Play Arma3 with a R3 1300X - the Force awakens

[oldbear 390]

The context :

 

After being disappointed by the Pentium G4500 (see the 1st episode )*, I thought I had found a good candidate for the "Minimum Recommendable" to play Arma3, with the Pentium G4560 (have a look at 2nd episode)**, and that’s the case.
I have been worried because shortly after the test, this processor became unobtainable, either by Intel's deliberate intention, that the rush to stop the upcoming R3 had led them to do an overkill and release an "i3 Killer" or either because of the appetite of crypto-miners.
I was looking forward to the release of the R3 1200 and R3 1300X to see by myself how they will perform in Arma3 and whether a Ryzen3 would be an option on the AMD side to get a playable asset at a lower cost.

The basis of this search for the "Minimum Recommendable" is my own experience in Arma3 trying to play with a minimum configuration based rig
The "Minimum" configuration for Arma3 is ...

 

• Processor Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz / AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz
• GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT / AMD Radeon HD 5670 / Intel Graphics 4000 with 512 MB VRAM

... I had tried, and I had problems!
It must be clear for everyone, it is no longer possible play Arma3 with a Core 2Duo E6600 and a GeForce 9800 GT.
This "Minimum" for Arma3 is allowing to display the game and to work on the editor but does not allow to have a correct gaming experience.

Testing :

a- hardware

1° why pick the R3 1300X ?

It's not the cheapest and, in fact, it's not a deliberate choice!
This is the consequence of an incredible cascade of pre-orders, cancellations & orders.
It should be noted that the R3 1200 was posted at 112 € on Materiel.net and up to 172 € on Amazon ...

2° the test set-up.

The processor is set on an ASUS B350M-A card, not the cheapest but is meeting my own reusable requirements :
- be equipped with an accessible BIOS configuration system (which is the case for ASUS).
- allow overclock
- have 4 DDR4 slots
- have M.2 slot
- be of a reusable format in a medium size case.

For memory, things were not easy because of the current surge in the price of RAM.
Initial testing have been done with 2x8 GB of DDR4 Corsair 3000 Mhz but I have been unable to make it run over 2100 Mhz.
 

An RX 550 helps to build a full AMD configuration [a tribute to my 1st Operation Flashpoint rig]

At the moment Windows 10 Pro 64bits and Arma3 are installed on a removable SSD which is a part of my fixed bench installation designed around a Dimastech table.

How it looks IRL :

 

… and under HWInfo64 :

 

 

As display, I am using 2 old HP 1400x900 monitors for the tests, it can help to get better performances level, but it’s all I get do do the job ATM .

 

* Jouer à Arma3 avec un Pentium  (in French) on CanardPC Forums : http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/107211-Jouer-à-Arma3-avec-un-Pentium

**  Jouer à Arma3 avec un Pentium [2] - L'Empire contre-attaque  (in French) on CanardPC Forums : http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/113164-Jouer-à-Arma3-avec-un-Pentium-2-L-Empire-contre-attaque

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by oldbear
English is not my mother tongue

[oldbear 390]

b- testing protocol

Here is the plan for Arma3-APEX and R3 1300X + RX 550 test :

* settings,
* running Arma3Mark bench and YAAB bench
* tests on SP missions "4 vs 1" on Altis and "Anti-Syndicat" on Tanoa
* tests on MP missions on a server that does not use mod.

 

* settings

Video settings after running auto-detection :

 

 

 

 

In game, I remove all the settings inducing blur, but for the first tests I had left the settings as set.

 

* running Arma3Mark bench and YAAB bench

Arma3Mark – Stratis

 

On a regular basis I am getting 63 FPS.
This score is not significant for in-game FPS level, it indicates that the game is correctly set.

Yet Another Arma Benchmark ou YAAB

 

 

On a regular basis I am getting over 30 FPS score.
This score is indicative of the level of FPS in play, telling that the game is completely playable.
For the tests, using the "Standard" settings of the bench allows a comparison between tests … and builds.

 

* tests on SP missions "4 vs 1" on Altis and "Anti-Syndicat" on Tanoa:

4 vs 1-Altis : the first mission played is a version of the "4 contre1" mission that I created to test Arma3. In this mission FIA groups are fighting AAF motorized infantry groups. The groups are spawned with modules or triggers and a reinforcement script in the proportion of 4 AAF for 1 FIA. A group of FIA is playable in SP and the use of the Farook revives in debug mode makes it possible to make the mission last 24h and more with a player as Team Leader [note: objectively, the mission does not work any more as it should since the last updates but I kept it for a chance to compare with previous tests.]

 

Large

In this mission, the game runs fairly regularly in the 25/30 FPS zone which is quite playable.
In a more qualitative and subjective way, the feeling in play is good, fluid, without loss of FPS in movement or during shots.

Anti-Syndikat - Tanoa : the second mission played is a transposition on Tanoa of the previous mission.
In this mission of groups of the FAT32 (Front d’Auto-defense de Tanoa) face the Syndikat bandits. The groups are spawned with modules or triggers and a reinforcement script in the proportion of 4 Syndikat for 1 FAT32 / Gendarmerie. A mixed group FAT32 / Gendarmerie is playable in SP, the use of the Farook revives in debug mode makes it possible to make the mission last, the Gendarmerie Group Leader being allowed revive his AI troops.

 

Large

In this mission, the game runs in the 25 FPS area and, nevertheless, it remains fluid and constantly playable in the engagement and / or the fast movements.
Nevertheless, I think that, here, in this mission on Tanoa with I was feeling the CPU limits.

 

* tests on MP missions on a server that does not use mod.

 

Looking for « vanilla » MP mission I have played KOHs on public server ...

 

 

Large
 

On KOTH on Altis, on a public server, the game runs quite well.
On a battle on Kavala, with a dozen players in game , I was playing the 40 FPS zone.

Many thanks to www.Academy-KotH.de which unwittingly was used as testing ground.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by oldbear
English is not my mother tongue

[oldbear 390]

During these tests the DDR4 was running @ 2100 MHz, I was unable to get it boot despite the fact that this this 16 Go 3000MHz Corsair pack was on the compatibility list released with last AGESA update.

After the very last BIOS update, the DDR4 was allowed to boot @ 3000MHz, so I get some performance enhancement allowing to play with Visibility parameter set up to 3500m.

 

[Mahatma Gandhi 29]

Thanks for your minireview on a AMD budget assembly!

 

I can report that Ryzen is absolutely well performing in ArmA3 and I would say faster per clock than many Intel CPUs.

 

I am running a 1700 @ 3.8GHz with FlareX RAMs @ 3200MHz (optimized timings) and a 4G Radeon 470. When I am running YAAB in the "LOW Preset" (to avoid GPU limitations) under 1920x1080 I get this meanwhile.

 

 

If of interest, I can also run it at standard settings and report here.

 

Absolut key for good ArmA3 performance on a Ryzen Sys is the RAM.