GTA IV and VRAM

[xazf]

I just read the "How Much RAM Does Your Graphics Card Really Need?" article and i saw that using the 1GB or 2GB cards on settings over 1600MB in GTA IV only mattered ~4 fps, and that on a very high resolution!

Personally i play on 1280 x 1024 and if i put GTA IV on highest it says it will eat 1440MB. Will the 5870 1GB will be sufficient to keep the game 100% playable? no fps drops?

my cpu: quad core 2,2 Ghz(x4)
mobo: 1300Mhz FSB
Memory: 4GB DDR3
current gfx cards: 2 x 4650 in Crossfire :<

Thanks for your advice in advance!

 

[Kari]

you should overclock your cpu as well while you're at it....

 

[xazf]

I dont have a lot of experience with overclocking, but i might try clocking it to 2,5Ghz.

But what i really want to know is, with my system, will GTA IV at the maximum settings (using the -norestrict command ofcourse) run smoothly on a HD5870 1GB? or am i going to have to wait for the 2GB version?

 

[shubham1401]

1GB version will be enough for GTA 4.
But keep in mind that it is not that much of a GPU demanding game.
It requires a good CPU.

Since you have a Quad then having a 5870 will be good enough to play it at high settings.

 

[xazf]

Aah thank you, but it WILL exceed the maximum amount of VRAM by ~400.. when that happens will the game still be playable?

Thanks for helping me

 

[shubham1401]

Though I have never played GTA 4...
But i think it won't exceed...
Cuz the 512MB card performed so close to 1 or 2 GB variants...

 

[nforce4max]

The 2gb version will be worth it over all for GTA IV and future games. Even my 8800gtx and my 9800gt have a hard time keeping up with this game.

 

[xazf]

Hmm i dont think the GTA IV benchmark is taking the 1440MB like its telling me in the options menu, the benchmark only lasts about 10 seconds and is a very small area of a few scooterdrivers shooting at eachother. This way the 1 and 2GB results could get so close. What im curious about is what will happen when the 1GB version exceeds its limit, will it go snail-speed?

And yeah i agree with you nforce, i'm gonna wait for the 2GB just to make sure its future proof.

 

[shubham1401]

Actually the fact is that 5870 is a very powerful card...

It should not suffer with such a drawback with modern games..

 

[jyjjy]

GTA IV is an odd game and simply does not let you use settings that require more video ram then you have available. So if you really NEED to max out the settings you will require a 2gb video card but I suggest maxing out every setting in that one particular game not be what guides your purchasing. Lower settings and a higher resolution than 1280x1024 will probably be a better choice in any case. Unless 1280x1024 is the native/best resolution your monitor can handle and in that case an HD5870 would be a absolutely staggering waste of money because an HD4850 should rape almost every game at the resolution and is 1/4th the price.

 

[xazf]

jyjjy try using the -norestrict command for GTA IV, it allows you to actually 'exceed' the maximum settings for VRAM. It will display in a orange / dark-red color like this:

1440MB / 1024MB
Warning: You are near or have exceeded the maximum amount of memory blah blah...

What im curious about is what if will happen if you do this and then play the game intensively for an hour or two.. will it crash? bsod? or maybe it will run? will it still run smooth? or will it go snail-speed?

And yeah GTA IV is pretty odd as it is really the first game ive seen that actually restricts you from maxing it out when your system is not sufficient for those settings. Give it a try with the -norestrict command! 😉

Also guys, any news on the release date of the 2gb version yet?? 😛