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18 months after it debuted on the Xbox 360 and PS3, Grand Theft Auto V has made it over the PC side of the fence. Videos and previews before the launch teased a constant 60 FPS frame rate and enhanced visuals and capabilities that would leave last-gen consoles in the dust. A number of sites have published comprehensive overviews of GTA’s performance, including a focus on CPUs, GPUs, and the performance impact of various settings. We’ve broken down the big-picture findings, with additional links to specific coverage.

CPU Scaling

Let’s start with CPU scaling, since there’s going to be questions there. Whether at 1080p or 1440p, GTA V is playable on quad cores and above from both AMD and Intel, but the Intel chips continue to have a definite advantage overall. At normal detail levels with FXAA (using a GTX Titan to avoid GPU bottlenecks), Techspot reports that the FX-9590, AMD’s highest-end, 220W chip, is the only CPU from Team Green to beat the Core i5-2500K — a midrange CPU from Intel nearly five years old.

That doesn’t mean AMD CPUs don’t offer a playable frame rate. But most of AMD’s cores are between 55-72 FPS, while Intel locks down the 70+ FPS range. GamersNexus offers a more detailed look at some CPUs, again using a Titan X to eliminate any chance of a GPU bottleneck. What’s most notable about AMD’s CPU performance, even at 1080p, is the gap in minimum frame rate.




AMD’s chips hit a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS, compared with 37 FPS for the Core i7-4790K. That gap is significant — Intel’s high-end cores are hitting a 23% higher frame rate. That said, these gaps can be reduced by lowering visual quality from Max to something a bit less strenuous — many of the Advanced graphics features and post-processing effects in GTA V incur a heavy performance hit.

The bottom line is this: While CPU brand matters in GTA V, it’s not the major factor. Every chip, save for the Intel Pentium G3258, can run the game. Low-end AMD owners may have to put up with a significant performance hit, while most users with AMD Athlon 760K-class processors likely aren’t trying to run GTA V in the first place.

GPU scaling

GPU scaling is a more interesting animal. First, the game scales exceptionally well to a wide variety of video cards from both AMD and Nvidia. Nvidia cards from the 900 series generally have the upper hand at the various detail levels, but at 1080p “High,” for example, even the R9 285 returns a 0.01% frame rate (meaning that 99.99% of the frames were higher than this) of 34 FPS and an average frame rate of 69. Even the Nvidia GTX 750 Ti is capable of hitting 52 FPS in this mode.




The high-end GPUs from AMD and Nvidia can both compete at higher resolutions — at 1440p at max detail, Tweaktown reports that the R9 290X 8GB flavor hits 77 FPS, just barely behind Nvidia’s far more expensive Titan Black. The GTX 900 family continues to dominate overall, with a moderate-but-significant performance edge.

If you want to run at 4K and max detail, however, you’re going to be disappointed. Even the mighty GTX Titan has a bad day at 4K on Ultra, with frame rates that can’t break 40 FPS. Interestingly enough, however, there’s a disparity between what we’ve seen reported at websites like GamersNexus, which has the GTX Titan X at 40 FPS, vs Tweaktown, which clocks it at 72 FPS. GamersNexus didn’t use the prerecorded benchmark, while Tweaktown did — this may have impacted the final overall results.
in the benchmark compared to in-title. EuroIf you prefer video frame rates, Eurogamer’s in-game results also may point to a discrepancy between how AMD and NV perform gamer reported much stronger minimum frame rates for AMD when using a high-end Core i7 compared to a midrange Core i3; other sites showed no such difference.

Some features, like high-end textures, incur a relatively modest performance hit, while others, like those under the game’s Advanced Graphics Options, exact far steeper penalties. The game will try to keep you from setting visual options that your GPU won’t support, but you can override this from within the Graphics menu. GamersNexus has an exhaustive post on the topic of which game options hit performance the most, along with a number of comparison shots.

Tying it all together

The general consensus is that Grand Theft Auto V scales quite well. Virtually any modern GPU + CPU combo can run the game, though enthusiasts with low-end AMD CPUs may have to make a number of compromises. The game is optimized for certain Nvidia GameWorks features, like Percentage-Closer Soft Shadows (PCSS), but also supports AMD’s contact Hardening Shadows (CHS).


Nvidia’s Percentage-Closer Soft Shadows



AMD’s Contact Hardening Shadows

Some readers may be concerned about the GTX 970’s performance at high memory loads, but evidence for a problem is mixed. Techspot’s review shows the GTX 970 hanging even with the GTX 980 at 1080p with normal textures (88 FPS) and the R9 290X following at 80 FPS. At 4K with Very High Textures and FXAA, the R9 290X had advanced to third place, at 33 FPS, behind the GTX 980 with 36 FPS. The GTX 970, in contrast, had fallen back to 30 FPS. No one has reported unusual stuttering or other problems on the GTX 970, however, at least not yet.

Based on the results we’ve seen to date, we’d say that Rockstar has delivered the definitive and best-looking version of the game for PCs, with a 60 FPS option available for almost any video card and CPU combination. The controls and key mappings are terrible and clearly designed for consoles. But as far as the frame rate and eye candy is concerned, GTA V delivers. 4K at max detail, however, remains well beyond the range of even the most powerful Nvidia GPU.

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