GTA IV - Quad or Core i7 needed!

[bowman]

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

It's not much of an optimized port.

Still, the PC version has a heck of a lot more traffic and if you take to the skies in a helicopter and look down you'll notice that all the traffic is still there.. In all the streets. Unlike the previous games.

[tajoh111]

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 6 or more months and things might change

I don't think this will be the case with console game ports.

Have you ever looked at a console game first generation games, and last generation games. The difference is ginormous.

Since most of these ports are design to run on console first and cpu second(more money). What will happen is these things will become more multithreaded to utilize those extra cores on the console. This means the dual core is going to fall more and more behind.

[RPGWiZaRD]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...10&postcount=3 Mascaras' testing also confirms this. First game for years which are this CPU demanding and also first game to utilize a quad core this well. Seems like Quad @ ~3.6GHz is equal to a dualcore around 5GHz in this game.

[OBR]

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

I DONT use built-in benchmark (is useless), but FRAPS in game ... i am riding town few minutes ...

[xsbb]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...10&postcount=3 Mascaras' testing also confirms this. First game for years which are this CPU demanding and also first game to utilize a quad core this well. Seems like Quad @ ~3.6GHz is equal to a dualcore around 4.6 ~ 4.8GHz in this game.

You're right. I guess after Christmas, when all the new releases are launched, we'll finally be seeing even more QUAD utilization.

I know the importance of physics in newer games is going to be very big.

[tiro_uspsss]

whats the big deal? theres a max diff of 4fps between penny (oc'd) & yorkie (stock) - that definitely isnt 'quad needed' material.

[Cold Fussion]

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

What? It runs like utter on the 360 and ps3...

[RPGWiZaRD]

I DONT use built-in benchmark (is useless), but FRAPS in game ... i am riding town few minutes ...

But how do you accurately benchmark ingame? Unless you've made a timedemo. If you just randomly run around ingame your results could be off easily by 10 - 20%.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...essors/?page=2 I think this benchmark is probably currently the most accurate due to how it's benchmarked and settings used. Q6600 2.4GHz 52% faster than E6600 @ 2.4GHz, QX6850 @ 3.6GHz is 32% faster than E8500 @ 3.6GHz. Too bad no Yorkfield was tested so I'd imagine a 3.6GHz Yorkfield would have a bit more advantage maybe ~45% or so over Wolfdale if Conroe vs Kentsfield difference was 52% at a lower clock speed. Let's assume that would be the case then 3.6GHz Yorkfield x 1.45 = 5.2 GHz Wolfdale.

EDIT: However it seems they've done a craptastic job converting the console game to PC game though if we talk efficiency, at least I'm not willing to upgrade my CPU for this game. It's still interesting and would be interesting to know what tasks they let CPU handle. As it looks now, the game looks more like a console emulator than PC game with such huge CPU load.

[kemo]

I DONT use built-in benchmark (is useless), but FRAPS in game ... i am riding town few minutes ...

That is why i have been asking , that thingy averages 45fps but in game it is always 30s

[VOID WARRANTY]

whats the big deal? theres a max diff of 4fps between penny (oc'd) & yorkie (stock) - that definitely isnt 'quad needed' material.

+1.....my E8400 is gold im not to conserned about 4 frames...come on people this is rockstar were talking about the engine is probably crap and badly optimised to run on a pc why arent you mad at them...dont take it out on your hardware and think you need to spend $1000 for an i7 upgrade to make console games run on your pc...thats crazy talk.............i cant wait till id,s tech 5 engine comes out and shows people what a real engine is...

[Frank M]

the first game which really needs Quad Core

Ever tried Supreme Commander with multiple ai players?

maybe this game isnt optimised well...

maybe this game isnt optimised at all...


Good thing I don't care for GTA, I'm waiting for Lynnfield.

[Stukov]

Ever tried Supreme Commander with multiple ai players?

Just about all RTS games are the exception almost all of them have many threads (AI/Units/Physics) and benefit from more cores.

[STEvil]

How about some i7 numbers with HT disabled? And some skulltrail (8-core harpertown anyways) numbers?

[HKPolice]

This engine isn't optimized well. Left4dead spawns many more zombies with AI than GTA4 and it runs fine on dual cores.

[DelaMaris]

could we please see the 4g i7

I agree. Let's see some 4GHz+ i7 benchmarks.

[gosh]

Optimize = Strip functionality

It will be more and more common that games need more cores.
Just to do detailed face movements needs a lot of computing power

Developers at rockstar are probably very good, if they wasn't they would never be able to create a game like GTA.

[Jacky]

whats the big deal? theres a max diff of 4fps between penny (oc'd) & yorkie (stock) - that definitely isnt 'quad needed' material.

Yes it is. A 26% difference clock for clock at high res is astounding. Well, if OBR's numbers are accurate that is.

[tiro_uspsss]

Yes it is. A 26% difference clock for clock at high res is astounding. Well, if OBR's numbers are accurate that is.

ur comparing c4c
i was comparing oc'd to stock
very *very* few ppl around here keep their CPUs stock - the folks with c2d dont 'need' a quad eod
thanks for playing

[bowman]

Three threads active, as many threads as the Xbox 360 has cores.. I guess this is the result of a lazy recompile or something. Didn't they claim they had 'rewritten' the game for PC?

[spursindonesia]

I think it's not bad, we need progress afterall. 2009 should be a critical year for quadcore infusion into mainstream gaming system, and i think with the supposed rebound of AMD quad existence, quad processor would become more and more affordable and easier to accept by the masses -price should get lower with better competition out there.

[XS2K]

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

1080p what?
The game barely runs @ 720p,some said it runs below 720p also the graphics look horrible compared to PC + jaggies and low AF.

[generics_user]

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

the x360 has 3 cores and each of these cores can execute 2 threads, i guess that's the reason for i7s advantage over C2Q

luckily i already bought this game on the 360 because it runs without any problems or slowdowns

PS: the phenom does a great job in thie game, it seems that it is on par with the kentsfields

[STaRGaZeR]

How about some i7 numbers with HT disabled?

could we please see the 4g i7

What they said

[inCore]

Hang on a second, how much RAM is GTA IV using up on that screenshot of the taskmanager above?

[XS2K]

Usually over 2GB on Vista but not 4GB+