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

[kanugane 10]

Greetings, everyone!

I'd like to know, if I'm fine to run ArmA 3 with this PC rig of mine.

CPU - Intel Core i3 540

2 Cores and 4 Threads.

Motherboard - MSI H55M-P31(MS-7636)

DDR3, 7GB.

NB frequency 2128.2 MHz

DRAM Frequency 665.1MHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX650, 2GB.

----------------

Please, do tell me and can you recommend me, what things I should do to improve my perfomance?

I usually get ~15-20FPS in Multiplayer. Most of the servers =/

[UltimateBawb 1]

Greetings, everyone!

I'd like to know, if I'm fine to run ArmA 3 with this PC rig of mine.

CPU - Intel Core i3 540

2 Cores and 4 Threads.

Motherboard - MSI H55M-P31(MS-7636)

DDR3, 7GB.

NB frequency 2128.2 MHz

DRAM Frequency 665.1MHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX650, 2GB.

----------------

Please, do tell me and can you recommend me, what things I should do to improve my perfomance?

I usually get ~15-20FPS in Multiplayer. Most of the servers =/

First upgrade your CPU, then GPU. What kind of budget do you have?

[Sneakson 1]

Thanks, from what you say it seems Win 8/8.1 has some improvements over Win7 but also some annoyances.

But dear old Win7 is a tried and tested pussycat.

Hmm so it's a difficult choice which to get, decisions, decisions..

Yeah, it's difficult. Win7 would be the perfect OS to me if only it wasn't for libraries...

Annoying abstract locations that don’t exist meh. That's the only thing I can think of that I didn't like in 7. Even one of the built-it wallpapers was nice.

Win8 is even worse. Whenever you open your documents, downloads or any of those folders you appear in a directory called “Documentsâ€â€¦ that’s it. Not “C:\Users\Name\Documentsâ€, only "Documents".

Which naturally means that if you want to quickly access your Users folder instead of clicking up or clicking the address bar and removing \Documents you now have to manually open My Computer, click C, then Users, then your name instead.

There’s just no good reason for all of these new root folders that appear in abstract spaces outside of your drives.

Makes everything a lot more complicated for advanced users.

I'd stick to Win7 64-bit unless you have some means of buying Win8 cheaply so it won't be a massive loss if you don't like it much.

Odds are that some of the things that bother me in Win8 don't bother other users as much too though.

[Sneakson 1]

Greetings, everyone!

I'd like to know, if I'm fine to run ArmA 3 with this PC rig of mine.

CPU - Intel Core i3 540

2 Cores and 4 Threads.

Motherboard - MSI H55M-P31(MS-7636)

DDR3, 7GB.

NB frequency 2128.2 MHz

DRAM Frequency 665.1MHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX650, 2GB.

----------------

Please, do tell me and can you recommend me, what things I should do to improve my perfomance?

I usually get ~15-20FPS in Multiplayer. Most of the servers =/

There are already threads for this including:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?147391-Will-my-PC-run-Arma3-What-CPU-GPU-to-get-What-settings-What-System-Specifications

Upgrade your 1) motherboard and CPU then see how the game works and if you're not satisfied upgrade your 2) graphics card...

Don't expect it to do a lot about multiplayer performance though. All you can do is wait for optimizations.

[jackdrwe 10]

hi im new to the forums so please if i have done anything against the rules than please correct me.

this was all the info i was able to get of my specs:

processor: AMD A8-4500M APU with Radeom HD Graphics 1.90GHz

im probably going to run it on the lowest settings as i like to have peformance over quality

owh and i run windows 8. tanks for reading

[oldbear 390]

@ jackdrwe : you can't play Arma3 on a notebook featuring an AMD A8-4500M APU with HD Graphics.

[s3xmachinegun 10]

Hi!

I got the following setup:

CPU: AMD AM3+ FX-8320, 8-core, 125W running at 4Ghz

RAM: Crucial DDR3 BallistiX 1600Mhz 8GB KIT (2x4GB)

MAINBOARD: Gigabyte AM3+ 970A-DS3P

HARDDRIVE: Samsung SSD 830 series

GFX CARD: Nividia Gerforce GTX 660

And I get SHIT performance. On pretty much all multiplayer servers i go, i get 20 FPS when the server is populated at medium/low settings.

I have tried tuning pretty much everything, and I refuse to run at low gfx settings in Arma 3.

I felt i just wasted a shitload of money upgrading to be able to play Arma 3

[Sneakson 1]

Hi!

I got the following setup:

CPU: AMD AM3+ FX-8320, 8-core, 125W running at 4Ghz

RAM: Crucial DDR3 BallistiX 1600Mhz 8GB KIT (2x4GB)

MAINBOARD: Gigabyte AM3+ 970A-DS3P

HARDDRIVE: Samsung SSD 830 series

GFX CARD: Nividia Gerforce GTX 660

And I get SHIT performance. On pretty much all multiplayer servers i go, i get 20 FPS when the server is populated at medium/low settings.

I have tried tuning pretty much everything, and I refuse to run at low gfx settings in Arma 3.

I felt i just wasted a shitload of money upgrading to be able to play Arma 3

Nothing wrong with your specs I guess. How is singleplayer?

Always only measure singleplayer performance. Multiplayer performance depends on a lot of things other than your computer such as host computer and mission scripting.

If you have good singleplayer performance all you can do is wait for optimisations that in time hopefully will bring multiplayer performance closer to singleplayer performance or search for other servers.

Allegedly there are some servers that can handle many players, advanced missions and with good performance and multiplayer optimisations are on the way.

[oldbear 390]

@ s3xmachinegun : Many factors can contribute to "low" performances in Arma3 : the hardware, Arma3 MP, Servers management and MP missions.

In your setup, the main issue is the CPU itself. There is nothing wrong with the FX-8320, it's just it is not the best candidate to play Arma3.

Have a look at the CPU hierarchy related to real Virtuality Engine in Arma2 : OA.

Source : http://www.hardware.fr/articles/897-21/cpu-jeux-3d-crysis-2-arma-ii-oa.html

So, in fact you can get with such CPU the same performances you can get from a Phenom II x4 or an i3-3***.

With your rig, in Single player, you can play at an average level over the 30 FPS limit with "Very High" setting and 2000/3000m Visibility.

Setting down the Quality parameters to "Low" is counter-productive, let them at the highest level your GPU is allowing. The only setting you can play with is "Visibility" but be advised that in MP visibility is ruled by the server settings.

For the AA&PP section, have a look at "ARMA III Video Card Performance and IQ Review" from HardOCP. I am using their recipe on my own rigs "... Therefore, best AA combo in this game, FXAA Ultra + 2X/4X or 8X FSAA and you will get the best texture quality, no blurring, crisp textures, and well anti-aliased objects and vegetation."

Arma3 MP ... when Arma3 has been released in early versions the flaws in Arma3 MP where there but, not too disturbing as we were playing on Stratis.

When Arma3 full version has been released, all the more or less hidden issues show in plain sight on Altis and since BIS has worked hard and is still working to mend Arma3 Multi-player.

In this MP environment, it's difficult to manage a server. As there are not official server in Arma*, everybody can host a dedicated server. Some servers are hosted by pros, managed by dedicated community teams members and some are only makeshift server managed by some sorcerer's apprentice.

The same analysis can be applied to MP missions [and "mod" such as Altis Life] some missions are built by dedicated community missions-makers using all their experience and knowledge to deliver bug free missions ... and a lot of people are adding their own "cool" stuff some are doing well, other just failed ... .

[tonschuh 3]

Just a couple of points-

1- it says on the box that AA3 requires Win Vista SP1 or Win7 SP1, so whatever computer you get, make sure its got one of them.

Also I should think Win 8 is capable of running AA3.

(As an experiment I installed AA3 on my spare computer which has Win XP but it wouldn't run at all, it only runs on my other computer with Win7)

Which do the forum experts recommend, Vista, Win7 or Win8? (and I hear there's a Win8.1, does that mean the earlier Win8 is obsolete?)

2- Can our experts also tell us if monitor choice is important? Will any off-the-shelf monitor do?

to 1):

I loved Windows-7, but still prefer Windows-8.1.

There are a bunch of improvements under the hood and some games just perform better under Windows-8.1 (smoother GamePlay | higher fps | better DirectX-Support), but I can't tell if there is a big difference when playing ARMA-3.

to 2):

I use a "Asus VE278Q 27" Wide Led Black Full HD 2ms" (http://www.asus.com/Monitors_Projectors/VE278Q/), which does the job and was not overly pricey.

to Mouse | MousePad | Keyboard:

- My Mouse: http://shogunbros.com/commander/ballista-mk-1

- My MousePad: http://www.roccat.org/Products/Gaming-Mousepads/ROCCAT-Siru/

- My Keyboard: http://www.roccat.org/Products/Gaming-Keyboards/ROCCAT-Isku/

Nothing overly pricey either, but I'm really happy with the gear so far.

:)

[pooroldspike 129]

I just went down the shop to get a quote for a PC that'll play AA3 and this is what they said, what do you guys think?

Case: ZAL Z3

PSU: cx600m

M/board: H87

Processor: I5 4670 3.4 Ghz

RAM: 16Gb 1600 ram

Hard drive: 240 Gb SSD

Graphics: GeForce gtx 770

Optical: DVDRW

O/S: Win 7 SP1 64-bit

Other: 1tb drive

Total price 1072 GB pounds

(1780 US dollars)

(1960 Canadian dollars)

(1292 Euros)

[ratszo 17]

I just went down the shop to get a quote for a PC that'll play AA3 and this is what they said, what do you guys think?

Case: ZAL Z3

PSU: cx600m

M/board: H87

Processor: I5 4670 3.4 Ghz

RAM: 16Gb 1600 ram

Hard drive: 240 Gb SSD

Graphics: GeForce gtx 770

Optical: DVDRW

O/S: Win 7 SP1 64-bit

Other: 1tb drive

Total price 1072 GB pounds

(1780 US dollars)

(1960 Canadian dollars)

(1292 Euros)

Faster Ram? 8gb.?

Read here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?166512-Arma-3-CPU-vs-RAM-performance-comparison-1600-2133-up-to-15-FPS-gain&highlight=ram

Oh, and don't forget a after-market cooler for the cpu --since you will want to oc it.

[tonschuh 3]

Faster Ram? 8gb.?

Read here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?166512-Arma-3-CPU-vs-RAM-performance-comparison-1600-2133-up-to-15-FPS-gain&highlight=ram

Oh, and don't forget a after-market cooler for the cpu --since you will want to oc it.

... but then he should get the "k"-Model.

:)

[ratszo 17]

... but then he should get the "k"-Model.

:)

Ah, good point, I5 4670 "K" --is a must for the unlocked mulipliers.

Didn't know they sold a locked version.

[pooroldspike 129]

Hmm its all getting a bit techy for me, I'm just a grunt wargamer. A simpler (and cheaper) alternative would be to simply upgrade my old PC, it runs Arma3 but not smoothly, it's a bit too jerky even on low settings.

These are its specs, shall I just tell the shop to put in a more powerful processor and graphics card?

And is my current 4096 Mb RAM enough to handle Win 7 or shall I get more RAM too?

Processor: Intel® Core 2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~ 2.8GHz

Memory: 4096 MB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 (1024 Mb)

O.S: Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit

[ratszo 17]

Go with,

Processor: I5 4670k 3.4 Ghz

RAM: 8Gb 2133 ram

Zalman cooler

Save cash by reusing the old case, psw, optic drive, even hard-drive as you can.

Get the "K" burnt-in @4ghz. --find a shop that knows what it's doing, and leave the techy stuff to them.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Ratszo

[oldbear 390]

@ PoorOldSpike : in fact you can't get a real upgrade without a massive change.

The configuration suggested by your shop is a good one .

Case: ZAL Z3

PSU: cx600m

M/board: H87

Processor: I5 4670 3.4 Ghz

RAM: 16Gb 1600 ram

Hard drive: 240 Gb SSD

Graphics: GeForce gtx 770

Optical: DVDRW

O/S: Win 7 SP1 64-bit

Other: 1tb drive

With such a rig the overclock way is not open, but as you are playing on an outdated rig at the moment, you will experienced a major boost in gameplay.

Well updating the old rig ...

The only change you can do without taking too much risk is to switch from NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 to a better graphic card from GTX 750Ti to GTX 770.

The gain you can get from such an upgrade will be mainly on Video quality but not much on gameplay and FPS.

Getting more RAM on your old rig is not a good move because you will gain nothing this way Quality/Fps wise.

The LGA775 where your E8500 is plugged is no longer supported, so it's a bit difficult and/or expensive to get a CPU for this outdated socket.

By the way the most powerful CPU you can get is probably an Intel Core2 Quad Q9650 but it's way too expensive, more expensive than an i7-4*** at the moment.

A Core2 Quad Q9500 is less expensive and can do the job but it comes at the same price as a brand new i5-4***.

Be advised that these processors -even the Q9650- are not reaching the "Recommended" Arma3 official level.

So the CPU upgrade is NOT a solution.

[Sneakson 1]

I just went down the shop to get a quote for a PC that'll play AA3 and this is what they said, what do you guys think?

Case: ZAL Z3

PSU: cx600m

M/board: H87

Processor: I5 4670 3.4 Ghz

RAM: 16Gb 1600 ram

Hard drive: 240 Gb SSD

Graphics: GeForce gtx 770

Optical: DVDRW

O/S: Win 7 SP1 64-bit

Other: 1tb drive

Total price 1072 GB pounds

(1780 US dollars)

(1960 Canadian dollars)

(1292 Euros)

Hm...

Case is up to you.

That motherboard and that CPU doesn't support overclocking I believe however overclocking doesn't do much of a difference on Haswell CPUs anyways so no major loss there.

Memories should be 8GB, that’s more than enough. Some would also buy quicker memories however I suppose you won’t lose much with 1600 MHz.

And all the other specs are good.

HOWEVER the cost seems maybe about £200 high.

Both adding up individual components in Sweden or on Amazon.co.uk I come up to £900 even.

Maybe the store charges for construction and installation? I suppose £72 could be that but it’s still £100 high then.

Maybe you should consider a different store. Maybe cut down to 8GB memories then search for someone offering a similar computer at £8-900?

In the UK I’m sure you have a lot of options.

I’m not sure how much extra stores usually charge since they have to make some money. Maybe £200 high is customary.

Also on spec improvements: being able to overclock would be comfortable though I don't believe it makes much of a difference in ARMA3 at all.

Also some advocate 2400 MHz memories and I'm actually going to benchmark this next week. Until then there hasn't been any conclusive testing showing their benefits in ARMA3.

Buying new is a better idea than trying to upgrade your old stuff.

If money if tight search for a cheaper store, only buy 8GB memories (£50 off), consider a 760 graphics card instead of 770 (£70 off) and consider a 128GB SSD (£30 off at least).

Also if you already have Win 7 64-bit or someone else has a copy to spare then that’s about £70 off.

You could save maybe £120-400 by finding a cheaper store and cutting down as described above.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Sneakson

[pooroldspike 129]

....Buying new is a better idea than trying to upgrade your old stuff....

Yeah thanks guys, it's only money and we single unmarried doods are rolling in it..:)

Re the overclocking thing, I know zilch about it (just a grunt wargamer) but I hear it involves pushing the envelope of a PC's performance but can be risky if you don't know what you're doing.

In fact when discussing the new rigs specs with the guy in the shop, he said "you're not interested in overclocking are you?" and I said "No".

Incidentally he said the new rig will have two hard drives, (a 240 Gb SSD drive and a 1tb drive), he explained why but most of it went over my head.

The outfit will also come in a big case, I'd have preferred a smaller one but he said bigger cases run quicker and are less prone to overheating etc.

PS- He said I'll also have to pay AGAIN to have Win 7 installed in the new rig even though I already paid him once not so long ago to have it installed in my old PC. He said Win 7 is only licensed for one computer at a time.

[old_painless 182]

He is right, that is the formal print of the license. From time to time I replace parts in our household pc's, some times even motherboard. Windows then thinks its a new pc and you have to call a number to reinvoke your license. He could maybe port ypur old harddrive over and then do the same thing?

[oldbear 390]

@ PoorOldSpike : having two hard drives, (a 240 Gb SSD drive and a 1Tb drive) is somewhat state of the art configuration. The SSD [hosting OS and Arma3] will give you quick Windows/Applications start up but what's more important, will help getting a smooth Arma3 gameplay experience. While playing, all the Arma* games are heavily loading files, mainly textures, so using a SSD with fast disk access will help with flickering textures and game stuttering.

The large HDD is needed to host what's less needed :cool:

About Windows license, well ... the OEM license is tied to the motherboard " ...an end user can upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on a computer—except the motherboard—and still retain the license for the original Microsoft OEM operating system software. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created. Microsoft OEM operating system software cannot be transferred to the new computer, and the license of new operating system software is required." source : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/36804-63-changing-motherboard-win7-version

With Windows 8.1 it's a bit different for Microsoft has switched to Personal Use Licence allowing user to build it's own PC and allowing more changes in hardware. Source : http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-radically-overhauls-license-agreements-for-windows-8-7000002866/

Nevertheless, in that case you also need to purchase a new Windows license.

[Sneakson 1]

Yeah thanks guys, it's only money and we single unmarried doods are rolling in it..:)

Re the overclocking thing, I know zilch about it (just a grunt wargamer) but I hear it involves pushing the envelope of a PC's performance but can be risky if you don't know what you're doing.

In fact when discussing the new rigs specs with the guy in the shop, he said "you're not interested in overclocking are you?" and I said "No".

Incidentally he said the new rig will have two hard drives, (a 240 Gb SSD drive and a 1tb drive), he explained why but most of it went over my head.

The outfit will also come in a big case, I'd have preferred a smaller one but he said bigger cases run quicker and are less prone to overheating etc.

PS- He said I'll also have to pay AGAIN to have Win 7 installed in the new rig even though I already paid him once not so long ago to have it installed in my old PC. He said Win 7 is only licensed for one computer at a time.

Yes, I think you would have to un-install Windows on your old computer before installing it on the new one for it to work. (or as OldBear said)

When it comes to case there are some pretty small computers nowadays basically the size of a shoebox I believe (25x20x40 cm). I’ve never had one though and don’t know how much hotter they are. Mine’s a massive 33x46x41 cube.

Standard towers are the most common though. I believe they’re usually about the size of mine except cut in half though some are bigger and some are smaller.

Overclocking is quite complicated however there’s a software called Command Centre that does everything for you. However it’s only good for up to about 4.4 GHz with good cooling whereas manual overclocking may get you higher than that, 4.8 tops.

In ARMA3 my 4770K at stock clock which is basically 3.4-3.9 GHz depending on what the CPU needs at the time and in overclock to 4.4 GHz and also a memory overclock from 1333 MHz to 1600 MHz (noticed this a while ago, no idea why 1600 isn’t default… thought it was) doesn’t make much of a difference in gameplay.

In a benchmark mission it made a difference, on an empty Altis in the editor it made a difference and in Showcase: Helicopters it made a difference I believe however in Showcase: Infantry and in empty Stratis in the editor it didn’t make a difference so I’m quite confused as to what sort of an improvement it really does when playing an actual mission.

Automatic overclocking just needs one thing that all overclocking needs: some sort of extra CPU cooling. At least I’m not sure how well you can do without it. Haswell gets hot quickly.

One SSD (solid state drive) and one HDD (hard disk drive) is good because HDDs are cheap as hell nowadays while SSDs are expensive but quick so today the best decision is to buy a 60-256GB SSD to install Windows (makes Windows quicker) and store whatever else you use often while the HDD is sort of back-up storage for when your SSD runs out.

SSDs are quickly becoming cheaper which is why it would be quite foolish to buy a 500GB-1TB size SSD. Not that I wouldn’t love to have all my junk on just one SSD.

With 240GB you should be able to have Windows, all your documents, music, productivity programs (Adobe, Microsoft) and a good number of games all on the SSD. That leaves the HDD for about a billion more games when you need it, downloads, movies and so on. The good thing about not having a thing on your HDD is you can set it to spin down when not in use so it turns completely quiet which is nice if you have a silent computer.

I’m not sure how silent your computer will be though. The number one noise source will be the power supply unit… seems to be approximately up to 40 dBA in tests though it’s hard to tell how much that actually is. Should be quite silent but I don’t think you’ll have to worry about your HDD being louder.

[pooroldspike 129]

Thanks guys I'm digesting all you say..:)

Another thing- the shop quoted me 20 GBP (30 USdollars) to put AVG on a new PC which seems reasonable, but do you think I also need to have an anti-spyware prog like AdAware or something?

[nikiforos 450]

Comodo is an excellent free antivirus-firewall program , just use it and save 30 US dollars.

Also for anti-spyware use the Malwarebyte, free and excellent as well. No need to spend money here either.

[pooroldspike 129]

Thanks, but what confuses me is that AVG (below) is supposed to give us all-round protection against viruses and spyware and stuff, so why do we also need another prog?