Help me buy a PC for ArmA

[xendog 0]

I want to buy a new PC for ArmA:CO  I just ordered.

What is the minimum processor, RAM and video card that would run ArmA well?  I know I want an Intel chip.  

Second question, what is the minimum PC to run ArmA at maximum settings with high framerates at all times?

[sirex 0]

2gb ram,cpu chip type isnt really an issue (at least, ive not heard it to be, the game dosnt current take advantage of dual core, but youll want that (or quad) anyway on a new machine)

id got for a 8800 gfx card. the game has a bug with it at the moment, but its better to plan for the future.

max settings and high fps is a tall order though, most machines cant pull it off (i.e: dont be disheartened if you're looking for 100fps) edit: this is at a high res, obviously.

[bonko the sane 2]

-Intel Duo E6600 is a good CPU, and can be easily overclocked

-GForce 8800 GTX (expensive, but amazing performance, be aware that this GPU is very big and needs a lots of room inside the pc) Also, if you dont have a high res screen, you wont take full advantage of it.

-minimum 2GB 800Mzh RAM

-Creative Xfi, any will do fine

-minimum 750W PSU (myself i got LC POWER Arkangel 850W, very quiet, cheap and reliable)

-2X Seagate 320GB 16mb hardrives in SATA

OS: either XP32 or XP64...i hear Vista is still lacking a lot of good drivers.

if i was buying a new pc i would make sure it would be DX10 compatible, get a 965 or 975 chipset motherboard

i bought a similar setup 2 months ago and i run Arma at high\very high with lots of FPS (average 45), a lot more in multiplayer where viewdistance is usualy smallish.

this said, its an expensive machine and you can and should adapt it to your situation, but remember, Arma prefers graphics power to cpu power.

[william1 0]

so you first buy the game no matter the specifications it has , and then you buy a pc that can run the game well , it's a bit risky but it may work

[PaveQ 0]

-minimum 750W PSU (myself i got LC POWER Arkangel 850W, very quiet, cheap and reliable)

Are you saying you need over 750W psu for single 8800GTX? I would estimate your total power consumption remains under 350W in heavy load.

[TrunkzJr 0]

Yeah 850 is something you need for 2 of them in SLI, why did you get that for a single GTX?, thats over kill lol.

[Richieb0y 0]

Yeah 850 is something you need for 2 of them in SLI, why did you get that for a single GTX?, thats over kill lol.

mabye hes planing 2 upgrade sometime and does not have 2 buy a PSU thats for sure

[bonko the sane 2]

Quote[/b] ] To power a single GeForce 8800 GTX card, Nvidia recommends a 450-watt power supply in a PC with a high-end dual-core chip and a typical combination of internal hardware. But the trick is that the power supply must have two PCI Express card power connectors to plug into the two sockets on the back of the card. Most modern power supplies should have the necessary connectors. If you want to add two 8800 GTX cards in an SLI configuration, however, you've got a challenge on your hands.

Nvidia hasn't released a driver that will run the GeForce 8800 GTX in SLI mode as of the time of this writing, but it may have one out soon. Thus, we didn't get to test it, but Nvidia did share the power supply specs with us. To run two GeForce 8800 GTX cards in SLI mode, Nvidia recommends at least a 750-watt power supply. But some of the recommended models on its SLI compatibility list go as high as 850 and even 1,000 watts. We suspect those higher-wattage recommendation will allow you some headroom for adding multiple hard drives and optical drivers, as well as very high-end quad-core processors. Still, it's clear that building a next-gen SLI rig will be no small undertaking, at least for now. Heck, many midtowers PC cases are too small to accept a 1,000-watt power supply.

from http://reviews.cnet.com/Nvidia_....89.html

yup, ill sell my prized hamster and buy a second gtx and a quad core when Arma supports multicore

[Gaffa09 0]

I would go for atleast a 600w psu with my 8800gtx... Also make sure the psu has quad 12v rails, otherwise you wont get the best performance from your card!

If anyone is planning to make a pc, id suggest waiting for the AMD quad core

Atm i have amd dual core 4200, but the only problem with this, is that it doesn't support DD2. So in a few weeks im going to upgrade to AMD FX dual core with 4gb DD2 800mhz ArmA is a very strange game lol... Anyother game i can max out, but ArmA is a different story. Dont get me wrong i can run on high settings.

I would say, wait for the new patch to come out and see what they fix, then build a new computer Also OFP2 is just round the corner, plus Crysis

[xendog 0]

Yeah 850 is something you need for 2 of them in SLI, why did you get that for a single GTX?, thats over kill lol.

mabye hes planing 2 upgrade sometime and does not have 2 buy a PSU thats for sure

Thanks for all the tips.

I played OFP since the day it came out. But I took a break last year. Now that ArmA is out in the US it's time to upgrade my 4 year old PC so I can play it again.

This is the only game I'll probably play on the PC. I have a 360 for the rest.

[bravo 6 0]

what about if you wait for the AMD k10? i bet there will be better video cards by that time

[INNOCENT&CLUELESS 0]

lol we have such a thread daily!

You need:

- tripple speed ultra core flux-compensated single-PIN overhead CPU

- hyper-anabolic VRAM ejector

- dual-fork HDD scratcher with dust injection

- black-hole monitor

If can't get it, a 6600 and a 7900 + 2G RAM does it until this is available...

[raedor 8]

Please use this thread for hardware discussions.