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

[Fuzzy Bandit 10]

I'm looking into purchasing a MacBook Pro, and before anyone says it, I've made my decision and I'm not gunna sway! :P

Anyways, I wanted to know how well it would run a game such as ARMA II. I'm hopefully going to get one of the brand new models which have just been brought in this April, and I have a friend who has a MacBook Pro (bought about a year and a half ago) which can run ARMA II with ~medium graphics and run at a fairly decent FPS.

I'm at school at the moment, and the Apple site is blocked, so I can't list exact specifications, but I believe I can remember the general, important bits!

Intel Core i7 2.66GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512MB)
4GB RAM
1440 x 990 Res (May upgrade it to 1680 x 1050)

I'm not sure if the Intel Core i7 2.66GHz is Dual Core or not, but it is advertised and benchmarked as being MUCH better than the previous models (Intel Pentium 4 Dual Cores?) Anyways, that's all I can remember off the top of my head, but I think that covers the main stuff.

So really all I'm wondering is how well will the system run ARMA II?

Oh and yes I will be using Boot Camp to run Windows - my friend also uses Boot Camp to run ARMA II and still receives decent FPS.

Cheers,

Jack

[Alex72 1]

On monday i'll have my i7 930, P6X58D Premium, OCZ Gold DDR3 1600mhz (6GB), WD Black and ofcourse add GTX275 that i have now. I'll post some short review on how it turns out so anyone wondering gets an idea.

With my current system (see below) i can play on HIGH with 2500VD with good performance - until too much AI starts "thinking". I hope the i7 and the rest will take care of that. And i dont really care about super large battles as im more of a medium war kind of guy. :) But im an old battle scarred ARMA player, and tweaking is what always made me go higher and higher in settings and still keep the FPS (or even get better sometimes). Also a fresh defragged HDD (good defrag progs - not windows own crap) plus only the programs that are essential running in the background (usually about 25 for me). Looking at some friends pc's i see like 50-60 tasks running chewing up resources.

[Leon86 13]

I'm looking into purchasing a MacBook Pro, and before anyone says it, I've made my decision and I'm not gunna sway! :P

Anyways, I wanted to know how well it would run a game such as ARMA II. I'm hopefully going to get one of the brand new models which have just been brought in this April, and I have a friend who has a MacBook Pro (bought about a year and a half ago) which can run ARMA II with ~medium graphics and run at a fairly decent FPS.

I'm at school at the moment, and the Apple site is blocked, so I can't list exact specifications, but I believe I can remember the general, important bits!

Intel Core i7 2.66GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512MB)
4GB RAM
1440 x 990 Res (May upgrade it to 1680 x 1050)

I'm not sure if the Intel Core i7 2.66GHz is Dual Core or not, but it is advertised and benchmarked as being MUCH better than the previous models (Intel Pentium 4 Dual Cores?) Anyways, that's all I can remember off the top of my head, but I think that covers the main stuff.

So really all I'm wondering is how well will the system run ARMA II?

Oh and yes I will be using Boot Camp to run Windows - my friend also uses Boot Camp to run ARMA II and still receives decent FPS.

Cheers,

Jack

It'll run, just keep the settings low enough for the gpu (it's not very powerfull). Performance of that particular gpu is about the same as a 50 euro desktop card (not kidding), so don't expect much in the way of graphics or smooth framerates.

if you want to compare gpu's check out these links:

notebookcheck gpu list

toms hardware gpu hierarchy chart

[jw custom 56]

Ah, ok. I see you have an Intel i7 processor. People seem to have been experiencing problems with those, specifically the hyperthreading feature. Have you tried disabling hyperthreading in the BIOS?

I have an Core i7 920 and never had any problems with it and same goes for a lot of other people around here. HT on/off makes no difference whatsoever my end.

People complaining about low FPS is mainly people playing the campaign, maybe it got too heavy/bad scripting?

[Fuzzy Bandit 10]

It'll run, just keep the settings low enough for the gpu (it's not very powerfull). Performance of that particular gpu is about the same as a 50 euro desktop card (not kidding), so don't expect much in the way of graphics or smooth framerates.

You say that the performance of this particular GPU is severely lacking, but my friend (who I mentioned in my post beforehand) who has an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.3GHz and the NVIDIDA GeForce 9600M GT (which rates 5063 for 3DMark06) can run ARMA II at medium to high graphics with an FPS of ~25-30.

So you're telling me that the NEW MacBook Pro GPU is going to be worse than my friend's, when all specs are the same (RAM, for exmaple) or better?

(The NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512MB) scores 6126 for 3DMark06)

Now I don't have any idea about benchmarking, and honestly I don't know what 3DMark06 is or what the number means. Hell, a lower number could be better than a higher number! But surely I'll be able to run it at the same if not better graphics than my friend's computer?

Specs of my friend's computer and my would-be computer are below. Anyone else have any input or any reason why my system would run slower than my friend's?

Friend's System:

Processor Speed:	2.53 GHz
Number Of Processors:	1
Total Number Of Cores:	2
Total Number Of Threads: 2
L2 Cache:	6 MB
Memory:	4 GB
Bus Speed:	1.07 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT:
Chipset Model:	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Type:	GPU
Bus:	PCI-E
PCIe Lane Width:	x16
VRAM (Total):	512 MB
Vendor:	NVIDIA (0x10de)

My System:

Processor Speed:	2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors:	1
Total Number Of Cores:	2
Total Number of Threads: 4
L2 Cache:	6 MB
Memory:	4 GB
Bus Speed:	1.07 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M:
Chipset Model:	NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Type:	GPU
Bus:	PCI-E 2.0
PCIe Lane Width:	x16
VRAM (Total):	512 MB
Vendor:	NVIDIA (0x10de)

P.S. On reflection this post seems a bit moody! :D I'm not meaning to be nasty or rude in the slightest. Just trying to get to the bottom of all this, and buying a computer is a lot of money (especially Macs), so I just want to make sure that whatever I do buy I'll be able to use for the things I want to use it for! :)

All information and guidance given is valued and appreciated!

Edited April 23, 2010 by Fuzzy Bandit

[Leon86 13]

You say that the performance of this particular GPU is severely lacking, but my friend (who I mentioned in my post beforehand) who has an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.3GHz and the NVIDIDA GeForce 9600M GT (which rates 5063 for 3DMark06) can run ARMA II at medium to high graphics with an FPS of ~25-30.

So you're telling me that the NEW MacBook Pro GPU is going to be worse than my friend's, when all specs are the same (RAM, for exmaple) or better?

(The NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512MB) scores 6126 for 3DMark06)

Now I don't have any idea about benchmarking, and honestly I don't know what 3DMark06 is or what the number means. Hell, a lower number could be better than a higher number! But surely I'll be able to run it at the same if not better graphics than my friend's computer?

The new mac is faster than the old mac for sure. If you're happy with the performance and graphics your friend uses you should be fine.

In 3Dmark more=better. My 3 year old desktop pc has 13000 3Dmarks in 06 but I also run the game at 1920x1200, a lot higher than 1680x1050 like most laptops have.

On a macbook pro you can play most games just fine but underneath the c&c aluminium housing it's pretty mediocre hardware, and it has to be, otherwise it wont be small and light and have great battery life.

Most laptops have pretty fast cpu's and pretty slow gpu's. That's because gpu's suck up lot's of power. A high-end videocard cant be powered by a laptop battery for a reasonable ammount of time even if it could handle the amperage.

When you ask how well it'll run I compare your specs to my own and I think I wouln't want to have a gpu that's half as fast as what I have now, but the next guy might have an 5870 (or 3) and think, gee, I'm glad I have something faster then that guy's 8800gtx.

[Fuzzy Bandit 10]

Heh fair point! ^_^

I've also heard that overheating can be a problem too, especially with the Turbo Boost setting (overclocking), though I think there are apps which allow you to control the speed of the fans in the laptop and whatnot.

Do you reckon it could even be worth buying and fitting (if it's possible, i.e. not soldered to the motherboard like DELL do! xD) a better graphics card? Or would that just cause issues all over the place? Or would an upgrade to a slightly better mobile card just mean I get a tiny performance increase for a large hunk of money?

Cheers

[Leon86 13]

Heh fair point! ^_^

I've also heard that overheating can be a problem too, especially with the Turbo Boost setting (overclocking), though I think there are apps which allow you to control the speed of the fans in the laptop and whatnot.

Do you reckon it could even be worth buying and fitting (if it's possible, i.e. not soldered to the motherboard like DELL do! xD) a better graphics card? Or would that just cause issues all over the place? Or would an upgrade to a slightly better mobile card just mean I get a tiny performance increase for a large hunk of money?

Cheers

Temperatures should be fine, but if you're worried you coud get an external laptop cooler (basically a plate with a fan in it to give the laptop as much fresh air as possible.

You could get a macbook with the 512 MB (standard=256) geforce 330, but that'll probably be a big price ticket for 256 mb extra.

I'm not sure what the differences between mobile i5's and i7's are exactly but they should all be very fast and efficient so I doubt they'll get hot. Besides processors almost never die from heat since intel is pretty conservative with estimations of how hot they may get. Gpu's sometimes die because of too many heat cycles with huge temp differences, but that problem should be sorted now (it had something to do with lead-free solder)

[Frustration 10]

I'd like to know how this would run a fully-patched Arma 2:

Intel E5200 Dual-core, 2.5 GHZ
4 GB of RAM
Nvidia GeForce 7100
500GB Western Digital Caviar Black Drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

I don't think the OS should matter, but just in case, I put it up.

[icewindo 29]

I'd like to know how this would run a fully-patched Arma 2:

Intel E5200 Dual-core, 2.5 GHZ
4 GB of RAM
Nvidia GeForce 7100
500GB Western Digital Caviar Black Drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

I don't think the OS should matter, but just in case, I put it up.

CPU, RAM are fine (just dont expect 10km viewdistance ;) ) but the graphics card is an instant no-go, it's pretty old and was allready a lite version when it came out. Getting a nicer CPU cooler and overclock some mhz might also help.

If you replace the 7100 with atleast a ~100€ (better 150€) card, the game should work.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Icewindo

[Frustration 10]

I have a spare 9600 GSO around here somewhere, but unfortunately, HP decided it would be really cool to put the graphics ports BEHIND the disk drive. It would most likely be pointless to remove it anyway; I'm expecting I'll find a "durr lets solder everything" situation.

[Pyronick 21]

CPU, RAM are fine (just dont expect 10km viewdistance ;) ) but the graphics card is an instant no-go, it's pretty old and was allready a lite version when it came out. Getting a nicer CPU cooler and overclock some mhz might also help.

If you replace the 7100 with atleast a ~100€ (better 150€) card, the game should work.

An AMD HD 5770 should work perfectly.

[fireballs619 10]

Does anyone know how these specs will handle?

AMD Phenom II Processor X4 820

Windows 7 64 bit

6GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM

1TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

nVidia GeForce 310 512M GDDR3

[Super Darly 10]

Does anyone know how these specs will handle?

AMD Phenom II Processor X4 820

Windows 7 64 bit

6GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM

1TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

nVidia GeForce 310 512M GDDR3

Video card will be dragging you down a lot. Otherwise the CPU and RAM will do a decent job.

[danny96 80]

Hi, I have a problem with ending game. Sometimes If I choose quit game it just shows black screen and I must restart my pc. This is happen after installing patch 1.5. I can post my graphic card, OS etc but I think that problem will be with game, not with PC

Delete this post please, I post it in bad section

[ultimateflashpoint 10]

What processor would you recommend for me? I want to upgrade soon to get better performance out of all my games but mostly ArmA 2.

Phenom II X6 1090T

Phenom II X4 965

Core i7 920

[Leon86 13]

What processor would you recommend for me? I want to upgrade soon to get better performance out of all my games but mostly ArmA 2.

Phenom II X6 1090T

Phenom II X4 965

Core i7 920

I recommend a core i5-750 (the only i5 quadcore, basically a 920 without HT), unless you want to run with 12 GB of ram or triple crossfire or something.

[Laqueesha 474]

Is this a good processor to run ArmA 2?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AMD+-+Athlon%26%23153%3B+II+X4+Quad-Core+Processor+630/9877529.p?id=1218187477733&skuId=9877529

[Leon86 13]

seems allright. 146 cpu roundup

[Alex72 1]

I got the i7 930 now together with Nvidia GTX275, 6GB OCZ 1600MHZ RAM, P6X58D Premium motherboard and a WD Black 500GB and the performance now is amazing. Chernogorsk with no popping houses or white (no textures) surfaces. Smooth all over time running around in there.

Im also not going too high in settings as we know you cant do that in this game. Having godly trust in your HW and raise settings too much will result in CTD's. Since i run HIGH and and 3-5000VD i can play smooth and with no CTD's (so far none in the new beta).

I never turned off HT but i used the -CpuCount=4 and i have no stutter. I would highly recommend the gear as its not the best or the most expensive, but it moves ARMA2 super smooth and i can enjoy the game to the fullest. Im also not a person that looks for all the problems in this game, but enjoying it with good friends. Playing ARMA2 this way is all pure win. :)

[seniecka 10]

My HP HDX 16 laptop specifications:

CPU: Intel Duo Core P8400: 2.26Ghz

RAM: 4GB DDR2

GPU: GeForce 9600GT m 512mb

It can run at least on minimum settings?

[Leon86 13]

It'll run, if you have the laptop and want to see performance before buying you can try the demo.

[Whoatherefatty 10]

Afaik the demo forces post process effects to be on and isn't really a good indication of how the retail game will run. I guess just remember the actual game runs more smooth than the demo, unless they changed te video options on the demo.

[seniecka 10]

Ok guys. I have installed and tried ARMA II and it runs quite well for me. Thanks.

[Alex72 1]

^^ Good to hear. There are some tweaks that can be done - and should be done IMO - to get ARMA2 to run even better. Check the ARMA2.CFG and change these:

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1000;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=3;

To

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=2;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=2;

Or even "1" on both. You have to see for yourself how it feels. Also check the Nvidia CPL and set ARMA2 to "Performance" instead of "Quality". You can also change the "Maximum Pre Rendered Frames" in the CPL to a lower or higher setting and see if it feels better.

Its important to get ARMA2 to "feel" good because that will make the game feel like it runs better. For example the "Smoothing" in the Control options in-game can be set very high originally and thus make it feel your floating when moving your weapon around. It feels "slow" and like your in a bucket of cream wich makes you feel the FPS i worse than it is. This can be easily fixed to get a faster handling if you test the changes i mention above.

EDIT:

Terrain detail in video options can be a killer on some systems (grass) so try lowering it to LOW and see if its even better. You will still have grass but get more FPS to play with. And you dont need to set all settings to LOW. Just some key ones. Shadows to NORMAL instead of HIGH can give a good boost and still look good. Post Processing Effects chew up more FPS on HIGH compared to LOW, but you still get effects wich is nice if you like it. Also set the Video Memory setting in the video settings accordingly to your video cards VMEM wich is 512MB so i would set it to NORMAL. 256/320MB cards would be set to LOW, and 1GB cards set to HIGH, and finally >1GB set to VHIGH or DEFAULT.

Keep tweaking. :)

Edited April 30, 2010 by Alex72