- Grand Theft Auto V
- Guide 05 of 06
- PC
GTA 5 Mods & Specs: Enhanced vs Legacy on PC
Rockstar shipped the same game twice and kept both. Here is what genuinely separates Enhanced from Legacy, the official requirements for each, where your frames actually go, which build the modding scene targets, and what Rockstar has documented about getting banned.
Back to the GTA V guides hub
- Enhanced launched
- 4 Mar 2025
- Builds on PC
- 2
- Ray-traced effects
- 4
- Enhanced storage
- 105 GB SSD
- Legacy storage
- 125 GB HDD
- GTA 6 on PC
- Not announced
The answer, in one line
Install Enhanced — ray tracing, DirectX 12, faster loading, current GTA Online content. Install Legacy instead if modding or a specific FiveM server is why you are playing, because a decade of tooling was written against it. They are separate products; you can keep both.
The single setting change worth making on Enhanced: drop Maximum ray tracing to Very High. Settings profiles → · Enhanced vs Legacy in full →
Two PC games with the same name
GTA V Enhanced launched on PC on 4 March 2025. The older build was renamed GTA V Legacy. They are not two presets of one game — they are separate products with separate Steam app IDs (3240220 and 271590), separate installs, and separate GTA Online populations.
| Enhanced | Legacy | |
|---|---|---|
| Renderer | DirectX 12, four ray-traced effects | DirectX 10/11 |
| GTA Online | Its own instance | Separate instance — no crossplay between the two |
| Online extras | Hao's Special Works, Career Progress, GTA+ on PC | None of them |
| Anti-cheat | BattlEye, kernel-level | BattlEye since September 2022, not kernel-level |
| Modding | Script Hook V works; OpenIV needs a community shim | A decade of tooling, fully mature |
| Storage | 105 GB, SSD required | 125 GB HDD |
| Still supported | Yes | Yes — Rockstar committed to continuing support in February 2025 |
Migration is a one-way copy
You can migrate a GTA Online profile from Legacy to Enhanced through the Online landing page or the pause menu. After that, progress is not synced between the two — your Legacy profile is retained and still playable, but the two diverge permanently and there is no merge back. PC to console and console to PC migration are not supported at all.
We are being careful with the wording here on purpose: Rockstar's article does not use the word “irreversible”, and it does not say migration can be repeated. A lot of guides assert one or the other. Neither is documented.
System requirements, both builds
Quoted from Rockstar Support. Note that the storage figures run the opposite way to what most people assume.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 (build 1909 or above) | Windows 11 |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-4770 / AMD FX-9590 | Intel Core i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB dual-channel |
| GPU | GTX 1630 4GB / RX 6400 4GB | RTX 3060 8GB / RX 6600XT 8GB |
| Storage | 105 GB SSD required | 105 GB DirectStorage-compatible drive |
| Audio | DirectX 10 compatible | Windows Spatial Sound / Dolby Atmos |
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
| CPU | Core 2 Quad Q6600 / Phenom 9850 | Core i5-3470 / FX-8350 |
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| GPU | GeForce 9800 GT 1GB / HD 4870 1GB | GTX 660 2GB / HD 7870 2GB |
| Storage | 125 GB HDD | 125 GB HDD |
Three things Rockstar's spec sheet does not say out loud
Enhanced needs a DirectX 12 GPU. Rockstar publishes a DirectX version only on the audio line, never for graphics — but Enhanced's own error message reads “No DirectX 12 adapter or runtime found”. Legacy explicitly lists DX 10, 10.1 and 11.
Enhanced wants less disk but demands an SSD. 105 GB versus Legacy's 125 GB. A lot of third-party pages print this backwards.
Legacy no longer supports Windows 7 or 8. Rockstar's current page says Windows 10 64-bit; the old Vista/7/8 wording still circulates.
Where your frames actually go
The settings that cost you performance are not the ones most players touch first.
| Hardware | Setting | Result |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 4070 | 1440p, Maximum RT | ~100–110 fps average |
| RX 7800 XT | 1440p, Maximum RT | Into the mid-50s in some scenes |
| RTX 4070 | Maximum RT → Very High RT | About 35 fps recovered |
| RX 7800 XT | Maximum RT → Very High RT | Sub-60 dips eliminated |
| RX 7800 XT | FSR 3 Quality at Maximum RT | +20 fps |
| ROG Ally X | 1080p Very High, no RT | 40–70 fps |
| ROG Ally X | 1080p, any RT enabled | Sub-30 fps |
The single most useful setting change
Drop Maximum RT to Very High RT. PC Gamer's verdict after benchmarking is blunt: maximum ray tracing is “not worth it”, and Very High is the sweet spot. On an RTX 4070 that one step is worth around 35 frames, and on an RX 7800 XT it is the difference between dipping under 60 and not.
On the Legacy build the old ranking still holds: MSAA is the single biggest cost and is rated critical — turn it off entirely. Post-FX quality has the most severe spread between its levels, and grass quality is brutal at 4K. Tessellation and FXAA cost almost nothing.
At 4K with ray tracing, DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation raises RTX 50 Series frame rates by an average of 3.9×. Frame generation was not in Enhanced at launch — it arrived on 12 August 2025.
What we are not going to tell you
We could not find an authoritative benchmark of the minimum spec — GTX 1630 or RX 6400 — on Enhanced, so we are not publishing a frame rate for it. What is defensible: the minimum spec targets 1080p with ray tracing off, and RT on a 4 GB card is not viable when a handheld with far more capable silicon goes sub-30 with any RT enabled.
Settings profiles
Five starting points, built from the published benchmarks in the table above rather than from our own hardware. Treat them as a first setup to tune from, not as guaranteed frame rates — your CPU, your resolution scaling and your driver version all move these.
| Your hardware | Set this | Expect |
|---|---|---|
| Entry tier GTX 1630 / RX 6400 class | 1080p. Ray tracing off entirely. Everything else at whatever holds your target | No published figure exists for this tier — see the note above |
| Mid tier, NVIDIA RTX 4070 class | 1440p native. Very High RT, not Maximum. No upscaling needed | ~135–145 fps arithmetic: ~100–110 measured at Maximum, +~35 recovered |
| Mid tier, AMD RX 7800 XT class | 1440p. Very High RT plus FSR 3 Quality | Sub-60 dips eliminated by the RT step; FSR 3 Quality measured at +20 fps |
| 4K with ray tracing RTX 50 Series | Enable DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation. Added 12 August 2025, not present at launch | 3.9× average uplift |
| Handheld ROG Ally X class | 1080p Very High. Ray tracing off. This is not a preference, it is the only viable setting | 40–70 fps off · sub-30 with any RT |
Legacy, in four lines
The old ranking still holds and it is short. MSAA off entirely — it is the single biggest cost in the build and rated critical. Post-FX one step down — it has the most severe spread between its levels of any setting. Grass quality down at 4K, where it is brutal. Leave tessellation and FXAA on — they cost almost nothing and you gain nothing by disabling them.
Modding: which build, and the install order
“Enhanced killed modding” is wrong
Script Hook V has supported Enhanced since 23 March 2025, and its author states that ASI script plugins written for Legacy are compatible with Enhanced. The current build supports two patch lines. The real friction is elsewhere: OpenIV does not natively recognise Enhanced, and community shims bridge the gap with the warning that mods must themselves be Enhanced-compatible or they crash.
Legacy is still where the scene lives, and for structural reasons rather than sentiment: a decade of mods built against its file formats, mature OpenIV support, no kernel anti-cheat in the install, and FiveM's mainline client targeting it. Enhanced modding is viable and less mature. If modding is your main reason for playing, install Legacy.
| # | Component | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASI Loader dinput8.dll | Loads .asi plugins into the game process. Everything else sits on this |
| 1 | Script Hook V | Exposes the game's native script functions to plugins. It deliberately closes GTA V if you enter multiplayer — built-in ban protection |
| 2 | ScriptHookVDotNet | Enables C#/.NET mods. Needs .NET Framework 4.8. Most modern mods are .NET mods |
| 3 | OpenIV + OpenIV.asi | Archive editor for .rpf files — needed for vehicles, textures and map edits |
| 3 | The mods folder | Redirection layer: the game loads modified copies instead of the originals, so your base install is never destructively edited and a bad mod can be rolled back |
| 4 | ENB / ReShade | Post-process graphics injectors. Always last |
The failure mode that will happen to you
After any Rockstar patch, Script Hook V stops working until its author ships a new build — and every script mod you have stops with it. This is normal and expected, not a broken install. The practical answer is to disable auto-update or keep an offline copy of a working version.
FiveM, roleplay and what Rockstar now owns
FiveM is a multiplayer modification framework: self-hosted dedicated servers running custom scripts, with support for custom vehicles, objects, maps and gamemodes. Capacity runs from 48 slots by default up to 2,048, against GTA Online's fixed 30-player lobbies.
The thing that changed everything
Cfx.re, the team behind FiveM, joined Rockstar Games on 11 August 2023. FiveM's own footer now reads that it is a registered trademark of Take-Two Interactive. In 2026 Rockstar launched an official Cfx Marketplace and Take-Two forced the shutdown of rival platform alt:V, stating that FiveM is the only authorised platform for GTA V multiplayer modding. alt:V shut down fully on 6 July 2026.
Terms of the acquisition were never officially disclosed. A $20M figure circulates; we found it only on low-authority sites and are not stating it as fact.
Two clients: FiveM Legacy requires GTA V Legacy, and FiveM for GTA V Enhanced requires Enhanced and is in early access.
Ban risk, precisely
| What you do | Risk | Source position |
|---|---|---|
| Single-player mods | Documented safe | Rockstar, 2015: “no one has been banned for using single player modifications, and you should not worry about being banned” |
| FiveM | Low | FiveM does not interact with Rockstar Online Services beyond validating your copy once, and does not modify game files. Rockstar owns it |
| Mods in GTA Online | Ban vector | This is what enforcement is actually aimed at. Script Hook V kills the game rather than let you do it by accident |
The 2017 legal position still governs the rest: after the OpenIV cease-and-desist and the backlash that reversed it, Take-Two agreed it “generally will not take legal action against third-party projects involving Rockstar's PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property rights of third parties”. All three conditions carry weight — single-player, non-commercial, no third-party IP.
Back to the GTA V guides hubWhat gets repeated and is not true
- “Enhanced killed mods.” Script Hook V has supported it since March 2025. The gap is OpenIV, and shims exist
- “Enhanced is just a graphics preset.” Separate app ID, separate install, separate DX12 renderer, separate Online instance with no crossplay, exclusive content
- “Enhanced needs more disk space.” 105 GB against Legacy's 125 — but it requires an SSD
- “FiveM will get you banned.” Rockstar owns FiveM. The ban vector is mods in GTA Online
- “Enhanced launched with frame generation.” It did not — DLSS 4 MFG arrived 12 August 2025
- “Enhanced only has RTGI and RTAO.” Pre-launch reporting. The shipped set is ambient occlusion, global illumination, shadows and reflections
- “Legacy is abandoned.” Rockstar committed to continuing support in February 2025
- “Migration syncs both ways.” Progress is explicitly not synced after migrating
- XeSS support. Frequently listed by aggregator sites. We found no authoritative confirmation and are not claiming it
One practical note for Linux and handheld users that rarely makes the summaries: Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online. Story Mode runs; GTA Online does not.
Back to the GTA V guides hubGTA 6 on PC: the honest state of it
GTA 6 launches 19 November 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. No PC version has been announced — Rockstar's own product page lists no PC platform at all. Physical copies arrive a week earlier, on 12 November, with a download code in the box and no disc content.
Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick has said the console-first staging is “purely a Rockstar creative and strategic call, not the result of any platform exclusivity agreement”, denying that a Sony deal drives it. That is the whole official record on the subject.
Everything else you have read is rumour
An early-2027 PC window is reporting, not an announcement. Any “GTA 6 system requirements” article is a prediction — Rockstar has published none, because there is no announced product to publish them for. Historically Rockstar's PC ports have followed roughly a year after console, but a pattern is not a commitment.
What this means practically, and it is the reason this page matters right now: on PC, GTA V stays the current Grand Theft Auto for the foreseeable future. The Enhanced-or-Legacy decision on this page is not a stopgap until November — it is the decision that carries you through to whenever a VI port actually appears.
Back to the GTA V guides hub