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

[teabagginpeople 398]

7 hours ago, FlamyMind said:

So I got a "reccomandation" to come here.

I bought the game, I love it, but im playing altis life with 20-30 fps in the city and 40-50 fps outside the city. And thats pretty unplayable for me.

On ultra or low settings, the fps doesnt change.

I tried some videos and guides but nothing changes.

 

With a gtx 970, 16 ram and I7 6700....I should be able to have decent fps since there are worst pcs that get more fps than I do.

 

Whats the problem?

 

Have pretty much same rig. 

 

Arma can be finiky like that. 

 

All the scripts and mods in altis life don't help and mostly ran on shitty servers.

 

Decent servers with proper made game modes ( not lots of hack job scripts) you can probably average 45 + fps. 

 

If you are expecting to be getting a solid 60 fps outside an empty editor.  You may want to find another game to play won't matter the rig. 

[teabagginpeople 398]

7 hours ago, FlamyMind said:

So I got a "reccomandation" to come here.

I bought the game, I love it, but im playing altis life with 20-30 fps in the city and 40-50 fps outside the city. And thats pretty unplayable for me.

On ultra or low settings, the fps doesnt change.

I tried some videos and guides but nothing changes.

 

With a gtx 970, 16 ram and I7 6700....I should be able to have decent fps since there are worst pcs that get more fps than I do.

 

Whats the problem?

 

Could be rhe server the mountains of scripts. 

 

Have you tried many other mission game modes things like that. 

 

Regardless of the rig.If you are expecting a solid 60 fps outside an empty editor.  Arma is not the game for you.

[oldbear 390]

@ FlamyMind

 

Let's speak first about the game itself.

1° CPU is the boss, your FPS level in SP depend on efficiency and working frequency of the processor.

2° The main parameter to tweak to get higher FPS in SP is the "Visibility" parameter.

The higher the visibility distance, the lower the FPS level

This so called video parameter is in fact 100% CPU.

3° For Arma3 creators, over 30 FPS, Arma3 is playable, have a look at the red/yellow/white FPS figures on the General Video Options screen.

4° On a SP test mission, such as YAAB, you can run the game in the 50/60 FPS range using an Arma3 "highly recommended" CPU such as i7-7700K, i7-7740K and i7-8700K.

Nevertheless, during the test, you will get up and down pikes such as here ->  https://i.imgur.com/XZ8JEa9h.jpg

 

Now, have a look at the hardware involved ... and as said CPU first

The  i7 6700 is a nice mid range gaming CPU, running as well as the more recent Ryzen R5 1600X.

Those CPUs are having the same problem in order to play Arma3 at the highest level, they don't "Turbo-boost" easily over 4.00 GHz.

Nevertheless this CPU is a good asset in order to play Arma 3 in the 40/50 FPS range.

The GTX 970 is helping the i7 to get it's optimum level of performance, if the AA&PP section is tweaked in order to add no extra burden to the CPU.

With this GPU, you must play in "Ultra" quality in order to get the right visual quality you must have but "Visibility" must be treated as a CPU parameter.

Lowering parameters down to "Low" is counterproductive , you will get low visual quality and no FPS gain.

 

Then, let's go to MP issues and "-life" problems.

- Due to the ways MP is managed in Arma*, there is always a FPS loss when you switch to multi-playing.

- Arma* game engine have not been built to support massive MP gaming

Nevertheless Arma3 is working quite well on 30 players PVP missions playing vanilla game..

- Most of the problems in MP are related to AI management and Mods/Addons.

- About "-life" ... at last, even though this game mode is one of the most played, it gathers elements that added to game issues can be FPS killers.

Makeshift scripts and objects added "for fun" are in fact deadly for the gameplay.

Edited December 10, 2017 by oldbear
English is not my mother tongue

[FlamyMind 1]

On 12/10/2017 at 12:07 AM, teabagginpeople said:

Have pretty much same rig. 

 

Arma can be finiky like that. 

 

All the scripts and mods in altis life don't help and mostly ran on shitty servers.

 

Decent servers with proper made game modes ( not lots of hack job scripts) you can probably average 45 + fps. 

 

If you are expecting to be getting a solid 60 fps outside an empty editor.  You may want to find another game to play won't matter the rig. 

 

On 12/10/2017 at 12:06 PM, oldbear said:

@ FlamyMind

 

Let's speak first about the game itself.

1° CPU is the boss, your FPS level in SP depend on efficiency and working frequency of the processor.

2° The main parameter to tweak to get higher FPS in SP is the "Visibility" parameter.

The higher the visibility distance, the lower the FPS level

This so called video parameter is in fact 100% CPU.

3° For Arma3 creators, over 30 FPS, Arma3 is playable, have a look at the red/yellow/white FPS figures on the General Video Options screen.

4° On a SP test mission, such as YAAB, you can run the game in the 50/60 FPS range using an Arma3 "highly recommended" CPU such as i7-7700K, i7-7740K and i7-8700K.

Nevertheless, during the test, you will get up and down pikes such as here ->  https://i.imgur.com/XZ8JEa9h.jpg

 

Now, have a look at the hardware involved ... and as said CPU first

The  i7 6700 is a nice mid range gaming CPU, running as well as the more recent Ryzen R5 1600X.

Those CPUs are having the same problem in order to play Arma3 at the highest level, they don't "Turbo-boost" easily over 4.00 GHz.

Nevertheless this CPU is a good asset in order to play Arma 3 in the 40/50 FPS range.

The GTX 970 is helping the i7 to get it's optimum level of performance, if the AA&PP section is tweaked in order to add no extra burden to the CPU.

With this GPU, you must play in "Ultra" quality in order to get the right visual quality you must have but "Visibility" must be treated as a CPU parameter.

Lowering parameters down to "Low" is counterproductive , you will get low visual quality and no FPS gain.

 

Then, let's go to MP issues and "-life" problems.

- Due to the ways MP is managed in Arma*, there is always a FPS loss when you switch to multi-playing.

- Arma* game engine have not been built to support massive MP gaming

Nevertheless Arma3 is working quite well on 30 players PVP missions playing vanilla game..

- Most of the problems in MP are related to AI management and Mods/Addons.

- About "-life" ... at last, even though this game mode is one of the most played, it gathers elements that added to game issues can be FPS killers.

Makeshift scripts and objects added "for fun" are in fact deadly for the gameplay.

 

Thanks for the answers! And sorry for my late response. But now I got it...

My mistake was not trying other servers than altis life. (I played the "same" mode in arma 2 on an older pc with way better conditions, so even if those 2 are completely diffrent, I thought modded servers shouldnt be a problem)

I bought arma mainly to continue playing "-life" since arma 2 is pretty dead (atleast what I saw).

But still... after 20 hours of altis life, I got used with the fps. Im having fun.

[Firebird-B4L 51]

Does anyone know if the z370 mobo(msi Z370-A Pro) for the i7 8700K  provides enough CPU direct PCIe lanes to allow two 1080 ti cards to perform in SLI mode? 

 

[Valken 622]

There is SUPPOSED to be 20 PCIE lanes off the z370 MB with 16 PCIE  lanes from the cpu so SLI should be fine. The MB PCIE lanes would connect to M.2, SATA, and other lower PCIE lane slots. Best to double check with MSI on the exact wiring setup.

[HaseDesTodes 62]

from what i just found you would have to use one card at 16x and one on 4x. since i have no experience with multi gpu systems, i don't know how useful it would be.

all mainboards that i have found labeled as "2-Way-SLI" did support it as 8x/8x, so i guess that it would be more common to use it that way.

there are a couple of mainboads specifically labeled as "SLI", like the MSI Z370 SLI Plus. so that might be what to look for.

[oldbear 390]

5 hours ago, Firebird-B4L said:

Does anyone know if the z370 mobo(msi Z370-A Pro) for the i7 8700K  provides enough CPU direct PCIe lanes to allow two 1080 ti cards to perform in SLI mode? 

 

 

Is this question a general question or a question about getting any benefit from SLI in order to play Arma3?
If this is a general question it's frankly out of topic. Please ask MSI support ...

If it's a question about Arma3 game experience, from my point of view an SLI of GTX 1080 is a useless "overkill", a single GTX 1080Ti will be much more effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tankbuster 1746]

1 minute ago, oldbear said:

 from my point of view an SLI of GTX 1080 is a useless "overkill", a single GTX 1080Ti will be much more effective.

 

 

1

Unless the user has a very large or multiple monitors

[oldbear 390]

Let's remember all that we are speaking about playing Arma3 !

Of course even if by itself a 1080 ti is faster than a single GTX 1080, but GTX 1080s SLI is faster in games that support SLI.
Having SLI would be good for gaming over 3x 4k monitors to spread the workload if Arma3 was SLI friendly and if a dedicated driver was released.

From the past we know that SLI and CrossFire as well have never worked as expected with Arma* games.

How well your single GTX 1080 is doing on your single 4k 3840 x 2160 OLED Tv screen?

 

[Firebird-B4L 51]

5 hours ago, oldbear said:

Let's remember all that we are speaking about playing Arma3 !

Of course even if by itself a 1080 ti is faster than a single GTX 1080, but GTX 1080s SLI is faster in games that support SLI.
Having SLI would be good for gaming over 3x 4k monitors to spread the workload if Arma3 was SLI friendly and if a dedicated driver was released.

From the past we know that SLI and CrossFire as well have never worked as expected with Arma* games.

How well your single GTX 1080 is doing on your single 4k 3840 x 2160 OLED Tv screen?

 

 

First, thanks for the answers everyone, very helpful.

 

It was doing pretty good.  I don't have any info, but i was playing in 4k with no problems, very smooth.  Down into the high twenties in the AO with default game distances on KOTH.  At spawn was seventies ish.

 

I'm on this new rig already and won't be going SLI i guess with current mobo.  But the improvement is very noticeable.  Running at 4.7 MHz on one click button in bios overclock and upgraded the memory to 4000mhz, trident gskill, two 8gb ddr4 and one 1080ti.  Excellent gameplay on this rig, i am recently using the vsync setting in the arma menu for tearing.  Very smooth.  Rarely drops below sixty.  Was in editor and took off vsync.  over 100 fps.  Very pleased with investment and thankful for guidance.  

 

And I was thinking the question about sLI would get people realizing they can't run two 1080ti cards properly on the z370 unless its labled so i guess.  It sounds like it would be overkill or definitely an expensive way to pick up five or ten frames if that.  Would be great to see test on that for arma.

[oldbear 390]

Here is a topic running about "Convince me not to SLi 1080 Ti" on [H]ard|OCP.

Test for Arma3 is highly improbable due that's it's well known by testers that this game being strictly dependant to CPU speed and efficiency there is no much room for GPU to shine.

 

[Tankbuster 1746]

8 hours ago, oldbear said:

From the past we know that SLI and CrossFire as well have never worked as expected with Arma* games.

How well your single GTX 1080 is doing on your single 4k 3840 x 2160 OLED Tv screen?

 

1

You're not quoting me, but if you are addressing me; it's 2560 x 1440 and it's a monitor, but yes, it's flawless. The 1080, according to Logitech Arx, is running hard, but not flat out.
Just for the avoidance of doubt, I'd never really advocate a 1080ti for Arma, or indeed, anything. These things are SO power hungry and expensive for relatively little gain. Their big memory banks are lovely., but that is really all they have going for themselves. Likewise for SLi., but for different reasons. Arma doesn't seem to be able to make use it it.

[oldbear 390]

I was quoting nobody ... just asking Firebird-B4L because of a previous description of his own display.

[Firebird-B4L 51]

On 12/17/2017 at 1:19 AM, oldbear said:

On 12/17/2017 at 4:47 AM, oldbear said:

I was quoting nobody ... just asking Firebird-B4L because of a previous description of his own display.

 

 

oldbear, et al. interested,

 

Here's a short clip I put up to demonstrate the new PC if anyone's interested in seeing the performance.

 

 

I replaced my 4k TV to do some experimenting and this video is using a 21:9 widescreen Asus monitor.  I don't know if you can make out the small FPS numbers in the upper left hand corner or not.  But a simple demonstration of the new rig on a gaming monitor.  

 

I'm not sure but I think having two GPUs may help in some of the higher 4k settings, like shadow, according to what I've read.  But I take it with a grain of salt and don't want to spread false info.  I get some studdering, micro-lag, on both 4k OLED TV as well as with this older Asus widescreen monitor, even though frames are high.  It seems to dissipate when view distance is turned down a bit.  I'm wondering what the bottleneck is? 

[commando180 15]

Guys....... can i just ask....... when you're making missions either as Zeus or in the editor, does the unit size count against lower fps?

 

For example..... lets say i spawn 30 1 unit squads vs 5x6 unit squads? would this have an effect on the performance? which will have worse performance?

Thanks :)

[oldbear 390]

Interesting but off topic question, sorry  

Ask in the right place such as ARMA 3 - ZEUS EDITING

[fish44 0]

Hi All, 

I have a 2600k, and considering an upgrade .

What's the best CPU for A3, and how much will it outperform the 2600k 

Any comments most welcome 

 

 

 

 

[Gunter Severloh 4053]

Hi, A suggestion for the future and ideally is to ask such questions in the thread here:

https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/187603-will-my-pc-run-arma3-what-cpugpu-to-get-what-settings-what-system-specifications/?page=1

which is a pinned thread btw in the same section as your thread here, i highly recommend asking there as theres a good few guys there that really know their computers,

and especially what is and best for Arma3, I've had alot of help from Old Bear there.

 

Based on his suggestions, my buddie's who is a freelance computer tech whom builds, upgrades, and repairs computers everyday, and this

https://techreport.com/review/31179/intel-core-i7-7700k-kaby-lake-cpu-reviewed/11

which a poster on that thread linked i did exactly what they suggested, bought what they told me and going from a duel core, to a quad, going from 30-35fps, to now 80+FPS all the time!

 

Not to brag but what i been used to (30fps)all the time shit gets old, after a major overhaul basically a new build which i did myself

I wouldn't except anything less then an I7 700k, whats funny is i have yet to overclock it, but then why bother when i play with everything maxed and no lag.

 

Imo and from what i learned and what that review of the I7 there can tell you, a good CPU isn't the only thing that will allowing you to play

Arma3 with good fps, and performance, Ram coupled with a decent GPU will do it too.

If you want further details in terms of more information on the best or ideal cpu for arma3 head on over to the pinned thread, and ask for Old Bear, him and the

other will clear up what you best want to get, dotn forget the ram! ;)

[fish44 0]

Someone suggested i put this post here, so here it is.........

 

Hi All, 

I have a 2600k, and considering an upgrade . What's the best CPU for A3, and how much will it outperform the 2600k. I won't be changing my GPU.

Any comments most welcome.

 

 

 

[oldbear 390]

Well ..., here, thanks to Le Comptoir du Hardware French site, you can get a glimpse about CPU hierarchy from Arma3 point of view ...

 

 

A very special thanks to those French guys still giving us benchmarks infos about Arma3

Source : http://www.comptoir-hardware.com/articles/cpu-mobo-ram/34566-test-intel-x299-core-i9-7900x-a-core-i7-7740x.html

 

From my point of view the best upgrade is still something  like what I had suggested previously

 

IRL, It's probably something such as :

CPU - Intel Core i7-7700K
GPU - GTX 1080
Hard drive - 500gb SSD
Ram - 16 GB-3000MHz

Mobo -  Z270
PSU - 550/600w
OS - Win 10 64bit

 

ATM, the Intel Core i7-8700K looks like a "dream processor" not really available, and the needed Z370 is over expensive.

The i7-7740 performed all around the results delivered by the Core i7 7700K on a more expensive X299 board.

 

... and to answer your question, you will probably get a 40/45 % gain in game.

[fish44 0]

On 09/01/2018 at 1:16 PM, oldbear said:

Well ..., here, thanks to Le Comptoir du Hardware French site, you can get a glimpse about CPU hierarchy from Arma3 point of view ...

 

 

A very special thanks to those French guys still giving us benchmarks infos about Arma3

Source : http://www.comptoir-hardware.com/articles/cpu-mobo-ram/34566-test-intel-x299-core-i9-7900x-a-core-i7-7740x.html

 

From my point of view the best upgrade is still something  like what I had suggested previously

 

IRL, It's probably something such as :

CPU - Intel Core i7-7700K
GPU - GTX 1080
Hard drive - 500gb SSD
Ram - 16 GB-3000MHz

Mobo -  Z270
PSU - 550/600w
OS - Win 10 64bit

 

ATM, the Intel Core i7-8700K looks like a "dream processor" not really available, and the needed Z370 is over expensive.

The i7-7740 performed all around the results delivered by the Core i7 7700K on a more expensive X299 board.

 

... and to answer your question, you will probably get a 40/45 % gain in game.

Thanks, That provides me with some perspective. It's actually better than i expected. 

 

My best bet is to wait a bit until at least ram prices drop Q1 2018, and the pricess of CPUs (already fallilng) and MB's settle down. 

 

 

 

 

[Tankbuster 1746]

The problem with waiting until tomorow is... tomorow never comes. :)

 

Buy it now, get the enjoyment now. Not tomorow.

[oldbear 390]

Well, I think you are a bit optimistic on this ...

13 hours ago, fish44 said:

ram prices drop Q1 2018

... informations coming from an authorized source are telling an other story for the coming year.

Even if "TrendForce forecasts a possible oversupply in 2019".

 

So, if you want to upgrade, you must do it now or wait for Q2 2019 ... your choice

[fish44 0]

On 12/01/2018 at 12:43 PM, oldbear said:

Well, I think you are a bit optimistic on this ...

... informations coming from an authorized source are telling an other story for the coming year.

Even if "TrendForce forecasts a possible oversupply in 2019".

 

So, if you want to upgrade, you must do it now or wait for Q2 2019 ... your choice

Thanks for the heads up on the ram. Yes I might be waiting a while. Well pulled the trigger now, and ordered all the parts. 16gb 3200mHz ram cost 230euro. Was hoping to put 32gb into the new rig, but will settle for 16gb for the moment.