GTA IV - Quad or Core i7 needed!

[OBR]

I am working on GTA IV Performance preview, here are some results with CPUs ... the first game which really needs Quad Core (Core i7 is best choice).







Physics engine Euphoria is very exacting for CPU performance, times of Dual Athlons and 512MB GFX in Solid Game Stations are over ...

Game is brutally limited by CPU, you can use Radeon HD4870 X2 or Tri-SLI, but fps will be the same like with single card. For higher performance of GFX you will need 4GHz Quad, better is 4GHz Core i7

[003]

So how is it the consoles run it so well then if it is so demanding even on Core i7?

[Nedjo]

nice work OBR!

could you ask your local AMD guys to give you their duals triples and quads, to conduct same test on their CPus?

[Mk]

Can we run "Physics engine Euphoria" on nVidia PhysX??
that way we don't need a really good CPU

[VOID WARRANTY]

maybe this game isnt optimised well...the numbers dont look that well for a quad either and it seems it dosnsnt respond well even when you throw high powered gpu,s at it according to other threads here on x.s...i think every one is jumping the gun here and looking at hardware rather then "saying" hey whats wrong with this game it runs like crap...they obviously did a bad job of making this game run on the pc...maybe rock star should stick to consoles...or fix the problem..

[spicypixel]

The fact it brutalizes a i7 but runs fine on a Xbox360 is abit of a downer...

[billdavis]

could we please see the 4g i7

[metachronos]

The fact it brutalizes a i7 but runs fine on a Xbox360 is abit of a downer...

Well it's running at max 720p on 360 and PC version probably has much better textures and draw distance so it doesn't surprise me.

[Sly Fox]

Well it's running at max 720p on 360 and PC version probably has much better textures and draw distance so it doesn't surprise me.

This. The 360 version also runs at pretty bad FPS at times. I can hardly play it sometimes.

Not defending this port, it's shamefully bad so far. But the game is demanding, even ignoring lazy optimization.

[Gener_AL (UK)]

Hi this really would help if you could test or add a Quad that has the same amount of cache as a dual ?

Ie 9300 @3.0ghz and perhaps clcok the Core2 8400 to match that ? or down clock the 8400 to match 9300 @ stock ?

This is somthing i wish sites and game review would take into account when comapring quads to dual cores.

[Stukov]

Most console games actually better with anything more than 2 cores, as in the triple cores (clocked fine), since the 360 has 3 cores. Console game makers aren't going to spend the time to re-thread games.

Dual core still isn't dead. You usually can do fine once you OC them to 3.6ghz+

[VOID WARRANTY]

if they get enough bad reviews for the game not runing well and enough people complain about the way it runs then if were lucky there fix it with a patch..think about how many average joes are running on low end dual core,s at like 2.6ghz...how are they going run this at decent settings

[fireice2]

Other ports are not so demanding.

[Reznik Akime]

It seems many forget that the 360's CPU is of the multi-core PowerPC flavor and not x86. It's not that it's a bad port as much as it is what is lost when moving from PPC to x86.

Also, lets not forget that one core is mostly dedicated to lower level functions of the 360. You know, the in game dash and music player. The flashy stuff. This game really only has two clean cores to work with on the 360.

[iTravis]

Why do people compare to console while the graphics on PC is more superior? I have no problem running this with my Q6600@ 3.6Ghz along with the X2, sure I sometimes experience some framerate and texture problems but still have such good gameplay overall. For those who wanna know, my fps is about 30-68fps and I rarely see it drops to less than 20.
@ORB: It would be great if you can include the GPU performance, I heard this game is very limited on VRAM as well.

[Stukov]

It seems many forget that the 360's CPU is of the multi-core PowerPC flavor and not x86. It's not that it's a bad port as much as it is what is lost when moving from PPC to x86.

Also, lets not forget that one core is mostly dedicated to lower level functions of the 360. You know, the in game dash and music player. The flashy stuff. This game really only has two clean cores to work with on the 360.

I was under the impression since the Xbox was DX9.0c it didn't matter a whole lot what CPU was being used. I know the differences between x86/x64 and PowerPC, but I supposed that was the impression I got.

[Reznik Akime]

I was under the impression since the Xbox was DX9.0c it didn't matter a whole lot what CPU was being used. I know the differences between x86/x64 and PowerPC, but I supposed that was the impression I got.

Both Wikipedia and memory fail me at the moment, but I believe that the PPC core handled a great deal more than just rudimentary processes. I will have to do some digging on that one to be sure, but I really want to say that a lot more was carried out on the PPC chip than just physics and menial tasks.

Each core was also dual threaded on the die, so that is something else to consider. Given the examples above, it could be the euphoria system that makes the biggest hit.


All in all, this kinda nukes my plan on riding out i7 on my C2 system. I'm all for games taking advantage of everything they can in hardware, but my wallet sure as hell ain't.

[kemo]

Hey OBR are you using the built in game benchmark or something else ???

[strange|ife]

I rented GTA on ps3, and it was pretty choppy at times running in 1080P, but not unplayable.

keep in mind it has no real AA and jaggies abound

the pc version will be running at 1680x1050 and above with more AF and AA and other goodies, plus higher res textures no doubt...so yeah for a port it's not bad.

[kiwi]

Agree, i7 is a must for GTA

Check this out:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...13_processors/

QX @ 3ghz easily beats 8xxx @ 4Ghz







Bye bye dual cores

[Iconyu]

So two extra cores at 3.6ghz gains me 6fps at 1280x1024? Not the most elegant parallel engine we've seen is it? I could probably gain 3fps from turning off my firewall and virus scanner.

I rented GTA on ps3, and it was pretty choppy at times running in 1080P, but not unplayable.

keep in mind it has no real AA and jaggies abound

the pc version will be running at 1680x1050 and above with more AF and AA and other goodies, plus higher res textures no doubt...so yeah for a port it's not bad.

The PS3 and XB360 use internal up-scalers, the picture you thought was 1080P was up scaled from 1120×630 if I remember right.

[Hypediss]

so is optimized for consoles or is it just that there's more "umph" added into the pc version?

[xsbb]

I am so glad I have a Quad. I knew that Dual Cores will sooon start to show their age.


BRB.. trying for a higher oc

[tajoh111]

Wasn't it obvious that these games were going to benefit from more cores?

Consoles game ports are becoming more multi threaded as developers try to use 100 percent power of the console. Before they didn't do it so much because it hard to do when a system just came out. But now during system maturity, you bet your bum they are going to use all those cores.

[VOID WARRANTY]

Both Wikipedia and memory fail me at the moment, but I believe that the PPC core handled a great deal more than just rudimentary processes. I will have to do some digging on that one to be sure, but I really want to say that a lot more was carried out on the PPC chip than just physics and menial tasks.

Each core was also dual threaded on the die, so that is something else to consider. Given the examples above, it could be the euphoria system that makes the biggest hit.


All in all, this kinda nukes my plan on riding out i7 on my C2 system. I'm all for games taking advantage of everything they can in hardware, but my wallet sure as hell ain't.

i wouldnt worry to much about your core2 system this is just one game....when others like crysis are the polar opposite and run better with more gpu power...most games will still run great on an overclocked dual...were still not there yet with quad core optimisation on games...give it 6 or more months and things might change...but until then i would stick with the system you have now...wait for i7 to mature and drop in price