Should I overclock for playing GTA IV?

[Pipps]

I have started playing GTA IV for the first time and I am totally addicted!

I have just built my new PC, and I would like to get the most out of it. Though I understand that the issue of GTA IV and PC system performance is a tricky one.

My main question is - would I derive any noticeable benefits by overclocking my hardware?

I have the following hardware:

Asus P5Q-E motherboard
Intel Dual Core E5300 2.6Ghz (benchmark)
Radeon HD 4830 Sapphire Graphics Card
RAM 4GB DDR2 667

The GA IV auto-configure settings for my hardware determines that, whilst running all components as standard without any overclocking, my system can run the following graphics settings:

Resolution - 1440 x 900 (85Hz)
Aspect Ratio - Auto
Texture Quality - Medium
Reflection Resolution - High
Water Quality - Very High
Texture Quality - High
Shadow Quality - High
Texture Filter Quality - High
View Distance - 24
Detail Density - 36
Vehicle Density - 24
Shadow Density - 2

My ancillary questions are:

What would be the best possible graphics settings and the highest possible requisite overclock that I would realistically be able to achieve with my hardware?

Would I possibly be able to run the game with full graphical detail? Or is that out of my grasp, even with an ambitious overclock?

Thank you for your time. I look forward to any thoughts or comments.

Edit: Linkies inserted!

 

[Shou Miko]

you could try it should give some fps but GTAIV is a memory lover it loves much memory at the gfx even my 512mb GDDR3 8800GT can't get all to max 'cause it's only got 512mb >_>

 

[Wile E]

Yeah, OCing won't let you max GTAIV. To even think about getting close to maxing it, you need at least a 1GB video card.

What overclocking will help you with, is smoothing out your current settings, making it a bit nicer to play.

 

[ASRockIQ]

my 4850 will do the trick teehee ^^

 

[JrRacinFan]

GTA IV is a little bit CPU bound, so yes overclocking the cpu would help. Could try bumping it up to 266fsb for 3450mhz and keep your ram locked to 800mhz.

 

[Naelex]

With my new system i was able to max everything apart from 'view distance' i believe it was..which i couldn't even put half way as it required more than 1gb memory o.0

Although the game still played and looked flawless, except for bug on the final mission meaning i couldn't complete it :<

 

[Pipps]

I have now achieved successful overclocks for both my Intel CPU and my AMD GPU.

I have overclocked my Intel E5300 using 1.325MHz volts and 12.5 x 266 multipliers. It is now running at 3.457GHz.

I have used this guide to re-flash the bios of the AMD HD 4830 GPU in order to increase its multiple clock-speeds from 500MHz to 700Mhz each.

However, despite all of this, I still found that GTA IV would still not allow me to switch 'texture quality' from medium to high. This, the bain of so many GTA IV PC users.

That is, of course, until I began using the 'commandline' switches.

I currently use only the following:

-fullscreen
–novblank
-norestrictions
-nomemrestrict

And now, after clicking 'autoconfigure' in the GTA IV graphics options menu, I am presented with the software's revised recommendation, and I can now run GTA IV smoothly using the following graphics settings:

Texture Quality - High
Reflection Resolution - High
Water Quality - Very High
Shadow Quality - High
Texture Filter Quality - Very High

View Distance 26
Detail Distance - 51
Vehicle Density - 31
Shadow Density - 5

Resource Usage - 810 / 484 MB

Even in a Star Junction multi-car, on-fire, police-chase, pile-up - there is no lag, or slow-down, or visible frame-skipping whatsoever!

I don't know how this works, but it does!

 

[RadeonX2]

you can't max out GTA IV if your videocards mem is less than 1GB. I have tried the commandline hack to to be able to set the graphics to high or very high but thats with my 9600GT 512MB all I get is missing textures. Also I have noticed the FPS are more higher when setting to high/very high with my 9600GT just suck tho all I get is missing textures

 

[Naelex]

Resource Usage - 810 / 484 MB

Couldn't that damage your card? hence the red warning text it gives you when you pass the limit

 

[RadeonX2]

no it wouldn't damage the card you'll just get missing textures for exceeding the limit. It might heat up the cards memory more as it is using all its available memory.

 

[EnglishLion]

Overclocking can only help really, assuming you don't go mad. GTA4 loves extra CPU/Mem resource including video memory. You can't add memory by overclocking but you can give it more CPU oomph!

I assume the 1440x900 is the monitor max?

Not sure about a final mission bug though Naelex? I've completed it, I thought there was a bug and lots of online forums etc suggested there was but I found a bit of perseverance was enough in the end (trying to avoid spoiling for others!)

 

[Mussels]

just make sure the OC is stable (linpack + furmark), or its worthless.

a crashing PC is useless to anyone, moreso when gaming in a game like GTA IV where losing an hours work can change how the game plays out.

 

[Silverel]

IMO, you should overclock for the sake of overclocking. Excel runs so much better with a nice 800mhz boost.

 

[Naelex]

Not sure about a final mission bug though Naelex? I've completed it, I thought there was a bug and lots of online forums etc suggested there was but I found a bit of perseverance was enough in the end (trying to avoid spoiling for others!)

The mission is called Out of Commission, near the end where you jump off the x on a x and grab onto the x, it says 'Tap space repeatedly to climb up', but it doesn't work no matter how fast i spam the space bar, tried it loads of times and also tried remapping the space bar to another key to no avail. Alot of people have the same issue even on the xbox 360 version.

Although it's still an awesome game and well worth playing.

i fail to see how this is in anyway a 'spoiler', just discussing a bug.

 

[Pipps]

I am refusing to read past the fifth word of Naelex's post located directly above.

I think it is very bad form, that he reveals spoilers in open conversation like this.

I hope he has the kindness to edit his comment.

 

[Pipps]

just make sure the OC is stable (linpack + furmark), or its worthless. ...

A very good point.

And yes, I could have overclocked the CPU wayyyy past 3.6GHz. Many people are running 4.0 and even 4.3, on an E5300.

But after much research, I became aware that 3.6GHz is the safest possible 24/7 clock for this CPU.

And from my initial tests with GTA IV - it does the job handsomely.

 

[Pipps]

IMO, you should overclock for the sake of overclocking. Excel runs so much better with a nice 800mhz boost.

Agreed!

I suppose there are really two types of overclock. A safe and tested 24/7 overclock. That is a no-brainer.

And then there is the suicide-run overclock!

 

[Mussels]

Agreed!

I suppose there are really two types of overclock. A safe and tested 24/7 overclock. That is a no-brainer.

And then there is the suicide-run overclock!

Two kinds only.
Stable, and "you arent done yet"

thanks to linpack i learned the difference - my PC was stable (4 hours in OCCT's old test) and ran 3dmark06 looping fine. but it'd randomly crash every now and then, even when in 2D testing.

Linpack set my system afire so it crashed damn fast and led me to the fact my ram was in a dead spot and overheating. Since i got that fixed, i havent had a single app or game crash - period. dead stable, no hiccups, no lag (cept for forgetting to defrag for 3 months) nada. pure problem free bliss.

 

[Pipps]

Overclocking can only help really, assuming you don't go mad. GTA4 loves extra CPU/Mem resource including video memory. You can't add memory by overclocking but you can give it more CPU oomph!

I assume the 1440x900 is the monitor max?

Not sure about a final mission bug though Naelex? I've completed it, I thought there was a bug and lots of online forums etc suggested there was but I found a bit of perseverance was enough in the end (trying to avoid spoiling for others!)

Hi EnglishLion!

Thanks for your input! Yes, the output of my monitor is 1440x900 at 85Hz. I spent ages trying a 100Hz mod, but it wouldn't work on this particular panel. It's a Samsung SM923NW.

Thank you for so kindly being discrete about the plot of GTA IV in the final stages of the game. You consideration is very much appreciated!

Though if you have any thoughts on how I might be able to overclock my humble 4GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, then I would be very grateful to hear it. Is there any way to speed-up the RAM's operation, or to even force GTA IV within XP SP3 to use the full 4GB in order to assist the HD 4830 graphics card?

 

[Mussels]

you cant use more ram to assist video card power in XP. its automated in vista and windows 7, but doesnt seem to help performance as far as i can tell (i beleive its a DX10 feature, and GTA IV is DX9)

 

[Pipps]

...and GTA IV is DX9)

Noooo!!!!

PS: Thank you for the most useful info!

 

[EnglishLion]

Hi EnglishLion!

Thanks for your input! Yes, the output of my monitor is 1440x900 at 85Hz. I spent ages trying a 100Hz mod, but it wouldn't work on this particular panel. It's a Samsung SM923NW.

Thank you for so kindly being discrete about the plot of GTA IV in the final stages of the game. You consideration is very much appreciated!

Though if you have any thoughts on how I might be able to overclock my humble 4GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, then I would be very grateful to hear it. Is there any way to speed-up the RAM's operation, or to even force GTA IV within XP SP3 to use the full 4GB in order to assist the HD 4830 graphics card?

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately 32bit XP is 4gb total memory address no matter whay you try to do. It's such a low level limit that short of rewritting the OS (ie installing 64bit version) there is no way around it.

If you had gone for a graphics card with more RAM then you'd loose the use of even more of the 4gb system ram that you have. Just think of the lack of system ram on a 32bit system with dual graphics cards each with 1gb onboard - down to 2gb without allowing for the extra bits and pieces like L2 cache etc...

Naelex: (Still no spoilers I hope) - As for the supposed bug in GTA4, I thought the same. Just try harder and you do really have to try very hard, I was suprised how hard. What makes people think it's a bug is that there is no indication that you're doing it right (no progress indication), in the end I used a pair of keyboards and two hands