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Rockstar talks GTA V PC optimization

Grand Theft Auto V for the PC is almost upon us but one question still remains unanswered: Will the game run well on a wide range of hardware? We already know what the minimum and recommended specifications are but now Rockstar has got a bit more specific.

Kevin Hoare, President of Rockstar Toronto said to PC Gamer: “One of the lessons we have learned over the years through Grand Theft Auto IV and Max Payne 3 on PC was that people want the freedom to configure their system to suit their preferences”.

GTA-V-600x3001

“Our focus for Grand Theft Auto V was to ensure most people could run the game comfortably, and provide a wide range of options to tailor your experience to your system.”

According to the developer, if you are looking to run the game at 1080p, 60 frames per second, then you will want an Nvidia GTX 660 or an AMD HD 7870 graphics card, although this will likely be running one of the lower graphical presets.

What is more exciting though is that Rockstar spent a lot of time optimizing the game for 4K gaming. According to Hoare, to run the game at 4K 30 frames per second, you will want a GTX 760 at minimum, while for 4K at 60 frames per second you will need a “high-end SLI or Crossfire setup”, Rockstar didn’t name drop any specific GPUs though.

Grand Theft Auto V will come with a host of adjustable graphics settings so whatever resolution you are aiming for, you will be able to adjust things accordingly to get the perfect balance between performance and fidelity.

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KitGuru Says: We won’t have access to the game until next Tuesday but from the sounds of it, Rockstar might have a decent port on its hands. I will be testing out the game in 4K the first chance I get. Have any of you guys pre-loaded GTA V yet? Are you waiting to see how it performs?

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78 comments

  1. got it pre-loaded. was fun watching all the people on steam community flaming left right and center about pre-load times and so on. but yea looking forward to this. hoping for some decent quality to fps with my i5 3570k and gtx 960.

  2. Louie Andrew Capulso

    Preloading… via Torrent.. huehue.

  3. well ill be playing on really low settings with a GTX 650 Ti lol

  4. Dale Peter Golder

    1920×1080 – Medium/High with low shadow and some settings set to custom, but other than that you should have quite a smooth game play style.

    It doesn’t look like the game is really all that heavy in terms of hardware useage but we’ll see 🙂

    I’m hoping my 2560×1440 monitor with 2700k @ 4.7ghz, R9 290 (not overclocking till the game really needs it), 16GB of ddr3 2400, and a nice SSD to make load times shorter lol, fingers crossed 🙂

  5. Gary 'Gazza' Keen

    Cannot wait. I’m gonna have to as i dont hav access to my pc until the 18th… but I have a shitty old laptop that can only just run warframe so i guess this is the perfect time to test just how good gta v’s renowned pc port really is 😛

  6. What I don’t get is why they spend so much time and effort in 4K, when less than 1% will game on that… I think they are just trying to hide that fact that about 80% won’t be able to play it as smoothly as they advertised…

  7. I got GTX 650 2GB OC, just pray that it will run good on 720p at Minimum 30 FPS

  8. Cannae wait! My 4670K OC’d to 4.5GHz and My Near enough 1.4GHz MSI Lightning GTX 770 4GB is ready for High Fidelity gaming. It may be old, but it can pack a punch at 4K.

  9. 4k30p with gtx760 looks interesting especially since i have hd 7950 sli

  10. Gary 'Gazza' Keen

    4K is at an estimated 20% market share later in 2015, It’s just about popular enough to start considering, especially for future proofing

  11. Dale Peter Golder

    You’ll be sitting somewhere with medium at 4k with a gtx 770.

  12. Well I had a 650 Ti before i upgraded to an r9 290. Out of curiosity i check my old specs with the 650 TI and according to the recommended specs it will be able to run it on high. So giving you have a decent enough processor (I only have an intel i3) you should be fine! They system specs are really quite low to be honest i was expecting it to be a lot higher 🙂

  13. Dale Peter Golder

    Crossfire you mean.

  14. Maybe, nobody will know for sure, with my SLi setup, I’ll be hopeful. I can hope for some decent results 😛

  15. Dale Peter Golder

    Yeah each system is different so it’s just a waiting game from here on our :/

  16. great thing is GTA V is overloading on the amount of options you can tweak for graphical optimization. i won’t be looking to get solid 60fps. for me graphical quality can be prioritised to as little as 25fps. 25fps being the tipping point for what is considered “smooth” by most. so high settings would be perfectly doable i think. we’ll see though

  17. GTX 650 non ti should it run gta v ?

  18. considering steam hardware survey suggested just 34% are at 1080p and less than 10% are at any res over 1080p I find those predictions a bit wild. Whilst steam survey doesn’t survey every computer it still takes an acceptable sample size. 25% of steam users are on 15″ laptops for example.

    In the UK I imagine 4k will have a bigger presence than in mainland Europe for example I think the UK market drives demand for Extreme performance hardware more than many other countries.

    All that said yes it’s almost there next gen gpu’s will be tailored to hit it too.

    Right now though 1440p seems to be the highest balance between High Res and Decent Graphics quality on upper spec GPU’s

  19. Dale Peter Golder

    25 would just be vaguely better than a movie, I wouldn’t class it as “smooth”
    Each to their own though honestly, everyone and anyone has different opinions about what they think is okay and what is not, in terms of fps and game quality. 🙂

    Fingers crossed though that you get the experience you’re hoping for Matthew 🙂

  20. yes

  21. Κωνσταντινος Κουτσε

    yea i guess at low-medium 1080p

  22. Perhaps, but also remember that technology is more capable as time goes on and specifications evolve to reflect this. Todays “low settings” are like high to ultra from 4/5 years ago. If I can play GTAV in low and it looks as good as skyrim in high, I wouldn’t complain.

    I would also say pick and choose your settings wisely. People get hyped for high and ultra settings but now they are becoming almost pointless. I play games on a 15.6″ laptop in 1080p for example, sometimes i use a 23″ monitor at 1080p, but i dont see the difference between high and ultra shadows. Sometimes ultra feels like overkill.

  23. Wish their comments were a little more detailed on which graphics settings for each resolution they spoke of. Hoping for the best for my 5GHz 8350 and Stock R9 290 on 1080P.

  24. I’m runing stock 8320 and TRI-X 290 I’m sure we’re set for 1080

  25. Yup just a few more days to know for sure.

  26. SLI… LMFAO haha

  27. Really? I can usually tell when the game is sub 30 fps, it feel much choppier and less responsive.

  28. It will probably run shit on an AMD CPU – since Intel has 75% market share for PC gaming.

  29. You fool, the 20% marketshare is for 4K TV’s – TELEVISIONS, not for gaming setups.

  30. Enjoy your lack of multiplayer.

  31. I guess you don’t know that market share and capabilties are two different things, so by this I bestow this holy knowledge upon your foolish mind, now begone.

  32. AMD CPU’s are for poor people who can’t afford an Intel. FX CPU’s are utter shit in performance compared to Intel I5 or I7, let alone the x99 extreme monster CPU’s.

  33. notice i put the word smooth in inverted commas? basically me saying 25fps is acceptable. kitguru sees 25fps as an acceptable low point in it’s benchmarking if i remember correctly. and based on pushing graphical quality up as much as possible while maintaining a at least 25fps+ seems correct no? doesn’t need to turn into a massive debate however. i, like many others, will be tweaking the settings a lot i’m sure. can’t wait til tuesday 🙂

  34. granted your right that there CPU’s aren’t great compared to intel’s but your going at this very wrong, people don’t choose AMD CPU’s for the Performance, they choose them for low budget media builds and lets not forget about brand loyalty.

    I personally hate there cpu’s and kept with intel from the 2500k to my i7 4790k but the same thing can be said for AMD GPU’s when confronting a person that prefers Nivida.

  35. They said that a 7870 (or the rebranded “270x”) will work at 1080 60fps on the low-mid settings, and I’m sure they said that 4k will run at 30 on low settings. What more do you want? I don’t see any problem why your system running at maxed out 1080.

  36. This seems to indicate that the game is as well optimized (or even better than) as Max Payne 3, so i’m assuming that 1080p 60fps would be easily achievable with FXAA on and everything turned up with the recommended specs, leaving anything beyond that to tinker with AA and other extra settings. I guess we’ll see how it fares up next week.

  37. The hate is strong and yet the facts aren’t lmao, I don’t say that intel is bad but you should do some more research on both companies if you don’t want to act like a tool.

  38. David Anthony White

    Ill be streaming from my main rig (OC 2500k @4.4 and gtx660 windforce oc edition) to the living room 46′ that I sit a fair distance from, so ill be running 720p (I struggle to tell the difference at a distance between 720 and 1080 + my htpc gets upset when I try to stream 1080 60) and cranking the settings up and hoping for 40+ I could not live without the options PC gaming grants me over consoles 🙂

  39. Gary 'Gazza' Keen

    It gives a rough idea on what the market is like for monitors though, besides there isnt really much difference between tvs and monitors anyway, whos to say a lot pof that market share still isnt gamers

  40. Federico Barlotti

    According to an article on eTeknix, full-out 4K requires 6GB of GPU VRAM. Not even a GTX 980 alone will cut it!

  41. ‘They said that a 7870 (rebranded 270/270X) will work with 1080p 60FPS on lower graphical settings’

    True that is 1 detail they said and I read that clearly.

    ‘4K will run 30FPS on low settings’

    False. They said you would need a GTX 760 minimum to run 4K at 30FPS. They did not say if it was Minimum (low) detail or Medium, or a mix. There is a huge amount of power differences between a single GTX 760 and a ‘high end sli/xfire’ which can be dual 280(x), 290(x), 780(ti), 970, 980, titan x, etc.

    I’m just looking for a little bit of cold hard facts to make a estimation.

  42. I got an 8GB 290X, But no 4K screen yet. Still I do have a 24″ 144hz asus monitor @ 1080p, Sure that will be good enough.

  43. Intel CPU’s rape AMD FX CPU’s in all games. Literally double the FPS in some games.

    AMD CPU’s are only viable if you’re piss poor and can’t afford a proper gaming PC.

  44. You’re somewhat right but your reasonings are not the correct. Looking back at some Max Payne 3 benchmarks which have been touted as a good port/optimization for PC some benchmarks show a big enough difference between Intel CPU and AMD CPU but in some there is little to no difference.

    That being said a game running shit on a particular CPU because of market share makes no sense. Plus people buying AMD CPUs because they’re poor makes no sense either. That would make you a poor person because you have a normal car instead of a Lambo or any car that is 6 digits and above. The same can be said whether you have an old LGA 1156/1366, Sandy vs Ivy, Ivy vs Haswell, or Pentium vs i3, or i3 vs locked i5, or i5 vs unlocked i5, or i5 vs locked i7, or i7 vs unlocked i7, or Quad-Core i7 vs 6-Core i7, or 6-Core i7 vs 8-Core i7, or 8-Core i7 vs Massive Multi-Core Xeon processor.

    Like Gareth said I chose AMD (again) because of brand loyalty and because this was just a budget upgrade that passed my path at $100 for the 8350 that was supposed to be temporary. Before buying the FX 8350 I was waiting for Skylake + Zen, and still am. Anyway the double FPS is completely unnecessary for me when none of my monitors refresh rates is above 60Hz. Add that my $100 8350 is now OCed to 5GHz and that a 5GHz 8-Core pretty much performs similar with Intel’s i3 and i5 (Sandy Bridge through Haswell) in most of the recent games (depends on the games on how well it competes) I would say it’s rather stupid to make these comments in public. Intel only ‘rapes’ in games that are still stuck being heavily single threaded and honestly that has already changed a quite bit and will only get better (DX12 or not)

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  46. Kyle Wheeler-Adams

    Hmm, so I have CPU: Fx 8350 4Ghz wih RAM: 16GB DDR3 1866Mhz with GPU: 2x XFX 7950 3Gb Vapor-X crossfire. So I wonder what I can play the game at. I am curious if I can max it then.

  47. Recently bought a 560Ti, don’t tend to have much cash lying around so it was a nice upgrade from my GTS 450, hoping I can run it okay.

  48. OverlyFluffyDoge

    I would think so. The 560ti isn’t that far off the 660.

  49. OverlyFluffyDoge

    5GHz? Don’t you think that is a little high for the sake of not breaking something?

  50. @andidavies:disqus There’s nothing funny 🙂 You get the idea, don’t be an asswipe.

  51. The fanboy is strong in this one.

  52. Could you show me a game benchmark where an Intel CPU magically doubles the fps?

  53. Breaking what? I’m using an (ROG) Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z, which is the best AM3+ motherboard available in my opinion (cost $100 too). I’m using an H100i in Push/Pull and it’s keeping it cool for light uses (web, productivity), gaming, benchmarks, stress testing. Plus I have a good amount of fans as intake and exhaust in my Corsair 600T case. I have additional cooling on my power delivery heatsinks (3x50mm) and another quiet fan cooling the VRM and Socket from behind the motherboard. (10 case fans total not including the VRM/Socket fans plus room for one 200mm fan).

    Anyway it’s common along AMD Vishera FX overclockers or at least the enthusiasts (not calling myself one) that as long as you can keep the CPU cool under safe temps then the CPU will last. AMDs CPUs can take a bit more rough handling IMO compared to Intel which take a bit more skill and sensitivity in OCing. On top of that AMD has an official CPU SKU that technically is 5GHz (with Turbo Boost) called the FX 9590. They’re only higher binned chips of the FX 8350 honestly. Even if I had kept the 3770K PC I built or built a Unlocked Haswell PC I would have tried for 5GHz anyway and if it was possible to run 5GHz on the Intel with safe voltages and safe temperatures I would run it for normal gaming uses.

  54. OverlyFluffyDoge

    Fair enough. I’m used to Intel so maybe that’s why the 5GHz seemed dangerously high to me due to using unsafe voltages to achieve those. Never properly overlclocked an AMD chip so, meh. Should probably give it a go next time. Maybe with the build I’m intending to do for my brothers PC, I was intending on an FX series chip, I will give OCing an AMD chip a proper looking over.

  55. Your pain and nonsense is pure pleasure to the core of my soul.

    I still love the fact though that you are still throwing some random things in like “double the FPS”, I won’t ask for proof because we all know that this proof won’t excist lol.

    Other than that cash/quality wise is AMD in the lead. Highest benchmark rates would go to intel. Best overclockable CPU would go to amd while least power consumption would go to intel.

    Facts remain facts, but I guess you will just respond with something that isn’t related to what I’ve just written above. Your responses are like measuring the distance between the moon and internet by using ebola as unit.

    Other than that, I look forward to your reply as it is oddly satisfying lol..

  56. Cool. The most recent Intel I’ve overclocked was a 3770K and I didn’t get far as it wasn’t a particularly good chip either. Stopped around 4.4GHz. After that the last intel was C2D/Q and i7 920. For Bulldozer FX chips the max voltage was 1.5 or 1.55 in my memory. AMD never announced the max for Visheras so most people just go by the Bulldozer numbers. The people who worry a lot try to stay under 1.5v, the next level under 1.55v for every day use. Then there are the enthusiasts that use more voltage but most of the time they don’t use that high of a voltage for every day but just for benchmarks, and pure OCing.

    Good thing for you is that ever since the ‘E’ chips (8320E, 8370E, 8370) came out the FX chips tend to OC better in general. Both old and new get to 5GHz but newer chips require less voltage (sometimes almost .1v less). Great for people wanting a high everyday OC, bad for people who want to use LN2 or any other insane cooling for benchmarking/high OCs. If you ever build a FX build good luck. The next PC I build (probably when the 8350 can no longer power my gaming rig decently) I’ll choose what’s best out on the market. Could be an Intel this time around and hopefully then I get a good chip for OCing.

  57. OverlyFluffyDoge

    Thank you, and good luck on your future builds!!! May your frame rates be high and your temps low.

  58. There’s no benchmark where the FX 8350 is running like “utter shit” next to an i7 3770k lol.

  59. Rowel Dacullo David

    Can i play this on my cheap system:AMD A10-5800k APU with radeon HD Graphics 3.80 ghz ram memory of 8gb?

  60. yer p;aying on a console..yer at 40fps//how the fuck you not know the diff between 1080p and 720p?

  61. if you really think. yer running 4k with a single 760…even if its a 4gb…ycant really use all 4gb…r9 290x crossfire i can run 4k but staying over 60 always…who knows. a single gpu def wont..theres a FINE DIFFERENCE FROM RUNNING IT…and RUNNING IT STAYING OVER 60.

  62. You will do just fine 1080p using high settings

  63. Overclocked Titan X with AA off. Done.

  64. So I will be able to play GTA5 with my humble GTX760 at 60fps? Wow…

  65. Thomas Romanelli

    What I want to know is, what will I need to max out the settings at just 1080p. I don’t have a 4K monitor, but I would definitely like to have all the textures and draw distance and everything looking pretty in at least 1080p at 60fps. I’m rocking a GTX 690, which is like two 680s in SLI on a single card, with an i7 4790K and 16GB RAM. I’m so anxious and excited, but afraid I won’t be able to crank up the settings and still be able to play it with buttery smooth framerates, 1080p is as high as I’ll go, but will that give me enough slack??

  66. David Anthony White

    What I want to know is, what will I need to max out the settings at just 1080p. I don’t have a 4K monitor, but I would definitely like to have all the textures and draw distance and everything looking pretty in at least 1080p at 60fps. I’m rocking a GTX 690, which is like two 680s in SLI on a single card, with an i7 4790K and 16GB RAM. I’m so anxious and excited, but afraid I won’t be able to crank up the settings and still be able to play it with buttery smooth framerates, 1080p is as high as I’ll go, but will that give me enough slack??

  67. nah because once you said 40 fps.. yer whole shit is invalid

    1- i wasnt trolling.
    2- even if i sit 30 feet away…my eyes ARE SHIt..anyone with somewhat working..nigga..my FUCKING GRANDMA just got a 720p tv.. for the first time. thsi year…i got her a 1080p..she has cataracs (spelling check) and glaucoma and she can tell the difference…maybe you need a new pair of eyes..trade in yer potato station for some new bi focals.

  68. uty . true that Patricia `s report is impossible… on wednesday I bought Saab 99 Turbo since I been making $8569 thiss month and also ten/k this past month

    . it’s actualy my favourite-work I’ve had . I began this three months/ago and pretty much straight away was earning more than $75… p/h . you could try here HERE’S MORE DETAIL

  69. Dale Peter Golder

    Go back to school fan boy -.-”

    One of the main reasons games work better on Intel based systems are due to the fact they’re still Single core orientated, some games now you won’t notice a huge difference.

    AMD cpu’s aren’t for the poor, they’re still a good line-up of cpu’s, now stop being a fan boy and cry us a river…

  70. David Anthony White

    If your profile picture is anything to go by you are a white man, so using racial epithets? troll. you seem to conflate being happy with 40+ (as in always ABOVE 40, anything less looks like a slide show, but everything above get smooth enough for me to play) with my personal subjective enjoyment being invalid, I don’t think you know what that word means mate. also the main problem wish your asinine comments is the fact you haven’t grasped the point of my OP, the options, the fact that I can have an enjoyable experience the way I enjoy it, a thing I couldn’t do with a console, apparently people doing things the way that makes them happy is a personal affront to you, grow up son be happy that you are part of a wonderfully flexible community.

  71. but everything above get smooth enough for me to play) with my personal subjective enjoyment <— at no point you could of just stopped and realize see at first..i didin't read…i kinda skimmed through…but i re read it..and i saw ye point…then i just decided to have a little 4 am fun..and FYI

    i am native american and italian but you would confuse me for a rican or some sort…i just had a gnarly flash on my webcam 😀 720p /1080p/2k/1440//4k/16k were all playing on the pc together. 😉

    all that matters.

  72. i7-4790K @4.5GHz 8GB-1600MHz GTX 970 GAMING G1

  73. Captain Nutbanger

    Will I be able to play gta v on high settings and resolution 1366×768 19″ monitor?
    My rig-
    R9 280x vapor x tri x
    Amd fx 8350
    8 gb ddr3 1866 mhz ram
    2.0 tb hdd
    Corsair vs650

  74. r46tu . true that Patricia `s report is impossible… on wednesday I bought Saab 99 Turbo since I been making $8569 thiss month and also ten/k this past month

    . it’s actualy my favourite-work I’ve had . I began this three months/ago and pretty much straight away was earning more than $75… p/h . you could try here HERE’S MORE DETAIL

  75. There are a LOT of you smeggers who bought a Saab 99 Turbo on Wednesday, despite the fact Saab no longer produce any cars… if you bought second hand you have been had mate! Also you all seem to have made $8569 ‘thiss’ month, that’s really lovely for you all and thank you for rubbing it in our faces you lowlife scum 🙂

  76. There are a LOT of you smeggers who bought a Saab 99 Turbo on Wednesday, despite the fact Saab no longer produce any cars… if you bought second hand you have been had mate! Also you all seem to have made $8569 ‘thiss’ month, that’s really lovely for you all and thank you for rubbing it in our faces you lowlife abusive scumbag 🙂

  77. There are a LOT of you smeggers who bought a Saab 99 Turbo on Wednesday, despite the fact Saab no longer produce any cars… if you bought second hand you have been had mate! Also you all seem to have made $8569 ‘thiss’ month, that’s really lovely for you all and thank you for rubbing it in our faces you lowlife scum 🙂

  78. Joel Jazzi Bodden

    i run very high settings..excluding relefection(high)shadows post fx and AO normal AA fxaa and nvidia pcss at around 40 to 59 fps with a GTX 650ti an a athlon ll x3 unlocked to x4 downsampling from 3840×1600….ull be fine