So far, it seems very smooth during the cutscenes and opening (max settings, 4K) but I haven't made it very far into the game, therefore I anticipate running into some issues later on based on what I've heard about this game - especially considering my PC is quite dated. I am looking to maybe upgrade something on my PC and could use suggestions on which upgrade would be most conducive to better performance playing this game and any future games of similar hardware demands.

I'm still using a Sandy Bridge CPU (i5 2500k) with only 8GB of 1333MHz ram. I use an old worn out 7200RPM Hitachi HDD.

The only thing my rig has going for it is the graphics card which is very high end (ASUS 980TI STRIX SC). And though in Witcher 3 I'm playing everything maxed - even the hair settings (which I thought would tax my old CPU), the truth is that in a few other modern games I've had to turn off AA to get a stable framerate (Xcom 2, Crysis 3, etc).

This game, however, is absolutely gorgeous (it puts the new Battlefront to shame). I don't want to turn anything down at all. It's the best looking game I've ever seen in my life by far, and I want to keep it that way even if it means an immediate upgrade.

I think I heard from someone that adding another STRIX card wouldn't be as beneficial as I might think due to VRAM not being doubled - with VRAM the key 4K bottleneck, and that I would be better off with a single 8GB high-end card than two 6GB high-end cards in SLI. Sounds like BS to me but I thought I would mention it nonetheless.

If you have no problems with the cut scenes and opening, especially when viewing Kaer Morhen valley in the dream about Yennefer, with Hairworks on ultra there is absolutely no reason to believe you should have any problems whatsoever. I have found (I can't use Hairworks) the most taxing places are certain dense forested areas, especially when it's stormy. That's where to watch out. Turning Hairworks down temporarily would not be a burden.

PS: I only have a miserly GTX 770, so you'll be fine.

Darkul81, if you want have 60 FPS on max settings in 4K, you need GTX 1080 Ti and non less. Also good to increase memory up to 16Gb and change your HDD to SSD.

Don't worry about your CPU and platform - you don't have to change it, because it doesn't affect so much, especially in UHD resolution.

P.S. By the way, 1333Mhz RAM seems pretty low... you need overclock it at least to 1600 or 1866 Mhz. It is the bottle neck for sure.

From my personal experience, this is the quickest, easiest way to get a significant performance improvement.

Oh crap - this game is cooking my GPU. 85 degrees. That cant be right - my card is a superclocked edition and has three fans, AND I use a custom fan profile - there is no reason whatsever for the temps to be that high.

I'm going to have to bring those temps down somehow. I don't know if it's 60fps, but so far the game seems smooth.

I haven't noticed any performance issues pertinent to RAM. Usually when I have issues it's related to the HDD (playing during downloads, load times, etc) or CPU (physics heavy games, particles, etc).

I was expecting this game to be far more demanding - I remember Witcher 2 kicking my ass on max settings. In fact, I think I run Witcher 3 better on my current PC than Witcher 2.

Yep, no good. Normal should be about 75 for GTX 980 Ti. Try to increase RPM of fans manually, through some tool form manufacturer. Temporary downgrade resolution to 1920x1080 and run it a little bit... you'll see what is 60 FPS (don't forget to disable 30 FPS V-Sync lock, if it's on). Did you even try change frequency of your RAM ? 1600Mhz it's not even overclock, it's just normal, working frequency.

I not saying it would change a lot, but it may resolve some freezes, caused by loading on a fly... it's affect on CPU directly. Witcher 2 it's a single-thread game, if I remember correct. It use only one core of CPU and less optimized than Witcher 3. I doubt there is any single GPU able to run W2 on max settings in 4K, today.