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

[Aaron236 0]

1 hour ago, Tankbuster said:

It seems I did you a disservice, accusing you of being a bunnyhopper 🙂 Apologies.

 

An M.2 won't really help with FPS, but it will help with overall smoothness and loading times of both textures and missions. I'd recommend one.

Thats quiet alright,

 

Im thinking that my cpu is kinda pulling me back slightly, so I've opted for an upgrade and move to a ryzen 7 5800x, hopefully that would be able to help me out a little better,

 

Plus side there's an excuse now to upgrade as my 2070s is getting bottlenecked by the r5 2600 😉

[Tankbuster 1746]

Seriously, if you're after extra frames, you're wasting your money. Replacing the CPU isn't going to do it.

It's just possible your RAM isn't quite properly srt up. I'm told these Ryzens like to have their RAM trimmed up nicely, but I know nothing more on the subject.

[oldbear 390]

I am playing on an Intel i7-7700K/Z270 based rig and my spare rig is still based upon i7-4790/Z87

I have done a lot of tests with AMD Ryzen 5 2600/3600/3600X and some testing on an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X/B550 platform.

Currently, I am back testing Arma3 on an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X/B550 based platform after I had issues with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X that I managed to get very early at MSRP !

The A3 hierarchy between these processors is simple i7-4790<R5 2600< i7-7700K<R5 3600/3600X<R7 3700X<R5 5600X.

 

From my own experience, switching to a Ryzen 5000 platform can help a lot!

To put it simply, with Arma3, using the YAAB bench mission, on average, in my tests ...

R5 5600X = 79.8 FPS

R7 3700X = 59.7 FPS

... with the same MoBo/RAM configuration.

 

In Arma3, it is the frequency of the processor which is favored but also the way the internal memory of the CPU is managed.

This is one of the reasons why the previous Athlons and AMD APUs lacking L3 cache performed so poorly in game despite their high frequencies.

With the Ryzen 5000 architecture, AMD has notably improved the load/store part of the design, introducing changes allowing for greatly improved memory-side capabilities and comprising a massive L3 cache of 32 GB.

 

It's entirely possible that Arma3 is the only game to benefit so much from Ryzen's architectural improvements, but there's no reason not to do yourself some good.

 

 

[EO 11275]

1 hour ago, oldbear said:

In Arma3, it is the frequency of the processor which is favored but also the way the internal memory of the CPU is managed.

This is one of the reasons why the previous Athlons and AMD APUs lacking L3 cache performed so poorly in game despite their high frequencies.

With the Ryzen 5000 architecture, AMD has notably improved the load/store part of the design, introducing changes allowing for greatly improved memory-side capabilities and comprising a massive L3 cache of 32 GB.

 

It's entirely possible that Arma3 is the only game to benefit so much from Ryzen's architectural improvements, but there's no reason not to do yourself some good.

 

 

 

This is heartening to know, my new system powered by a R7 5800x will be up and running soon. It's nice to know I'll be able to enjoy some sizeable gains from my favorite 7 year old game. 

 

To oldbear, Groove_C, I appreciate your dedication to this thread over the last few months, your shared knowledge has been invaluable.       

[Tankbuster 1746]

16 hours ago, oldbear said:

R5 5600X = 79.8 FPS

R7 3700X = 59.7 FPS

... with the same MoBo/RAM configuration.

 

 

 

Impressive!

[Valken 622]

I was going to upgrade to 5600X or 5800X here from the good old Haswell I7-4970K but thanks to scalpers, I had to put it off.

 

Let's see if 2021 will bring mortal prices back inline or if Intel pulls a magic rabbit out with their short to live next gen system before DDR5 system hits the market at the end of this year.

[Tankbuster 1746]

Intel usually has a rabbit of some sort ready in the hat. Nvidia meantime are blaming Samsung (who blame a shortage of wafers) for the lack of 30xx GPU until the spring.

[zukov 490]

@oldbear  Arma 3 can gain more FPS with CpU Ryzen 5000X and new GPU 6800 with  SAM (smart  access memory)? https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/smart-access-memory

I apologize if asked before, this thread is huge
thanks in advance

[Groove_C 267]

6 hours ago, zukov said:

@oldbear  Arma 3 can gain more FPS with CpU Ryzen 5000X and new GPU 6800 with  SAM (smart  access memory)? https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/smart-access-memory

I apologize if asked before, this thread is huge
thanks in advance

Considerable FPS boost in Arma with Ryzen 5000X and 3600 MHz RAM, depending from which platform you're switching to Zen 3.

Smart Access Memory feature enabled needs to be tested specifically in Arma.
Haven't seen anybody so fare testing it specifically in Arma.

[oldbear 390]

@zukov well ... for the moment, it is not possible to have access to a future RX 6800 so there is no practical answer.

The way the game engine reacts is sometimes unpredictable, and I would be careful not to make a prediction on this subject.

 

For your information, look here ...

AMD Smart Access Memory Tested, Benchmarked

Nvidia answers AMD’s Smart Access Memory

 

[-RaTi- 0]

I currently have a Ryzen platform in my hands. I take this opportunity to test YAAB, I had the disappointing result of 61fps with the CMA malloc. I wonder if I missed something.

 

Here is the config:

5600x 4.6ghz 1.2v pbo disable

TUF B550 PLUS

2x8go 4000 CL16 ( 36)

6800xt

[oldbear 390]

 @-RaTi- Welcome 😎

 

60 FPS in game is rather good with Arma3.

Testing with YAAB means conforming to our common protocol so that the results make sense.

So you must tell if you were using the basic "Standard settings" or something else.

On my own AMD test platform  R5 5600X (out of the box+PBO enable) / Asus TUF B550M PLUS / 2x8go 4000 CL19 / GTX 970, the average score was 79 FPS on "Standard settings".

 

[Groove_C 267]

On 1/26/2021 at 12:38 AM, -RaTi- said:

Test YAAB... disappointing result of 61fps with the CMA malloc. I wonder if I missed something.

Not mentioned if 61 FPS is min, avg or max, screen resolution, video settings used, if any other programs were running in the background (browser, antivirus etc) during YAAB run(s) and if this FPS is after only 1 or more runs, after fresh computer start or after computer being on for some time, with a lot of other stuff running (even if processes killed before YAAB).

 

All of this may impact the result(s) noticablely.

 

Also possible CMA malloc wasn't working, because only selecting it as malloc to use is not enough for it to work.

[-RaTi- 0]

Oops yes Sorry, I can't remember the minimum and the maximum.

The bench was in the Standard settings (without pushing "S")

I tried with and without PBO, but no difference, the malloc was CMA x64

It wasn't my PC, I didn't take a screenshot.

 

The results were worse than my 7700k at 4.5 GHz 1.2v 4000CL19 with the CMA. Standard Parameters

 

[-RaTi- 0]

[Rogue_Rabbit 0]

Hi there, 

 

I recently started playing Arma 3 beginning with Contact. 

 

I have Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3000 MHz RAM, Nvidia 1660 Super (6gb vram) GPU and a Ryzen 5 3600x Processor plugged into an AM4 ready MSI B450 Motherboard. 

 

From what I understand I should be able to play this game at max setting at 60fps but even on the lowest settings, I struggle to reach 20FPS.

 

None of this makes sense to me, at first I thought there was bottlenecking going on but this build plays Cyberpunk at max settings without raytracing at a solid 50-60 fps with 100% utilisation. 

 

In Arma 3 both the CPU and the GPU are running at 15% utilisation. This doesn't make any sense to me, if anyone could help me out I'd appreciate it, thanks. 

This is a screenshot of Arma 3:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pkoSg7dNe1nlBkx_95dS6gFqbnzqxWoB/view?usp=sharing

Ghost Recon Breakpoint:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NvQ9uDeRF5-nfI1JlYq4eI89wsqe5BmZ/view?usp=sharing

Cyberpunk 2077:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kaUpDHn5oo7Sid-DdTgMPdetSAfCDhT_/view?usp=sharing

[oldbear 390]

@Rogue_Rabbit Welcome in our Armaverse 😎

 

You said "...from what I understand I should be able to play this game at max setting at 60fps but even on the lowest settings, I struggle to reach 20FPS." and you previously stated " ... I have Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3000 MHz RAM, Nvidia 1660 Super (6gb vram) GPU and a Ryzen 5 3600x Processor plugged into an AM4 ready MSI B450 Motherboard. "

 

I have done extensive Arma3 tests on a R5 3600X/Asus B450M platform using various RAM kits and GPU, I can say with certainty that it is possible to play regularly in the 40 / 50FPS zone with a R5 3600X based rig, but not at 60 FPS even if in game it is possible to observe variations between 35 and 120 FPS.

 

To fully understand the situation, it must be remembered that the game engine, RealVirtuality Engine is over 20 years old and was designed at a time when processors had a single core and used a limited number of threads. At the time, the Spanel brothers, creators of a game tried to set up an operation allowing an unequaled precision of the in-game simulation by strictly linking the rendering to the results of the calculations by the processor. At the time it was great, allowing a great precision in the game, for movements and shots, in SP and MP as well in a wide open world.

 

Today, this now obsolete operation does not make it possible to take full advantage of the possibilities of current processors such as the power of graphics cards. The developers have managed to keep running it all in a pretty well optimized way through hard work, but that's not enough anymore. The only solution to trying to get past the limitations of the game is to use the fastest and most efficient processor possible.

 

I spent all my time this morning testing a R5 5600X/16GB 3800MHz combo on a B550 MoBo, it's rather good !

 

But back to your rig, the R5 3600X is a good asset, it's better to use faster DDR4 to get nearer the "sweet spot",  the G.Skill Trident Z Neo 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz C16 kit is a good pick, but the Ballistix Black 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz C16 is also OK.

As the AMD Zen processor internal frequency is sync on RAM frequency with a limit at 3800MHz, it's better to have RAM in the 3200MHz C14 / 3600MHz C16 range.

 

That said, back to your rig. I will suggest you to use The Old Bear method ™ in order to get the better from your hardware as it is.

1° use autodetection

2° as you get a rather good GPU, the overall Quality must be set in Ultra, but in order to get a better FPS level, you must set down Visibility parameter to 3500m/ 3200m as a first step.

3° set Quality Terrain on Very High

4° never set Quality parameter on Low (you don't need a good graphics card to display pixel oatmeal)

5° disable Vsync

6° set FXAA Ultra 4X and PPAA: CMAA.

note : more personally, as I can't stand blur, I turn off all blur or bloom, I set the depth of field to 0 and sharpen filter to 100.

 

 

 

 

[Groove_C 267]

5 hours ago, oldbear said:

I spent all my time this morning testing a R5 5600X/16GB 3800MHz combo on a B550 MoBo, it's rather good!

Have bought 2x16 GB 3800 MHz 14-16-16-36 XMP 1.5 V and now waiting for Intel to release their new CPUs on completely new architecture since Skylake (2015), to see if I buy this or still Ryzen 5000.

 

Will see if I can do 4266 MHz 16-16-16-36 or 4000 MHz 15-15-15-35 or 3800 MHz 14-14-14-34/14-14-15-34/14-15-15-34

Arma will like it for sure!

 

[Tankbuster 1746]

OOoh. 3800 cl14. I'm very jealous!

[Rogue_Rabbit 0]

7 hours ago, oldbear said:

@Rogue_Rabbit Welcome in our Armaverse 😎

I spent all my time this morning testing a R5 5600X/16GB 3800MHz combo on a B550 MoBo, it's rather good !

 

But back to your rig, the R5 3600X is a good asset, it's better to use faster DDR4 to get nearer the "sweet spot",  the G.Skill Trident Z Neo 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz C16 kit is a good pick, but the Ballistix Black 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz C16 is also OK.

As the AMD Zen processor internal frequency is sync on RAM frequency with a limit at 3800MHz, it's better to have RAM in the 3200MHz C14 / 3600MHz C16 range.

 

That said, back to your rig. I will suggest you to use The Old Bear method ™ in order to get the better from your hardware as it is.

1° use autodetection

2° as you get a rather good GPU, the overall Quality must be set in Ultra, but in order to get a better FPS level, you must set down Visibility parameter to 3500m/ 3200m as a first step.

3° set Quality Terrain on Very High

4° never set Quality parameter on Low (you don't need a good graphics card to display pixel oatmeal)

5° disable Vsync

6° set FXAA Ultra 4X and PPAA: CMAA.

note : more personally, as I can't stand blur, I turn off all blur or bloom, I set the depth of field to 0 and sharpen filter to 100.

 

Thanks for the response and valuable insight, Do you think 3000mhz ram could really bottleneck the cpu from running at peak performance thereby limiting the gpus ability to work its magic? I'm curious if maybe I could increase the ram's frequency to 3600Mhz if that is the case I'd do that and then buy a new set of ram when it wears out?

As for my parameters, at low-quality versus highest quality, the fps was literally the same. Visibility I have it set between 2000-2500 (including objects).

Motion blur though I believe it is a curse on the internet that should be purged (I don't use it 🙂 ).

I would use vsync if I had a monitor with 120+hz  but as I have an Acer S275HL 60hz monitor that I still love and works many years later so I don't use vsync that often. I tried it switched on though, and I lost 5 frames, which if I weren't already under 20fps I'd actually have it enabled, but I don't have the frames to spare with it off nevermind on.

 

I am completely baffled by this situation, to be honest. But here is something else I learnt just today... Contact was my first gameplay impressions of Arma 3 which is where my problems are, I booted up Arma 3 without that DLC and my fps is pushing between 70 - 100+ fps (50-60 with vsync) It would seem the problem rests with Contact. I'd like to know if anyone else has played the contact DLC with higher than 20 fps and what their settings are.

 

This guy explains the contact DLC better than me: 😄

 

[Groove_C 267]

6 hours ago, Rogue_Rabbit said:

Do you think 3000mhz ram could really bottleneck the cpu from running at peak performance thereby limiting the gpus ability to work its magic? I'm curious if maybe I could increase the ram's frequency to 3600Mhz if that is the case I'd do that and then buy a new set of ram when it wears out?

Yes, RAM not only can but really does bottleneck in your case, since on Ryzen CPUs the communication between cores happens using RAM and the slower the RAM, the slower gets data shared/transmited between/to cores.

Also with slow RAM (slower than 3600 MHz), you slow down the CPU and thus you slow down as well the GPU, since the GPU is waiting for data from the CPU to build/show frames/pictures, but the CPU can deliver this data on time, because it's still wating for RAM.

 

You won't be able to overclock your 3000 MHz RAM to 3600 MHz.

Better you buy some good quality but still very accessible 3600 MHz 16-18-18-38 RAM from Crucial and better be it 32 GB, since 16 GB nowadays is slowly but surely almost like 8 GB before.

https://geizhals.de/crucial-ballistix-schwarz-dimm-kit-32gb-bl2k16g36c16u4b-a2222375.html

 

Otherwise here you have same RAM, but just 16 GB, in case 32 GB of it is too expensive for you.
https://geizhals.de/crucial-ballistix-schwarz-dimm-kit-16gb-bl2k8g36c16u4b-a2222472.html

 

I hope you have enabled XMP profile in the BIOS of your motherboard for your current RAM sticks so they work at rated 3000 MHz.

[Gunter Severloh 4054]

3 hours ago, Groove_C said:

You won't be able to overclock your 3000 MHz RAM to 3600 MHz.

This gave me the idea that explains why the ram i have was stock at 3200mhz even though i bought it at DDR4 3600

this RAM i bought in 2017 and what im still currently running.

    My question is if you buy ram that states DDR4 3600 but when you get it, its not set at 3600mhz this essentially means that

the ram can be overclocked to that, or what is the purpose of the ram being at lower setting and not set at 3600?

[Groove_C 267]

@Gunter Severloh what is the exact RAM model you have and motherboard model?

[Gunter Severloh 4054]

Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C17Q-32GVK

Mobo - EVGA Z270 Stinger, 111-KS-E272-KR, LGA 1151, Intel Z270, HDMI, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.1, USB 3.0, mITX, Intel Motherboard

 

[Groove_C 267]

@Gunter Severloh so your RAM is 3600 CL17 and your motherboard as well as the CPU fully support it.

Go inside the BIOS of your motherboard and select/enable XMP profile of your RAM and that's it.