Hardware upgrade

[Erwin23p 34]

Hello, some weeks ago I was thinking about buying the TrackIr5 (i'm still with that idea) but this awesome "controller" is not going to give me more FPS, and this is my main problem with Arma 3 so I prefer waiting a little bit and first upgrading something in my hardware.

I have a powerful PC, not the best, but Arma hates it xD I've got an i5-3570k 4.2Ghz, 8Gb, A3 installed in 250Gb SSD and a AMD R9 290 4Gb 1100Mhz/1350Mhz. With all that it is still not going well, I've got low FPS mainly in MP, but I lose too much FPS. Usually I have like 20-30Fps (acceptable) but a lot of times I have drops to 8-12Fps and I always had that, but now I'm playing a lot mp and it's annoying. I usually play: King of The Hill, Conquer and Annex and simulation missions with the clan (a lot of addons) but the most performance problems are in Koth and Conquer and Annex.

I don't know what to upgrade, CPU or GPU because my CPU at 4.2Ghz it's working well and my GPU is from the last year. Some people told me that the problem in my PC is the AMD GPU, they say to me that with Nvidia GPU it'd working better. But I prefer changing to a more powerful CPU before changing my R9 290. 

 

What shall I do?

[St. Jimmy 272]

What CPU cooler you've and what are your RAM specs? Try to OC your CPU as much as possible, at least 4.4GHz should be possible with almost any modern Intel CPU and with any Motherboard. The bad MP fps is because the mission is overpopulated and you might have set up too much view/object distance and also disabling PiP and Object Detail on Normal can help about the fps.

 

Don't upgrade your CPU yet. Wait for some time to see where things are going. Your CPU should be powerful for this game. Also CPU upgrade likely means you need to upgrade the Motherboard and very likely if you're going for Skylake or something that uses DDR4 even your RAM.

[someuser 10]

I've got an i5-3570k 4.2Ghz, 8Gb, A3 installed in 250Gb SSD and a AMD R9 290 4Gb 1100Mhz/1350Mhz. With all that it is still not going well, I've got low FPS mainly in MP, but I lose too much FPS. Usually I have like 20-30Fps (acceptable) but a lot of times I have drops to 8-12Fps and I always had that, but now I'm playing a lot mp and it's annoying. I usually play: King of The Hill, Conquer and Annex and simulation missions with the clan (a lot of addons) but the most performance problems are in Koth and Conquer and Annex.

I don't know what to upgrade, CPU or GPU because my CPU at 4.2Ghz it's working well and my GPU is from the last year. Some people told me that the problem in my PC is the AMD GPU, they say to me that with Nvidia GPU it'd working better. But I prefer changing to a more powerful CPU before changing my R9 290. 

 

What shall I do?

 

@erwin23p,

 

Your CPU is probably not the problem bud. And changing your CPU may be a bit costly since your ivy bridge is a socket 1155. Remember, clock speed is not the main determiner of performance. The architecture of the cpu is the main factor in performance. So after the ivy bridge is the haswell which has just been upgraded with the release of the skylake. Each processor "family" is a different chipset IE motherboard. So, unless you want to replace your mobo along with your cpu, I would stick with what you got. Sadly, your problem is likely your GPU. Most serious gamers these days rock the NVidia 9xx. Ideally a 980, but you can save a few $$$ with a 970 if you are not running resolutions higher than 1080. However, for 2k/4k you should probably opt for a 980 or even 980ti.

 

However, before you do anything, on multiplayer FPS can be bottlenecked by the server. So, even with a skylake + 980ti you very well may still have crappy frames on "lesser" servers. Hate to recommend you upgrade when it may not make a difference. Try some other severs / less populated servers to test.

 

just my two cents. Good luck!

   

[EO 11277]

Stick with what you've got and buy that TrackIR  :wub: .........it's a game-changer and a purchase you will not regret. :)

[Von Quest 1163]

Turn down and/or adjust your settings. Your PC is plenty powerful.

Buy the TrackIR5! Its about fun and immersion. TrackIR is AWESOME!

Most people seem to try and crank up their settings too high and/or

play with too high ping and over-populated MP games.

Max fun for your $ is the TrackIR5. Hands down. My 2¢.

[chrisb 196]

 

@erwin23p,

 

 Most serious gamers these days rock the NVidia 9xx. Ideally a 980, but you can save a few $$$ with a 970 if you are not running resolutions higher than 1080.

 

   

 

That is just misleading, the 290 is probably better than the 980, plus its a whole lot more financially worthwhile.

[St. Jimmy 272]

That is just misleading, the 290 is probably better than the 980, plus its a whole lot more financially worthwhile.

Actually 290 is not better than 970 but if you go for 4K resolution then they're pretty much equal. He said @1080p.

But 290 is a enough good beast for this game so I wouldn't upgrade that.

 

Buy the TrackIR5.

 

I'm just wondering your drops to 8-12fps. I played yesterday Annex in 40 man server and my fps was between 25-40. Got to wonder if it's actually the server or there's something else for you or maybe some mod makes those. But in 100 man KOTH server I can very well understand because it's just a mess.

[chrisb 196]

Actually 290 is not better than 970 but if you go for 4K resolution then they're pretty much equal. He said @1080p.

But 290 is a enough good beast for this game so I wouldn't upgrade that.

 

Buy the TrackIR5.

 

I'm just wondering your drops to 8-12fps. I played yesterday Annex in 40 man server and my fps was between 25-40. Got to wonder if it's actually the server or there's something else for you or maybe some mod makes those. But in 100 man KOTH server I can very well understand because it's just a mess.

http://www.hwcompare.com/18034/geforce-gtx-970-vs-radeon-r9-290/

 

http://www.hwcompare.com/18224/geforce-gtx-980-vs-radeon-r9-290/

[St. Jimmy 272]

http://www.hwcompare.com/18034/geforce-gtx-970-vs-radeon-r9-290/

 

http://www.hwcompare.com/16200/geforce-gtx-780-vs-radeon-r9-290/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/7

 

Depends on a game which one is better at higher resolutions than 1080p. That BF4 is an example where 290 is better but in other games it isn't everytime. It's better to watch review results because "...real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit."

[domokun 515]

Turn down and/or adjust your settings. Your PC is plenty powerful.

Buy the TrackIR5! Its about fun and immersion. TrackIR is AWESOME!

Most people seem to try and crank up their settings too high and/or

play with too high ping and over-populated MP games.

Max fun for your $ is the TrackIR5. Hands down. My 2¢.

Great advice. I have the same CPU as you and overclocked to the same speed. Honestly 4.2 is pretty good. I laso have an SSD and 8 GB of RAM. So that only leaves your GPU which is pretty good too. while I agree that a gtx 970 will offer you more performance, it won't be much more than an extra 5 fps. Which seems modest given that it will cost you €300 - resale of your R9 290. So ultimately I have to agree with the others:

1) tweak your settings in A3, e.g.

set Sampling @ 100%, set Texutre to Ultra, set Object Quality to Very High, lower Terrain Quality to High, set Shadow to Ultra, set Particles to Standard, lower Cloud Quality to Low, disable PiP, lower HDR to Low, set Dynamic Lights to Very High, lower Overall Draw Distance to 2600, lower Object Draw Distance to 1601, set SSAO to HDAO Very High, Caustics set to Disabled, FSAA: set to 4x, Alpha to Coverage: all grass, PPAA: FXAA Ultra, AA set to Ultra

IMHO this is the best A3 tweak guide on the Net: http://wiki.day0.com.au/ArmA_3_Performance_Tweaks_and_Settings_Guide

2) get that TiR5

 

ChrisB: I'd avoid hwcompare like the plague. Its purely speculative based on comparing numbers, rather than benchmarking using real applications. So best stick to reliable sites, e.g.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960,4038-4.html

[chrisb 196]

You see that's the problem, most of these players will turn down core settings. I run a 290 and just turn down VD, all the other core settings remain on the highest. It is what your running whole setup wise, if your having bad performance with your setup, look inwards at what else is running whilst your trying to play MP. Or, indeed look at using a better or private server.

Real world can only guide from spec, then you show your pics and fps, which I have many times on these forums, others never do.

[Erwin23p 34]

Hello again, so the main thing is to let my PC like this and just buy TrackIr5? I have to say that when I said to change the CPU i was knowing that I would have to buy another MB and new Ram. So for that I'm going to wait to see what brings the i7-7xxx generation (that I don't know the name xD) and then I'll buy a nice 200€ MB and 16Gb of ram, and for the GPU I was thinking to wait for the Artic Island series of AMD, but my friend continues to say to me that the game runs A LOT better with Nvidia  :huh:
A weird thing of the game, is: if a put the settings almost all the the lower and then almost all to the higher (don't say anything about sampling, that just kill your pc) is almost the same FPS.
I have some benchmarks videos I've made to see the error I have with GPU/CPU usage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFkuzZqWms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svjsHOA4uXc

And here one of my gameplays in King of the hill when sometimes you can see the FPS drops (without GPU and CPU usage stats)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl1EUK0UVQ4

[St. Jimmy 272]

Hello again, so the main thing is to let my PC like this and just buy TrackIr5? I have to say that when I said to change the CPU i was knowing that I would have to buy another MB and new Ram. So for that I'm going to wait to see what brings the i7-7xxx generation (that I don't know the name xD) and then I'll buy a nice 200€ MB and 16Gb of ram, and for the GPU I was thinking to wait for the Artic Island series of AMD, but my friend continues to say to me that the game runs A LOT better with Nvidia  :huh:

A weird thing of the game, is: if a put the settings almost all the the lower and then almost all to the higher (don't say anything about sampling, that just kill your pc) is almost the same FPS.

I have some benchmarks videos I've made to see the error I have with GPU/CPU usage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFkuzZqWms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svjsHOA4uXc

And here one of my gameplays in King of the hill when sometimes you can see the FPS drops (without GPU and CPU usage stats)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl1EUK0UVQ4

Are you really playing with those view/object distances? I usually play with 1000-1600m Object Distance and 1500-3000m View Distance. I usually lower it when I go in MP to that 1500/1000m and also I lower Object Detail to Standard.  I mean no wonder if you get that bad fps and maybe some people are complaining about bad fps when you go that much overkill with those.

 

I also noticed in today Annex session that if you see that your fps drops, then playing with Object Distance you can get the fps back. You might need to lower it a bit or sometimes just going back and forth is enough and later you can increase it.

[Erwin23p 34]

Are you really playing with those view/object distances? I usually play with 1000-1600m Object Distance and 1500-3000m View Distance. I usually lower it when I go in MP to that 1500/1000m and also I lower Object Detail to Standard.  I mean no wonder if you get that bad fps and maybe some people are complaining about bad fps when you go that much overkill with those.

 

I also noticed in today Annex session that if you see that your fps drops, then playing with Object Distance you can get the fps back. You might need to lower it a bit or sometimes just going back and forth is enough and later you can increase it.

Not anymore, in KoTH it automatically set the distance to 1500 inf and 2000 air I think, and in Conquer and Annex I have it very low I think 1500 (in server settings)