then, I did not know much about computers, so I didn't feel a difference, until I started playing GTA IV. I will buy a new PC, but it will take few months.

 

But on the internet(There's a video on YouTube), I see that people are getting better performance with Pentium IV 2.8GHz and My GPU. How's it possible? P4 is ven older than mine!

 

@TheMostKnowledgable I tried with the settings you prescribed. With view distance 40 and detail distance 20, I got 4 fps n benchmark,

and with view distance 20 and detail distance 40, I got around 6. Now what??

not a lot you can do, start saving for that new pc

 

i5-i7 cpu 2.8-3ghz+ (or AMD FX and above if on a budget)

8gb ram 1333-1600mhz

geforce gtx 5xx-7xx series / hd6xxx-7xxx series gpu would be fine, higher if you can afford it. 2gb vram minimum.

onboard audio on motherboard is perfectly fine these day, no need for a sound card

7200rpm hdd for games, small ssd for windows

standard keyboard (usb)

mouse (optical) get a high dpi one for gaming

360 controller is good for many games as well, especially if you don't want to sit at a desk all the time

Edited February 28, 2015 by GrindoLindo

[Frozenflake]

@Sayak96

 

This may be the ultimate solution to end your performance issues in GTA IV (this also solved the problem from my friend totte1015).

 

First, I went on YouTube and watch gameplays of GTA IV with Pentium E5200/E5500/D925 processors with NVIDIA GeForce 210 (1GB) graphic card.

As you can see on comparations site CPUBoss.com the E5200 (2.5GHz Dual-core) & E5500 (2.8GHz Dual-core) has better performance than D925 (3GHz Dual-core):

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-E5200-vs-Intel-Pentium-D-925

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-E5500-vs-Intel-Pentium-D-925

 

 

» JUST READ AND APPLY THIS ON PATCH 1.0.4/1.0.7:

[NVIDIA CARDS] Performance Tips — How to get more FPS in GTA IV

— http://gtaforums.com/topic/756314-nvidia-cards-performance-tips-how-to-get-more-fps-in-gta-iv/

After doing this put here the Benchmark, Statistics and all other information.

 

 

-Frozenflake

Edited February 28, 2015 by Frozenflake

[Sayak96]

@Frozenflake I tried out your Nvidia settings but they further killd the performance of my game. Also, your commandline shown in your Nvidia settings post had no effects on the performance.

 

Benchmarks:

 

BENCHMARKED ON VERSION 1.0.7 WITHOUT SAFE MODE

Statistics
Average FPS: 6.71
Duration: 37.83 sec
CPU Usage: 98%
System memory usage: 48%
Video memory usage: 23%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1024 x 768 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Shadow Quality: Low
Reflection Resolution: Low
Water Quality: Low
Texture Filter Quality: Tri-Linear
Night Shadows: Off
View Distance: 8
Detail Distance: 11

Hardware
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 210
Video Driver version: 340.52
Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel® Pentium® D CPU 3.00GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

I don't know why, but GTA IV 1.0.4 gave better performance. Rockstar really f**ked stuff up in this latest patch!

Any further helps please?? I badly want to play the game smoothly!

Edited March 1, 2015 by Sayak96

[GrindoLindo]

your gpu is too weak.

 

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/gf-210-gt220_3.html#sect0

 

it's barely got enough juice to run the game.

 

 

fillrates = poor, very low

bandwidth = 64bit

vram = ddr3, very slow, not even gddr3.

vram = 512mb, not suitable at all

 

huge bottleneck, if you just replaced the gpu the game would probably run better.

[Sayak96]

My Vram is 1GB. Secondly, GTA IV is not GPU intensive, it is a CPU sucker, it is highly CPU intensive. Regardless of what graphics quality I play in, even if I set it to high, the CPU usage is always above 90%(doesn't matter if settings are low or high) and GPU usage never goes above 70%, even if I add "-percentvidmem 100" in commandline.

 

I contacted Rockstar, and even they told me that the game is highly CPU intensive. They gave me some tweaks, which smoothened my performance overall, but still it lags and slightly stutters when driving, and sometimes the fps drops highly. I have a friend with I7 cpu, 8GB ram and GTX680 gpu, but even he complains of rare fps drops while driving around!!

 

I have played other games like Batman Arkham City, Call Of Duty Black Ops II, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Hitman Absolution, Splinter Cell Blacklist. They all give good performance on my current PC, even in mid to high settings.

 

Rockstar has really messed things up with GTA IV! I think, as it was the first game on their own engine "RAGE", they messed it up totally. Ever heard of a game lagging in console?? sounds weird huh? How can a game, which is meant for a console, with globally same specs, can lag on console? Well, every weird thing is possible for GTA IV! Spend some time on the net and you will see that people complaining that GTA IV is lagging even on consoles like PS3, where it sounds impossible for a console game to lag!!

 

Well, I don't think that three's a permanent solution on that random fps drops while driving. I am getting quite used to that. Let's just hope that Rockstar won't f**k up GTA V like they did with IV, when they finally release it on PC( I don't know when that happy time will come for PC gamers, although they say it will release on 14th April).

Edited March 1, 2015 by Sayak96

[Frozenflake]

 

@Frozenflake I tried out your Nvidia settings but they further killd the performance of my game. Also, your commandline shown in your Nvidia settings post had no effects on the performance.

 

Benchmarks:

 

BENCHMARKED ON VERSION 1.0.7 WITHOUT SAFE MODE

Statistics

Average FPS: 6.71

Duration: 37.83 sec

CPU Usage: 98%

System memory usage: 48%

Video memory usage: 23%

Graphics Settings

Video Mode: 1024 x 768 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Shadow Quality: Low

Reflection Resolution: Low

Water Quality: Low

Texture Filter Quality: Tri-Linear

Night Shadows: Off

View Distance: 8

Detail Distance: 11

Hardware

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 210

Video Driver version: 340.52

Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Intel® Pentium® D CPU 3.00GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

I don't know why, but GTA IV 1.0.4 gave better performance. Rockstar really f**ked stuff up in this latest patch!

Any further helps please?? I badly want to play the game smoothly!

 

 

GTA IV is a poorly optimized game, you can not expect much from him, further in a low-end video card.

 

First, try again, now with these my new NVIDIA settings:

 

Ambient Occlusion: Off

Anisotropic filtering: 16x

Anti-Aliasing - Gamma correction: Off

Anti-Aliasing - Mode: Off

Anti-Aliasing - Setting: 2x

Anti-Aliasing - Transparency: Off

Maximum pre-rendered frames: 3

Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration: Single display performance mode

Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance

Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: On

Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias: Clamp

Texture filtering - Quality: High Performance

Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization: On

Threaded optimization: On

Triple buffering: Off

Vertical sync: Force Off

 

Also try this commandline:

 

-availablevidmem 2.0

-viewdistance 5

-detailquality 8

-renderquality 2

-texturequality 2

-shadowquality 1

-shadowdensity 0

-minspecaudio

-disableimposters

-novblank

 

Second, install the ForceWare driver, one version at a time:

Do a performance test in GTA IV with all driver versions — keep installed the driver version that offers more performance increase.

 

ForceWare driver v180.84

http://downloads.guru3d.com/GeForce-Forceware-180.84-Windows-Vista-32-bit-download-2139.html

 

ForceWare driver v197.13

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Forceware-197.13-Windows-7-|-Vista--(32-bit)_d2492.html

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Forceware-197.13-Windows-7-|-Vista--(64-bit)_d2493.html

 

ForceWare driver v275.27

http://downloads.guru3d.com/GeForce-Forceware-275.27-Win-7-Vista-x32_d2726.html

http://downloads.guru3d.com/GeForce-Forceware-275.27-Win-7-Vista-x64_d2727.html

 

ForceWare driver v285.79

http://downloads.guru3d.com/GeForce-Forceware-285.79-Win-7--Vista-x32_d2809.html

http://downloads.guru3d.com/GeForce-Forceware-285.79-Win-7--Vista-x64_d2808.html

Edited March 2, 2015 by Frozenflake

[Sayak96]

@Frozenflake Setting Anisotropic filtering so high kills the performance, so does clamping the Negative LOD bias. Also, I experienced better performance with Triple buffering and Vsync ON.

 

Never mind, I FIXED the game, and now it runs smoothly on all settings medium!! Sometimes, in some places of Bohan, I get slight fps drops, but those are negligible, and the game is now playable for it, and I am enjoying it with good performance by doing some random graphics tweaks here and there!!

 

I wonder that my game used to lag heavily on low settings, and now, with the tweaks, I can play it on medium with almost NO lag or stutter, but anyways, now I can play it well.

 

Thanks to all of you here for giving your time and for helping me out to solve my problem.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Sayak96

[Frozenflake]

@Frozenflake Setting Anisotropic filtering so high kills the performance, so does clamping the Negative LOD bias. Also, I experienced better performance with Triple buffering and Vsync ON.

 

Never mind, I FIXED the game, and now it runs smoothly on all settings medium!! Sometimes, in some places of Bohan, I get slight fps drops, but those are negligible, and the game is now playable for it, and I am enjoying it with good performance by doing some random graphics tweaks here and there!!

 

I wonder that my game used to lag heavily on low settings, and now, with the tweaks, I can play it on medium with almost NO lag or stutter, but anyways, now I can play it well.

 

Thanks to all of you here for giving your time and for helping me out to solve my problem.

 

Thanks!

 

Sorry I made a mistake, should put Anisotropic filtering OFF and not 16x. Yes the Triple buffering + Vsync ON also can raise the performance.

 

Hey, I want to see your commandline and benchmarks (current), can puts them here? Put also your current NVIDIA settings so I can help other users.

 

You have installed any ForceWare driver version?

[Koger]

Your specs are waaaay below the recommended ones.

[Sayak96]

@Frozenflake Hello, here are the details you asked for:

 

Nvidia Control Panel settings(latest driver 341.44 installed):

-------------------------------------------------------

Ambient Occlusion - Off

Anisotropic filtering - Application controlled

FXAA - Off

Antialiasing-Mode - Application controlled

Antialiasing-Transparency - Multisample

Maximum prerendered frames - Use 3d Application settings

Texture filtering-Anisotropic sample optimization - on

Texture filtering-Negative LOD bias - Allow

Texture filtering-Quality - High Performance

Texture filtering-Trilinear Optimization - On

Threaded optimization - Auto

Triple Buffering - on

Vertical sync - Use 3d Application settings

BENCHMARK:

--------------------

Statistics
Average FPS: 17.49
Duration: 37.33 sec
CPU Usage: 96%
System memory usage: 57%
Video memory usage: 32%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1366 x 768 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Texture Filter Quality: High
View Distance: 8
Detail Distance: 12

Hardware
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 210
Video Driver version: 341.44
Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel® Pentium® D CPU 3.00GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

Commandline that I use:

----------------------------------

-fullscreen
-norestrictions
-reservedApp 0
-memrestrict 629145600 (I found this value which is for I GB cards, give me good performance)
-availablevidmem 2.0
-percentvidmem 100
-framelimit 1
-novblank
-shadowdensity 0
-viewdistance 8
-detailquality 12
-minspecaudio
-disableimposters
-notimefix
-dx9

And yes, I also changed my CPU cooler recently and cleaned my Graphics card!

A big thanks to everyone who gave their time to help me solve my problem!! I now get an average of 20 fps(Benchmark shows less, I don't know why) while playing at mid-high settings!!(20 fps may seem very low t you all but I am happy with this, as I see no lag on 20 fps, you know what, persistence of vision of human is 10 fps, so anything above 14-15 fps seems quite smooth! although nowhere compared to 40 or 60!!) I know that my machine is faaaar below recommended specs, but I am happy that I get this performance out of my grandfather machine!

[GrindoLindo]

You seriously happpy with 20fps? I doubt there no lag on 20fps, 30fps is like the minimum speed to class a game as playable, and even then it's not very smooth, especially on a game like this.

 

I can turn on night shadows and my fps drops from steady 60 to 40-50 and I can see the difference in speed on screen without a fps counter. I get the odd micro stutter and some input lag when going round corners or when there's heavy traffic.

 

The human eye can in fact see more than 30fps. I suggest you have a look at http://30vs60.com/

 

watch the videos and see the difference between 30 & 60, you can see that 60fps is smooth but 30fps has little bits of lag here and there. I only only imagine that 20fps and below is very laggy, like if i forget to set optimus switching for citizenmp and it loads using the intel gpu and is unplayable.

[Sayak96]

@GrindoLindo In most of the time, I get around 24-25 fps. AT some times in awkward situations, fps drops to about 17 making 20 average.

And you know that my PC is very OOOLLLDD!! so I got kind of habituated in playing little below 20 fps, when I played Black Flag on mid settings.

You people have Hi Fi PCs, so you are used to high fps. Even 7th gen consoles like PS3 and Xbox 390 are capped to 30 fps, and I see no lag in them. Seriously, I can't make out ANY difference between 25 and 40 fps, maybe because I am used to play on a very low fps for more than a year now, Its all about habits you know! My friend (who has i7 and GTX680) also says the same thing you said!

 

So, after playing games below 20 fps for a long time, GTA IV giving above 20 sometimes, is good to me and I am happy with that!! I will buy a new PC next month anyways, till then its fine!

[Red Hat]

Tried playing on 800x600?

 

My old PC's specs are

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 @ 2.00GHz

1 GB RAM

Zotac GT210

 

and I got like 15 FPS in the lowest of low settings on patch 1.0.4.0.

[Frozenflake]

To increase performance in this game is hard, but possible at cost of memory, but not much.

 

To run GTA IV in 1080p (1920x1080), I recommend:

Intel Core i7-5960X + AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire + 16GB RAM (DDR4 -» fastest)

Edited March 5, 2015 by Frozenflake

[GrindoLindo]

that's overkill man.

 

a fast quad and a single 2gb gpu will do fine to run @ 1920x1080 with high details and be playable.

 

i saw zero difference running the game with 16gb vs 4gb. ram doesn't seem matter with this game.

[Frozenflake]

that's overkill man.

 

a fast quad and a single 2gb gpu will do fine to run @ 1920x1080 with high details and be playable.

 

i saw zero difference running the game with 16gb vs 4gb. ram doesn't seem matter with this game.

Hey man, is a fast 16GB DDR4 and not a slow 16GB DDR3.

 

For me this is the best, expensive and fastest 2015 Gaming PC setup to run GTA IV and other hardware demanding games:

 

Motherboard:

ASUS X99-DELUXE (DDR4 support)

Processor:

Intel Core i7-5960X 8-Core @3.0GHz - Max: 3.50GHz

Memory:

Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB @3000MHz DDR4

Graphics card(s):

2-Way CrossFirex AMD Radeon R9 295X2 8GB

Power Supply:

Corsair HX750 750W

 

[GrindoLindo]

ah, so that's why you mentioned it, because that's your machine.

 

though DDR4 is the fastest, it doesn't mean much for gaming. 1600mhz ddr3 is the recommended ram speed for gaming, anything higher is just money wasted (no offence)

 

memory hungry apps will benefit to some degree from faster ram (reduced loading times, compiling files etc) but games will not really care.

 

 

games rely mostly on CPU / GPU power. ram is just there for caching etc. I saw sod all difference in my gaming performance between 1333mhz, 1866mhz and 2133mhz ram.

 

if someone asked me if they should get faster ram or an ssd to help with game loading times, i'd say just get the ssd (assuming they had decent ram in the first place that is)

 

i dropped my ram speed down to 1333mhz from 2133 as i saw no benefit.

Edited March 5, 2015 by GrindoLindo

[Frozenflake]

ah, so that's why you mentioned it, because that's your machine.

 

though DDR4 is the fastest, it doesn't mean much for gaming. 1600mhz ddr3 is the recommended ram speed for gaming, anything higher is just money wasted (no offence)

 

memory hungry apps will benefit to some degree from faster ram (reduced loading times, compiling files etc) but games will not really care.

 

 

games rely mostly on CPU / GPU power. ram is just there for caching etc. I saw sod all difference in my gaming performance between 1333mhz, 1866mhz and 2133mhz ram.

 

if someone asked me if they should get faster ram or an ssd to help with game loading times, i'd say just get the ssd (assuming they had decent ram in the first place that is)

 

i dropped my ram speed down to 1333mhz from 2133 as i saw no benefit.

 

Hey man this is no my machine, this is just a suggestion.

[Sayak96]

Hey people! I just added the line : "dx9/high" and deleted lines: "-noprecache" and "-noswapdelay" from my commandline.

Also, I fund a mod on GTA4-mods.com called "Zupper" and I copied the "visualsettings.dat" file from it and replaced the stock visualsettings file.

 

Surprisingly, I now get more fps( 21 avg) with full screen resolution (1366x768) and texture quality and texture filter quality high, and all other settings medium, draw dist 8, detail dist 14 and vehicle density 6, on my super crap PC!! (Other settings and rest lines of commandline are same as I mentioned in my earlier post in this topic)

 

(Note that only take the visualsettings.dat file from zupper and nothing else, other files of zupper decrease performance) I also tried with several visualsettings.dat, timecyc, and Stream files from several mods, and benchmarked around 15 times with different combinations, but using only the visualsettings.dat from Zupper and keeping everything else clean, gave me the fps boost!!

 

All of you who have crap PCs like me and are suffering annoying lags in GTA IV, and have to play in low quality and 0 draw distance can try it out and see, this helped me a lot and I really see no lag now! I will upload a genuine* video of my gameplay when I have time!

 

 

 

*(yeah, many videos in YouTube claim to play GTA IV with 30 fps on grandpa machines like Pentium 4 and 8600GT with clean game and on mid-high settings, which I think are fake, and the uploaders just satisfy themselves doing these silly things!)

[Frozenflake]

Hey people! I just added the line : "dx9/high" and deleted lines: "-noprecache" and "-noswapdelay" from my commandline.

Also, I fund a mod on GTA4-mods.com called "Zupper" and I copied the "visualsettings.dat" file from it and replaced the stock visualsettings file.

 

Surprisingly, I now get more fps( 21 avg) with full screen resolution (1366x768) and texture quality and texture filter quality high, and all other settings medium, draw dist 8, detail dist 14 and vehicle density 6, on my super crap PC!! (Other settings and rest lines of commandline are same as I mentioned in my earlier post in this topic)

 

(Note that only take the visualsettings.dat file from zupper and nothing else, other files of zupper decrease performance) I also tried with several visualsettings.dat, timecyc, and Stream files from several mods, and benchmarked around 15 times with different combinations, but using only the visualsettings.dat from Zupper and keeping everything else clean, gave me the fps boost!!

 

All of you who have crap PCs like me and are suffering annoying lags in GTA IV, and have to play in low quality and 0 draw distance can try it out and see, this helped me a lot and I really see no lag now! I will upload a genuine* video of my gameplay when I have time!

 

 

 

*(yeah, many videos in YouTube claim to play GTA IV with 30 fps on grandpa machines like Pentium 4 and 8600GT with clean game and on mid-high settings, which I think are fake, and the uploaders just satisfy themselves doing these silly things!)

 

Hey man, a timecyc tweaked for performance can also help you to get a few more fps.

 

[Sayak96]

Yeah, I am aware of that, I tried with various timecyc files, but the timecyc from the mod "ICEnhancer 2.1 for old PCs" gave me the highest fps, I forgot to mention this in my previous post!

 

(Note that, I took only the tymecyc file from this mod, and nothing else, as the others didn't help in getting fps!)

Edited March 9, 2015 by Sayak96

[Kampret]

To increase performance in this game is hard, but possible at cost of memory, but not much.

 

To run GTA IV in 1080p (1920x1080), I recommend:

Intel Core i7-5960X + AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire + 16GB RAM (DDR4 -» fastest)

 

Nope.

1. That's an overkill CPU. IV won't use SMT (HT on Intel CPU's).

2. IV does not utilize SLI/CrossfireX correctly. That 295X2 will perform at the level of a regular 290X.

 

At OP:

1. Pentium D is below minimum. It's simply 2 Pentium 4's placed in the same die.

2. GeForce 210 is also below minimum. A GeForce 8800 GT can provide a better experience compared to your 210.

 

Yet I'm still surprised that your 210 managed to get at least 21 FPS on native resolution. Well done sir. My old sh*tty 210 barely managed to do 20 FPS at 800x600. Not that I still play on it though that I already enjoy the glorious maxed settings on my 6770, but well done to you OP.

[Sayak96]

 

To increase performance in this game is hard, but possible at cost of memory, but not much.

 

To run GTA IV in 1080p (1920x1080), I recommend:

Intel Core i7-5960X + AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire + 16GB RAM (DDR4 -» fastest)

 

Nope.

1. That's an overkill CPU. IV won't use SMT (HT on Intel CPU's).

2. IV does not utilize SLI/CrossfireX correctly. That 295X2 will perform at the level of a regular 290X.

 

At OP:

1. Pentium D is below minimum. It's simply 2 Pentium 4's placed in the same die.

2. GeForce 210 is also below minimum. A GeForce 8800 GT can provide a better experience compared to your 210.

 

Yet I'm still surprised that your 210 managed to get at least 21 FPS on native resolution. Well done sir. My old sh*tty 210 barely managed to do 20 FPS at 800x600. Not that I still play on it though that I already enjoy the glorious maxed settings on my 6770, but well done to you OP.

 

Thank you! No need to call me sir! But I want to mention something, that as TheMostKnowledgable has stated earlier in this topic, a very low resolution may appear to increase framerate but it doesn't, believe me because I have tried myself. It is best to use your native screen resolution and refresh rate, it really helps.

 

If you have a low PC, follow the tweaks that I used, that increased my game performance noticeably, without compromising on quality. Read this topic's previous posts by me and follow the tweaks that I used lastly, It may boost up the fps!! I was annoyed with my GTA IV performance when I made this post but now my game is smooth. I have also uploaded a video of my gameplay on YouTube, you can watch it if you wish:

 

Edited March 11, 2015 by Sayak96

[Frozenflake]

 

To increase performance in this game is hard, but possible at cost of memory, but not much.

 

To run GTA IV in 1080p (1920x1080), I recommend:

Intel Core i7-5960X + AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire + 16GB RAM (DDR4 -» fastest)

 

Nope.

1. That's an overkill CPU. IV won't use SMT (HT on Intel CPU's).

2. IV does not utilize SLI/CrossfireX correctly. That 295X2 will perform at the level of a regular 290X.

 

At OP:

1. Pentium D is below minimum. It's simply 2 Pentium 4's placed in the same die.

2. GeForce 210 is also below minimum. A GeForce 8800 GT can provide a better experience compared to your 210.

 

Yet I'm still surprised that your 210 managed to get at least 21 FPS on native resolution. Well done sir. My old sh*tty 210 barely managed to do 20 FPS at 800x600. Not that I still play on it though that I already enjoy the glorious maxed settings on my 6770, but well done to you OP.

 

 

Hey man, this is just a joke

 

 

1. A cheap and unlocked processor as Pentium G3258 overclocked to 4.0GHz (offers better performance than some Core i3 / i5).

 

See this comparations:

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Pentium D925

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Pentium-D-925

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Pentium T4500

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-T4500-vs-Intel-Pentium-G3258

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i3 540

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i3-540

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i3 4130 (fourth generation)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i3-4130

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i3 4160 (fourth generation)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i3-4160

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i5 2320 (second generation)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2320

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. AMD FX 6300

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-AMD-FX-6300

 

2. A GeForce GT 740 (more precisely the EVGA GeForce GT 740 2GB Superclocked GDDR5) can provide a better experience compared to GeForce 210 or GeForce 8800 GT.

[Sayak96]

 

 

To increase performance in this game is hard, but possible at cost of memory, but not much.

 

To run GTA IV in 1080p (1920x1080), I recommend:

Intel Core i7-5960X + AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire + 16GB RAM (DDR4 -» fastest)

 

Nope.

1. That's an overkill CPU. IV won't use SMT (HT on Intel CPU's).

2. IV does not utilize SLI/CrossfireX correctly. That 295X2 will perform at the level of a regular 290X.

 

At OP:

1. Pentium D is below minimum. It's simply 2 Pentium 4's placed in the same die.

2. GeForce 210 is also below minimum. A GeForce 8800 GT can provide a better experience compared to your 210.

 

Yet I'm still surprised that your 210 managed to get at least 21 FPS on native resolution. Well done sir. My old sh*tty 210 barely managed to do 20 FPS at 800x600. Not that I still play on it though that I already enjoy the glorious maxed settings on my 6770, but well done to you OP.

 

 

Hey man, this is just a joke

 

 

1. A cheap and unlocked processor as Pentium G3258 overclocked to 4.0GHz (offers better performance than some Core i3 / i5).

 

See this comparations:

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Pentium D925

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Pentium-D-925

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Pentium T4500

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-T4500-vs-Intel-Pentium-G3258

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i3 540

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i3-540

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i3 4130 (fourth generation)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i3-4130

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i3 4160 (fourth generation)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i3-4160

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. Intel Core i5 2320 (second generation)

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2320

 

Intel Pentium G3258 vs. AMD FX 6300

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G3258-vs-AMD-FX-6300

 

2. A GeForce GT 740 (more precisely the EVGA GeForce GT 740 2GB Superclocked GDDR5) can provide a better experience compared to GeForce 210 or GeForce 8800 GT.

 

You almost got me worried man!! Now I am relieved that It was a joke!!

 

Hey man, can you please suggest how can I overclock my cpu from 3.0GHz to around 3.5?? I have no idea how to overclock!

Also, I found people measuring their cpu temperature in idle and max load conditions. Which software is used to do that??

 

I have a Cooler Master heatsink and CPU cooler, and 2 extra fans on cabinet.

My motherboard has AwardBIOS v6.00PG

Edited March 12, 2015 by Sayak96