Renewing Interest in PC edition

[BlackListedB]

Well guys, the stats are out, For GTA V PC edition, your closest test for hardware demands maybe the PC version of Episodes. I found in comparison runs of this PC game release and the original GTA IV, EfLC is the more demanding PC version, it requires more horsepower to run effectively, and I hear few cases where it runs at full maximum settings too!

 

Mine did load and attempt to run at a snail-pace, other times it crashed, and since I finished a build on my Republic of Gamer Asus notebook PC, the idea is to try it again, however my own report will be delayed because the requirement for a massive graphics card in a desktop or notebook is a powerful AC adapter, which I don't have. 120 watts, 125 watts, 130 watts, 150 watts and in Toshiba's X205 SLI version case, a four pin 180 watt adapter is required!! The X205 is another machine I bought incomplete, that's another project to see what will work well in SLI versus single GPU machines, especially portable ones! Of which there are few to compare to.

 

Alienware (now Dell) were one of the first computers with SLI nVidia for dual mobile graphics cards, There have been plenty of dual GPU for PC attempts over the years, but in most cases, you just buy identical spec cards to tether together.

Slots permitting. The SLI approach I believe demands some soft-switch (software settings) game compatibility to work smoothly, if at all.

ATI's Crossfire is designed to work outside of game settings I believe, again, someone correct me if I'm off about this.

 

SLI and Crossfire don't double a card's spec capacity, however, memory might be the closest to improving overall.

What they do is share the load of any rendering task the computer is working on at a given time, to maximize the effectiveness of data crunching. and what you hope to see on your screen, FAST gaming response to input and graphic animation.

 

There's no doubt that 3D anything is one of the toughest demands you can place on any computer system, so, with the release of specs for GTA V that place it in the $800 dollar and up catagory, I don't think I'll be able to see smooth response without a hitch, but for the moment, even though I have low speed RAM modules in DDR3, at this time I have a number of them available so my Asus and desktop machines can all run GTA V in regard to that requirement. 

It certainly will be interesting to see how the new GTA and old GTAs compare in computer performance.

 

For your desktop say, running the 660 GTX level nVidia, I bought both 600 and 700 watt power supplies for my desktop builds, however, I'd been in the process of putting both my Core i machine and Core 2 Quad capable Intel i45 desktops up for sale, but I had a medical issue halt that this past summer. The upgrades from my first ever Nehalem with original brand new, in 2010, Core i3 costing me $135 or so at the time, then moved to a rather cheap eBay auction ($50) Core i5, the goal has been to move away from the 1st gen Core i3, i5, i7 Nehalem Intel CPUs to Ivy Bridge 3rd gen preferably. It's suspected for the record, MOST people STILL don't have Intel's Haswell in their main computers, so Ivy Bridge may afford you the most recent upgrade compatible with previous Sandy Bridge mobos (motherboards/sockets)

I also did upgrades for RAM from 1, to 2, to 4GB sticks, however, the 4 or 8GB sticks in both DDR2 and DDR3 are spendy propositions, you're likely to do some tough decision purchasing there, The 600-700 watt PSU range is good for SLI starting out, so it certainly should work for just one GPU card

Edited January 17, 2015 by BlackListedB