Will-my-pc-run-Arma3? What cpu/gpu to get? What settings? What system specifications?

[shx 11]

would this run arma3?

It will - rudimentarily.

To get a somewhat enjoyable (singleplayer, for multiplayer substitute i3 with i5) experience, a top quarter i3 is the absolute minimum you need to add.

HUGE COOLER MASTER SILENT PRO 850 WATT PSU

850W for that setup? Even a preexisting 500W PSU from the Phenom X4 days is going to provide way more power than this needs.

[ieatmopwho 10]

It will - rudimentarily.

To get a somewhat enjoyable (singleplayer, for multiplayer substitute i3 with i5) experience, a top quarter i3 is the absolute minimum you need to add.

850W for that setup? Even a preexisting 500W PSU from the Phenom X4 days is going to provide way more power than this needs.

these arent mine. I only have a laptop right now but I really wanna start playing this game so I'm looking for something fairly cheap that can handle it.

Do these look any better? I dont know much about the guts of a PC thats why im asking you guys.

OS: Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM no repair discs)

Power Supply: CORSAIR Gaming Series GS600 600W ATX12V

Graphics Card: MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Heatsink: CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CWCH60) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155

Disk: LITE-ON DVD Burner

HDD: Western Digital Blue 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache

MB: GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68

RAM: 8GB G.1SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3

Edited February 22, 2015 by ieatmopwho

[Tankbuster 1746]

That's much better.

The game isn't going to look it's best on there, but it will be playable. What's goo is that the 1155 can take a better i7 at a later date.

This thread is massive and tl dr, so here's the basics.

The CPU is where this game is. By far the most important component is the CPU. Then you'll need a DX11 GPU. Any dx11 GPU is plenty powerful enough to display the most part of this game. Then you want decent memory, at least 4GB of it and a good HDD. SSD is even better.

That i5 is probably the minimum to make the game playable if you're prepared to make compromises on things like draw distance and graphics detail.

[shx 11]

Do these look any better?

Decent rig.

You won't get the fanciest graphics and highest draw distances, but you'll get a enjoyable experience.

Windows 8.1 Pro

Unless you specifically need some of the Pro-specific features, go for a Standard Windows 8 to save money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8_editions#Comparison_chart

LITE-ON DVD Burner

Same here, unless you've a specific usage in mind, just leave the optical drive out completely.

HDD: Western Digital Blue 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache

If you can spare the money, go for a SSD instead - you'll never think about using a HDD as system drive again.

[arma3newb 10]

Hi,

Not currently playing arma3 yet,trying to help a friend out. He's currently playing arma2 but wants to get into arma3. Arma2 plays fine on his outdated system ( phenomII 945 3.0ghz,4gigs ddr2,gf gtx 460).

I offered him some of my spare parts kicking around for free,mainly fx6300,with motherboard and 8 gigs ddr3 .We'd re-use his gf 460gtx until he can afford a new vid card.( I do have a 560ti for him if it helps).Was thinking a geforce 750ti would be affordable.

Would arma3 play acceptably on this system? What vid card is better for Arma3, geforce or radeon? I'm aware i5 is the way to go for this game,but it's not in budget. Is the i5 better when in multiplayer only or is it better in single player as well.

Thanks for any input/advice

[ieatmopwho 10]

Well that last PC already sold. Heres some new specs lol

1TB hard drive

XFX 5770 hd graphics card

MSI 970A-G45 motherboard (Crossfire Supported)

AMD Phenom II X4 3.00ghz Processor

8gb RAM

Standard CD/DVD drive

650W Power Supply

again..thanks for the help guys.

Edited February 22, 2015 by ieatmopwho

[arma3newb 10]

Hi,

Not currently playing arma3 yet,trying to help a friend out. He's currently playing arma2 but wants to get into arma3. Arma2 plays fine on his outdated system ( phenomII 945 3.0ghz,4gigs ddr2,gf gtx 460).

I offered him some of my spare parts kicking around for free,mainly fx6300,with motherboard and 8 gigs ddr3 .We'd re-use his gf 460gtx until he can afford a new vid card.( I do have a 560ti for him if it helps).Was thinking a geforce 750ti would be affordable.

Would arma3 play acceptably on this system ? or should he bite the bullet and buy an i5 combo?I'm aware i5 is the way to go for this game,but it's not in budget. Is the i5 better when in multiplayer only or is it better in single player as well?

Would a high clock i3 be better than the fx 6300?What vid card is better for Arma3, geforce or radeon?

Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong forum and offended anyone,but getting zero replies where I posted earlier just trying to help a friend out.

Thanks.

[kremator 1065]

Welcome to the forums. You've probably heard that Arma3 doesn't take any prisoners when it comes to hardware, so my advice is to buy the very best kit you can afford, otherwise you will have to degrade graphics options or have very low amounts of AI (both undesirable)

[arma3newb 10]

Welcome to the forums. You've probably heard that Arma3 doesn't take any prisoners when it comes to hardware, so my advice is to buy the very best kit you can afford, otherwise you will have to degrade graphics options or have very low amounts of AI (both undesirable)

Thanks for the reply,

Well thats just it, I have some free hardware for him, should I bother to give it to him? If I had an i5 combo i'd give it to him, but I don't, only the fx 6300 combo.He's on a budget and can afford to upgrade the vid card,but thats about it.So should I let him linger on Arma2 with his present hardware or give him what I've got and let him give Arma 3 a go??

[Nicholas 5]

Lots of people building budget systems in this thread. I see you already posted there, but it's only been a day. Give it some time and you'll have a reply.

[SandboxPlaya 10]

Hello, I bought the ARMA 3 supporter edition during the alpha, but haven't had a chance to play it on my own PC (only occasionally at work on a CAD workstation :P and my friend's gaming notebook) because my PC is 8 years old.

I'd like to build a new PC, but don't want to drop too much money on it because I don't think building an expensive killer PC right now sensible as everything currently on sale is outdated tech and new more powerful hardware coming in the next 2 years (stacked GPU RAM, Intel Skylake, AMD Zen) is going to make 4K gaming viable. Hence, my budget is limited for now:

AMD Athlon X4 860K (OC to 4.5 Ghz)

Nvidia GTX 960

8 GB RAM

Do you think this CPU will be good enough for ARMA after overclocking?

Does anybody have any experience running ARMA 3 on this CPU?

NOTE: I would like to play multiplayer, mostly CTI (warfare), so lots of AI and lots of players.

Edited February 24, 2015 by SandboxPlaya

[Jackal326 1181]

For ArmA I'd go with an Intel processor. I've read many bad things about AMD (in relation to ArmA), so I'd lean towards an Intel.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Jackal326

[Grains 10]

Mainboard:

• MSI 970A-G46
  

Processor:

• AMD FX-8350
  
• Socket AM3+
  

Graphic Card:

• GeForce GTX 760
  

Memory:

• 4 GB Ram
  

I can play on LOW with ~20 - 30 FPS... Can you help me?

[forteh 11]

At a pinch a first gen i5 @ 4ghz runs arma3 pretty well. I get 50fps on the benchmark @1080p with very high settings, typically 30-60 fps singleplayer and 20-50 fps multiplayer. That's with 8gb ram, a gtx660 and a crucial mx100 ssd.

You can pick up an i5 750 for £40 and a suitable board for overclocking (I use a gigabyte h55mud2h) for about £30. If you can stretch budget further pick up a 2500k, I believe that there is a measurable increase in performance going from 1st gen to 2nd gen core processors but not so much from 2nd to 4th.

[shx 11]

AMD Athlon X4 860K (OC to 4.5 Ghz)

Same as for Pentium Gxxxx builds: While it'll run the game, you're not going to have much fun, as frames will drop below 24 - even on low settings and a empty map. ((Don't even think about multiplayer, frames will stick below one in common modes.))

Arma 3 means either a i3 or a FX as a bare minimum (technically also better A-series ones).

Nvidia GTX 960

Arma 3 on budget systems isn't even close to that card. Unless you plan going for a higher tier i5 or above, a 750ti is enough.

Also, for several reasons, combining a nVidia GPU with a AMD CPU is suboptimal.

--

Since there are a couple of people trying to build a Arma3 rig at the lowest possible cost, here's what I consider the minimum rig for a somewhat enjoyable experience:

CPU (SP only): i3-4360/i3-4370

CPU (SP&MP): i5-4590/4670/4690 (plus K variants).

GPU (nVidia): GTX 750 Ti (plus non-Ti w/ 2GB VRAM)

GPU (AMD): R7 260 (w/ 2GB VRAM)

Mainboard with a matching socket and at least one PCIe3 slot 8x(e)/16x(m) (basically all ATX boards fit this, some smaller boards lack the 16x(m) part).

[chrisb 196]

Hello, I bought the ARMA 3 supporter edition during the alpha, but haven't had a chance to play it on my own PC (only occasionally at work on a CAD workstation :P and my friend's gaming notebook) because my PC 8 years old.

I'd like to build a new PC, but don't want to drop too much money on it because I don't think building an expensive killer PC right now sensible because everything on sale is outdated tech and new more powerful hardware coming in the next 2 years (stacked GPU RAM, Intel Skylake, AMD Zen) is going to make 4K gaming viable. Hence, my budget is limited:

AMD Athlon X4 860K (OC to 4.5 Ghz)

Nvidia GTX 960

8 GB RAM

Do you think this CPU will be good enough for ARMA after overclocking?

Does anybody have any experience running ARMA 3 on this CPU?

NOTE: I would like to play multiplayer, mostly CTI (warfare), so lots of AI and lots of players.

Regards your proposed pc. No one can tell if it will run fine or not, that's something we all find out after trying. However, I had for my A2 pc an Athlon IIx4 640 with a HD5850 2gb and it ran A2 great (its retired now). I put A3 on it at alpha release and ran tests, there are a few of those tests still on my channel. This is one here..

I recorded tests using msi-afterburner which would knock a good 20-30fps off the recording, but details are in many of the videos anyway.

Will that 860k run A3, nobody could tell you for sure, but just look around at test videos on YT for the same or similar pc's. Then you have to make your decision based on that..;)

[SandboxPlaya 10]

Any word on DX12 support for Arma 3?

It should help with this:

http://gamegpu.ru/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/ARMA%20III%20Alpha/test/arma%203%20proz%20amd.jpg (120 kB)

Look how awful core utilization the FX8 gets compared to that Phenom!!

In theory, the FX8 should be comparable to Sandy Bridge.

[mobile_medic 43]

That Phenom appears to have better core utilization b/c it is a dual core processor, and Arma only utilizes about 2 cores worth of cpu, regardless of how many you have. If you add the core utilization up on each of those processors in your benchmark, you will see that they each equal around 200%. This is the same thing with my i7. one core heavily used, and all the rest, add up to about another core worth of utilization.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Mobile_Medic
spelling

[forteh 11]

For information

I have just upgraded my cpu (again) this time to an i5 2500k, got it running happily at 4.8ghz and getting the following on the benchmark: -

High preset @ 1080p = 68 fps average

Ultra preset @ 1080p = 43 fps average

Completely maxes out @ 1080p = 13fps average :D

This is with 8gb ddr3 1600 and a bog standard 2gb gtx660.

I'm hoping to be able to push the processor to 5ghz, at 4.8 it's reaching around 71°C whilst stress testing so got a good deal of thermal overhead still to play with.

Played a brief 20 minutes of koth on a 40 man server and got from 30-60 fps, there are far more variables to consider with MP though.

edit: got the cpu to 5ghz and it made no more difference to the benchmark average fps, I guess the 4.8ghz is enough to max out the gtx660 :)

Edited March 14, 2015 by forteh

[Jolka 10]

Got an older laptop and was wondering if there's any chance that it could run Arma 3? It works fine with most of the games that I play and I just can't see myself getting a completely new system for a single game. I know it might be a stretch, but I'd be perfectly fine with something like 30 FPS on the lowest settings.

I'd also be interested in some of the mods like Epoch, Overpoch etc.

i5 430M 2.53 GHz

HD5650 650 MHz Core and 925 MHz Memory, 1GB VRAM

4GB DDR3 1066MHz

It's also running on a SSD.

Edit: Another thing I've heard is that the Arma series tend to be harder on the CPUs and I do have an option to get a cheapo upgrade to i5 580M (3.33 GHz). Would that be even worth it(considering that I'm stuck with that GPU and it might be the bottleneck)?

Edited March 15, 2015 by Jolka

[forteh 11]

I think you'll really struggle to have the game playable :(

Both of those processors are hyperthreading dual cores and will very quickly get swamped by arma. For reference I first played arma3 on an i3 530 @ 4.6 ghz with a gtx 260 and it really struggled sometimes in single player. Effectively the i5s you have listed are the same processor but much slower. I don't think either option will give you satisfactory results in afraid :(

[LagoTM 10]

I'm looking to get some better performance in Arma 3, specifically higher view distance and the usage of PIP. I've considered overclocking my CPU, but does it really have that great of an effect?

My specifications are as follows:

Processor - Intel Core i5 4670K, Haswell. 3.6 Ghz

Memory - 16 GB, DDR3. DRAM Frequency 666.1 MHZ

GPU - Nvidia Gefore GTX 780.

Motherboard - Sabertooth Z87.

Which parts should I upgrade for better performance?

Thank you,

Fion.

[forteh 11]

None of them, overclock the cpu as far as you can go, preferably 4.5ghz + and you will be running as best you can for arma :)

If you haven't got an ssd it's worth picking one up to help with stuttering and loading time; it won't help with fps though.

[TrapMacker 10]

Hi, here are my specs:

-Processor: AMD Phenom II N930 Quad-Core Processor 2.00 GHz

-RAM: 8 GB

-Operation sistem: Windows 7 64 bit

-Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 1GB

And here is my modem speedtest: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4246520541

As you see i've all the recommended specs for the game, my internet connection is good, but in the game, with all the video/graphic settings lowest as possible, i've ALWAYS maximum 10 fps. I've the lowest graphic options and i have always 10 fps, how is possible?! To increase fps on the computer i use Razer Game Booster, i set all the right startup parameters for the game and i gave to the game 7500 GB of ram and with Process Lasso i gave it the highest CPU and GPU priority but i've still 10 fps. Can you help me please? I'm desperate!

Edited March 27, 2015 by TrapMacker

[forteh 11]

Unfortunately the cpu just isn't man enough to run the game well, arma3 requires the fastest single core performance you can achieve - a 2.8ghz sandybridge i5 is the recommended cpu which is a good deal faster than your mobile phenom :(

Realistically arma doesn't start running really well until you get to 4+ghz intel quad core.

The best options you can alter to attempt to make the game playable would be to set view and object distance to minimum, object detail to minimum, shadows to high or above (below this setting the cpu handles them rather than the gpu) and all post process, pip, ambient occlusion turned off. I still wouldn't hold out too much hope unfortunately, I started playing arma3 on an i3 530 @ 4.6ghz and sometimes it was unplayable, switching to an i5 750 @ 4.2ghz more than doubled the framerates and further upgrading to an i5 2500k @ 4.7 has added another 20-30% fps.

edit: added to the above, the mobility 5650 isn't going to cut it; referencing toms hardware gpu heirachy it's well below the minimum 8800gt.

Edited March 27, 2015 by forteh