Windows GTA V for PC

[valdikor]

I've already played through the story on my PS4, but I'm really interested in buying it, especially for the upcomming mods (real car mods...). 🙂

How will it run on my iMac do you think? It's a maxed out RiMac.

I also have a maxed out RiMac and as I wrote in a post above, it runs great. All details pretty much on maximum and in 1440p it runs very smoothly. I guess, though didn't really test it, that if you turn a few of the settings down or lower the resolution to 1080p, you may easily hit 60 FPS. But I prefer splendor above absolute smoothness.

 

[Sinx2oic]

No problem, questions are good. That's what the forums are for 😉

I have a Mac Pro with D700s. I did not try GTA 5 but I thought about commenting anyway since I'm using Omega drivers that mentioned here. As for the drivers, I did see a small difference in FPS (not big) on a pretty heavy game, dragon age:inquisition. That was with Xfire off (as I did have issues with it and the particular game using any drivers - apple's and omega. In the game's forums people using Xfire in PCs complain anyway about it as well for this game). Using a single card, I did see a small but noticeable improvement and this was with the very first release of Omega, so I assume it will get even better.

Since I use Windows only for gaming, I think Omega drivers will be much better since they will get updated way more often than the ones provided by apple, so more and more games will work under Xfire (e.g. having updated profiles).

So far, with Xfire enabled, using Omega drivers, I've been able to run the following games:

- World of Warcraft
- Diablo 3
- Dark Souls II (frames were topped to 60fps with and without Xfire anyway, so it didn't really matter, but it worked)
- Elite: Dangerous
- Elder Scrolls Online
- Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
- Ryse: Son of Rome

Now, this last one was interesting since that's a pretty demanding title and there was a big difference in performance using Xfire, literally doubling the FPS.

Mind that even if your drivers have no Xfire profile for a specific game, you can check the option to use Xfire anyway. Plenty of times, it is working.

Thanks dude, last night I turned crossfire off, with the last drivers before omega think they are 14.11. I can confirm that GTA 5 plays really well on a single D700, I've got everything maxed (2560x1440) apart from MSSA and shadow reflection. The game seems very well optimised! and lots of fun.
It would be amazing if crossfire worked as it runs so well with one card, two would be amazing.

I think in the future if AMD or apple don't get there ***** together I will try the workaround for the omega drivers. But for now Im happy f🙂

 

[jamesjingyi]

Has anyone got a MacBook Pro 13 they could test their copy on? I really like the game but I don't think I will be able to run it till I get my next PC. I don't mind like 30fps but anything lower will be a struggle and am worried about the lack of discrete graphics in my model.

 

[mmorath09]

I bought the game and my copy has now been preloaded from Steam. Can't wait to actually play the game on Tuesday.
I'm using Boot Camp on my Retina iMac (with upgraded CPU and GPU). It's a very potent gaming machine. Very expensive compared to a comparable gaming PC, but then again I didn't buy it for games or Boot Camp, that's just a very awesome bonus.

vladobizik - what is your performance like? Currently on an iMac Retina with maxed CPU and GPU and 3TB Fusion. Wondering if the Fusion drive is bottlenecking performance? Can you run this game via external SSD?

I've had the game in 4K with settings maxed out - it can run it but FPS are like mid 17's. Scaled some things back and dropped the res to 1920x1080 and have average of 30's FPS now. Suggestions to reach the optimal point would be greatly appreciated!! Also unsure which DirectX to use as I have seen some issues with the Crossfire...dunno if that is what's in these machines. (New iMac user here with slight unfamiliarity of bootcamp) 🙂

Thanks!

 

[valdikor]

vladobizik - what is your performance like? Currently on an iMac Retina with maxed CPU and GPU and 3TB Fusion. Wondering if the Fusion drive is bottlenecking performance? Can you run this game via external SSD?

I've had the game in 4K with settings maxed out - it can run it but FPS are like mid 17's. Scaled some things back and dropped the res to 1920x1080 and have average of 30's FPS now. Suggestions to reach the optimal point would be greatly appreciated!! Also unsure which DirectX to use as I have seen some issues with the Crossfire...dunno if that is what's in these machines. (New iMac user here with slight unfamiliarity of bootcamp) 🙂

Thanks!

I am not as savvy nor have I experimented enough as to be able to answer all your questions, but anyway, I have the same computer as you have: RiMac, i7, R9 M295X, 3 TB Fusion Drive. The drive performance doesn't make it slow by any means, the initial load time if on the longer side, but it's fine otherwise.
Also, I don't think that CrossFire applies to iMacs. It's a technology for dual GPUs, i.e. Mac Pros. The Retina iMac only has a single GPU.
I use the latest Boot Camp drivers from AMD (14.301). The latest generic ones optimized for GTA V have been reported to work with a workaround, but I had nothing but problems and BSODs with them. Be careful.
I run the game at almost full details and it runs great.
I'm attaching a video where you can see all my graphics settings as well as a bit of what the gameplay looks like. Please note that I shot the video during light rainfall in-game, which is when the game performs the worst! There are other times, especially at night, when the game performs buttery smooth.
If you scale down at least some of the settings, you can easily get 60 FPS out of it. It's just that I'm not too much sensitive to lower framerates and prefer high details. It's a matter of personal preference. This is the video I took for you:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ongvm35ec5xs0gv/video 16-04-15 16 17 04.mov?dl=1

 

[WilliamG]

I am not as savvy nor have I experimented enough as to be able to answer all your questions, but anyway, I have the same computer as you have: RiMac, i7, R9 M295X, 3 TB Fusion Drive. The drive performance doesn't make it slow by any means, the initial load time if on the longer side, but it's fine otherwise.
Also, I don't think that CrossFire applies to iMacs. It's a technology for dual GPUs, i.e. Mac Pros. The Retina iMac only has a single GPU.
I use the latest Boot Camp drivers from AMD (14.301). The latest generic ones optimized for GTA V have been reported to work with a workaround, but I had nothing but problems and BSODs with them. Be careful.
I run the game at almost full details and it runs great.
I'm attaching a video where you can see all my graphics settings as well as a bit of what the gameplay looks like. Please note that I shot the video during light rainfall in-game, which is when the game performs the worst! There are other times, especially at night, when the game performs buttery smooth.
If you scale down at least some of the settings, you can easily get 60 FPS out of it. It's just that I'm not too much sensitive to lower framerates and prefer high details. It's a matter of personal preference. This is the video I took for you:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ongvm35ec5xs0gv/video 16-04-15 16 17 04.mov?dl=1

No offense to you, but that looks like it's running at around 20fps. At that point I'd rather just play it on my PS4 at 1080p/30fps (99% solid).

It's amazing how people's tolerances can vary so much - but that would NOT be acceptable to me. 😱

 

[valdikor]

No offense to you, but that looks like it's running at around 20fps. At that point I'd rather just play it on my PS4 at 1080p/30fps (99% solid).

It's amazing how people's tolerances can vary so much - but that would NOT be acceptable to me. 😱

None taken. 😉 As I said, my tolerance for low FPS is pretty high and rainy sequences don't do justice to the overall performance, it's often around 30 FPS or even more, but it's not consistent. It would surely be much smoother at 1080p.
Of course a console is always better for consistent and effortless performance but that's not the point now.

 

[Sinx2oic]

By the way this is the driver I,m using in windows.
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMDCatalyst14-11-2-BetaWINReleaseNotes.aspx

🙂

 

[bbkr]

So I built a PC in a Bitfenix Prodigy case so it looks a bit like a MacPro.. (which I totally have not hackintoshed at all!) 😉

Not hackintoshed? Shame on you! 🙂

I've build gaming rig in the same case last year: i7 4770K, 16GB RAM, GeForce EVGA 770 GTX 2GB, 1TB fusion drive (256MB SSD + 1TB HDD), full watercooling (RAM, CPU+VRM, GPU+RAM+VRM).
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 that works perfectly, including 1Gbit ethernet, 5.1 sound, Bluetooth 4.0, headphone amplifier, dynamic CPU/GPU clock, fan/pumps control, USB 3.0 and all the Apple services.

 

[Buddygor]

I preordered it an hour before release to get the bonus cash, and I love it so far. Great port, well-optimized, and Online is a ton of fun. Plus, the servers actually work! 😀

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Not hackintoshed? Shame on you! 🙂

I've build gaming rig in the same case last year: i7 4770K, 16GB RAM, GeForce EVGA 770 GTX 2GB, 1TB fusion drive (256MB SSD + 1TB HDD), full watercooling (RAM, CPU+VRM, GPU+RAM+VRM).
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 that works perfectly, including 1Gbit ethernet, 5.1 sound, Bluetooth 4.0, headphone amplifier, dynamic CPU/GPU clock, fan/pumps control, USB 3.0 and all the Apple services.

Image

The Prodigy is such an incredible case... I really need to move my build into one...

 

[valdikor]

No offense to you, but that looks like it's running at around 20fps. At that point I'd rather just play it on my PS4 at 1080p/30fps (99% solid).

It's amazing how people's tolerances can vary so much - but that would NOT be acceptable to me. 😱

OK, I have now lowered the resolution to 1920 by 1080, leaving everything else intact and the framerate is now in the mid-30s or higher, never dropping under 30 (as per the Steam integrated FPS counter). This seems like the sweet spot for me.

 

[bbkr]

The Prodigy is such an incredible case... I really need to move my build into one...

Love it! Just watch out for two things:

1. Power supply space is limited. Most high power modular PSUs won't fit. Get half-modular one.

2. Air-cooling is tricky. In typical case where mainboard is placed vertically it does not matter if you push warm air through back or top - air flows through motherboard elements anyway.
Here mainboard is placed horizontally so you will need good 140mm fan on the back to force air flow over mainboard or VRM will overheat easily. Don't use too strong fans on top also - main flow should be front-to-back.

 

[northernmunky]

Not hackintoshed? Shame on you! 🙂

I've build gaming rig in the same case last year: i7 4770K, 16GB RAM, GeForce EVGA 770 GTX 2GB, 1TB fusion drive (256MB SSD + 1TB HDD), full watercooling (RAM, CPU+VRM, GPU+RAM+VRM).
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 that works perfectly, including 1Gbit ethernet, 5.1 sound, Bluetooth 4.0, headphone amplifier, dynamic CPU/GPU clock, fan/pumps control, USB 3.0 and all the Apple services.

Image

Nice rig!
Yeah, I chose to just get a cheap base i5 4460 and spend the rest of my money on a powerful GPU with 4Gb RAM. Turns out GTAV will use all of it easily!

Whats your mobo? I chose the ASUS Z97I-PLUS. Still in the middle of hackintoshing, haven't actually managed to get into the boot screen via UniBeast yet but been too busy playing GTAV to give it much troubleshooting attention!

 

[WilliamG]

OK, I have now lowered the resolution to 1920 by 1080, leaving everything else intact and the framerate is now in the mid-30s or higher, never dropping under 30 (as per the Steam integrated FPS counter). This seems like the sweet spot for me.

That's just disappointing, to be honest. Guess I'll stick with the PS4. Sure it may not have quite as many bells and whistles, but it's an effortless 1080p 30fps (99.9%) at all times. Just reminds me what a freaking disappointment the GPU is in the RiMac. 🙁

 

[schwadorf]

OK, I have now lowered the resolution to 1920 by 1080, leaving everything else intact and the framerate is now in the mid-30s or higher, never dropping under 30 (as per the Steam integrated FPS counter). This seems like the sweet spot for me.

You should be able to get 60+ FPS if you turn off/down everything in the Advanced Graphics menu. Even the best desktop grade video cards are having troubles when those settings are on.

 

[valdikor]

That's just disappointing, to be honest. Guess I'll stick with the PS4. Sure it may not have quite as many bells and whistles, but it's an effortless 1080p 30fps (99.9%) at all times. Just reminds me what a freaking disappointment the GPU is in the RiMac. 🙁

Yeah. It's not exactly a disappointment to me - it handles everything beautifully OS X-side. It's just not a good gaming computer. It's a computer that runs games passably well.
I'm also going to buy a PS4 sometime down the line. For years I used to game on a PS3 I still own but now mostly just use for movies. Maybe one day soon I will switch back to console gaming. I know I'm a console guy at heart.

 

[valdikor]

You should be able to get 60+ FPS if you turn off/down everything in the Advanced Graphics menu. Even the best desktop grade video cards are having troubles when those settings are on.

Thanks for the tip! I tried turning off all the advanced effects and strangely enough, it gets nowhere near 60 FPS. Actually, it stays at around 30 all the time. With the advanced settings turned on, the framerate was all over the place, from below 20 all the way to the 50s. Now it stays consistently at 30 or so. Very strange, who knows what's the science behind it. I will keep the settings as you suggested, though. Seems like the best experience to me so far.

 

[schwadorf]

Thanks for the tip! I tried turning off all the advanced effects and strangely enough, it gets nowhere near 60 FPS. Actually, it stays at around 30 all the time. With the advanced settings turned on, the framerate was all over the place, from below 20 all the way to the 50s. Now it stays consistently at 30 or so. Very strange, who knows what's the science behind it. I will keep the settings as you suggested, though. Seems like the best experience to me so far.

Just watched your video and checked your settings. Firstly, you have Vsync on which is why your FPS is limited to 30. If you're playing on a 60Hz monitor and have Vsync on, your FPS will be locked to 30 if your graphics card can't generate 60 FPS, ie you could be getting 55 FPS and get limited by Vsync to 30. Here is a good read on understanding how it works;

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1544hx/explaining_vsync_and_other_things

Secondly, you have set almost every setting to the maximum which is too much for mobile GPUs. I've been checking Steam discussions, Rockstar forums, Reddit posts for the past couple of days and I can safely say that you can turn down most of those settings without any visible quality loss.

Shadow Quality > High (FPS killer)
Reflection Quality > Very High
Grass Quality > High (FPS killer)
Post FX > Very High
Soft Shadows > Softer / Softest

TL;DR

Quick tips for getting high frame rates in GTA V:

1- Turn off VSync.
2- Turn off everything in the Advanced Graphics menu.
3- Set Shadow Quality and Grass Quality to High.
4- Don't select Nvidia PCSS / AMD CHS for Soft Shadows setting unless you have a GTX 980 or equivalent GPU.

 

[Fried Potato]

Thanks for the tip! I tried turning off all the advanced effects and strangely enough, it gets nowhere near 60 FPS. Actually, it stays at around 30 all the time. With the advanced settings turned on, the framerate was all over the place, from below 20 all the way to the 50s. Now it stays consistently at 30 or so. Very strange, who knows what's the science behind it. I will keep the settings as you suggested, though. Seems like the best experience to me so far.

Do you have v-sync enabled? That might be the problem.

Unfortunately for me, I can't stand how the game looks below 4k resolution. Playing in 4k on the other hand, gives me too low FPS, so this isn't really going anywhere for my part. Just thinking about buying a normal 1080p screen to use for gaming, but then my desk is too small for both the iMac and an extra screen. Problems, problems, aaaah...

 

[Dirtyharry50]

Not hackintoshed? Shame on you! 🙂

I've build gaming rig in the same case last year: i7 4770K, 16GB RAM, GeForce EVGA 770 GTX 2GB, 1TB fusion drive (256MB SSD + 1TB HDD), full watercooling (RAM, CPU+VRM, GPU+RAM+VRM).
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 that works perfectly, including 1Gbit ethernet, 5.1 sound, Bluetooth 4.0, headphone amplifier, dynamic CPU/GPU clock, fan/pumps control, USB 3.0 and all the Apple services.

Image

Nice, but does it serve you morning coffee? 😉

 

[antonis]

Not hackintoshed? Shame on you! 🙂

I've build gaming rig in the same case last year: i7 4770K, 16GB RAM, GeForce EVGA 770 GTX 2GB, 1TB fusion drive (256MB SSD + 1TB HDD), full watercooling (RAM, CPU+VRM, GPU+RAM+VRM).
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 that works perfectly, including 1Gbit ethernet, 5.1 sound, Bluetooth 4.0, headphone amplifier, dynamic CPU/GPU clock, fan/pumps control, USB 3.0 and all the Apple services.

Image

I assume this case accepts only micro/mini ATX motherboard but you can use full GPU size cards in it ?

 

[bbkr]

Whats your mobo? I chose the ASUS Z97I-PLUS. Still in the middle of hackintoshing, haven't actually managed to get into the boot screen via UniBeast yet but been too busy playing GTAV to give it much troubleshooting attention!

Don't use UniBeast on EFI capable board, use Clover.

UniBeast is solution for old BIOS machines. It installs in MBR and you have to modify a lot of system files to get everything working. So every update will ruin your hackintosh by overwriting changes.

While Clover does its magic in EFI layer. It can apply SMBIOS identification, patch binary kexts, initialise XMP profiles on memory, inject firmwares, modify DSDT, generate C and P states profiles and many more without touching system files itself.
And because of that you can experiment without breaking your system. You can just install another Clover on pendrive and if you break something you just boot from your stable EFI partition. While in UniBeast when you break for example binary patching of crucial kext you are really in trouble.

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I assume this case accepts only micro/mini ATX motherboard but you can use full GPU size cards in it ?

This one is only for mini ATX. But they have BitFenix Prodigy M model for micro ATX vertical mount.

I have full size GPU card. Case is even capable of using graphics card with 2-slots height.

 

[valdikor]

Just watched your video and checked your settings. Firstly, you have Vsync on which is why your FPS is limited to 30. If you're playing on a 60Hz monitor and have Vsync on, your FPS will be locked to 30 if your graphics card can't generate 60 FPS, ie you could be getting 55 FPS and get limited by Vsync to 30. Here is a good read on understanding how it works;

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1544hx/explaining_vsync_and_other_things

Secondly, you have set almost every setting to the maximum which is too much for mobile GPUs. I've been checking Steam discussions, Rockstar forums, Reddit posts for the past couple of days and I can safely say that you can turn down most of those settings without any visible quality loss.

Shadow Quality > High (FPS killer)
Reflection Quality > Very High
Grass Quality > High (FPS killer)
Post FX > Very High
Soft Shadows > Softer / Softest

TL;DR

Quick tips for getting high frame rates in GTA V:

1- Turn off VSync.
2- Turn off everything in the Advanced Graphics menu.
3- Set Shadow Quality and Grass Quality to High.
4- Don't select Nvidia PCSS / AMD CHS for Soft Shadows setting unless you have a GTX 980 or equivalent GPU.

Do you have v-sync enabled? That might be the problem.

Unfortunately for me, I can't stand how the game looks below 4k resolution. Playing in 4k on the other hand, gives me too low FPS, so this isn't really going anywhere for my part. Just thinking about buying a normal 1080p screen to use for gaming, but then my desk is too small for both the iMac and an extra screen. Problems, problems, aaaah...

Thanks for the tips guys. I may tinker with the settings some more over time. Turning off VSync did the trick, the framerate did not go up that much, but it did pick up.

 

[northernmunky]

Don't use UniBeast on EFI capable board, use Clover.

UniBeast is solution for old BIOS machines. It installs in MBR and you have to modify a lot of system files to get everything working. So every update will ruin your hackintosh by overwriting changes.

While Clover does its magic in EFI layer. It can apply SMBIOS identification, patch binary kexts, initialise XMP profiles on memory, inject firmwares, modify DSDT, generate C and P states profiles and many more without touching system files itself.
And because of that you can experiment without breaking your system. You can just install another Clover on pendrive and if you break something you just boot from your stable EFI partition. While in UniBeast when you break for example binary patching of crucial kext you are really in trouble.

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Nice one! Cheers! I'll give that a shot.

 

[antonis]

This one is only for mini ATX. But they have BitFenix Prodigy M model for micro ATX vertical mount.

I have full size GPU card. Case is even capable of using graphics card with 2-slots height.

Ah I see. Cheers for the clarifications. It's a nice case.