Windows 7

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Freddy

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #60 on: January 05, 2010, 06:47:16 pm »
Well I ran into my first proper problem.  GTA4 does not work properly.  I exceed the specifications and have the latest graphics driver (Sapphire HD 3850 512mb gddr3) which came out only last month.

Basically it installed okay, but when I try to drive anywhere it keeps freezing, so it's like ....dirve...freeze for 10 seconds....drive....freeze for 15 seconds....drive....freeze... an so on.  Oh what fun.  I am just glad I didn't buy this when it was full price.

Taking the graphics settings right down to low and it still freezes...

I sent them an email, maybe there is something I can do.  I haven't tried the compatibility wizard yet as I don't know what to pick for compatibility.  I guess I could try XP SP3 or Vista SP1, which are part of the specs for it.

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Carl2

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #61 on: January 08, 2010, 12:08:53 am »
Freddy,
  I just put Windows 7 into this computer a few weeks to a month ago.  I was supplied a disk by the manufacturer to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 so all of the drivers are taken care of for me.  I've always liked ATI but have been using NVIDIA video cards since ATI was bought by AMD.
  Sorry I can't offer any advice but the best of luck on the problem. 
Carl 2

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Data

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #62 on: January 08, 2010, 12:16:16 pm »
Freddy you are not alone, I got GTA4 a few days ago too, it was £9.99 @ amazon and im getting not freezing up but jerking when driving fast but for me the game is playable, in fact I have done 12% of it so far, have to say the game looks great at 1920 x 1080 fully maxed out.

Have been looking into making it run smoother and found that lots of people cant play the game on any version of windows because the game requires an extremely fast PC with lots of RAM, so ignore the minimum recommended specs for the game they are wrong, this is what you must have.

A Quad core, yes GTA 4 actually uses all 4 cores, my CPU usage hits 90% when playing and according to other forums I’ve been to a Quad @ 3 ghz is minimum. I knew I overclocked my 2.6 ghz quad to 3.2 for a reason.  :D, do a google for “GTA4 quad core” you will see what I mean.

And at least 4 gig of RAM, 2 is simply not enough and 6 or 8 is better, I have bitten the bullet and ordered another 4 gig for myself, got it for £78 @ dabs.com they were doing a special on Kingston HyperX 1066 mhz stuff. Hopefully it will arrive today, still waiting for the door bell  :P

Things you can do to help speed up the game are:

Defrag the drive that has the game on, very important for this game as it loads textures in while driving and the faster it loads them in the smoother it will play.

Set draw distance and distance quality to minimum.

DO not exceed the recommended memory usage in the game, you should see a memory usage warning at the bottom of the graphics set up page, keep it in the green.

I hope you can get the game working Freddy it’s a lot of fun with loads of things to do and see there.

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Freddy

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #63 on: January 08, 2010, 12:38:27 pm »
Great minds think alike - I got it from Amazon too.

Thanks for the advice, I will try it again with lower settings.  I am annoyed they have got the specs totally wrong though.  I still haven't had a reply from Rockstar and I sent the email on Monday...so I'm not impressed there either.

I have 2G of RAM...I'm waiting for the ones I need to come down - they're at about £80 at the moment too, but were selling for half that before Christmas so I will definitely wait.  Generally I am trying to raise some cash to upgrade parts of my PC, so this game might have to gather dust until then.

I think I will try using the compatibility wizard just to see if that makes any difference.  I had thought about putting it on my XP drive, but it needs Service Pack 3 and the last time I installed that it ruined my sound set-up - something to do with the Realtek Drivers not being right.... I could not get the sound back at all.

Have no fear, I still have my PS2 and can play GTA Vice City all I like, it's still one of my favourite games.  I wish some PC games were as reliable as they are on consoles, but I have read that even on the PS3 GTA4 freezes for some people. 

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Freddy

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #64 on: January 08, 2010, 01:17:07 pm »
Freddy,
  I just put Windows 7 into this computer a few weeks to a month ago.  I was supplied a disk by the manufacturer to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 so all of the drivers are taken care of for me.  I've always liked ATI but have been using NVIDIA video cards since ATI was bought by AMD.
  Sorry I can't offer any advice but the best of luck on the problem. 
Carl 2

I found Windows 7 worked really well out of the box - I didn't even have to install half the drivers I would normally need to.  I've used NVIDIA and ATI in the past.  I always like ATI and will probably be sticking to them - I have my eye on this :

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=0001&pid=259

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Data

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #65 on: January 08, 2010, 02:04:25 pm »
Yay, Amazon have it at a bargain price  ;)

I would be very surprised if Rockstar reply to you, Like I said before I have been looking into this and lots of people are in your boat with you and they don’t seem to reply to anyone, or if they do it will be the normal spill, “make sure you have the latest drivers”

Your graphics card should be able to play the game, see here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8QtzJc8v_M

Notice the guy playing hit something that hadn’t drawn in yet, that’s the 512mb cards, really need a 1 gig for GTA4

But your RAM and CPU are really not up to the job Freddy.

If you play it in XP you will get more RAM available to the game but it will not fully sort out your problem.

Realtek sound? Oh no don’t use Realtek onboard sound its pants and uses the CPU as part of the decoding process, I know its more money but I would get a proper sound card too, personally I use the soundblaster XFI extreme music it has full hardware playback and doesn’t use the CPU. All these little things add up to making a gaming PC.

List of bits Freddy needs to get:

Q9400 CPU
2 gig of RAM to add to the 2 gig already
Soundcard
ATI HD 4890 1 gig (would be nice)

Donations should be sent to Freddy and will be received with thanks.

Oh one last thing:

This is fun, goto your home in GTA4 and watch the TV, there are a bunch of real world comedians who have made some TV programs, they are funny.

Just noticed you posted again Freddy, may I say this:

Don’t get the HD5750 it has 128 bit memory bus, that cripples the card, for what it worth get a card that has 256 bit bus.

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Freddy

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #66 on: January 08, 2010, 04:54:34 pm »
I may ring Rockstar just to have a good moan at them  :D

Yes it seems my PC is just not good enough - that's pretty appalling behaviour by Rockstar then.  That list of my needs is good - I actually want to swap out this 2 gig of ram to faster memory, so it will be a total replacement rather than adding to it.  I am after the 1066 mhz memory too, I think this is currently 800 mhz or something like that.

I didn't know/realise that about the sound card - although I probably should have realised.  I guess I could pick up a cheap sound card, I only really need decent stereo sound so I will look into it.

CPU - yes that would be nice.

That graphics card I linked to above is a  HD 4890 based one, the specs says :

1024MB /256bit GDDR5 memory interface

So that would seem okay then.

I doubt I could even get as far as my home in GTA4, it really is that bad - it's terrible when you actually start moving about.  Utterly unplayable...

And yes - donations gratefully received  :D

And the good news today is I got a free upgrade from my ISP, now I am getting 15 Meg broadband !

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Data

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #67 on: January 08, 2010, 05:46:32 pm »
Yes ring them up and complain for everyone that can’t play the game that should be able to.

If you’re going to get a Quad then the 1066mhz RAM is the one to go for IMO.

Oh I thought you had linked to an HD5750, sorry my mistake, yes the HD4890 is a great card very happy with my one.

Always been an ATI fan boy, I love ATI tray tools, really nice little program for over and underclocking the card and the onscreen display that can be seen when playing games is very handy for keeping an eye on temps, voltages, CPU and GPU load, FPS and more.

Buy ATI and save the planet, sounds crazy but if you ignore the speeds between Nvidia and ATI cards and check out the power consumption you will see what I mean.

ATI cards take up to 100 watts less to do the same job, check this vid out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvvK9hHA9g

Congrats on the new fast BB  8)

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sammypetter

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #68 on: January 09, 2010, 10:25:20 am »
Windows 7 is best.Because it has better features then the other.And Windows 7 is a vast improvement from Vista as it takes up much less ram and has other optimizations such as fast booting times. I recommend Windows 7, and if you really don't want vista and don't want to wait for the final version of Windows 7, you can download a copy of the Release Candidate from the Microsoft website for free and use it up till June of 2010. I am working with the Release Candidate right now and so far I have absolutely no complaints, considering Im a heavy computer use with advanced software.

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Data

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #69 on: January 09, 2010, 11:52:23 am »
Windows 7 is best.Because it has better features then the other.And Windows 7 is a vast improvement from Vista as it takes up much less ram and has other optimizations such as fast booting times. I recommend Windows 7, and if you really don't want vista and don't want to wait for the final version of Windows 7, you can download a copy of the Release Candidate from the Microsoft website for free and use it up till June of 2010. I am working with the Release Candidate right now and so far I have absolutely no complaints, considering Im a heavy computer use with advanced software.

Hmm, well Windows 7 was released on the 22 October 2009.

The Release Candidate is no longer available for download from Microsoft. There is a 90-day free trial still available.

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Freddy

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #70 on: January 09, 2010, 07:57:06 pm »
Hmmm from me too - I thought the Release Candidate ran out in August...

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lrh9

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #71 on: January 09, 2010, 10:35:40 pm »
Well. I burned the copy I downloaded. I'm wondering if it would still work. (I still have my activation code.)

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mad5ci

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #72 on: January 09, 2010, 11:15:21 pm »
RC, as far as I remember, should work until something like 30th of march? Or may?

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lrh9

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #73 on: January 10, 2010, 08:35:41 am »
RC, as far as I remember, should work until something like 30th of march? Or may?

Right, but I'm in agreement with others that Microsoft has removed the Release Candidate download. If you all ready have a copy and a activation code, then you'd probably be OK, but if you don't then you're SOL.

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Art

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Re: Windows 7
« Reply #74 on: January 10, 2010, 01:29:13 pm »
Sure, and the first time you connect and get an upgrade or patch?? ::)
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