GTA4 Gaming Build

Too late, what are these forums good If they don't answer people's question? Derp...

Hey GTA ROCKS,

Too late? I would like to help you out if you still need it? You do have to be patient for people offering their time however. The build you have listed above is good, but the Intel Sandy Bridge motherboards and processors are currently on recall so you can either wait for the revisions, or purchase something else. For GTA IV a build like this could suffice: http://newbcomputerbuild.com/computer-builds/gaming-bui...

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.

I'm no pro but it all looks good to me. Get a ssd though mainly because it'll make load tis faster. That system will eat gta4 4square meals a day. Aftermarket cooler is good. Case is good.

Good luck

Sandy Bridge chipset flaw to cost Intel $1 billion
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/sandy-bridge-chipset-flaw-to-cost-intel-1-billion/11157

Thanks, but OMG the reality is a bit different....

I built the system, but even at 1600X1200? I only get 50 some FPS... Maxing the settings makes it unplayable!
I mean WHAT?

This is supposed to be a serious system!
Doing the auto overclock featue that my MOBO came with doesn't make any difference...
Overclocking the video card makes no difference at all either...

Sooooo what is holding me back? My ram timings? Ram speed?

OS: Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium (Family Upgrade Pack, using Double Install Trick....)  
CASE: http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product1.php?id=MjcxNQ=...
CPU: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52210
GPU: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?leg=&...
MOBO: http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=HMMvTCuBcZLfu2YL&...
RAM: http://www.mushkin.com/Memory/Silverline/996770.aspx
PSU: http://www.corsair.com/power-supplies/non-modular-psus/...
CPU Cooler: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products...
HDD: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel...
CD/DVD: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=Xf3lRLd28V8de4YN

As you scan see, I didn't go the cheap route.... Now where's the gta4 performance? I suspect the RAM timings/speed...

Disabled the "page file"? since I have enough RAM to not need it... that speeds switching out of GTA4/EFLC to the desktop.

Anyone got a recommendation for a cheap gaming keyboard that can report more than a few keys at a time. Makes helicopters
miserable to fly!!!!!!!! (EFLC - Sexy Time Mission) I like to fly choppers, so this is important.

PS: thanks for responses, even if they were too late for the main build. Newegg emailed me that I can exchange the MOBO whenever the new onew become available

Edit: Just noticed the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... keyboard and this looks close to what I want...
Alternatives please...

Hmm, is your budget around $15 - $20 for a gaming keyboard? I would've suggested Logitech G110, but that's around $65. At around $15, you're probably okay with that one, though.

GTA4 doesn't seem to be ported well to the PC. It requires a lot of CPU power as that is the main bottleneck. Although, you will want to make sure your GTA4 is up to date along with your video card drivers, DirectX, and the Windows O/S. Finally, you may want to overclock manually to get some serious speed. Also, since you are on SB make sure to use the Sata 6 ports instead of the Sata 3!

That 50 fps does seem a little low, but only slightly as shown here. This is why I'm fairly confident it is an update issue.

Unfortunately since I got a relatively expensive Gaming PC, I'm being quite stingy with the rest of the machine. However to consider, I don't play online at all, so as long as I can beat the AI, I'm in good shape.  

So just to sum it up, I've got a quad core CPU running at 3.3 GHZ minimum and a current generation video card with 2 GB of VRAM and 8 Gigs of DDR3 and can't max out a game from 2008? at resolutions below 1080p... I know it's an extremely demanding program, but something doesn't add up...

With the latest BIOS for my motherboard, the included overclocking utility claims to have boosted the system performance by 34% or something like that.
Yet in game that amounted to no difference at all, and it does not max out all the cores... I believe it uses about 60%...

That's with the entire hard drive defragmented, etc... The only thing I can think of I don't have up to date is Windows itself, since installing updates offline is such a PITA... I seriously would doubt that windows 7 has that big of a problem out of the box.

Anyway, this rig should be able to handle most OTHER games maxed out right? Or is I going to have to get another 6950 when the prices drop and crossfire them? (Plan to do that eventually, when they drop about $100 and a single one is too weak)

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Specifically got the 2GB Video Card and 8GB of RAm so I can run games like this... (GTA4/EFLC both claim they aren't even using half of the VRAM! Wut?)
But when I crank the settings up, it chokes on them. Ran Prime95 for 8 hours without any problem, tried GPU benchmarking but they just want to go online to see my score, so I can't... That PC has no internet and won't for the foreseeable future.
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so you just installed the drivers for your graphics card off of the disc that came with it, then? What version of the Catalyst drivers are you running? This could be some of your problem.

Well, not exactly. I got the very latest drivers from AMD's site and believe them to be 11.1? or something like that... Still all the updates I did, including 2010 DirectX made no difference. Everything except Windows itself is up to date. (Driver,TriXX,DirectX,Catalyst Control Center)

Best answer selected by GTA Rocks.

  Heading to GTAforums.com with my GTA issues...

As for the keyboard, I need one that has anti ghosting as a listed feature. I tried the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 and the thing is
nice, but too small for my huge hands. There is just no way I'll ever get used to it!

Thanks everyone!

BTW I picked the best answer with a bit of humor, I just need to give you more time to answer next time...