Will my PC Run this? What CPU/GPU to get? What settings? System Specifications.

[Pyronick 21]

<i>cheap 1 GB graphics card</i>

Don't - bigger numbers is not equal to better card. Newegg.com has pretty cheap parts.

If you can get a 1GB graphics card without having to pay much more, there is not reason to stick with 512MB hardware.

The 1GB framebuffers have more grunt for higher resolutions.

Latencies and bandwidth are usually the same, any small difference is negligible.

The best hardware for ArmA 2 atm seems to be Intel processors in combination with ATI graphics hardware.

But if you are looking at the HD 4870, forget it and consider the HD 4890 instead which seems to have less LOD popups. ;)

But the best thing IMO, is to wait until October for new DirectX 11 hardware.

I know ArmA 2 isn't a DirectX 11 game, but the optimized stream processor architecture and shader model will give you much better performance.

[S7_Mega 10]

Or even the Phenom II 940. Although you would be limited to DDR2 memory it costs less and performs the same. They can be easily overclocked to 3.4GHz-3.8GHz, and high cpu cycles benefit games the most.

[phil788 10]

Thanks for all your replies guys. I think the intel G31 chipset uses DDR2 RAM anyway. When the new Windows and Direct 11 comes out will it make much difference to the hardware I have bought- making it obsolete or just the graphics card?

Thanks

[Eagle911 10]

download the latest dx9c dist (even if you are on dx10)

How do u check what version you are currently on?

[Herbal Influence 10]

If you wanna get away quite cheap an' basic?

I am fascinated by my low end system which does the graphics really good!

Graphic card did cost 99 Euro, cpu 60 Euro - prices will haved dropped since the two weeks I bought it.

Only thing I would think about then is .... to have a cpu socket like AM2+ or newer to be completely open for the future.

[Pompeybear 0]

About 3 years ago I built my first PC, my PC is now on about its 3rd major upgrade. Would never look at a stock pc again.

My advice , always be able to log on to the internet while building the PC for advice.

ASUS motherboards are the best I have used, software that comes with them makes them easy to overclock you can do it from inside windows, even for a doughnut like me.

My last upgrade consisted of a new motherboard , AMD 940 Phenom II and a an ATI 4890. Arma now looks like it should.

Good luck mate with the build. You will hit problems, but you come out of it smarter having learned how to fix it.

[Monkey Lib Front 10]

run dxdiag

[kernriver 4]

Hi guys, I need some help here.

My system:

CPU: AMD X2 6000+ @3,1 GHz

RAM: 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz

GFX: nVidia 7900GS 256 MB

OS: WinXP pro 32 bit, SP2

Obviously, GFX card is the bottleneck. (I think :o)

So, my questions are:

1. Which GFX card would you recommend that would make a nice balance with this CPU. I don't want to buy something like GTX295,

because I guess then the CPU would be the bottleneck, right?

2. RAM: should I buy 1066 MHz RAM, or would the one I have suffice?

Note 1: I don't want to play on uber settings, just want ArmA2 to be playable and smooth at acceptable settings.

Note 2: I am not going to overclock.

Note 3: doesn't matter if it's nVidia or ATI card (don't start a war over this :p ;))

Thank you.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Kernriver

[echo1 0]

The Radeon HD4890 would be a pretty good choice. And changing the speed of your RAM isn't going to accomplish much.

[kernriver 4]

The Radeon HD4890 would be a pretty good choice. And changing the speed of your RAM isn't going to accomplish much.

Thank You for fast reply, ch_123. I'll see if my wallet can handle that. :)

[phil788 10]

Will Direct 11 really make a big difference to hardware when it comes out?

[S7_Mega 10]

No. You won't see a DX11 game till mid to late next year.

[Thirdup 0]

No. You won't see a DX11 game till mid to late next year.

I wouldn't hold your breath. There really aren't that many DirX10 titles.

[cartier90 0]

Out of interest guys...I have a I7 with a GTS250 1GB - pleased with performance. Would like to get say 30 % better rates though in a battle. Should I wait for the 300 series ? or get a GTX295 in say 6 months (when their cheaper).

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

upgraded a week ago from a 8800GTS SuperSuperClocked to a 4890 TOP and the improvement was only minor. What counts is the Quadcore!

[Indecisi0n 10]

Don't build it for this game because you will be disappointed no matter what you create. The software is broken.

[Jack-UK 0]

on paper should run it well, whether it will is another matter lol, quite a few of us are waiting for bugs/crashes to be fixed

oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered a copy of ArmA 2...

Here goes nothing...

[shataan 1]

I too am biulding an UBER:rig. And hope that BIS builds an excellent patch update for this excellent game, so it runs excellent on my excellent UBER:rig! ;p That would be ...... excellent.

[Cobra Pilot 10]

is this a good rig?

The computer has a AMD dual core 6000+ black edition

4 gigs black edition ram

150gb hard drive

xfx bfg geforce 9800 gtx black edition

ECS black edition mother board.

5.1 high definition mother board

geforce 8 series video card with hdmi

4 usb ports

2 dvi ports

dvd dl burner

10/100 lan

windows vista or windows 7 rc.

[haseo461x 10]

best buy is offering a 512 9800 GTX for 99.99 right now.

[Amuro 10]

Out of interest guys...I have a I7 with a GTS250 1GB - pleased with performance. Would like to get say 30 % better rates though in a battle. Should I wait for the 300 series ? or get a GTX295 in say 6 months (when their cheaper).

Wait for GT300, which's exactly what I'm doing right now.

[phil788 10]

Hey guys ok this is what im thinking.

Buy the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, S775, Kentsfield, 2.66 GHz for £130

buy Asus P5Q-EM DO, Intel Q45, S 775 motherboard. Does this come with built in audio Im not sure?? £90

ATI graphics card approx £160

DDR2 4GB RAM £37

Total approx £400

And then:

Use my existing SATA hard disk 250gb with windows XP already installed

Use my existing Dell Dimension 8400 case.

Do I need a separate heat sink with this set up?

Also guys have I missed anything? What do you think?

[doakwolf 10]

I actually built a brand new rig in anticipation of OFP:2 not realising that THIS (ArmA:2)was the true sequal to OFP.. So now I'm happy and loving this game!

My rig:

Intel i7 920 @ 3.7GHz

ATI 4890 @ 950MHz

6Gb DDR3

WD Caviar Black drives in raid0

Game is running nicely @ 1920x1080 with graphics settings all on 'high' apart from AA which is on 2x (normal). That's only since overclocking my CPU - before that it was running a bit slow for my liking.

Jero.

[echo1 0]

Hey guys ok this is what im thinking.

Buy the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, S775, Kentsfield, 2.66 GHz for £130

buy Asus P5Q-EM DO, Intel Q45, S 775 motherboard. Does this come with built in audio Im not sure?? £90

ATI graphics card approx £160

DDR2 4GB RAM £37

Total approx £400

And then:

Use my existing SATA hard disk 250gb with windows XP already installed

Use my existing Dell Dimension 8400 case.

Do I need a separate heat sink with this set up?

Also guys have I missed anything? What do you think?

There's a couple of points here -

The Q6700 is quite primitive by today's standards. You'd be really better off trying to get something faster like a Phenom II X4. If you do, you'll then need to get an AM3 motherboard.

All motherboards come with sound these days.

You'd have to tell what exactly the card is. Judging by the price tag its probably the HD4890 which is the best choice.

You're going to need a new Power Supply Unit to power all this, I'd recommend the Corsair HX620 which is probably the best value for money of all the PSUs out there.

You're probably going to have to get a new case. Dell Dimensions use (or used to use, they're out of production) non-standard motherboard designs, a new motherboard wont fit. In addition, if memory serves me correct, The D8400 is a rather old model, and it may not have adequate cooling for all your new parts. It also won't take a new PSU unless you take a dremel the back of the case so that a non-Dell unit will fit.

Oh btw, just so you know, you're going to have to reinstall XP when you get your new PC. And XP will not recognize all of your 4GB of RAM. You'd be better off considering the RC of Windows 7.

[Herbal Influence 10]

Guys - I would really recommend for a more effective discussion to open cpu-specified threads.

At last for those who plan to stick to their cpus.

The "Will my PC run this" thread -

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=72181

getting more and more unreadable.

What does a thread help with more than 2.600 posts if you have read through 79 % of discussions that don't meet your specs? And pls post your specs into the signature. We all learn from it and questions like ... and what is your graphic card? And five posts later ... "and your RAM?" ... six posts later "and your Motherboard?" are annoying and can so easy be avoided.

For AMD 3800 X2 and 6000 X2 you find it here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=77206

Thanx!