Low FPS count on good specs

[playdewu 10]

Hello guys.

I just bought ARMA II Combined Operations and install DayZ Mod and I got problem with low FPS count.

 

That's my specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz

RAM: 8GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz

GPU: AMD Radeon HD 5850 1GB DDR5

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

 

On pretty clear terrain i have ~30 FPS. In cities or other terrains with more textures FPS drops to ~20.

My ingame settings:

http://i.imgur.com/Khsb1Cm.jpg

 

Additional parameters:

-cpuCount=4 -maxthreads=7 -maxMem=6048

 

For example in newest Witcher 3: Wild Hunt got stable 30 FPS at high details, so what is wrong with this game called Arma II since 2009?!

Next ex. is Battlefield 3 runs on Ultra settings   :wacko:

 

Ah! One more thing. I noticed that in Arma my GPU is pretty cold compared to temperature in ex. Witcher. It looks that my graphic card doesn't use all power in Arma. Bottleneck? I've readed before build my PC, that Q6600 won't bottleneck 5850, so.. help me  :(

[Tankbuster 1747]

Good specs PC? I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed with Arma on that machine.

 

The Q6600 is 8 years old. It was good in it's day - I had one, but I wouldn't dream of running an Arma game on it.

 

I don't know anything about AMD GPUs, but a quick google shows that your 5850 is 3 years old and wasn't all that special when it was new.

 

You *might* get a couple of FPS back by taking your view distance back below 1000. Put the detail settings to low.

[playdewu 10]

So at the first check what 5850 is it. It's one of most powerful graphics card from AMD to 7850 which is little better in tests.
What's wrong with Q6600? 2,4 per CPU, 8MB Cache L2, dude.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2766754 - this guy runs Arma on laptop with 45-50 FPS in multi. His GPU is shitty integrated.

Comparisions:

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=773&gid2=419&compare=radeon-hd-7670m-vs-radeon-hd-5850-1024mb

http://www.game-debate.com/cpu/index.php?pid=870&pid2=19&compare=core-i5-2450m-2-5ghz-vs-core-2-quad-q6600-2-4ghz

 

You can google maany examples, where someone runs Arma at hight details with higher FPS count.

http://www.moddb.com/forum/thread/arma-2-ultimate-tweak-thread(Q6600 and older GTX 260 than mine card).

[Mirek 166]

Graphic card doesnt matter that much in Arma. I have Pretty bad graphic card (GTX560) and i still have Stable 50-60FPS but i have I7-4790 4GHz CPU.  Your problem is the CPU anything below 3GHz will suck in arma. I had 2,8GHz CPU before with the same GPU and I had 12-25 FPS .

 

Also lot of servers especialy DAYZ servers often run badly optimized missions Because on top of the DAYZ mod they add Huge ammoutnt of often badly done Custom weapons packs, custom buildings packs, Custom vehicle Packs, fancy but poorly written scripts, etc. and/or they clutter the map with million of car wrecks (car wrecks are real FPS killers in arma), or other purely cosmetic objects.

 

So my Advice is either choose your servers really carefully or Upgrade your CPU a lot (avoid AMD).

 

Also i agree with the prvious guy, Your PC is not good, but dont worry mine isnt either. Good PCs are awfully expensive. :-)

[djotacon 190]

The main problem with your setup is related with your - relative - low CPU frecuency.

 

2.4 ghz is too low to play in Arma 2 / 3

 

My advice:

 

Buy a good cpu cooler and make an overclock to raise the CPU strenght to 3.0 or 3.2 MHZ.

 

This is a video of Arma 3 using a Core 2 duo OC 3.2 and a old 550ti:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s63b5Tgu2IY

 

Another solution to play is reduce you distance view to 1000-1500m.

 

An optimal setup to your CPU will be:

 

Distance view 1000-1500.

Object Standard Quality

Terrain Standard Quality

Filters: All low - or removed -

 

But the OC is the better solution to achive more fps.

[Tankbuster 1747]

So at the first check what 5850 is it. It's one of most powerful graphics card from AMD to 7850 which is little better in tests.

What's wrong with Q6600? 2,4 per CPU, 8MB Cache L2, dude.

The GPU is irrelevant, to be honest.

 

You might get some overclock from the Q6600, but you have to remember, a Q6600 at 2.4 doesn't nearly equal an i5 or an i7 at 2.4. Not even close.

 

Quote all the synthetic comparisons you like, real world experience predicts exactly what you report, low FPS when using old CPUs.

 

The above said, there's more to it of course. You want to play dayz, which is essentially a coop mission with a big mod and a load of custom scripts. This is really hard on the players computer. As you have found, you get half decent performance in some missions, but in others, you really struggle. That's the Arma way, I'm afraid.

[chrisb 196]

Your 5850 is more than enough, I had the 2gb Toxic version, its a very underestimated card on the whole. It is as others have said down to ghz probably. I ran A2 on an Athlon 640 with the card I mentioned on the highest settings for quite a while, it ran great. But yes, VD has to be 1500-2000 max on the ground, a lot more in the air though ;).

But my old Athlon was a 3.4ghz and ran like the wind to be honest, so I was very pleased, it was stock @3.0ghz but I oc'ed it just to make sure. I think do what others have said and that is to OC your 2.4 and go from there. If you can't OC it yourself, a savvy computer shop, or looking at the ads in the local paper, will usually find someone that can do it for you. I think do that and you'll be pleasantly surprised. ;)

[domokun 515]

The GPU is irrelevant, to be honest.

 

You might get some overclock from the Q6600, but you have to remember, a Q6600 at 2.4 doesn't nearly equal an i5 or an i7 at 2.4. Not even close.

 

Quote all the synthetic comparisons you like, real world experience predicts exactly what you report, low FPS when using old CPUs.

 

The above said, there's more to it of course. You want to play dayz, which is essentially a coop mission with a big mod and a load of custom scripts. This is really hard on the players computer. As you have found, you get half decent performance in some missions, but in others, you really struggle. That's the Arma way, I'm afraid.

Good advice. Indeed, in Arma 3 (like most sims), the biggest impact on performance is the CPU. The Q6600 is a quad-core CPU running at 2.4 GHz. That's very slow by today's standards. If you want increased performance try these options:

1. Optimise Arma using these tried and tested tweaks:

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/82848-arma2-oa-low-performance-issues/page-72#entry2040387

2. Increase your CPU's speed:

2a. No money for upgrade? Try overclocking that Q6600. It should reach 3.0 GHz using the stock cooler. Higher speed are possible (3.3, even 3.6) but you'll need after-market HSF, e.g. Hyper 212 EVO @ $30.

2b. Invest a little & overclock = cheapest H81 motherboard (MSI H81M-P33 @ $50) + cheapest Intel Pentium (G3258 @ $65) for a total of $115. You should be able to push to her 4.0 GHz. 4.2 if you invest in HSF (see above). This build offers more details:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/3asssv/build_help_ready_to_create_my_first_build_the_650/

2c. Worried about overclocking but prepared to pay 50% more = cheap H81 motherboard (ASRock H81M-HDS @ $57) + fastest Intel Core i3 (4170 @ $113) for a total of $170.

Hope that helps