No frame rate increase in GTA IV Even after Overclock

My system:
Asus Geforce GTX 590
Intel Core i7 2600k (at 4.4 ghz after overclock)
8GB of G.Skill RAM
1000W PSU

I run GTA IV version 1.0.4.0 (So that I can use ICEnhancer).

Before the overclock my frame rate would average at about 40-45, commonly dropping to the low 30s.

After the overclock (to 4.4 ghz) the frame rate did not change much, if at all, still commonly dropping to the low 30s. What's strange, is that this kind of performance was encountered when my resolution was 1920x1200, and was still encountered even after I lowered my resolution to 1680x1050. As in, the overclock did not seem to make a difference, and lowering the resolution also did not seem to make a difference, before and after overclocking.

If I could be able to get GTA IV to not drop below 40 fps at all times, I would be perfectly satisfied. I thought overclocking my i7 would do this, as I heard that GTA IV is very CPU-Dependant.

What do you guys think might be the problem? (Maybe something to do with Hyperthreading?)

Message edited by DTsoy on 12-25-2011 at 06:14:17 AM

Reply to DTsoy

It is a very badly coded game for a PC and you have probably run into that limitation.

Reply to rolli59

you could add more ram (4-8 gb) to your system and see what happens. check your pc's power profiles first if they're set to throttle the components in case the load is high.

Reply to De5_roy

overclock 590?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to amuffin

While it is kinda of a CPU crushing game, even a stock 2600K should be just fine. You didn't mention what res your running in, but with a GTX 590 I assume you maxed out all graphics settings. That makes the GPU the limiting factor.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to calinkula

it is badly coded game
on my pc it give me around 40fps
settings
1920*1200*32bit@75hz
texture high
view distance 30
draw distance 100

cpu is amd athlon 64 x2 7750 duel core @2.7ghz
gpu sapphire radeon 6770
ram 3gb dd2 667
window 7 32 bit

looks like my old and slow athlon 7750 and radeon 6770 are near i7-2600k and gtx590

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by truegenius on 12-24-2011 at 04:15:32 PM

Reply to truegenius

I wouldn't overclock anything. Its the games fault, its not your hardware. No game should require more than what you already have, there's not much sense in risky OCing on already extremely powerful hardware.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Max1s

the game is poorly coded indeed.
i just remembered something: have you tried playing with hyperthreading turned off?

Reply to De5_roy

Max1s wrote :

I wouldn't overclock anything. Its the games fault, its not your hardware. No game should require more than what you already have, there's not much sense in risky OCing on already extremely powerful hardware.

If you know what your doing an overclock can't really hurt. Yea this is a game that isn't coded that great so an overclock won't do much but it can help with other games if he plays other games. My feeling is if you know how to do it why not stretch that last little bit out.

------------------------------ Silverstone TJ07, I5 2500K, Gigabyte Z68 UD4-B3, Gigabyte Radeon 6970, Corsair Vengence DDR3 1600 8GB, Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD 7200rpm, Samsung 128 gb SSD, ASUS SATA DVD drive, Seasonic 850X Gold 850W PSU, Windows 7 Home 64bit, Custom Watercooling loop
Reply to rds1220

I haven't seen anything that says GTA4 can use SLI. This means you have a huge CPU, but a severally underclocked GTX580. If you have the settings cranked, then you're simply asking to much of your card.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

4745454b wrote :

I haven't seen anything that says GTA4 can use SLI. This means you have a huge CPU, but a severally underclocked GTX580. If you have the settings cranked, then you're simply asking to much of your card.

GTA IV has an SLI profile and the game uses both GPUs.

amuffin wrote :

overclock 590?

Don't want to risk it - If you've read anything about it you'll know the 590 isn't a very overclock-friendly card.

calinkula wrote :

While it is kinda of a CPU crushing game, even a stock 2600K should be just fine. You didn't mention what res your running in, but with a GTX 590 I assume you maxed out all graphics settings. That makes the GPU the limiting factor.

lol... I'm running the game at 1680x1050 (my monitor's native rez) with the draw distance set to halfway (everything else maxed out). At this resolution, the game has to be stupidly ***-coded in order to slow down my card to 30 fps.

truegenius wrote :

it is badly coded game
on my pc it give me around 40fps
settings
1920*1200*32bit@75hz
texture high
view distance 30
draw distance 100

cpu is amd athlon 64 x2 7750 duel core @2.7ghz
gpu sapphire radeon 6770
ram 3gb dd2 667
window 7 32 bit

looks like my old and slow athlon 7750 and radeon 6770 are near i7-2600k and gtx590

Uhh yeah, read this guy's post.

Do you guys still think it's something that I can fix? as in do you guys still think the bad performance is due to my rig?

Reply to DTsoy

Not meaning to be rude, but any evidence you can show me that it uses both?

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

4745454b wrote :

Not meaning to be rude, but any evidence you can show me that it uses both?

Not right now, i'm away from home and using my laptop - but I can assure you that it uses both as I had the GPU Usage graphs in Nvidia Inspector open whiile playing, and when I alt-tabbed out I saw that both GPUS were in use at >93%.

You know, what's real strange is that this kind of performance was encountered when my resolution was 1920x1200, and was still encountered even after I lowered my resolution to 1680x1050. As in, the overclock did not seem to make a difference, and lowering the resolution also did not seem to make a difference, before and after overclocking.

Message edited by DTsoy on 12-25-2011 at 06:14:53 AM

Reply to DTsoy

The massive performance hog in GTA IV is using very high shadows nothing else.
Turn the shadows down to high and enjoy.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to recon-uk

recon-uk wrote :

The massive performance hog in GTA IV is using very high shadows nothing else.
Turn the shadows down to high and enjoy.

... Really?
Like I said, when I turned the resolution down from 1920x1200 to 1680x1050 I didn't experience a change in frame rate so I'm not sure that might be it.

ALSO, the massive drops to 30 fps occur almost exclusively when I'm looking towards a scene with many buildings and structures, such as when crossing the bridge - Not sure how much those kinds of scenes have to do with shadows.

But I'll give it a shot.

How much worse will the game look when using high shadows vs. when using very high shadows?

Reply to DTsoy

No difference from my experience.
You do not have SLi enabled btw as my GTX 480 gets higher frames than your GTX 590...

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by recon-uk on 12-25-2011 at 06:48:14 AM

Reply to recon-uk

I looked online before I posted, I didn't see anything that said SLI was enabled for GTA4. There might be a profile for it, but all it should do is disable the second GPU. When you get home I wouldn't mind seeing that 93% on both screen shot. Again, not saying your lying, but if I need to update what is correct then I need to be corrected.

I really need to install this game. I bought it on steam but haven't downloaded it yet. Usually there isn't a big difference in high vs very high shadows, but all games are different.

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

recon-uk wrote :

No difference from my experience.
You do not have SLi enabled btw as my GTX 480 gets higher frames than your GTX 590...

I think you guys mis-interpreted what I meant by my average frame rate - I run GTA IV with a 40-FPS Frame Rate Cap at the moment, and in really specific moments, it drops to the 30s. What I meant by "averaging at 40 fps" was that on average the frame rate runs at the 40 fps cap. Very much above average, actually.

the frame rate drops to the 30s Specifically, when I'm looking at the cityscape from a distance with all the skyscrapers and whatnot in the view. For instance, when I'm driving a boat and looking at the city (the frame rate can drop to as low as the mid-20s at these moments) or driving across a bridge.

Again, changing my resolution from 1920x1200 to 1680x1050 did not help with this issue.

4745454b wrote :

I looked online before I posted, I didn't see anything that said SLI was enabled for GTA4. There might be a profile for it, but all it should do is disable the second GPU. When you get home I wouldn't mind seeing that 93% on both screen shot. Again, not saying your lying, but if I need to update what is correct then I need to be corrected.

I really need to install this game. I bought it on steam but haven't downloaded it yet. Usually there isn't a big difference in high vs very high shadows, but all games are different.

I'll take a screen shot of Nvidia inspector and my NCP profile for GTA IV when I get home.

Message edited by DTsoy on 12-25-2011 at 07:06:55 AM

Reply to DTsoy

DTsoy wrote :

Uhh yeah, read this guy's post.

Do you guys still think it's something that I can fix? as in do you guys still think the bad performance is due to my rig?

you misuderstood my post
i mean that the game is too badly coded
and your rig is far better than mine
if you want to improve fps then use patch v1.0.7 , it will help you to attain fps above 60.

Reply to truegenius

I average 55fps and 40fps minimum on my heavily overclocked GTX 480.........

Message edited by recon-uk on 12-25-2011 at 07:38:00 AM

Reply to recon-uk

Maybe it's because I use patch v1.0.0.4, rather than the newest patch (1.0.0.7)?

Reply to DTsoy

Well was it doing this before the patch? If not than it maybe the patch but if it's been doing it since the start then it's probably not the patch.

Message edited by rds1220 on 12-25-2011 at 05:37:00 PM

------------------------------ Silverstone TJ07, I5 2500K, Gigabyte Z68 UD4-B3, Gigabyte Radeon 6970, Corsair Vengence DDR3 1600 8GB, Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD 7200rpm, Samsung 128 gb SSD, ASUS SATA DVD drive, Seasonic 850X Gold 850W PSU, Windows 7 Home 64bit, Custom Watercooling loop
Reply to rds1220

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