CPU bottleneck, i3-4170 is a 2 core / 4 threads cpu. If you can find something like a i7-4770 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 for cheap it would help a lot. i5-4670 would probably also be enough for that GPU, games that can utilize more than 4 cores won't be running all that well with a GTX 1060 anyway. Also make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM.

GTA V did have some advanced settings that are very demanding so you might not be able to max the game completely, but GTX 1060 should be enough for high settings for 1080p/60fps.

Sombrero wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:10:

CPU bottleneck, i3-4170 is a 2 core / 4 threads cpu. If you can find something like a i7-4770 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 for cheap it would help a lot. i5-4670 would probably also be enough for that GPU, games that can utilize more than 4 cores won't be running all that well with a GTX 1060 anyway. Also make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM.

GTA V did have some advanced settings that are very demanding so you might not be able to max the game completely, but GTX 1060 should be enough for high settings for 1080p/60fps.

If you can swing for 16gb and an i7 and or an SSD you will see a massive improvement. Modern Winblows with HDD's is getting really bad for general usage.

Sombrero wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:10:

CPU bottleneck, i3-4170 is a 2 core / 4 threads cpu. If you can find something like a i7-4770 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 for cheap it would help a lot. i5-4670 would probably also be enough for that GPU, games that can utilize more than 4 cores won't be running all that well with a GTX 1060 anyway. Also make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM.

GTA V did have some advanced settings that are very demanding so you might not be able to max the game completely, but GTX 1060 should be enough for high settings for 1080p/60fps.

Ah, that's what I thought. Thanks. The i7 4770 is actually what I'm planning on getting. I have 16GB DDR3 RAM, btw, and I'm probably gonna be upgrading that to 32GB as well. Btw, I know a Haswell machine isn't the latest and greatest or anything, but I only paid $10 for it, so that was pretty worth it to me to give me a pathway towards a passable cheap-ish gaming PC. Honestly, if I can get to the point where I can play most 2010s games at high settings mostly 60fps and some heavier more modern stuff like Flight Sim 2020 at medium settings 30fps, I'd be perfectly happy with that.

ODwilly wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:20:

Sombrero wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:10:

CPU bottleneck, i3-4170 is a 2 core / 4 threads cpu. If you can find something like a i7-4770 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 for cheap it would help a lot. i5-4670 would probably also be enough for that GPU, games that can utilize more than 4 cores won't be running all that well with a GTX 1060 anyway. Also make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM.

GTA V did have some advanced settings that are very demanding so you might not be able to max the game completely, but GTX 1060 should be enough for high settings for 1080p/60fps.

If you can swing for 16gb and an i7 and or an SSD you will see a massive improvement. Modern Winblows with HDD's is getting really bad for general usage.

Yeah, I really need to get an SSD too or at least two hard drives so the OS and my games don't have to share the loading duty and such. Once I get an SSD and a better CPU, I'll probably dual-boot Windows 10 on here as well.

thepirategamerboy12 wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:39:

Sombrero wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:10:

CPU bottleneck, i3-4170 is a 2 core / 4 threads cpu. If you can find something like a i7-4770 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 for cheap it would help a lot. i5-4670 would probably also be enough for that GPU, games that can utilize more than 4 cores won't be running all that well with a GTX 1060 anyway. Also make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM.

GTA V did have some advanced settings that are very demanding so you might not be able to max the game completely, but GTX 1060 should be enough for high settings for 1080p/60fps.

Ah, that's what I thought. Thanks. The i7 4770 is actually what I'm planning on getting. I have 16GB DDR3 RAM, btw, and I'm probably gonna be upgrading that to 32GB as well. Btw, I know a Haswell machine isn't the latest and greatest or anything, but I only paid $10 for it, so that was pretty worth it to me to give me a pathway towards a passable cheap-ish gaming PC. Honestly, if I can get to the point where I can play most 2010s games at high settings mostly 60fps and some heavier more modern stuff like Flight Sim 2020 at medium settings 30fps, I'd be perfectly happy with that.

Unless you are doing some photo/video editing on that PC 32GB of RAM is overkill and completely unnecessary. Maybe Flight Sim could make use of that, but I would guess the rest of the PC will hold it back enough to render that extra RAM useless. Otherwise I'd say you would be fine with a i7-4770 / GTX 1060 up to around 2016 at high settings most of the time.

Sombrero wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:57:

thepirategamerboy12 wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:39:

Sombrero wrote on 2022-03-14, 05:10:

CPU bottleneck, i3-4170 is a 2 core / 4 threads cpu. If you can find something like a i7-4770 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 for cheap it would help a lot. i5-4670 would probably also be enough for that GPU, games that can utilize more than 4 cores won't be running all that well with a GTX 1060 anyway. Also make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM.

GTA V did have some advanced settings that are very demanding so you might not be able to max the game completely, but GTX 1060 should be enough for high settings for 1080p/60fps.

Ah, that's what I thought. Thanks. The i7 4770 is actually what I'm planning on getting. I have 16GB DDR3 RAM, btw, and I'm probably gonna be upgrading that to 32GB as well. Btw, I know a Haswell machine isn't the latest and greatest or anything, but I only paid $10 for it, so that was pretty worth it to me to give me a pathway towards a passable cheap-ish gaming PC. Honestly, if I can get to the point where I can play most 2010s games at high settings mostly 60fps and some heavier more modern stuff like Flight Sim 2020 at medium settings 30fps, I'd be perfectly happy with that.

Unless you are doing some photo/video editing on that PC 32GB of RAM is overkill and completely unnecessary. Maybe Flight Sim could make use of that, but I would guess the rest of the PC will hold it back enough to render that extra RAM useless. Otherwise I'd say you would be fine with a i7-4770 / GTX 1060 up to around 2016 at high settings most of the time.

I actually should be able to source an additional 16GB for pretty cheap. I know it's overkill, but at that point it's like may as well. 🤣

Just a quick update. I got the 4770 and the improvement was indeed pretty big. A few titles still stutter occasionally, but not nearly as much. I'm currently using two hard drives, hope to get an SSD soon and see if that makes things even better.

I did notice something odd, though. I've dual-booted Windows 7 and 10, and a number of games actually seem to perform better on 10 even if they're DX11 titles. I first tried Heavy Rain on 7 and the fps drops to about 50 during the opening with the multiple views, but on 10 it dropped to maybe 59 at most. RAM usage is actually a little lower on 10, too, after doing some debloating. I did a fresh install of 10, but I didn't re-install 7. Wonder if that has something to do with it...