GTA IV on Core i3

[arn10485]

Did anyone play GTA IV on i3? What range of fps can I expect when I run GTA IV on Core i3 (530/540)?

I am confused because there seem to be conflicting results in different benchmarks -

http://www.behardware.com/articles/780-12/intel-core-i5-and-core-i3.html - 26 fps

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/GTA-IV-1.0.3,1402.html - 56 fps!

I have 5770 Hawk and I will be happy at 720p, so the graphics card won't be an issue.

 

[arn10485]

The results are different because they're benchmarked with different GPUs ?
i think u should rely more on the behardware benchmark since they benched it with a GTX280, which is suppose to be more powerful than ur 5770

Yeah GTX 280 used in behardware is better than mine (though notice they are running it at 800x600). Two questions :

1. Which GPU was used in tomshardware?
2. If the GPU is bottle-necking behardware, why does the fps increase with more powerful CPU?

According to this benchmark it looks like 5770 will have no problem running GTA IV at 720p at highest config: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5770,2446-13.html

I'm just trying to figure out if I will be able to play GTA IV comfortably with the i3 CPU

Cheers

 

[photonboy]

I'm not sure of the purpose of the post.

You already have all of your hardware and just want to see if it's performing alright?

Anyway, here's some rambling:

Monitor your CPU in the Task Manager while the game is running:

1) CTRL-ALT-DEL
2) play for at least five minutesk
3) Close the game
4) look at the processor history (View-One Graph per CPU)

This will tell you whether you could add a better graphics card to get more performance.

It's tricky with multi-core however because it's not always certain how much of the CPU a game can use.

If you ONLY had a single core:
If the Task Manager shows your CPU peaking at 50% you could handle a graphics card that can put out 2x the framerate (see benchmarks and look for one with 2x the results as your card).

**Note that Hyperthreading will mess up your results as Task Manager uses the average of the physical core and the hyperthread (just a buffer for each core). In many cases hyperthreading can't even be used. If you don't want to disable hyperthreading, the simplest way is to double the CPU% you see. For example, if the CPU shows 25% assume it's using 50%.

***The newer the game is the more likely it is to use multiple cores. Even then it doesn't mean it can use ALL of the cores.

What graphics card could you handle?
It really varies based on the game, but I suspect you could handle an HD5870 for maximum results. You'd probably max out your CPU in some games but be GPU-limited in others.

 

[photonboy]

About the charts:
To sort of summarize, when you rate different CPU's to each other you want to use the MAXIMUM graphics power available to eliminate that as a bottleneck.

When you want to rate graphics card you do the reverse, you use the best CPU, possibly overclocking it just to make sure you never hit a bottleneck anywhere but with the graphic cards.

A properly designed gaming system is about BALANCE:

BALANCE in gaming means that if you take SIX or more modern games then THREE of them would max out the CPU and THREE of them would max out the graphics card.

However, in reality it's a little tricker due to the price difference. For example, an i5-750 at $200 paired with a $450 HD5870 results in an average of 50% CPU usage (non-overclocked). So for high-end gaming it makes sense to buy an i5-750 or slightly higher and then add another card in two years for SLI/Crossfire or replace the HD5870 with a top-end 2012 card.

I know you have an i3. As I said, you can buy a better card if you want, and use the Task Manager to help estimate (hyperthreading turned OFF).

A point:
- for lower-end you should reduce shadows, AA etc. Experiment for the best results. It's better to have SMOOTH gameplay then to have jerky play with better graphics.

 

[MarkG]

Did anyone play GTA IV on i3? What range of fps can I expect when I run GTA IV on Core i3 (530/540)?

With reflection detail turned down it gets 30-40fps on my i5 laptop, which I believe is basically the i3 plus turbo mode?

 

[arn10485]

Thanks. Regarding your confusion - I don't have the computer yet. I only have the 5770, but I will need to buy a CPU. I want to ensure that the new CPU I will buy will run GTA IV effortlessly.

 

[arn10485]

With reflection detail turned down it gets 30-40fps on my i5 laptop, which I believe is basically the i3 plus turbo mode?

Thanks - that was useful.

 

[arn10485]

If u still haven't buy the CPU, I would suggest an i5-760, instead of all core i3 to play the game,

Thanks - most of the benchmarks and the comments here make it look like that. What is your opinion on AMD Phenom II 945, which seems to be able to run the game well, but is also a lot cheaper than i5-760?

 

[arn10485]

Best answer selected by arn10485.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey