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

[Maxz85 11]

Thank you all, If price will remain the save I will definitely go for RX580, cause 50+$ is still a lot of money, shops in my country probably overcharging for Nvidia because RX cards are rather unpopular in my country

[Valken 621]

580 is GOOD with Ryzen. If you look at the graphs on the net, AMD GPUs get a little more performance with Ryzen CPU. 

 

Nvidia is better with Intel CPU due to some optimizations. It is noticeable in ARMA as there is more cpu and gpu usage, where AMD GPU gets LESS usage with Intel CPU.

 

So 580 8GB is a top card for ARMA at 1080p. I wish I could have bought one but it is completely sold out here when I was shopping and ended up with 1060 3GB to save money.

[CertainDeath7 11]

bought i3 8350k with 25€ aircooler in 2017. OC to 4,8 Ghz... i get about the same framerate as users with overclocked 8700k^^ :P

single core performance matters. 3 more cores help a liiiitle bit. 2 extra cores and 8 exra threads are 0 performance impact for arma.

so if you dont have a lot of money, but your main goal is good arma fps, then go with a z390 or z370 board with an 8350k, and learn to overclock. its about the same price as a ryzen cpu, but a good amount of more fps. and you can upgrade later.

what matters mostly is clock speed (and effectiveness), ring speed (north bridge seems to have a greater performance impact in arma, then in many other games), ram speed, disc speed. 20+ cores and threads do nothing for you.

 

or wait for ryzen 3 in about half a year. maybe they will get competitive in SC performance too.

[oldbear 390]

If you are on a budget and looking for an "out of the box" solution here and now, the best option is probably a Ryzen 5 2600/B 450/8GB DDR4 3000 combo.

 

 

[Ball Race 1]

Intel Core i5 4460 4x 3.20GHz So.1150 BOX

8GB (2x 4096MB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 DIMM, available space, when google chrome closed: 5.6 gb. when chrome open: 4.8 gb

4GB Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970

WD5000AAKX Blue 500GB (8,9 cm (3,5 Zoll), 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB Cache) <- is this slow ?

When playing in multiplayer I sometimes have heavy stuttering

average fps: 30-50

when in AO zone in KOTH for example stuttering exaggerate.

[oldbear 390]

Hi Ball Race, welcome in our Armaverse common house.

 

* Most of the time, stuttering in Single player is related to HD.Arma3 is streaming textures and a high speed disk is needed.

That's why since APEX release, "Recommended" official specs have been updated.

Now, a "SSD / Hybrid HDD / SSHD storage" is needed.

* I must add that Arma is very sensitive to memory usage.

When you play Arma, you must close all other application and programs,  browser and "social" thing are forbidden.

The only items allowed are a comm. tool, Teamspeak, Discord ... and if needed a monitoring tool such as FRAPS or Afterburner.

Virtual memory must be allowed.

 

In MP, it's a bit more complex, for, the quality of the server and the quality of your connection effects are added.

-  Ethernet cable is the best option, playing in WiFi is only possible if you have a strong signal and do not share the connection.

- Try to play only on well managed servers with a ping under 80ms.

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by oldbear
"Esprit d'escalier", be slow-witted in english don't sound so good ...

[Ball Race 1]

9 hours ago, oldbear said:

Hi Ball Race, welcome in our Armaverse common house.

 

* Most of the time, stuttering in....

 

When it says RAM of 6 GB, does that mean you need 6 GB in total in your pc or that only ARMA 3 needs 6 GB, so the ram in your pc should be 6x2 for example?

Even with a SSD i can't have chrome open?

I am on Ethernet cable.

This is my hardware when ARMA 3 runs with multiplayer. 

 

Ok. Which SSD should I choose? I wanna spend like 50 Euro on the SSD and it should be ready for my next board in few years.

 

BoardChipset:

1 x M.2 PCIe connector
(Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)

1 x SATA Express connector

6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
(M.2, SATA Express, and SATA3 4/5 connectors can only be used one at a time. The SATA3 4/5 connectors will become unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed.)

Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

23 hours ago, Ball Race said:

8GB (2x 4096MB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 DIMM

What you want is DDR4 3000+ of a minimum of 16gb of ram.

1600 is referring to the frequency which for what you have is very low, 3000 freq or speed is optimal.

     See this review of CPU, and ram for arma3 https://techreport.com/review/31179/intel-core-i7-7700k-kaby-lake-cpu-reviewed/11

 

As for an SSD https://www.wd.com/products/internal-ssd/wd-blue-3d-nand-sata-ssd.html

I have 3 of these but i use one for the game, and the other for the operating system, this gives the game, and SSD room, and speed that is only

allocated to them, and nothing else.

 

[Ball Race 1]

so m.2 isn't recommended with only 10gb/s pcie?

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

Best wait for Old Bear as he can better explain whats recommended, you definitely need more ram, at a higher speed tho.

[oldbear 390]

@ Gunter Severloh : our friend is using an Intel i5 4460 on a MoBo featuring a 1150 socket and on this one DDR3-1333/1600 is OK.

 DDR4 RAM is not supported and there is probably probably no SSD M.2 NMVe slot on his MoBo.

 

@ Ball Race : as I had expected one side of the problem is too high memory usage and too high HDD usage.

You must remember that you are playing a highly demanding game with an entry level config.

So you must set aside all unnecessary paraphernalia while playing, meaning that Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Tweeter, Facebook, YouTube and so on, must be closed before game launch.

As said along Arma3, you can of course use a comm. tool

 

For those issues :

1° Memory usage

- in the "startup" tab on the task management windows close all the applications automatically launched during the boot

Note : you can get more infos here : https://scottiestech.info/2016/10/09/faster-startup-in-windows-10-made-easy/

- restart your PC before playing.

 

2° Data management

The best solution is to get a 250 GB SSD [minimum]  in order to host both Windows and Arma3 Steam Library.

On my test bench I am using a Samsung 860 EVO 250GB.

On your rig a Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5 Inch SATA III will be OKeven if a 500GB will be better !

Edited December 10, 2018 by oldbear
"Esprit d'escalier", be slow-witted in english don't sound so good ...

[Ball Race 1]

Sorry for not mentioning what Mainboard I have. It's a Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H97-D3H-rev-10#ov

There is a M.2 Slot but with some heavy limitations I think? Or?

 

[Tankbuster 1733]

19 minutes ago, Ball Race said:

Sorry for not mentioning what Mainboard I have. It's a Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H97-D3H-rev-10#ov

There is a M.2 Slot but with some heavy limitations I think? Or?

 

I have a motherboard from the same generation. Mine too has an M.2 slot but it is essentially useless as it's such an early revision, it supports almost nothing.

In my quest for speed I ended up buying an Intel PCI-E SSD. Although the motherboard claims not to support NVME, using the supplied driver from Intel was good enough to get the drive going at full speed.

 

 

[oldbear 390]

From a theoretical point of view, yes, this  Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H can accommodate a M.2 SATA SSD but I will suggest to be pragmatic and cautious.

ATM, it's possible to make a deal by buying a Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD 256/500 GB at a rather low price.

... and the Samsung Magician and Data Migration tools are so easy to use

 

This is how Memory usage is looking today while playing Arma3 Test MP mission on Ryzen3 2200G/RX 460/8 Go DDR4 test rig :

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2018 by oldbear
I am not really a bear, but feeling old sometimes

[Ball Race 1]

wtf.. why do you have 2.3 gb available when arma 3 is running in MP ?!?!?!!?

i have only  1.2!

chrome closed!

[-Snafu- 77]

Hello, all

 

I posted 2-3 months ago asking for opinions on gaming laptops for Arma 3.

 

I've spotted the one below on sale:

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-fx504gm-nvidia-gtx-1060-16gb-15.6-120hz-3ms-i7-8750h-gaming-laptop-lt-265-as.html#tech_specs

 

In terms of handling Arma 3, what do you think? Arma 3 is my only concern for it as every other game I play is older or doesn't require many resources to run.

 

For reference, the laptop I was looking at previously:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FS4N3PR/?coliid=IDT2YEAMMB6X9&colid=20PHMYNGG1ACA&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

[Groove_C 267]

@-Snafu-

i7-8750H operates @ 2.2 GHz base frequency and boosts all cores to 3.9 GHz (12 threads 9 MB cache).

Sure it's slower than the desktop version and has 3 MB cache less, but it's the way it is for laptops.

GTX1060 6 GB is also 100 MHz slower than the desktop version but with no other cuts than the frequency.

 

With this setup you can play A3 @ ultra considering Full HD resolution of the monitor.

256 GB NVMe SSD will help you avoid severe FPS dips.

 

I prefer ASUS.

[oldbear 390]

@ -Snafu- :  the TUF FX504GM is OK,  rather good in fact!

The only  weak point is the "small" SSD, because you must have Windows and Steam Arma3 library on it.

If you are playing with many Mods it will be quickly crowded.

 

@ Groove_C : I am sorry to say that a SSD is not helping to get stable FPS level.

A SSD is needed because it helps a lot to get rid of stuttering.

Arma3 is streaming textures and a high speed disk is needed.

That's why since APEX release, "Recommended" official specs have been updated to ...

•  SSD / Hybrid HDD / SSHD storage

[FL350 0]

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for a huge amount of information on this thread. I've been playing since Op Flash, I'm just not savvy with computer technical jargon so please do excuse my lack of understanding.

 

I'm in the process of buying a new laptop for my Arma 3 mission making.

 

I usually like to play on Ultra settings with increased view distance and LARGE amounts of AI on the map. Usually I play these sandbox scenarios in single player then advance them into multiplayer with a few mates. I don't have the time or knowledge to include scripts in my missions to help reduce clutter. So I end up simply putting up with low FPS and a fully populated island full of modded units.

 

I'm looking at upgrading my laptop to cater for my large sandbox style missions and also to prepare for Mechwarrior 5's arrival in September. I'd be very grateful if anyone would be willing to find the Arma 3 bottlenecks with the following specs. 

 

Windows 10

Intel Hexa Core i7-8750H
NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5 Max-Q
15.6" FHD 1920 x 1080 WVA Matte 144Hz LED 
16GB DDR4 2666MHZ (1 x 16GB)
660P Series 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD
No Hard Drive Selected
Killer 1550 AC Low Latency WIFI/BT

 

Optional changes the company is offering:

- NVIDIA 1080 (Large increase in cost)

- 16GB DDR4 2400MHZ (2 x 8GB)

 

Thanks for your time very appreciated. 

 

[oldbear 390]

@ FL350 : Welcome home

 

Overall, the features of this laptop are good.

In order to play Arma3 on a 1080p 144Hz screen, a GTX 1060 6 GB is enough.

There is no need of a GPU over the GTX 1070 Max-Q whose performances are close.

The only point on which I would bring a correction is the RAM.

You will need to get the fastest RAM you can get.

8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4 3200MHZ are better than 16GB DDR4 2400MHZ (2 x 8GB)

Edited December 29, 2018 by oldbear
I am not really a bear, but feeling often like an old one sometimes

[FL350 0]

Hi oldbear,

 

Thanks for the info. It appears the manufacturer can only supply 3000 MHz as the fastest speed for a laptop. Which would you recommend?

 

- 16GB DDR4 3000MHZ (1x16GB)

- 32GB DDR4 3000MHZ (2x16GB)

 

The next lowest speed is 2666 MHz. 

 

Also does the size of the SSD effect stuttering? The option I've selected is:

 

- 660P Series 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD

 

I think I'll go for the NVIDIA 1070 simply for future proofing. 

 

Thanks once again. 

[Groove_C 267]

@FL350

take 32 GB!

Because A3 consumes almost 16 GB and this limit is software limit and can be lifted up with any upcoming patch and also I think you wouldn't like to be forced to upgrade once again when A4 comes out.

Take a look on the RAM usage after several hours in multiplayer.

Video memory usage is also almost 8 GB.

And this is with internet browser and everything else closed, except Steam, Discord and MSI Afterburner.

[oldbear 390]

@ FL350 :

1° Of course 32GB DDR4 3000MHZ (2x16GB) is the best but ... cost a lot

2° The size doesn't matter the point is to have OS and Arma* Steam library on SSD, Intel 660P Series 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD is OK

3° The GTX 1070 Max-Q is not a regular GTX 1070 for laptops, it's slower, that why performances are close to a GTX 1060 6GB.

 

@ Groove_C :  ... " you wouldn't like to be forced to upgrade once again when A4 comes out." is not a good argument for many reasons, one being that because we do not even know if there will be an Arma IV.

Like many others, I wish a "Next Arma" but we all know that BI is always very ambitious, the consequences in terms of hardware requirements are unpredictable.

According to my own experience, I was forced to change my config with each new version of Arma.

That's how it's been since the move from OFP to Arma.

Edited December 30, 2018 by oldbear
"Esprit d'escalier", because slow-witted in english don't sound so good ...

[matiasl 0]

How is 2070 working with arma 3? Good enough for 1440p? 

[oldbear 390]

Hi matiasl, welcome here.

 

A GTX 1070Ti is good  enough for 1440p, a RTX 2070 is not needed.

What you need is the most efficient and fast CPU you can get, as an i7-8700K or an i7-9700K on a midrange gaming mobo featuring 16/32 GB 3000/3200 DDR4 RAM.

 

In Armaverse, the CPU is still the Boss!

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by oldbear
Only an old Armavangelist