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

[Groove_C 267]

3 hours ago, eryk0wski said:

Thanks guys for the very advanced help. After a long thought I decided not to upgrade.

The prices will lover in few months and spending so much money to get maybe 8 fps more seems very unreasonable.

 

Prices won't lower for sure. Rather the opposite. But I think that you could have slightly more money in 2-3 months.

[oldbear 390]

Well ... as a base of comparison, I will show the list of parts, I bought to build a rig for one of my grand sons as a Xmas present :

 

Gigabyte GA-B450I AORUS PRO WIFI   [03/12/2019]  =127€
AMD RYZEN 5 3600 [27/11/2019] = 200€
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3200MHz C16 [27/11/2019] = 85€
SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 500GB [26/09/2019] = 120 €
Samsung SSD Interne 860 EVO 2.5" (500 Go) [09/12/2019] = 88€
Inno3D GTX 1650 Compact [03/12/2019] = 160 €
Corsair TX550M 80PLUS Gold [19/11/2019] = 85€

 

It was not built with Arma3 in mind, but Arma3 was playable on it 😎

[Chimere 10]

 

@Groove_C

 

Hello sir,

I see you know a lot about computers and Arma 3. Im struggling or at least i think i should get better score in YAAB or better FPS in Arma 3 while playing online (Koth, Exile).

 

YAAB 1080p standart: 48.3 FPS avg, 27 FPS min
YAAB 1080p ultra: 44.5 FPS avg, 22 FPS min

 

Are those scores proper to my rig? With your experience is there anything i should aim for (for example RAM with better CL) to get better FPS or im just unlucky with silicon lottery maybe? Thank you for any reply.

 

OS: Win 10 64-bit Pro

Arma 3: only skipIntro startup parameter, anything else on auto

CPU: 8700K OC 4.8GHz all cores sync no-delid (66C max temp spikes)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Mobo: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F Gaming

RAM: G.skill tridentZ 32GB 3200MHz 16-18-18-38

GPU: MSI RTX 2070 (65C target temp)

SSD: 2x Samsung EVO 860 500GB

PSU: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold - 850W

[oldbear 390]

Welcome Chimere.

From my point of view, your scores looks OK, at the level expected for an i7 8700K powered Arma3 rig.

 

[Groove_C 267]

@Chimere you can buy better RAM, like 3600 MHz 15-15-15-35 G.Skill Trident Z and/or delid your CPU and try to push it to 5.0 GHz, with good air cooler like Noctua NH-D15S or water NZXT Kraken X63.

But be aware of the fact, that all of this will cost you much much more than what it's worth, for marginal FPS increase you will see.

 

Sure, min FPS will be better in heavy situations on heavily populated servers with a lot of action, but at a price.

You decide.

[oldbear 390]

Min FPS drops in Arma3 are related to the ways the game engine is working.

Even with a high end rig, you will get those.

Your Arma3 FPS level is OK so unless you get some xtra money allowing you to bought a rig such as the one played by Reezo, enjoy yours as it is 😎 

 

• Quote

   

  • Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master
  • Intel i7 9700k
  • G SKill Ripjaws V Black F4 3600 C17 (maybe 4x8 definitely 2x8 though)
  • Noctua NH-D14 or 15 (I'll check that the former does not create issues with the RAM, good find)
  • Asus Rog Strix 2070 Super
  • Phanteks Evolv X Mid-Tower ATX Case
  • Thermaltake Riing 12 fans
  • Optional GPU Card riser, we might or not show off

   

   

 

[Chimere 10]

14 hours ago, oldbear said:

Min FPS drops in Arma3 are related to the ways the game engine is working.

Even with a high end rig, you will get those.

Your Arma3 FPS level is OK so unless you get some xtra money allowing you to bought a rig such as the one played by Reezo, enjoy yours as it is 😎 

 

•  

 

 

"unless you get some xtra money allowing you to bought a rig" That sounds like he has exponentially better rig than mine is (i bought mine 1.5 year ago), but i only see "newer +2 cores" version of CPU (like comparing 7700K to 8700K) slightly with faster RAM and "SUPER" version of my GPU, or did i missed something important or it wasnt reply for me? 😄

[Chimere 10]

17 hours ago, Groove_C said:

@Chimere you can buy better RAM, like 3600 MHz 15-15-15-35 G.Skill Trident Z and/or delid your CPU and try to push it to 5.0 GHz, with good air cooler like Noctua NH-D15S or water NZXT Kraken X63.

But be aware of the fact, that all of this will cost you much much more than what it's worth, for marginal FPS increase you will see.

 

Sure, min FPS will be better in heavy situations on heavily populated servers with a lot of action, but at a price.

You decide.

 

Thank you for reply! I was considering deliding my CPU, but i stepped back, cause 200-300 more MHz wont do big difference as you said.

[Groove_C 267]

The only things Reezo has that are better are RAM and mainboard. Case not taken in account.

i7-9700K is "not" better than i7-8700K, apart it being soldered and having a slightly better/stronger integrated memory controller (IMC), on average.

 

If it was 6 vs. 8 cores, yes, i7-9700K would have been better. But it's 12 threads vs. 8 cores. So...

 

i7-8700K will be resurrected as i5-10600K with solder and even better/stronger IMC than i7-9700K, on average.

[oldbear 390]

What we have to keep in mind when we talk about hardware in order to play Arma3 is

• that the game is CPU dependent, which must have a CPU with the highest frequency always available,
• that the game is particularly sensitive to memory management and that the higher compatible frequency is the better,
• that the game requires a system allowing the streaming of textures so you have to have a very fast disc,
• that since the Visual Upgrade, the power of the GPU must be really taken into account.

[Groove_C 267]

Anyways, your system has reserves left, if you have money, knowledge and patience.

 

OCing your CPU to 5.0 GHz is not a problem at all, if you know how. Of course you would first need to delid it and buy a better cooler.

 

Also switcing to better stock RAM would help as well + OC it.

 

In the end, it would cost you much less to only change RAM, delid + OC the CPU and get a better cooler than building a new PC, for a lot of money, even if you were to keep your GPU, PSU, SSDs and case.

Depending on case you have, I would advise you to switch to somethign like NZXT Kraken X63/Z63 or X73/Z73.

 

There is no need at all to spend money on new mobo, CPU and RAM, in your specific case, to get better performance.

 

Arma can't do anything with 16 threads of i9-9900K or 20 threads of i9-10900K.

Going past 5.0 GHz with 9th or 10th gen Intel won't yield better results.

Your i7-8700K is capable of 5.0 at reasonable voltage (only if delidded + good cooling).

You have a very capable, even if not the best mainboard, which can digest just fine 3600 and even 3800 MHz RAM with tight timings.

[oldbear 390]

@Chimere As I have said previously, from my point of view, your scores looks OK, at the level expected for an i7 8700K powered Arma3 rig.

Anyway whatever you do, due to the limitations of the Arma3 engine, in-game performance will be limited. Keep what you have and just enjoy playing 😎

 

[Groove_C 267]

18 minutes ago, oldbear said:

@Chimere As I have said previously, from my point of view, your scores looks OK, at the level expected for an i7 8700K powered Arma3 rig.

Anyway whatever you do, due to the limitations of the Arma3 engine, in-game performance will be limited. Keep what you have and just enjoy playing 😎

Only upgrading RAM, cooling + delidding and OC will cost less than the added cost of new CPU and mainboard, but even this will cost more than what it will bring as performance increase, yes, indeed, as I already said it few messages above.

18 hours ago, Groove_C said:

But be aware of the fact, that all of this will cost you much much more than what it's worth, for marginal FPS increase you will see.

 

[Groove_C 267]

If you ever decid to upgrade your RAM, this is what I would buy:
G.skill Trident Z 3600 15-15-15-35 2x8 GB (F4-3600C15D-16GTZ) 2x, since only 16 GB per kit.

[cb65 85]

@Groove_C Do you know if there is any performance benefits in running 2 NVMe's in a raid setup ?

[Groove_C 267]

2 minutes ago, cb65 said:

@Groove_C Do you know if there is any performance benefits in running 2 NVMe's in a raid setup ?

No benefits for games.

[Chimere 10]

On 4/8/2020 at 8:42 AM, Groove_C said:

and get a better cooler than building a new PC, for a lot of money, even if you were to keep your GPU, PSU, SSDs and case.

Depending on case you have, I would advise you to switch to somethign like NZXT Kraken X63/Z63 or X73/Z73.

 

Better cooler? NH-D14 have slighly better thermal results than NH-D15 (all nowdays comparisons are with D15 cause its newer) and D15 is just 2-4C over kraken z63 in 9900K stress tests, at least in those what i searched and saw 🙂

Also i wouldnt get AIO again, never. Pump noise when PC is on idle, leakage, a lot lower reliability (in comparison to air coolers), i had kraken x52 and i had to RMA 3 times for faulty pump, worst case scenario with my noctua is that both fans can stop working, then my 2 140mm frontal case fans would cool CPU passive enough. One thing i have to admit, AIO looks amazing and it saves a lot of space over the motherboard - for example when i was switching case fans i had to put off CPU cooler, cause some smart ASUS designer put fan pins near / around CPU socket.

[Tankbuster 1733]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

1 hour ago, Chimere said:

🙂

Also i wouldnt get AIO again, never. Pump noise when PC is on idle, leakage, a lot lower reliability (in comparison to air coolers), i had kraken x52 and i had to RMA 3 times for faulty pump, worst case scenario with my noctua is that both fans can stop working, then my 2 140mm frontal case fans would cool CPU passive enough. One thing i have to admit, AIO looks amazing and it saves a lot of space over the motherboard - for example when i was switching case fans i had to put off CPU cooler, cause some smart ASUS designer put fan pins near / around CPU socket.

AIO coolers are very popular and the problems you report are not common.

I don't understand why pump noise on idle is an issue? If the system is idling, presumably there's no one at the PC to hear it. I never hear the pump, or any other part of the cooler on my Corsair. I've not had an aircooler in some time, but I do remember the Noctua fans I had then being quite noisy, much more than the AIO system that replaced it. Air coolers move a lot of air and do pick up lot of dust. My daughters PC, which is in the same room as mine, uses an air cooler and the filters fill up much quicker than mine.

I've never had leaks, and a quick browse (of the Corsair) forums aren't exactly alight with complaints about leaks.

Perhaps your issues are more with Razer more than AIO systems in general. I don't know if Razer have a good rep - I've never owned any of their stuff.

[Chimere 10]

@Tankbuster 

"If the system is idling, presumably there's no one at the PC to hear it." - for example when im working from home on PC my system is almost at idle clocks / fan speeds and i work a lot from home.

"Air coolers move a lot of air and do pick up lot of dust" - ehm isnt all AIOs cooled by air fans too? You are mounting in most cases AIO's radiator with fans directly on case, so AIO's fans will suck air inside case, while gaming those fans goes in higher RPMs than case fans, so they will suck more air = more dust than my 2 140mm frontal case fans which operates on 500-800 RPM and tell me how CPU air cooler can suck more air inside case than AIO while its not directly mounted on case vents, i would say dust issues are similar with air cooler / AIO. Also i saw many specs / reviews measuring decibels of AIOs versus NH-D15 and D14 and noctua fans are really silent, ofc dunno what others air coolers. Most of the default AIOs fans are more noisy than noctua fans, noctua fans are famous for their airflow + lower noise. Thats why most AIOs users what i know mount noctua fans over default ones on their AIOs.

"Perhaps your issues are more with Razer more than AIO systems in general. I don't know if Razer have a good rep" - what Razer? Kraken x52 is from NZXT manufacturer. But yeah, I confess its subjective / my personal preference, i burnt my fingers with AIO so i lost trust in it.

 

Also worth mentioning, with AIO my system (GPU, mobo, ram, hdds) was 5-8C hotter, cause all heated air from AIO goes inside case.

[Groove_C 267]

@Chimere I own myself a NH-D15S with liquid metal between CPU die and the integrated heat speader + liquid metal between integrated heat spreader and the cooler.

Before than it was a NH-D14, but it worked well only until I purchased better RAM which is much higher than regular sticks.

Now waiting for updated cooler from Noctua this year, that will still have same size as NH-D15, but 1 heatpipe more, more fins (tighter spaced) and updated fans, that make even less noise despite greater air pressure.

 

Btw, I have 8 140 mm fans in my case.

2 bottom fans, blowing directly onto the GPU cooler.

1 rear fan directly blowing onto the mainboard CPU VRMs and directly onto NH-D15S.

2 top fans, 1 blowing directly onto mainboard CPU VRMs and directly onto NH-D15S and 1 blowing onto the RAM sticks.

3 front fans as exhaust.

 

Rear and top fans are in direct vicinity of the mainboard CPU VRMs and the cooler and air that enters from outside is much less dispersed (better focused) and preserves greater pressure, due to much much shorter distance

vs.

it coming from front fans that are much much less close to the CPU cooler and VRMs.

And 2 bottom fans would also have had to pump the hot air out of the case instead of blowing fresh air directly onto the GPU, if the 3 front were used as intake.

And same applies as to the CPU VRMs and cooler - front fans are not as close to the GPU as bottom fans.

+ 2x140 mm bottom fans blow directly onto 3x92 mm GPU fans.

[Chimere 10]

25 minutes ago, Groove_C said:

@Chimere I own myself a NH-D15S with liquid metal between CPU die and the integrated heat speader + liquid metal between integrated heat spreader and the cooler.

Before than it was a NH-D14, but it worked well only until I purchased better RAM which is much higher than regular sticks.

Now waiting for updated cooler from Noctua this year, that will still have same size as NH-D15, but 1 heatpipe more, more fins (tighter spaced) and updated fans, that make even less noise despite greater air pressure.

 

Btw, I have 8 140 mm fans in my case.

2 bottom fans, blowing directly onto the GPU cooler.

1 rear fan directly blowing onto the mainboard CPU VRMs and directly onto NH-D15S.

2 top fans, 1 blowing directly onto mainboard CPU VRMs and directly onto NH-D15S and 1 blowing onto the RAM sticks.

3 front fans as exhaust.

 

Ohh that NH-D15S with 14 pipes looks insane, if they gonna make it in black / dark grey i know whats my next CPU cooler 🙂

 

What liquid metal are you using?

[Groove_C 267]

17 minutes ago, Chimere said:

if they gonna make it in black / dark grey i know whats my next CPU cooler 🙂

Actually NH-D15 and other fans already exist in mate black for some time.

But I wouldn't buy anything now, since by now old same fans, just in black and no increased cooling area.

 

The best fan of all existing fans (not Noctua only) is the NF-A12x25 that at 1500 rpms produces same noise level as other fans are already at 1000 rpms

+ it has 6 poles instead of 4, which makes it operate at lower noise lever, relieves bearings and it's smoother to the ear than fans with less than 6 poles.

[Chimere 10]

2 minutes ago, Groove_C said:

Actually NH-D15 and other fans already exist in mate black for some time.

But I wouldn't buy anything now, since same by now old fans and no increased cooling area.

 

The best fan of all existing fans (not Noctua only) is the NF-A12x25 that at 1500 rpms produces same noise level as other fans are already at 1000 rpms

+ it has 6 poles instead of 4, which makes it operate at lower noise lever, relieves bearings and it's smoother to the ear than fans with less than 6 poles.

 

Yeah i know some actual ones are already in black, but i was talking about the upgraded 14 pipe version.

[Groove_C 267]

Just now, Chimere said:

i was talking about the upgraded 14 pipe version.

There is actually no 14 heatpipes. There are 7 and each has 2 ends, that's it.

Like your NH-D14 has only 6 heatpipes and not 12.

[Chimere 10]

3 minutes ago, Groove_C said:

There is actually no 14 heatpipes. There are 7 and each has 2 ends, that's it.

Like your NH-D14 has only 6 heatpipes and not 12.

 

Oh my mistake, but we know which one i thought 😛

 

Also thanks for the fan info, i will look on them!