Arma 2 AMAZING disk read speed and IOs - 813MB/sec & 3000 IOPS

[sailindawg 0]

I'm using fancycache now and I like it better than a ram drive. The ram drive is too limiting. FC gives the entire system a boost, not just one program. With FC, the ram cache is available for use with any program. ARMA2 OA certainly uses that cache as well. I'm using 4G for cache and it's fully utilized. ARMA no longer uses the page file from what I can tell after running Win 7's Resource Monitor.

[reconteam 19]

You guys really make me and my two 10,000 RPM HDDs feel primitive. Like scraping 1s and 0s into a rock primitive. My next comp will have a SSD for sure.

[sailindawg 0]

lolz. I'm still running two RaptorX's in RAID 0. That's been my venerable game drive. I'm running ARMA off my 64G Corsair SSD by way of symbolic link. Both my SSD & Raptor raid are set to cache to ram via Fancy Cache. The "old" raptor raid array loads Bad Company 2 very well with FancyCache. FC on the raid improves the raids performance.

[cjph 0]

So, excuse the technical ignorance, but does FancyCache improve performance over a big RAMDisk ? Surely if most of the Arma2 addons and mods are already on a RAMDisk where could a performance increase come from ? With 24Gb you could run a 20Gb RAMDisk and put everything on it (12 is too limited for addons, DLC, ACE and a handful of islands but it would fit on 20).

[frogblastvent 10]

It will improve over an ramdisk that contains ArmA in that a ramdisk is just a fast disk. Once ArmA loads it spends most of its time going to cache. If you have enough ram you could do both or get a small 30gig SSD and put ArmA on that and use the ram for FC. The ArmA ramdisk is a great idea and does speed up the game, but FC speeds up the game and the OS.

[wasserkool 1]

Over the weekend I am going to setup my LG 2011 Sandy Bridge E system (3930K) with Radeon 6970 in crossfire to retest this game.

---------- Post added at 11:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:33 PM ----------

Where did you make the benchmark(map, position)?

Could you make a video, please? I really want to see how smooth is it.

Something like this:

Sorry for the late reply - this was tested at the Chenarus big airport using the Shooting range add-in.

All my test are done using 2560X1600 and if I capture video while testing it will lag like crazy.

[Dwarden 1125]

tell us how 1.60 improved the 'load' :)

[wasserkool 1]

Man...I am not sure if its a combination of new patch + my new computer but I am finally hitting the coveted 60 fps at 2560X1600! The load time is SUPER QUICK too!

Below is my new system specs - all in the name of Arma:

Core i7-3960K | Asus P9X79-WS | 32 GB G.Skill RipJaws | AMD Radeon HD 6970 CrossFire | OCZ Vertex 3 MaxIOPS 240 GB OS Drive | OCZ Vertex 3 MaxIOPS 120GB X 3 RAID 0 App Drive | LSI SAS 6 Gbps | NEC PA301W X2 Dual Monitor | Fractal Define XL | Koolance CPU-370 | Laing DDC Dual Pump | Mora 2 Pro Radiator

[vuckotadic 10]

wasserkool, Your PC is beast! :bounce3:

Edited December 29, 2011 by vuckotadic
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[Tundra4PS 1]

so, is the ramdrive thing still helpful?

I currently prefer buying some RAM than a SSD disk.

[wasserkool 1]

I am very certain that a RAMdisk will be SEVERAL times faster than an SSD. If you can equip your system with 32GB of RAM and dedicate the entire 16 GB to ARMA 2 I am sure the game will fly!

[Tundra4PS 1]

Right now I only have 4 Gb of RAM. According to my tests, up to 70% of them are used while playing Combined Operations.

I'm seriously wondering updating up to 8 Gb DDR3-1600 stuff, setting 4 Gb normal RAM and a 4 Gb ramdisk.

[wasserkool 1]

Right now I only have 4 Gb of RAM. According to my tests, up to 70% of them are used while playing Combined Operations.

I'm seriously wondering updating up to 8 Gb DDR3-1600 stuff, setting 4 Gb normal RAM and a 4 Gb ramdisk.

You should definitely get more RAM and they are very cheap nowadays. I would aim minimum 8 GB unless of course you are only using a 32 bit OS.

[cjph 0]

Worth noting some RAMDisk programs will take advantage of RAM above the 3Gb limit on 32 bit OS, so is still an option for most people. Check it out first though - I used to have a 4Gb RAMdisk on an 8Gb system under 32bit XP before moving to W7 64.

cj

[Tundra4PS 1]

You should definitely get more RAM and they are very cheap nowadays. I would aim minimum 8 GB unless of course you are only using a 32 bit OS.

Thanks. Yes, I'm using w7 64b

[Punisher5555 0]

1. Using Steam version. (Launch Arma 2: Combined Operations.)

2. 32 GB RAM

3. 24.5 GB RAMDISK using SuperSpeed RamDisk+ (set as F: drive).

4. Startup params with ALL .pbo's in RAMDRIVE.

f:\expansion\addons;f:\arma2\addons;f:\common;f:\baf\addons;f:\pmc\addons

Is this still the proper way to load the .pbo's from RAMDISK now version 1.60 reads the Arma2/BAF/PMC from registry?

Are those the correct directories to have in the RAMDISK to cover EVERYTHING?

How do I know if Arma2:OA is using the .pbo's from the RAMDISK first and not the hard drive?

[froggyluv 2136]

How do I know if Arma2:OA is using the .pbo's from the RAMDISK first and not the hard drive?

Theres probably a better way but I always copied the orignal files to a new backup folder then deleted the ones in the standard Arma/addons.

[wasserkool 1]

Man it looks like on will need 64GB of system RAM to allocate enough RAM for the entire ARMA 2 CO + addons lol...

[Punisher5555 0]

Theres probably a better way but I always copied the orignal files to a new backup folder then deleted the ones in the standard Arma/addons.

I will try that.

Does it look like I have all the right folders? Am I missing anything?

My 24.5 GB RAMDISK covers all of Arma2 and my @islands (pretty much every map out there), shacktac hud, CBA.

Superspeed has a nice "image" option. Takes about to clicks to "restore" the contents of the drive.

[Punisher5555 0]

Game is simply amazing when the whole thing is running from RAM.:biggrin_o:

[domokun 515]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but how much faster is DDR3 RAM compared to a recent SSD?

The reason I ask is that while SSDs have dropped in price, the real drop has been for DDR3 RAM.

So if I take today's prices:

Crucial 64GB M4 SSD with SATA 3.0 = €90

Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) PC3-12800 (1600 MHz) DDR3 RAM = €80

So I guess the question really is "Is RAM x4 faster than an SSD" ?

And how do they compare to a decent (72000rpm) HDD?

[Trracer 10]

In reply to OP...

How much difference do you think the SAS controller made for the RAID0 performance? Earlier last autumn I built an Arma-rig around a MSI P67A-GD65 REV B3. (the goodies are dual GTX 590's in quad SLI and 3x 24" monitors for some widescreen gaming in 5760x1200 resolution).

I'm running 2x Vertex3 120GB max IOPS in raid0 off the controller on my MSI P67A-GD65 REV B3 mainboard and I get around the same numbers as you in HD Tune.

[Punisher5555 0]

All I know is that with the game in RAM there is no "loading/streaming". At least none that I can tell. Everything is just "there". No texture/LOD popping. No screen loading or anything. No matter I fast my vehicle/airplane is traveling. Everything is just "there".

Example: When I start a mission as soon as I click the button, boom!, you start. Instant load. Took me by surprise the first time.

Just think if the game was 64bit and had access to all this RAM naturally.:eek:

[Terminal_Meltdown 1]

Man...I am not sure if its a combination of new patch + my new computer but I am finally hitting the coveted 60 fps at 2560X1600! The load time is SUPER QUICK too!

Below is my new system specs - all in the name of Arma:

Core i7-3960K | Asus P9X79-WS | 32 GB G.Skill RipJaws | AMD Radeon HD 6970 CrossFire | OCZ Vertex 3 MaxIOPS 240 GB OS Drive | OCZ Vertex 3 MaxIOPS 120GB X 3 RAID 0 App Drive | LSI SAS 6 Gbps | NEC PA301W X2 Dual Monitor | Fractal Define XL | Koolance CPU-370 | Laing DDC Dual Pump | Mora 2 Pro Radiator

This thread pleases me :) I, too, will be shoving the entire game up the RAM's yaaaahooo. I'm stilling waiting on stock to order the 3930k in the U.S.. Our stores seem to have run dry :(

You are talking about Arma 2, right? I'm drooling thinking about Arma 3

Edited January 18, 2012 by Terminal_Meltdown

[jiltedjock 10]

You must remember that even if your PBOs are stored on a Ramdisk, the game will still cache to your paging file over time - the application only has access to < 2GB RAM from Windows whether it is on 32 or 64 bit. You would be best to have a Ramdisk that has both the PBOs and your page file on it.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=88629&page=44