How did I not know about this game!!!

[i2IDIUM 1]

I started playing online shooters when I saw my brother playing COD4, since then I have been hooked. However, recently things have grown stale. COD is now so popular all you ever run into is new players and its rarely a challenge. I started playing competitively in MW2 in underground competitive websites as well as gamebattles. While I still enjoy the former, GB is just full of whiny children who try to get a win no matter what. BF3 is... not what I hoped it would be. Recently bought a i5 2500k/SSD/8GB RAM (still working on a video card) rig about 2 months ago. Somehow the other day I stumbled across an ArmA video on youtube (while watching a BF3 video)... and was BLOWN away.

I am posting this thread not just to tell you about how excited I am about this game, but I need some help.

I have acquired a broken 9600 GT from a friend; just need a capacitor to be replaced. Will this run it? I imagine it will be a bit of a bottleneck.

I do want to get something decent that can run ArmA 2 great and will run 3 good as well. ~$140. Any suggestions.

Thanks :)

[tpw 2315]

Welcome to the Arma2 club! Hanging around on this forum for any length of time will demonstrate to you that Arma2 does indeed have pretty hefty hardware requirements, in order to pull off it's ambitious scope.

I have a Core 2 duo E6750, 2Gb RAM and a GTX460 card. I can get between 30 and 60fps on most maps but the framerate will drop if things get hectic.

My advice is to get the best GFX card you can afford (you should be able to get a GTX460 or better for $140). It'll make the game that much nicer, and help future-proof it.

Enjoy!

[metalcraze 290]

ArmA2 is more CPU dependent if anything (except on Chernarus) but your CPU is alright. It will be a good idea to overclock it if you know how to 4 GHz+ if you will feel like you are not getting enough FPS in really intense missions.

Get yourself GTX560Ti or better. Just don't go overboard with viewdistance and you should be fine on high settings.

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Well I have A2/OA also on my secondrig which is just a E6600 with a GT250, and can get quite playable frames out of it so I don't doubt that your $140 will buy a card that will do the job, esp' on top of an i5 and SSD. Just keep in mind when adjusting your settings that you are after the best playable frames, not the highest possible frames when all your settings are maxed out. That would be a mistake.As for A3, that base should be good start, and I'd guess that a $140 card should do (guessing your in the states or Aus), actually I just spotted a GTX550 2GB, for a few dollars more that I might splash out on my self. Just remember what the folks around here say about video settings and you should be fine.

[special_air_service 10]

yes Geforce 9600 GT still can do the job but not for ArmA III , until you get best video card that matching your budget meanwhile use Geforce 9600 GT :)

It is obviously bottleneck but you can still use it for ArmA II.

[i2IDIUM 1]

@metalcraze: Once I get a aftermarket cooler I will :) My Asus board has an autotune feature where it automatically overclocks.

In regards to video cards on the market, do you guys think the 560 Ti will drop in price when the 660s release? If so, how much?

[Guest]

Good to see yet another new happy player :)

For questions related to what hardware to get to play the game you should use this sticky topic in the Q&A section:

- Will my PC Run this? What CPU/GPU to get? What settings? System Specifications.