Yeah, it’s still absolutely killing me under full load. But I "fixed" it by opening Task Manager. For some weird reason, as long as WTM is running, my GPU finally chills out. Honestly, though, it probably won't even matter because I'm picking up a GTX 970 pretty soon.
I'll give those suggestions from the forum a shot, though I'm a little skeptical since I feel like I've already tried everything under the sun.
I ran a scan with Malwarebytes too, but nothing worked—it cleaned up a bunch of junk, but the issue is still hanging around. Now I'm just wondering, is this miner going to mess with my new 970 once I get it installed?
I’m not even going to touch the overclocking on my GTXic 970. Honestly, I already messed up the temps on my current R9 270, and that was even after I followed every single guide online to a T. The 970 is just going to behave the exact same way.
Maybe if I find someone else on the forums living around New York City, I'll just pay them some cash to handle the CPU overclocking for me instead.😁
I'd much rather have one big burst of excitement than just constant little drips of hype all year long. 😁 Speaking of upgrades, I’m planning to hunt down a GTXic 970 (Asus Strix) next week, or maybe the week after at the latest. My only hesitation is finding someone who actually knows how to overclock a CPU, because honestly, I don't trust myself touching the voltage settings just yet. I really think I can push my I5 2500 k from 3.3GHz up to 4.5GHz if I play it right.
I might wait until the 8th, or just find someone who starts playing GTA5 right away to see how the game actually breathes on their rig.
Anthony Hayes82 said:That’s true, but if I can scrape together enough cash in about six months, I'll just grab whatever is actually on the shelves then. Of course, that assumes the USD doesn't suddenly skyrocket and screw us all over.
Honestly, we might as well just wait those six months. We can figure out what to pick and how much we can actually spend once the time comes. Trying to build a parts list right now feels like a waste of breath since everything could change by tomorrow anyway.
Anthony Hayes82 said:That’s basically my plan—just chip away at it month by month, buying parts and installing them as soon as they arrive. Like, maybe I grab a case in month one, the motherboard in month two, then the CPU in month three, and follow that up with a power supply and some budget-friendly RAM since I don't have any old DDR3 modules lying around. I'll probably just pull an old HDD out of my previous rig, give it a little cleaning, and make it work. From there, I'll just keep upgrading—GPU, SSD, more storage, maybe some fancier RAM, a better cooler, some RGB lighting, you know, just making it look sharp...
Since I can't just cobble together a quick build from old scraps and cheap new stuff right now, I figured I'd start from scratch. I want to do this the enthusiast way—investing properly so the whole thing actually looks great. Right now, there are two things I'm set on: a matte black and red NZXT H440 case and an Asus Maximus VII Hero. After that, I'll figure out how to round out the rest. 🙂
It’s becoming pretty obvious to me that you’re really focused on the aesthetics. You're looking for top-tier performance, but honestly, it feels like overkill if you don't have a balanced build where everything works together. Buying expensive RAM just because it looks cool doesn't make much sense. I mean, why drop almost an entire paycheck just to get onto DDR4?
If you really want that "showpiece" kind of build, I can definitely suggest some parts that fit a decent budget while still keeping you happy.
I mean, Grand Theft Auto V is definitely going to run way smoother than Watch Dogs. Honestly, optimization was always such a foreign concept to the devs when they were making that game.
I wouldn't say your graphics card is underpowered, especially since the recommended specs call for an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670. But honestly, since your CPU is a bit on the weaker side, you should probably be able to run everything on medium settings without much trouble. Like I mentioned before, if you were able to handle running Battlefield, there’s really no reason to stress about GTA5. The smoothness and the actual hardware requirements are worlds apart between those two.
Anyway, April Fools' Day is creeping up on us. You might want to stay on your toes—I wouldn't be surprised at all if Elvis Presley pulled another prank on us regarding game delays.
This specific thread is just about finding a decent setup for this game—something I might build, or maybe someone else wants to put together to actually get it running. For now, my main plan is just waiting for the release so I can see if I can scrape by playing everything on low settings. I mean, if I managed to play Watch Dogs, which was an absolute mess optimization-wise, then maybe Rockstar Games will actually show us some mercy and deliver something that runs smoothly.
If I can't even get it to run, I’ll have to figure out how to squirrel away enough cash for a new rig without my parents catching on. I'm praying to Bog that since the weather is getting nicer, they'll be out of the house more often so I can sneakily receive deliveries.
Doesn't matter. Gaming isn't a forbidden topic on a hardware forum.
Look, if you could handle Watch Dogs, which was unoptimized garbage, you'll definitely be fine with GTA 5. It's way less demanding on the system. Plus, I think I read somewhere that Rockstar Games really stepped up their optimization this time, so it should run well on a wide range of hardware. For GTA 5, you're looking at an i5 processor around 3.2GHz and roughly 2GB of VRAM. If I remember correctly, Watch Dogs needed an i7 and 3 or even 4GB of VRAM just to breathe.
It’s all just a matter of taste, really. Some people just want to blast through the main campaign, while others—like me—prefer just wandering around in free roam. With GTA V, I know for a fact I won't be rushing to finish the story anytime soon; I'll probably just spend all my time exploring the open world.
Yeah, those were the golden years of free roaming. With San Andreas, it wasn't even an issue because everyone could find something fun to do in the world, even if they weren't touching the main campaign at all.
I played San Andreas for at least six years, just bit by bit whenever I could. So, I’m not sweating it—I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting plenty of use out of the PS5 for several years to come.
Anthony Hayes82 said:Do you think if I went with that other setup—maybe just starting with 4GB of RAM and an XFX R7 260 x 2GB—it would be enough to run something like Far Cry on low to medium settings? Since GTA V isn't even out yet, we can't really guess how well it's actually optimized.
Honestly, the R7 260 x is plenty even for higher settings than low-medium. I’m running a GXT560TI with 1GB right now and I play on Ultra, though I don't keep things like Antialiasing MSAA or all that other junk turned on. The FPS stays smooth enough to actually enjoy it without constant lag.
But honestly? You might want to hold off on picking a GPU. It doesn't make much sense to grab an R7 now only to realize you need something beefier in a few months. Unless, of course, your only goal here is specifically getting through GTA V.
Honestly, it feels kind of ridiculous having to hide how you spend your money on the things you actually want. I work too, and I don't have anyone breathing down my neck about my bills—though, obviously, I set aside a chunk of my paycheck for the essentials first.
Anthony Hayes82 said:I don't even know anymore. Now I'm stuck in this spot where I can't sell my laptop, but I'm also not allowed to spend my paycheck on whatever I want. Meanwhile, the old man thinks he can just sit there and plan how he’s going to use my money to pay off his own debts...
So yeah, that's my life right now. 😢
Wait, your dad is planning to use your paycheck to settle his debts? WTF? Are you actually in charge of your own wallet, or is he? Honestly, at this rate, you might as well hand him your receipts so he can tell you what you're allowed to buy with your own hard-earned cash.
George Sanders37 said:Sorry to hear that.
Don't give up on streaming or Let's play videos if you're still interested. Maybe try something that isn't constantly being streamed—there are tons of great old classics out there that don't need a NASA supercomputer to run and aren't played much anymore. You'll face way less competition that way, and you'll get a better feel for the whole scene. For instance, everyone is playing League of Legends, DOTA, or CS right now, which basically means people prefer watching PvP over PvE. It's kind of like GTA; most people just watch the multiplayer chaos rather than the actual story.
Pick your lane. If you go the English route, you've got the biggest audience since everyone speaks it, but that also means the market is incredibly crowded. I've seen some attempts from creators focusing on specific regions, but I'm not sure how much traction they get. To me, that seems like a gap in the market, even if our local scene is a bit smaller.
Avoid doing the standard Let's play thing. You know, the headphones on, playing a game, glancing at the chat every thirty seconds, and repeating the same loop. I'm already bored of seeing that everywhere. Honestly, if you put on a Batman costume and did all your commentary in his voice—if you could actually pull it off—you'd stand out from the crowd immediately 😁. (Maybe not the best advice, but I'm exaggerating here).
It's not exactly a gold mine for a beginner, though. It takes forever to hit those first 10k followers, and you really have to look at it as a long-term hobby. Streaming games is fun for a little while—I lost interest pretty fast myself—but if I were in his shoes, I'd probably take the advice he was given.
Yeah. I remember back when my upload speed was stuck at just 100 kB/s, I could barely even pull off a 360p stream, sometimes it would drop down to 240p or worse. I honestly think if he bumps his upload up to 10 Mbps, he might be able to manage a decent 720p stream, but like I said before, it’s probably just a waste of both time and cash since he won't have much of an audience to make it worth the effort. That’s why I suggested selling the laptop instead; he could grab a desktop setup like the one crimsonstag84 put together and still have enough left over for a solid 27'' IPS monitor. At the end of the day, all he really wants to do is play Grand Theft Auto V, and you can't get better gear than a bigger screen to actually make the game look amazing on a PC.
In that case, you definitely want a bigger monitor. 19 inches feels tiny these days. Honestly, just sell that laptop and toss the cash into this budget. You’ll end up coming up short on funds anyway if you don't. There are plenty of solid 27'' monitors out there from brands like $583 and up—for example, check out the LG HDTV monitor 27MT46D-PZ
So, what kind of monitor are you rocking right now? If you're stuck with something around 22'', honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d go with that Smartik build. Sell the laptop for whatever cash you can scrape together and put it toward a nice 27" or even a 32" IPS monitor. I really regret not grabbing something bigger than a 24'' right off the bat—I was eyeing a 27'' all along. Looking back, I basically threw money down the drain buying that old Samsung with the TV tuner when I could have just bought a solid 27'' monitor instead.