Why can I hardly run this game?

[nasomi]

the AMD FX 4 core is actually a dual core with 2 virtual cores, also due to its poor architecture its actually worse for gaming than the Phenom 2's. this game "in its current state" runs like crap on anything with less than 3 physical cores for whatever reason, i believe your issues stem from your CPU Or you have your General Draw Quality jacked up to 10 (high).

i can run this game in windowed mode at 1080p with AAx4 DoF On and everything at high save for General Draw Quality which should always be set to 8(standard) on a 460GTX that's 3 generations old already.

I beg to differ. My kids have Core2Duo machines with 4gb ram and GTX280 and run all medium at 50-60fps at 1920x1080. Two identical machines run on the same settings and both get great frame rates and look good.

[Valmonte]

I beg to differ. My kids have Core2Duo machines with 4gb ram and GTX280 and run all medium at 50-60fps at 1920x1080. Two identical machines run on the same settings and both get great frame rates and look good.

if your aiming for high setting, Dual Cores wont cut it.

[auritribe]

I beg to differ. My kids have Core2Duo machines with 4gb ram and GTX280 and run all medium at 50-60fps at 1920x1080. Two identical machines run on the same settings and both get great frame rates and look good.

Keep in min when you're spitting out GPU brands that the 2nd digit is a more accurate measurement of the raw power of the video card. The first digit (2) is the generation of card, but the 2nd digit (8) shows that it was a high end card during it's generation. Yes, it's an older card, but its a powerful older card.

2-4 Entry level / Consumer / bejeweled
4-6 Middle end Most games will work but not with everything maxed out
7-9 Max out everything, full anti aliasing and potential for multiple monitor rendering

Not entirely accurate, but that's the gist of it. Point is, the 280 is a powerful card so it should be no surprise the game runs well on that.

As far as cores go, most games even now still don't have a need for anything past two cores, last I checked. Still, we're getting to a point where games are starting to use those so whatever I'm saying will be meaningless in the coming months.