Why Does GTA 4 Lag On My PC?

[Guest]

OK so I've had GTA 4 on my PC for awhile, and some days it runs fine with 30+ FPS, whereas some days I cant even play the game and it lags horribly at the loading screen and my CPU usage goes up to 100%. I just don't understand why the game runs fine one day but terrible the next. I don't run any apps in the background, except antivirus. It's most likely the Athlon II X2 3.2 slowing it down (The graphics is GTX550Ti). But like I asked before how come its fine one day but unplayable the next? Thanks

 

[Eldd]

Your GPU is fine, but it's the CPU that bottlenecks your system; the game actually utilizes a quad core and upper tiers CPU's the best. So your CPU is here the weak link. The game is poorly ported from console, and a bad port at that.

 

[Gman450]

You can check this thread as well.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/113964-13-requirements-info

Indeed your CPU is the slowing factor.
Cause for slowing down on somedays and not on other days? Well, it might be because you're running some background processes. You may want to close them (that is, if you have any).

 

[kyle_iv]

Hey,

I had an old machine. Had windows XP x64, GTX550 TI DirectCU Top x2, and a athlon X2, 8GB Ram 800MHZ and GTA ran at like 25-30 fps just about maxed out on specs. Now i built a new machine. I have the same graphics cards, I am using Windows 7 Pro x64, 16GB Ram 1600MHz, AMD FX 6100 - 6 Core Processor, and that's it. With this new build I get only around 20 FPS after about 10 minutes of playing. When it just starts up I am lucky if I even get 10FPS. I am also using a Crosshair V Formula Motherboard. My old one was a Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe. What can I do to make GTA run faster.

 

[Guest]

Hey guys, I thought I would update you guys on what happened. What I found out, was that, whenever Asus Smartdoctor was running, it would reduce the GTA 4 FPS. I decided to run MSI Afterburner instead, and GTA 4 works perfectly.

 

[Gman450]

^ That was a real late update. Looks like it was a background app.

 

[PCgamer81]

Welcome to the party.

I am afraid such is the case with just about everyone. This fact is far more evident seeing as how it is a good game that people want to play but can't.

I have an i5 2500k clocked at 4.50GHz currently with 16GB of DDR3 and dual 6970s in CrossfireX @ 930/1440, and when I try maxing it out my frame rate crumbles. It doesn't actually do too much better when I drop the settings.

I am afraid GTA IV is a lost cause on PC. But...

There is one little fix that does seem to help. Override every single graphics option (such as AA, AF, and Tessellation) in your Nvidia control panel and turn them off completely. Then, go in game and set the resolution at 1280x720 (no higher). After that, be sure and turn all settings to medium and shadows OFF. Lastly, turn the view and detail distance down to 20 or lower, and vehicle density down to 30. What you end up with is essentially the console version, maybe a tad better. And it should run at well over 50 frames per second (almost double the console version) at these settings.

It might do wonders to overclock your CPU also. You may also try using Game Booster, seeing as how some people actually get a boost of 2 or 3 frames per second from using it.

Good luck.

 

[HEXiT]

funny thing about this game it ran at 50+ fps on my old 6000x2 88gt setup at modest settings 12/10 rez yet i see machines with much more grunt but not as well balanced getting 20-30... yeah the game is poorly optimized but you also have to take into acount your build. if its gpu heavy this game will show it in a big way... if its cpu heavy you will get lower fps but it will play silky smooth...
it you can disable 3 of the cores on the 6100 and run it as a fast tri core. if its anything like the phenom 2 it will likely make the game run smoother...
after all it was designed to run on a tri core ibm that xbox use.

 

[PCgamer81]

funny thing about this game it ran at 50+ fps on my old 6000x2 88gt setup at modest settings 12/10 rez yet i see machines with much more grunt but not as well balanced getting 20-30... yeah the game is poorly optimized but you also have to take into acount your build. if its gpu heavy this game will show it in a big way... if its cpu heavy you will get lower fps but it will play silky smooth...
it you can disable 3 of the cores on the 6100 and run it as a fast tri core. if its anything like the phenom 2 it will likely make the game run smoother...
after all it was designed to run on a tri core ibm that xbox use.

Excellent points as always from you.

It does seem that rigs that are not so much powerful as they are balanced do well and are overall more stable, not just with GTA IV but in general.

 

[Veepz]

Can anyone help please.... I have quite a decent pc but I'm pretty sure my pc isn't the probably cause if I try on low settings I still have this problem.... When I play gta 4 it seems fine until I get up to high speeds in a car.... or sometimes certain places.... as well I play gta 4 with an ENB but when I uninstalled it I still got this problem.... If anyone has any idea of whats wrong and could help.. would be very appreciated.. thanks

 

[AMAL KJ]

Downgrade your GTA 4 VERSION to 1.0.4.0(if it is 1.0.0.0 or 1.0.7.00)
Open run.Type msconfig and press ENTER.Go to services tab and uncheck ' windows event log ' & 'WINDOWS EVENT MANAGER'.

 

[Liverpool Forward]

Its the cpu that matters..if its multithreading you would have no problem..modern games require multi-thread cpu instead of cores rather..

 

[Liverpool Forward]

Also thats the reason why intel>amd..

 

[Lihtsalt Viljar]

Google Chrome gets crazy sometimes with gta 4 and takes all the RAM memory installed on my computer. Open Windows Task Manager while the game is running search processes. End all chrome.exe *32 processes. And the game runs fine.