ATI 6970 + DEFAULT VRAM setting in Arma 2 and OA = unplayble

[NeuroFunker 11]

I can play arma's smooth with very high details, but game becomes barely playable, if i set in game VRAM setting to DEFAULT. Arma 1.11v/ Arma OA 1.60v.

What i could figure out was: if i have VRAM setting to very high (this is where i can play game smooth with very high details) GPU usage is between 75-90% and GPU vram usage is 760mb max, and CPU usage ist around 50-60%.

If i set VRAM to DEFAULT, GPU usage jumps to 100% (no matter what scene if i look at the sky or in to grass) and VRAM usage goes to 950MB. But funny thing that CPU usage drops about 10% down, to 40-50%. I tried about 5 different ATI driver versions, and it changed nothing, still same issue.

Having game playable with default vram setting is important for me, cause it doesn't reload all textures from scratch, when i do minimize Arma, and i'm not in need to wait about 2 minutes, untill all textures are loaded.

Is anybody here, having same videocard as mine - ATI 6950 or 6970, and do you have same issue as i do?

Any help?

Edited April 12, 2012 by NeuroFunker

[kklownboy 43]

I would say your HDD is holding you back when using Default. Are you using a Pagefile?

[NeuroFunker 11]

nop. I have 7,6 windows 7 HDD bench score.

[MavericK96 0]

Strange issue, though I've heard of people having problems with 69xx series cards in ArmA2/OA in general.

I'm not sure why setting it to "Very High" would cause a total VRAM dump on minimize and "Default" wouldn't, though.

I will say that, while your HDD is not necessarily slow, upgrading to an SSD was one of the best improvements in performance for ArmA2/OA for me personally. Texture streaming and loading of the game and textures in general is MUCH faster. It may be worth looking into.

[.kju 3245]

Might be related to this:

https://dev-heaven.net/issues/24675

Or this:

https://dev-heaven.net/issues/16714

In short probably faulty VRAM detection.

[NeuroFunker 11]

hmm thx. well yeah, happened on all driver versions i installed over last year period, and also CAP's.

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=3;

HDRPrecision=32;

lastDeviceId="";

localVRAM=2124959744;

nonlocalVRAM=1877524480;

this is what i have in both arma 2 and OA. I have with very high vram setting.

[rob151515 10]

I can play arma's smooth with very high details, but game becomes barely playable, if i set in game VRAM setting to DEFAULT. Arma 1.11v/ Arma OA 1.60v.

What i could figure out was: if i have VRAM setting to very high (this is where i can play game smooth with very high details) GPU usage is between 75-90% and GPU vram usage is 760mb max, and CPU usage ist around 50-60%.

If i set VRAM to DEFAULT, GPU usage jumps to 100% (no matter what scene if i look at the sky or in to grass) and VRAM usage goes to 950MB. But funny thing that CPU usage drops about 10% down, to 40-50%. I tried about 5 different ATI driver versions, and it changed nothing, still same issue.

Having game playable with default vram setting is important for me, cause it doesn't reload all textures from scratch, when i do minimize Arma, and i'm not in need to wait about 2 minutes, untill all textures are loaded.

Is anybody here, having same videocard as mine - ATI 6970 or 6970, and do you have same issue as i do?

Any help?

I agree with the op, I also have a 6970 and there is definitely something odd going on with the default memory setting. If I switch to Very High memory my frame rate picks up significantly but I start getting lots of textures popping in all over the place. As soon as I set it to Default, my texture problems are gone but so is my frame rate. :(

[rob151515 10]

Everyone here has been so helpful I thought I should update in case it helps someone else. Was having same problems as op except I have 2 x 6970 in cfx. If I tried to use Default my FPS suddenly dropped 10 or more and it became quite stuttery. Yesterday I purchased a 60 gb Vetex 3 SSD, moved my arma 2 folder over to it and now it seems I can use Default without issues. Only fps issues i've noticed now are when there is a lot of vegetation to render but the gpus are going flat out so thats understandable. Still doing testing but so far its looking very promising.

[NeuroFunker 11]

Everyone here has been so helpful I thought I should update in case it helps someone else. Was having same problems as op except I have 2 x 6970 in cfx. If I tried to use Default my FPS suddenly dropped 10 or more and it became quite stuttery. Yesterday I purchased a 60 gb Vetex 3 SSD, moved my arma 2 folder over to it and now it seems I can use Default without issues. Only fps issues i've noticed now are when there is a lot of vegetation to render but the gpus are going flat out so thats understandable. Still doing testing but so far its looking very promising.

nice report, i was thinking of getting an SSD myself. But a friend told me, HDD+SSD combination isn't a good idea, since HDD will hold SSD back. He recommended HDD+HDD0 RAID or SSD+SDD RAID1.

[PuFu 4600]

nice report, i was thinking of getting an SSD myself. But a friend told me, HDD+SSD combination isn't a good idea, since HDD will hold SSD back. He recommended HDD+HDD0 RAID or SSD+SDD RAID1.

that friend of yours is not a technical person if he said that.

If you have your OS and game files on the SSD, and use the HDD for all your other storage needs, how can one affect the other? I'll tell you what, it simply doesn't...

[NeuroFunker 11]

that friend of yours is not a technical person if he said that.

If you have your OS and game files on the SSD, and use the HDD for all your other storage needs, how can one affect the other? I'll tell you what, it simply doesn't...

actually he is. I did check you rig in signature, i saw HDD+HDD raid and just 1HDD. So how can you know, what he said it's not true? Anyone here with SSD+HDD combo?

[Lampoil1 1]

actually he is. I did check you rig in signature, i saw HDD+HDD raid and just 1HDD. So how can you know, what he said it's not true? Anyone here with SSD+HDD combo?

I have just built PC with O/S on SSD and Arma2 on seperate HDD and the set up works ok, however I have Nvidia GTX650ti card and if I am not mistaken have the same issues with the vram. 2nd SSD for games maybe the way forward.

Just loaded Carrier Command and frames drop when on islands with lots of trees/veg.

[NeuroFunker 11]

I have just built PC with O/S on SSD and Arma2 on seperate HDD and the set up works ok, however I have Nvidia GTX650ti card and if I am not mistaken have the same issues with the vram. 2nd SSD for games maybe the way forward.

Just loaded Carrier Command and frames drop when on islands with lots of trees/veg.

hm, why wouldn't you try to install arma on SSD?

[Lampoil1 1]

hm, why wouldn't you try to install arma on SSD?

I intended to keep the SSD (120gb) for o/s and office etc and use 2 HDD for games and storage, I first set it up in a raid0 but bought the SSD and changed my mind.

You have me thinking now, I might un-install and re-install on the SSD with the O/S, only concerns I have is I thought it was better to have O/S on seperate drive.

Anyone else have Arma2 on SSD with O/S.

[kremator 1065]

I have win7 and Arma2 on SSD, everything else on HDD. I run a GTX 570 and have NO problems whatsoever.

[rob151515 10]

To be honest, I wanted to re-install the OS and Arma 2 onto the SSD but I'm too lazy and have a very tiny SSD! Like I said, initial impressions seem pretty good but I haven't had much of a chance to test it out yet.

[Lampoil1 1]

hm, why wouldn't you try to install arma on SSD?

After purchasing ArmaX end of last week I re-installed Arma onto the SSD and there is a big difference, all settings are now on very high and the game runs much smoother, the only negative was a few game crashes where windows stated "Arma has stopped responding" this was after hours and hours of testing/playing so may/may not be related to SSD, I never experienced them before.

Another SSD heading this way.

[NeuroFunker 11]

After purchasing ArmaX end of last week I re-installed Arma onto the SSD and there is a big difference, all settings are now on very high and the game runs much smoother, the only negative was a few game crashes where windows stated "Arma has stopped responding" this was after hours and hours of testing/playing so may/may not be related to SSD, I never experienced them before.

Another SSD heading this way.

happens to me too sometimes, using a HDD only here.