GTA IV poor in-game performance but good benchmark?

[blind30]

here is my benchmark results:
Statistics
Average FPS: 39.43
Duration: 37.33 sec
CPU Usage: 62%
System memory usage: 62%
Video memory usage: 63%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1920 x 1080 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: High
Shadow Quality: High
Reflection Resolution: High
Water Quality: High
Texture Filter Quality: Anisotropic x16
Night Shadows: Off
View Distance: 30
Detail Distance: 50

Hardware
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Service Pack 1
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M
Video Driver version: 314.07
Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

The lowest it dropped to in the benchmark was around 32.

However when im in game the fps stays around 24 and drops to less than 20 when taking turns or getting into an accident or so forth. I have tried lowering the settings, I even set them to as low as they could possibly go but dont see any change in performance. Computer specs are in the benchmark results. Can somebody please help me get to playable fps, even around 30 would be nice.

[Niko( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )]

You are running the game on a laptop with very high resolution.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GT+555M

Of course the preformance will drop. With your resolution setting, its for a big HDMI/TV or big monitor. Try a lower resolution meant for smaller screen.

[blind30]

I have already tried lowering the resolution, I had it down to the lowest it could go and still had the same fps. Its at 1080 because i had it plugged in to a monitor when doing the benchmark. Also the question remains why would i get over 30 fps all the time in benchmark with 1080 and not in game.

[Niko( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )]

The benchmark isn't accurate anymore because it was based on systems five years ago. 1080 didn't exist then. That goes with cpu too. So trust on you instinct rather than the benchmark :)

[blind30]

do you have any suggestions on how to get more fps? because i should be able to play it in lower settings at least, my hardware is more than enough to get playable fps

[Joker]

I recommend a new graphics card like the Geforce GTX 660 Ti or 670. This game runs beautifully on max settings with these cards. Until then you should turn off antialiasing & anisotropic filtering.

[Niko( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )]

He is using a laptop.

[blind30]

this game is not graphically demanding. This laptop should run this game at a steady 30 fps no problem on at least medium settings. Clearly nobody reads cause I said it doesnt matter if my settings are on as high as they go or low as they go, the fps remain the same. The cpu is working at roughly 60% during gameplay so i dont think its that.

[blind30]

and how is the benchmark not accurate anymore? that makes no sense. Maybe there was no 1080 like you said, even though im pretty damn sure there was, but the benchmark would still be testing how the game handles your machine playing in 1080. I dont think you know what your talking about. Its more than likely the terrible coding done by rockstar that is the problem.

[Niko( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )]

When the game was first released, no laptop could run the game. There were patches but nothing to do with graphic. Laptops did improve and some managed to run with decent preformance with 650M but they have 2 gb vram. I do have gtx 550 with 1 gb vram on destop. It could run the game with good preformance with medium shadows and medium distance. I also have gtx 660 ti with 2 gb vram. The 2 gb vram did improved the preformance with all at maximized setting. So my guess is the vram.

[Zodasaur]

Originally posted by lesleybrownell:

this game is not graphically demanding. This laptop should run this game at a steady 30 fps no problem on at least medium settings. Clearly nobody reads cause I said it doesnt matter if my settings are on as high as they go or low as they go, the fps remain the same. The cpu is working at roughly 60% during gameplay so i dont think its that.

actually the game is graphically demanding.

[Sol4rSky]

put the sliders on 25 each, except cars( that on 50 or more) but those sliders can make a big difference

[Brothershaft]

Actually it's not graphically demanding, GFLOPS are low no matter what's going on or how high your settings are. It calls up a lot of VRAM to keep things appearing dynamic but it can just as easily use regular RAM for that because most of those calls are not essential in keeping things fluid. Ambient Occulsion being forced on from third party ATI or Nvidia software could be the culprit because the game is simply not built to use it and it causes bad calls left and right that lead to degraded performance and potentially overheating the GPU. The problem regardless is almost certainly related to incorrect settings in your graphic software for the game, not settings in the game itself.

[Zodasaur]

Originally posted by Brothershaft:

Actually it's not graphically demanding, GFLOPS are low no matter what's going on or how high your settings are. It calls up a lot of VRAM to keep things appearing dynamic but it can just as easily use regular RAM for that because most of those calls are not essential in keeping things fluid. Ambient Occulsion being forced on from third party ATI or Nvidia software could be the culprit because the game is simply not built to use it and it causes bad calls left and right that lead to degraded performance and potentially overheating the GPU. The problem regardless is almost certainly related to incorrect settings in your graphic software for the game, not settings in the game itself.

Well when I upgraded my hd4850 video card to a hd6770 i saw a tremendous boot in performance. I wonder could that could be if its not a graphically demanding game?

[Brothershaft]

Originally posted by ZodaEX:

Originally posted by Brothershaft:

Actually it's not graphically demanding, GFLOPS are low no matter what's going on or how high your settings are. It calls up a lot of VRAM to keep things appearing dynamic but it can just as easily use regular RAM for that because most of those calls are not essential in keeping things fluid. Ambient Occulsion being forced on from third party ATI or Nvidia software could be the culprit because the game is simply not built to use it and it causes bad calls left and right that lead to degraded performance and potentially overheating the GPU. The problem regardless is almost certainly related to incorrect settings in your graphic software for the game, not settings in the game itself.

Well when I upgraded my hd4850 video card to a hd6770 i saw a tremendous boot in performance. I wonder could that could be if its not a graphically demanding game?

I can't tell if your being serious, is it graphically demanding now? You upgraded from a 4 year old GPU to a modern one. The individual has an overclocked I7 and a GT550 on their laptop. It can easily handle this game on medium settings, it's not graphically demanding for that machine. I wasn't aware you were talking symantecs.

[blind30]

Originally posted by Brothershaft:

Actually it's not graphically demanding, GFLOPS are low no matter what's going on or how high your settings are. It calls up a lot of VRAM to keep things appearing dynamic but it can just as easily use regular RAM for that because most of those calls are not essential in keeping things fluid. Ambient Occulsion being forced on from third party ATI or Nvidia software could be the culprit because the game is simply not built to use it and it causes bad calls left and right that lead to degraded performance and potentially overheating the GPU. The problem regardless is almost certainly related to incorrect settings in your graphic software for the game, not settings in the game itself.

Thanks for the reply. I checked the settings for this game through my nvidia control panel and ambient occlusion is not on and states it is not supported for the game. I think your probably right about it being some sort of setting within the nvidia software but im not sure what it would be, any other suggestions?