The very first thing that you need to think of when you want to run Prey, is the video card (GPU). It will need to be able to process images to run the game. The GPU deals with rendering graphics and animations. It will only need to work in tandem with your CPU once during the initial setup, after that, you will be able to play the game without your PC being able to handle it. The higher the amount of video RAM that your GPU has, the better it will be at running games. Some games might not be playable if a specific GPU is onboard. To check if your computer can run Prey and other games, you will want to download a gaming benchmarking tool like 3DMark or GpuTest. If it passes, then you're all set! If not, read on for more info...
What CPU to pair with which GPU?
The first and most important question that needs to be answered before you can even think about the best GPU and CPU combos for Prey is “which GPU should I use?”. As you might already know, Prey is a game that will run best on high-end GPUs with at least 4 GB of VRAM. This means that you should pair your GPU with a CPU that supports at least that much VRAM. You can find this information under the “Supported CPU” tab in the game’s “Recommended Specs” section. If your CPU has more VRAM than your GPU, you should pair your GPU with a low-end CPU. The more expensive GPUs will be better at handling Prey.
Check if your CPU is strong enough
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to find the best GPU/CPU combo for Prey, we first need to determine if your CPU is strong enough for the task at hand. To test your CPU, you can use an application like CPU Mark. If your CPU can’t handle the game at its highest settings, you will either have to lower the graphics quality or play the game on a lower-end GPU.
Check if your RAM is fast enough
The next thing that you will want to make sure of is that your RAM is fast enough. Prey is a game that will take advantage of every bit of RAM that you have. You don’t want your system to be running out of RAM while trying to run the game, because it will cause lagging and other performance issues. You can check how much RAM is installed in your system by following these steps. Go to Start > Settings > System > System > Right-click on “RAM” and select “View detailed information”.
Install GeForce driver (if required)
The first thing that you will want to make sure of is if your GPU is supported by the latest GeForce driver. You can check for this by going to GeForce Experience and looking under the “Drivers” tab. If your GPU is supported, you will also want to make sure that your GPU has the latest driver installed. To do this, open device manager, find your GPU, and select “Driver Details”. On the right-hand side, you will want to make sure that you have the latest driver version.
Check if Windows is up to date
Now that you have your GPU/CPU combo, you will need to make sure that your CPU and GPU are supported by Windows and have the latest driver installed. You will also want to make sure that your CPU and GPU have the latest BIOS installed. If your CPU and GPU are supported by Windows, have the latest BIOS, and have the latest driver/BIOS installed, then you will also want to make sure that your CPU is up-to-date with the latest CPU updates. To check if your CPU is up-to-date, follow these steps: Go to Start > Settings > System > Change the “Update & Security” option to “Advanced options” > Click on “For advanced options” and make sure that the “Windows Update” option is checked > Click on “For updates” > Click on “Advanced options” to select which CPU’s you would like to update > Make sure that your CPU is up-to-date with the latest updates.
Install Intel® HD Graphics 530 Driver
Before you can get Prey running on your machine, your GPU will need to be paired with an Intel HD Graphics 530 driver. You will find the driver under the following link. If you still can’t find the driver, you can also try using GPU-Z to see if it is installed on your computer. You can also try downloading the driver from nv.com/download. You can also try disabling any antivirus software before installing the driver.
Install AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition Driver
If you have an AMD GPU, you will also want to make sure that you have the latest version of Radeon Software installed. The Radeon Software Crimson Edition is a brand new version of the AMD GPU driver, and it will help improve the performance of Prey and many other games. You can download the latest version from AMD here.
Final Step
Once you have everything ready to go, you will want to boot up Prey and go under “Options” and make sure that you have “Enable VSync” and “Enable Output Quality” checked. You should also make sure that you have “Reset Graphics Preset” checked so that your GPU gets properly configured. For best performance, try to play on a 1920x1080 resolution with 16xAF and Fullscreen Mode. If you have any questions or issues, feel free to post them in this guide’s comment section. We hope that this guide helps make Prey better on your PC!