Jump to content

Can my PC run GTA IV?


Chris

Recommended Posts

If you're spending that amount of money, a new graphics card would suit you as it would be better to spend more if you wanted to upgrade the processor.

You could probably find an ATi 4850 for that price with rebates which would be fine.

But also keep in mind that you need at least a PCI-express x16 slot for that.

The 7900 is the minimum graphics card the game will need according to the system requirements, but iirc your processor doesn't meet the minimum specifications.

It's up to you, either upgrade would help, but a graphics card upgrade would be easier and cheaper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, these are my system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor 3800+ 2GHz

NVIDIA GeForce 7900GT

2GB RAM

Windows Vista 32 SP1

Currently I am able to play most games on high settings, but seeing as my system barely meets the minimum requirements I was wondering how I could make the biggest difference to my PC for the lowest price. I'm looking to spend no more than around £50-£60 (about $100 - $120 I think?) as money is a little tight for us at the moment.

I'm already planning on buying another GB of RAM.

My monitor's native resolution is 1600x1200 and I would like to play at this resolution if possible, even on low settings, but if necessary I wouldn't mind playing at 1280x1024.

Any help would be appreciated as I know you guys probably know way more about gaming hardware than myself.

For the amount of money you want to spend you can get a brand new 9800GT , a good offer indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're spending that amount of money, a new graphics card would suit you as it would be better to spend more if you wanted to upgrade the processor.

You could probably find an ATi 4850 for that price with rebates which would be fine.

But also keep in mind that you need at least a PCI-express x16 slot for that.

The 7900 is the minimum graphics card the game will need according to the system requirements, but iirc your processor doesn't meet the minimum specifications.

It's up to you, either upgrade would help, but a graphics card upgrade would be easier and cheaper.

Given that my processor doesn't meet the requirements and my graphics card does, I'd rather buy a new processor.

I was looking at this processor - would it be worth buying or would I be better of saving a little and getting an X3 phenom? This is the cheapest I could find: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144803

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to make a point, you could have a intel quad core extreme edition $1000 processor, and a geforce FX5200, it still wont run it. sure your card meets the "minimum" but, i wouldve thought this game is more graphic intensive rather than CPU (still is cpu intensive, but graphics would be slightly more useful) i think.

so yeah like chris said, and im saying. better to upgrade your video card. do you have a PCIe x16 slot? if you dont then, you might be in a bit of trouble cos AGP is sorta long dead :S but you should have one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to make a point, you could have a intel quad core extreme edition $1000 processor, and a geforce FX5200, it still wont run it. sure your card meets the "minimum" but, i wouldve thought this game is more graphic intensive rather than CPU (still is cpu intensive, but graphics would be slightly more useful) i think.

so yeah like chris said, and im saying. better to upgrade your video card. do you have a PCIe x16 slot? if you dont then, you might be in a bit of trouble cos AGP is sorta long dead :S but you should have one.

Yes, I have a PCIe x16 slot.

The point that I was trying to make is that if the game won't physically run without the minimum processor (or will run very badly) wouldn't buying a graphics card be slightly pointless without first upgrading the processor?

I'm asking because that's the way it seems to me.

The graphics cards you've all suggested all seem to be around £100 or so, whereas the processors I mentioned cost £50 - £60, which is what I was intending to spend. Obviously you guys know what would make the difference, but I just can't spend that much money (credit crunch anyone?).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well then i guess you should upgrade your cpu...you can upgrade your video card later, like after xmas or something i suppose. Just dont expect to run gta in any good looking settings, it will prob be like 800x600 low/med details, cos of that video card.

according to a benchmark on toms hardware (quake 4 1280x1024) even a AMD 4600+ beats the phenom X3 you mentioned. however GTA4 might be more optimised for multicore than Quake 4 was. the other X2 you were thinking of (5600+) is way ahead of the phenom you listed which is a higher price too.

But this could all change soon, because game dev. will optimise for multicore (we hope) so it can be used more effectively.

If i were you, i would buy the X2 5600+ , you can always upgrade later if you really need to. according to their site they have only 3 left so better jump on it :)

Edited by WRX22B1998
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well then i guess you should upgrade your cpu...you can upgrade your video card later, like after xmas or something i suppose. Just dont expect to run gta in any good looking settings, it will prob be like 800x600 low/med details, cos of that video card.

according to a benchmark on toms hardware (quake 4 1280x1024) even a AMD 4600+ beats the phenom X3 you mentioned. however GTA4 might be more optimised for multicore than Quake 4 was. the other X2 you were thinking of (5600+) is way ahead of the phenom you listed which is a higher price too.

But this could all change soon, because game dev. will optimise for multicore (we hope) so it can be used more effectively.

If i were you, i would buy the X2 5600+ , you can always upgrade later if you really need to. according to their site they have only 3 left so better jump on it :)

Thanks for the reply. Maybe it will be better to wait until the game comes out so that I can get feedback from people who have the same hardware...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you can run it on high, but I don't know whether your card is a 9600GT or 9600GS or whatever the others are. If it's a 9600GT you can max out the graphics in GTA IV, I doubt the processor though will be good enough to run. Dual Core is fine but the speed is the thing I'm not sure about. Other than that, it should run on your PC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you can run it on high, but I don't know whether your card is a 9600GT or 9600GS or whatever the others are. If it's a 9600GT you can max out the graphics in GTA IV, I doubt the processor though will be good enough to run. Dual Core is fine but the speed is the thing I'm not sure about. Other than that, it should run on your PC.

Hmm , are you sure that an 9600GT can max it? Although it's a rather good card I wouldn't expect anything worse than an 9800GT to be able and handle it on full , at least not at a decent res.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if you look at the specs, it shows:

  • Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

NVIDIA 8600 is the card that apparently can max it out or anything higher, so I think a 9600GT should run it. I'm currently on a 9500GT and that's actually a decent card, so hopefully that could run it. Don't take my words for it though, it may not run decently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's probably because Intel doesn't have a triple-core processor that I know of and they didn't want to just make the recommended processor a very-high clocked dual-core so they went with a quad-core.

I am 2 weeks away from buying the barebone but it feels much closer now that i sold the PS3 version of the game. Because it's primarily a GTA 4 motivated upgrade which should i get

The X2 6000, or the Phenom 8450

1 keeps my barebone price under $200 and adds 600 mhz and 1 core to my overclocked 3500, the other is 100 mhz away from the exact clock speed at stock of my 3500 but there's 2 extra cores, not to mention that it's the recommended GTA 4 processor from AMD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...