Does ARMA II support SLI?

[Louisville15 10]

I have three 470 SCs in Tri-SLI yet I only get 34fps avg in benchmark 1 with all settings on very high, visibility at default. Also, there is no change from 3 way SLI to 2 way SLI so I'm thinking something may not be working correctly. Anyone know for sure?

[celery 8]

The game isn't good at utilizing multiple cards.

[Louisville15 10]

Isn't that performance fairly bad though? Even for one 470? I see others getting better frames with inferior cards like the 5770 and 460.

[celery 8]

I don't know. It can also depend on your memory and cpu.

[Leon86 13]

Sli scaling with 3 gpu's is far from impressive. But yes, sli works. Arma tends to be more heavy on the cpu than on the gpu's but gpu power is nice to have for things like smoke.

To know if peformance should be better we'll need to know your cpu and its speed as well.

[Louisville15 10]

i7 930 @ stock gave me 34fps, @3.3 gave me 37, so something definitely is up with the GPUs

[Dwarden 1125]

it's always the other way around, does the driver support ARMA 2 / OA etc. ? :)

it should :)

[bangtail 0]

SLI works perfectly and has done fairly consistently since launch (there were a few teething problems in the first few weeks).

Edited April 29, 2011 by BangTail

[Louisville15 10]

it's always the other way around, does the driver support ARMA 2 / OA etc. ? :)

it should :)

Any idea why I'm getting relatively terrible performance? I'm using the 270.61 drivers, maybe I need to make a custom profile in the nVidia control panel?

[bangtail 0]

A: That's a low OC for 3 cards. You really want to be over 4.0Ghz.

B: Tri/Quad SLI scaling is not always that great.

C: Would be helpful to know your full spec and resolution/View distance etc :)

[Louisville15 10]

Ok, SLI definitely isn't working. I just disabled it and got 36fps in the benchmark.

---------- Post added at 02:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 AM ----------

A: That's a low OC for 3 cards. You really want to be over 4.0Ghz.

B: Tri/Quad SLI scaling is not always that great.

C: Would be helpful to know your full spec and resolution/View distance etc :)

A: I know, I'm waiting to push it until I get my WC setup. Even then, an overclock to 3.3ghz only added 3 fps, so something with the GPUs is messing up.

B: Tri-SLI has come a LONG way, especially with driver updates. The scaling is almost 90% in Metro across all 3 cards.

C. Here ya go:

i7 930 (stock)

EVGA e758-A1

3x EVGA 470 SC

6GB DDR3 G.Skill Ripjaws

Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)

Alienware OptX AW2310 @ 1920x1080 (120hz)

Settings I'm using for the benchmark: Everything at Very High, view distance at default.

Here is what I got so far as a result:

Tri-SLI = 34fps

Tri-SLI with CPU OC to 3.3 = 37fps

SLI with stock CPU = 34fps

SLI disabled with stock CPU = 36fps

On other forums people are getting better frames with 5770s and 460s, so something doesn't seem right. Also, another user got 58fps with the same settings with 580s in SLI (i7 920 stock), so I don't think I should be getting 34, especially after disabling 3-way SLI/SLI and getting almost identical performance.

[bangtail 0]

Do you have Afterburner installed to check the actual GPU usage per core?

Secondly, when you test your FPS, are you in a city or near a built up area? That is the one scenario where SLI won't do much as you are running into big CPU limitations.

PS: Tri/Quad SLI scaling isn't usually that good (we'll say a 'mixed bag') but there are exceptions (Metro being one of them).

Edited April 29, 2011 by BangTail

[Louisville15 10]

Do you have Afterburner installed to check the actual GPU usage per core?

Secondly, when you test your FPS, are you in a city or near a built up area? That is the one scenario where SLI won't do much as you are running into big CPU limitations.

PS: Tri/Quad SLI scaling is usually not good but there are exceptions (Metro being one of them).

I'm going by the "Benchmark 1", seems like an easy way to standardize my results.

And yeah, I have AB, I'll check the usage now...

---------- Post added at 02:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:13 AM ----------

Here's what it looks like:

[bangtail 0]

Ok, so SLI is definitely working, that's good :)

Do you have 'Post processing' maxed?

[Louisville15 10]

Ok, so SLI is definitely working, that's good :)

Do you have 'Post processing' maxed?

Yeah, but something is definitely up, the usage shouldn't look like an EKG, especially on GPU1. Post processing is maxed, yes.

[bangtail 0]

Yah, it definitely seems like something is wrong although SLI seems to be engaging.

I'm assuming it is working properly in other games?

What's your PSU?

[Louisville15 10]

Yah, it definitely seems like something is wrong although SLI seems to be engaging.

I'm assuming it is working properly in other games?

Yeah, 42fps in the Metro benchmark and it drops as I disable cards.

40fps in Just Cause 2 Concrete Jungle benchmark, everything maxed with 32xCSAA.

110fps in Bad Company 2, hbao on, everything maxed, 32xAA.

[bangtail 0]

Have you ever modified the Nvidia profile for ArmA 2?

Are you forcing AA through the driver as opposed to using the in game setting?

[Louisville15 10]

PSU is an OCZ ZX1250

---------- Post added at 02:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:40 AM ----------

Have you ever modified the Nvidia profile for ArmA 2?

Are you forcing AA through the driver as opposed to using the in game setting?

I'm using the in game settings for everything. ARMA 2 shows up in the nvcp but I have the settings on default, which lets the application decide for almost all settings.

[bangtail 0]

Ok, so you've never modified it.

ArmA 2 isn't liking something since it definitely seems to be specific to ArmA 2 from what you've said.

---------- Post added at 22:49 ---------- Previous post was at 22:48 ----------

Can you go on Utes (away from the base) and check your FPS with and without SLI enabled?

[Louisville15 10]

Ok, so you've never modified it.

ArmA 2 isn't liking something since it definitely seems to be specific to ArmA 2 from what you've said.

---------- Post added at 22:49 ---------- Previous post was at 22:48 ----------

Can you go on Utes (away from the base) and check your FPS with and without SLI enabled?

Where is that? I haven't played the game yet, just the benchmark (lol). Thanks for all of your help by the way, hopefully I can get this figured out. Insane frames in all of my other games have spoiled me, so it's hard to play at 30fps, especially when knowing that I should be getting more, ya know? Maybe a developer from the game (do they post here?) might know what is up.

[bangtail 0]

Ahh, you can access it through the editor.

This isn't a game where you are going to sustain even 60 FPS but you should be getting more than 36 at your settings.

[Louisville15 10]

Ahh, you can access it through the editor.

This isn't a game where you are going to sustain even 60 FPS but you should be getting more than 36 at your settings.

By away from the base, did you mean just around some trees? There weren't any structures around other than trees and bushes and I was getting high 40s-low 50s with Tri-SLI.

However, I did notice one thing that may be odd. The FPS never went above 60, which makes me think VSYNC is enabled, but I couldn't find an option to disable it in the settings. It never went above 60 even at the main menu, or when looking at the sky (would jump to 60, but would not go over). I know in others games VSYNC has caused issues, so maybe it is doing it here too?

[bangtail 0]

Just force it off in the NVCP.

And yes, just out in the boonies :)

[Louisville15 10]

Just force it off in the NVCP.

And yes, just out in the boonies :)

I did that, and got the same result.

High 40s/low50s, but it jumped really high when looking at the sky (as expected).

However, the benchmark only went to 36fps, and I'm guessing the 2fps jump is due to the frames greater than 60 at the beginning (had 70-80 for a few seconds, they were probably previously locked at 60 due to vsync).