How long does FitGirl take to install GTA 5?

On average, installing the FitGirl repack of GTA 5 takes approximately 2 hours. However, install times can vary greatly depending on your system hardware and specs, ranging from as little as 1 hour for high end systems up to 4 hours for low end configurations.

The major factors impacting GTA 5 install times for FitGirl repacks include:

Hard Disk Drive vs Solid State Drive

Using a SSD instead of an older HDD can almost halve install times. As this Reddit user benchmarked, FitGirl GTA 5 took "1 hour 5 minutes" on their SSD compared to "2 hours" on their HDD. This is because SSDs provide faster read/write speeds to rapidly decompress files.

RAM Amount

Having sufficient RAM, ideally 16GB or greater, enables your system to efficiently queue file operations. Some users reported install times dropping from over 3 hours with 8GB RAM down to under 2 hours after upgrading to 16GB.

CPU Core Count and Processing Speed

Decompression relies heavily on the CPU. Newer processors with higher core counts and clock speeds will substantially speed up installs.

Background Processes Running

Having many other applications and services running while installing FitGirl repacks will compete for CPU resources and extend install times.

Based on aggregated user benchmarks across many forums and online communities, here is a breakdown of approximate install times by hardware configuration:

As you can see, upgrading to 16GB RAM or a SSD produces the most significant reductions in install time. Combining both brings installs down to around 1 hour.

Now that you understand the major factors at play, let‘s examine why FitGirl repacks require such long installs compared to default game downloads from Steam or other platforms.

Technical Explanation of FitGirl Repack Compression

FitGirl repacks achieve their extremely small download sizes of just 1/4 to 1/3rd normal game installs by utilizing custom compression algorithms configured for maximum efficiency. This advanced compression what enables a 60GB game like GTA 5 to be compressed down to a tiny 25GB FitGirl repack.

According to FitGirl herself in an interview with TorrentFreak, her repacks are "are easily compressed without any special work. So how long it takes depends only on a game‘s size."

The tradeoff for bandwidth savings comes in the form of install times. Decompressing all the heavily optimized archives and files is an extremely input/output intensive process that strains your storage drive and CPU. This is why SSD upgrades and sufficient RAM see such drastic reductions in install times.

Tips to Speed Up GTA 5 FitGirl Installation

If upgrading your hardware is not an option currently, try applying the following optimizations:

• Set the GTA 5 install process to "Very High" priority in Task Manager
• Ensure no other software is running during the install
• Temporarily disable internet connection
• Keep your laptop plugged in so power settings don‘t throttle CPU
• Restart your computer before beginning the install to clear any background tasks

Combining these software and OS tweaks can accelerate your FitGirl repack install by 10-20% typically.

For most users without bandwidth restrictions, foregoing FitGirl repacks by purchasing GTA 5 on Steam or Epic Games is the best way to minimize install time. As a benchmark, default GTA 5 downloads can fully install in under 30 minutes with decent hardware. However, actually downloading the full 80GB+ game files is not feasible for all.

There are always tradeoffs around download size, installation time, cost, and accessibility of acquiring games through various methods. FitGirl repacks occupy a niche appealing to budget gamers without unlimited broadband connectivity. For this audience, a longer install process may be an acceptable price to access AAA titles at minimal download size and zero financial cost.