GTA IV low fps at lowest settings?

[Chalky Emultion]

hi all,
today i installed GTA IV on my pc.
my system specs are:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86 Ghz, 2MB L2
RAM: 3 GB DDR2 @667 Mhz
GPU: PNY GeForce GTS 450 XLR8 (1 GB GDDR5)
Motherboard: Asus P5LP-LE
OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 32bit

i run a lot of games (like Unreal Tournament 3, Assassin's Creed 2...) at medium/high settings on my computer. but with GTA IV i must set ALL video settings to minium and i must play at 1024x768 to get a playable framerate

in GTA performance test i get 25 fps at lowest settings, and 23 fps at highest settings

i have Nvidia drivers 285.62

what could it be??

 

[badger906]

GTA lV is very CPU demanding, id probably say thats your weakest link.

 

[smarteyeball]

what could it be??

Primarily this:

E6300 1.86 Ghz

But also this:

GTS 450

 

[M1GU31]

gta iv is based on running on tri cores since that's how many cores the xbox used ,gta iv runs best with a quad core and your card is kind of weak to run it also,get your self a nice quad core with at least 2.0ghz or more

 

[Chalky Emultion]

what could it be??

Primarily this:

E6300 1.86 Ghz

But also this:

GTS 450

i know that my CPU is old and not very fast, and i know that the PNY GTS 450 is a mid-range card, but i'm able to play games like MW3 at medium settings and at 1280x720 without problems... i get about 45-50fps...

no fix for GTA IV?

 

[Wishmaster]

You really are at the minium.

The minium Req for GTA 4 is:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz or equivalent AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz
Memory/RAM: 1GB for XP and 1.5GB for Vista
Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 or 256MB ATI X1900

But, recommended is:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz or equivalent AMD Phenom X3 2.1GHz
Memory/RAM: 2.5 GB for XP or Vista
Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 or 512MB ATI 3870


Keep in mind, the Min. requirements just means thats what it takes to get the game to run. Its usually at loer settings as well.
it doesnt mean it will run well (not only for GTA4 but any game)

When looking at specs, you should really be looking more towards recommended as thats where the game will run rather decent.


As mentioned already, GTA is quite CPU heavy. So I too would agree thats where a large portion of the problem is.
Something you may try is turning shadows down as low as possible. I think GTA4 renders shadows on the CPU.


Games that are not quite as CPU bound will run better.

 

[smarteyeball]

i know that my CPU is old and not very fast, and i know that the PNY GTS 450 is a mid-range card, but i'm able to play games like MW3 at medium settings and at 1280x720 without problems... i get about 45-50fps...

Different game engine, different system usage and requirements. MW3 is a lot less 'taxing' than games like GTA IV. Plus GTA IV is notorious for being a poorly PC optimized port.

no fix for GTA IV?

Instead of low settings, try disabling Shadows. As mentioned they're mostly rendered by the CPU and have the single biggest FPS hit. Draw distance and Vehicle Density also have a big impact on CPU utilization.

Definition disabled might net you a couple more FPS. Also defrag your HDD. it won't gain FPS, but it can help a little with 'stuttering'.

 

[Chalky Emultion]

Instead of low settings, try disabling Shadows. As mentioned they're mostly rendered by the CPU and have the single biggest FPS hit. Draw distance and Vehicle Density also have a big impact on CPU utilization.

Definition disabled might net you a couple more FPS. Also defrag your HDD. it won't gain FPS, but it can help a little with 'stuttering'.

i did it:
now i get around 50fps at 1600x900!

it helped me a lot

thank you!

 

[smarteyeball]

Excellent. You're welcome

 

[Razer01]

I also have problems with the FPS in GTA IV. Specs below :

MSI 560 GTX Ti Twin Frorzr II/OC with latest beta , 290.53
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2,5 GHz
4 Gb Ram
PSU - 600w Corsair

I get around 20-25 fps with medium settings @ 1280 x 1024. What can be the problem ? This is not normal, is very poor performance.
I have a genuine copy of GTA IV with the latest update, 1.0.7.0

Thanks in advance

 

[Chalky Emultion]

I also have problems with the FPS in GTA IV. Specs below :

MSI 560 GTX Ti Twin Frorzr II/OC with latest beta , 290.53
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2,5 GHz
4 Gb Ram
PSU - 600w Corsair

I get around 20-25 fps with medium settings @ 1280 x 1024. What can be the problem ? This is not normal, is very poor performance.
I have a genuine copy of GTA IV with the latest update, 1.0.7.0

Thanks in advance

try to disable shadows and reflection effects, it worked for me.
also don't look at GTA performance test, you will get more fps when you're playing...

Now i get 27-28 fps in the performace test and 50-55 fps (sometimes 60!!) when i'm playing (@ 1600x900)

try also to set the vehicle density to a number around 20, and set distance to 30.

 

[Razer01]

Thanks for the reply and you're right , i get better FPS, but i wasn't expecting to play with shadow OFF on the 560 GTX Ti, i thought this card could handle it. Do you think the video card is being bottlenecked by the CPU ? I also know that because i play on a relatively low resolution -1280 x 1024- the pressure is even higher on the CPU.
Could the pc perform better with an i5 2500k 3.3 GHz ?

 

[Chalky Emultion]

Thanks for the reply and you're right , i get better FPS, but i wasn't expecting to play with shadow OFF on the 560 GTX Ti, i thought this card could handle it. Do you think the video card is being bottlenecked by the CPU ? I also know that because i play on a relatively low resolution -1280 x 1024- the pressure is even higher on the CPU.
Could the pc perform better with an i5 2500k 3.3 GHz ?

shadows on GTA IV are rendered by the CPU... the problem isn't your GTX 560..
have you enabled Nvidia Physx? It could help..
what motherboard do you have?

and yes, the i5 2500k will probably perform better.

 

[Razer01]

Yes i have PhysX enabled. My mobo is MSI P6N SLI and it isn't the best for OC. I tried an OC for the cpu, but with no luck. Still, my CPU is above recommended settings.

I have here a bench on 3DMark Vantage :
(i'm having trouble uploading the image so i'll post the scores)

3DMark Score : 18.143
GPU Score : 15.326
CPU Score : 40.462

GPU Test 1 : 43.03 fps
GPU Test 2 : 46.77 fps

 

[Wishmaster]

Yea, sadly CPu power is a huge deal for this particular game.

With my old system, it had a Q9650 Quad @ 3.6ghz and a GTX 570.
The game did run very well, but would get a bit of stutter at times if shadows were on high. Granted it wasnt bad, but noticeable.


With the new machine I have the exact same graphics card, but a 2700K CPU.
Now turning shadows to high is smooth as can be.

This experience alone is another reason I tend to say shadows are certainly CPU demaning in this game.



You should still be able to play with them ON.
But its just going to take a bit of experimenting to find the right mix of shadows, density, and distance that wont cause a CPU bottleneck in game.
(did for me with the Q9650)

It wont be as simply as turning everything up and off ya go with a smooth experience.


I have found letting GTA do a auto configure does get somewhat close. Just may need to lower a couple things a touch.

 

[sjc1138]

I also have problems with the FPS in GTA IV. Specs below :

MSI 560 GTX Ti Twin Frorzr II/OC with latest beta , 290.53
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2,5 GHz
4 Gb Ram
PSU - 600w Corsair

I get around 20-25 fps with medium settings @ 1280 x 1024. What can be the problem ? This is not normal, is very poor performance.
I have a genuine copy of GTA IV with the latest update, 1.0.7.0

Thanks in advance

Do you have the latest graphics drivers?

 

[Razer01]

I also have problems with the FPS in GTA IV. Specs below :

MSI 560 GTX Ti Twin Frorzr II/OC with latest beta , 290.53
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2,5 GHz
4 Gb Ram
PSU - 600w Corsair

I get around 20-25 fps with medium settings @ 1280 x 1024. What can be the problem ? This is not normal, is very poor performance.
I have a genuine copy of GTA IV with the latest update, 1.0.7.0

Thanks in advance

try to disable shadows and reflection effects, it worked for me.
also don't look at GTA performance test, you will get more fps when you're playing...

Now i get 27-28 fps in the performace test and 50-55 fps (sometimes 60!!) when i'm playing (@ 1600x900)

try also to set the vehicle density to a number around 20, and set distance to 30.

If i put them to low settings, i get more FPS. With medium settings is let's say playable, but if i want to turn them to high i get something around 15-20 fps. Also Dorado , you said you get more FPS in game than in performance test. Well for me is exact the opposite. In performance test, i get an average of of 38 and in game something like 25.

For sjc113 - yes i have the latest beta, 290.53
I also tried with 285.58 , but is the same result.

 

[sjc1138]

I also have problems with the FPS in GTA IV. Specs below :

MSI 560 GTX Ti Twin Frorzr II/OC with latest beta , 290.53
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2,5 GHz
4 Gb Ram
PSU - 600w Corsair

I get around 20-25 fps with medium settings @ 1280 x 1024. What can be the problem ? This is not normal, is very poor performance.
I have a genuine copy of GTA IV with the latest update, 1.0.7.0

Thanks in advance

try to disable shadows and reflection effects, it worked for me.
also don't look at GTA performance test, you will get more fps when you're playing...

Now i get 27-28 fps in the performace test and 50-55 fps (sometimes 60!!) when i'm playing (@ 1600x900)

try also to set the vehicle density to a number around 20, and set distance to 30.

If i put them to low settings, i get more FPS. With medium settings is let's say playable, but if i want to turn them to high i get something around 15-20 fps. Also Dorado , you said you get more FPS in game than in performance test. Well for me is exact the opposite. In performance test, i get an average of of 38 and in game something like 25.

For sjc113 - yes i have the latest beta, 290.53
I also tried with 285.58 , but is the same result.

That's surprising, I'd have thought the older drivers would have been more stable.