I'd like a video card that can handle GTA IV at highest settings.

[Koviko]

I've been upgrading my computer a lot over the past few months and finally upgraded to Windows 7 (mostly because it's impossible to find XP 64-bit). As such, I'm missing most of my games and as I was going to start reinstalling, I found this little gem I never quite finished: GTA IV. However, I'm finding that I can't handle the game at it's highest settings.

I used to have dual GeForce 8800 GTS cards connected with SLI, but while trying to get these beefy monsters back into my PC following some annoying purchases, I accidentally bent and broke one of the little cylinders around the edge of the card (capacitors, I believe?). I'm too scared to put it back into my machine. So, now my graphics are much weaker than they were before. One card is plenty to handle most games I play (Quake Live, Minecraft, and WoW) but makes me sad during GTA IV cut-scenes.


tl;dr I want a card that can handle GTA IV with everything turned up. I'd prefer not to spend more than $300, but I'm willing to spend up to $600.

Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3100 MHz
RAM: 4x4GB (all being properly recognized by Win7 )
GPU: GeForce 8800 GTS
PSU: SeaSonic 650W Modular
Resolution: 1920x1080 (also the resolution I'd like GTA IV to run)

I'm sure you guys get lots of requests like this. Hopefully you've got time for mine, too!

 

[saood06]

i think a great card for you would be a 6950 or if you want nvidia you would probably like the 560 ti but i would choose the 6950

 

[qwerty123456]

The video card is not the problem, as far as GTAIV goes. GTAIV is unfortunately a shitty console port (ignoring the awesome gameplay and modding potential and everything else that makes that okay).
So, most of GTAIV is handled at the CPU level. However a good gpu is still useful for GTAIV and other games as well.
Right now your best bet is probably a 6950 2GB, ~$290.

If you want to go over that you could get a 6970.

I don't really know much about Nvidia cards but I know from experience that those are much more expensive and have less vram.

 

[Koviko]

Does that mean that the Core i5 is inadequate? Are there CPUs that can handle GTA IV properly, or should we blame Rockstar for their lack of optimization?

 

[Supernova1138]

A quad i5 should be adequate for GTA IV. The game shouldn't need that much processing power, but that's what you get with really bad coding.

 

[celpas]

A quad i5 should be adequate for GTA IV. The game shouldn't need that much processing power, but that's what you get with really bad coding.

yeah take a look at mafia 2.Looks better than GTA 4,runs better and the NPCs also have realistic motion

 

[qwerty123456]

Yup, blame R*. A quad i5 is fine.

 

[Koviko]

So, I'm looking at the 6950 (2GB) and it looks like a solid buy. Before I go about buying it though, I wanna know if it's worth it to buy 2 since my motherboard claims to be CrossfireX ready. And if I buy 2, should I get 2 2GB ones or 2 1GB ones?

 

[majin ssj eric]

You can't unlock the shaders on the 1GB to flash it to a 6970, if that matters to you. Two 6950's at even stock speeds will run anything you throw at them, but so will two 560Ti's and they are cheaper....

 

[MadCatz900]

I have an i5 760 and msi 560ti twin frozr and gta4 runs perfectly on my system even while streaming to justin tv.

 

[Koviko]

A quick check of Newegg show 6950s at $239.99 after $20 rebate for 2GB and 560tis at $199.99 after $30 rebate for 1GB. The 2GB 560tis are $280 (the only one I can find).

Do those prices sound about right? I don't want to buy if there's a better deal elsewhere.

 

[celpas]

i7 870 and gtx 460 768mb/gtx 275 both my 275 and 460 handle gta 4 without any trouble although EFLC lags when it rains too much

 

[Koviko]

I ended up getting a 560 Ti. I plan to purchase a second one next month (trying to spread out my expenses), though it may not be necessary. This card runs every cut scene I've encountered so far in highest settings with perfect lip syncing. And for the price, it was a great buy.

Thanks to everyone who helped point me in the right direction!

 

[nforce4max]

Nice, you can still fix the damaged 8800gts through.

 

[Koviko]

How? I'm not sure how to put the capacitor back on.

 

[nforce4max]

How? I'm not sure how to put the capacitor back on.

Very easy actually

Do you have one of these

And some solder wire?

If so it would only take you two or three min to put it back on. Be sure to know what terminals are positive and negative, hint look at the others heheh.

Easy fix, who know you can sell the cards and make up for expenses.

 

[Koviko]

Best answer selected by Koviko.

 

[rockitman]

If you had planned on getting 2 6950's just for GTA4, let me tell you it would have been a waste of money.

GTA4 will not play with 6950's in crossfire, you will get an error saying something like you have too much graphics power. I had to disable crossfire to run GTA4.