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

[S7_Mega 10]

Is there such a difference between the 5850 and the 5870 ? I had a look at some test and the 5870 seems to be just a bit faster but much more expensive (+100€)

You are correct. The 5870 is faster than a stock 5850 but for a steep premium in price.

Most 5850's overclock extremely well, approaching 5870 speeds. I have an Asus DirectCu 5850 overclocked to 900/1125 on stock volts.

But the 460's are a tremendous value. Just a bit slower than the 5850 in DX10 games but the 460 handles tessellation much better.

[Gunter Severloh 4052]

draw distance to 3200.

Only thing I can think of,reduce that even more, keep playing around with the

setting, turn them all the way down to the bottem even disabling

the ones that can be disabled and see what you get.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Do you think it would make a difference if I would replace my Q9450 with a newer CPU plus DDR3? Together with the motherboard it would be an investment of around 550 Euros so it should justify the price.

Oh, graphics card is a HD4890, or is that the bottleneck?

[Leon86 13]

You are correct. The 5870 is faster than a stock 5850 but for a steep premium in price.

Most 5850's overclock extremely well, approaching 5870 speeds. I have an Asus DirectCu 5850 overclocked to 900/1125 on stock volts.

But the 460's are a tremendous value. Just a bit slower than the 5850 in DX10 games but the 460 handles tessellation much better.

Indeed, the 460's are great, best bang/buck imo. And if you dont run the game at insane settings a single 460 will be more than enough. I manage to run it on my 8800gtx which still hasn't died.

[Tex-Twil 2]

You are correct. The 5870 is faster than a stock 5850 but for a steep premium in price.

Most 5850's overclock extremely well, approaching 5870 speeds. I have an Asus DirectCu 5850 overclocked to 900/1125 on stock volts.

But the 460's are a tremendous value. Just a bit slower than the 5850 in DX10 games but the 460 handles tessellation much better.

Indeed, the 460's are great, best bang/buck imo. And if you dont run the game at insane settings a single 460 will be more than enough. I manage to run it on my 8800gtx which still hasn't died.

Other test show me that that the nVidia 460 (no SLI) is slower that the 5850. I'm confused. Didn't you mean the GTX 470 ?

Also check out this review which says that the 5850 is faster that the 470:

The Radeon HD 5850 was without a doubt the superior performer in our testing, washing away the GeForce GTX 470 in all but two games.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Tex-Twil

[Placebo 29]

Hi all, I had noticed all the spam in the forum relating to this topic and I think it's at least a little because people are put off by the ~500 page thread, so they just go back and post a message. Well I suggested to placebo that the first post should at least be a FAQ that is generally useful to n00bs and he agreed--but kicked it back to me to come up with the text!

So let's debate a little what it should say and then we'll get post #1 fixed up with something that will hopefully help people.

Below is my stab at it, please comment/suggest and then we'll get post #1 fixed with what we all agree is best.

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

Minimal PC Requirements

CPU: Dual Core Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz / Intel Core 2.0 GHz / AMD Athlon 3200+ or faster

RAM: 1 GB

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon 1800 with Shader Model 3 and 256 MB VRAM or faster

OS: Windows XP

Recommended PC Requirements

CPU: Intel Core 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster

RAM: 2 GB

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT / ATI Radeon 4850 with Shader Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM or faster

OS: Windows XP or Vista

But does MY computer meet the requirement?

This website can help you analyze your hardware, select ArmA 2 from the drop down list and see how your rig measures up!

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri

Still... what's it REALLY going to be like with my rig?

Try the demo! It's free and you'll know EXACTLY what it'll be like:

http://www.arma2.com/demo/

There are free demo's available there for both Arma II and for Operation Arrowhead.

How can I see how well my rig stacks up against others?

If you have OA you can run the two "benchmark" scenarios that you will find in single user mode. They play a scene and then report your overall performance.

If you have Arma 2, or you're not satisfied with the OA bencharmk, then you can set up your own test/scenario and use the program fraps to test your frame rate:

http://www.fraps.com

Looks like I only get 20 FPS on my rig, guess I can't play...

WRONG! Anything over about 15 FPS is acceptable and anything over 30 FPS is considered really good. This may surprise you, if you come from another FPS game where everybody sulks if they don't get 100 FPS or more.

ArmA is not your average FPS, it is a military simulator. As such it's calculating the trajectory of every bullet, calculating precisely what's happening kilometers away off screen, and just generally modelling things realistically and accurately in ways that other games do not. This combined with the long view distances mean you will NOT see the same level of FPS in ArmA that you would see in a lighter weight game.

The game IS calculating all that stuff accurately at your FPS, your numbers are likely similar to what many others you play with are getting, and just so long as the user experience seems fluid it's going to be fine.

Would the game run better if I had a faster CPU?

Yes.

Would the game run better if I had a faster video card?

Maybe. If you adjust the video settings like anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, shadows, resolution, and texture quality does it make a big difference? The bigger the difference that makes, the more likely a better video card will help you. If it doesn't make much difference what you set those things to you are likely limited by your CPU.

I can't afford better hardware, what else can I do?

There are a lot of things that you can try to optimize if you feel that performance isn't quit up to what you need it to be. There are a couple of sticky threads for that over in the troubleshooting section, try some of these suggestions out:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=101124

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=73947

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=85124

Great initiative! Can we get some feedback from you PC/Tweaking gurus please? :)

[Primarch 10]

Other test show me that that the nVidia 460 (no SLI) is slower that the 5850. I'm confused. Didn't you mean the GTX 470 ?

Also check out this review which says that the 5850 is faster that the 470:

460 GTX scales in SLI almost 100% in 1920x1080 reso, 5850 goes for like 40% if even that... remember the price difference also. 460 SLI outperfroms 5850 CF in very many tests.

[Tex-Twil 2]

460 GTX scales in SLI almost 100% in 1920x1080 reso, 5850 goes for like 40% if even that... remember the price difference also. 460 SLI outperfroms 5850 CF in very many tests.

But I'm not interested in SLI/CL solution. It's way to expensive for me (GTX 460 SLI = 2x210€)

[spork 10]

what do you think is better for running arma, Q9450 @ 3.2ghz or E8500 @ 3.8ghz?

[zaira 10]

what do you think is better for running arma, Q9450 @ 3.2ghz or E8500 @ 3.8ghz?

E8500

Difference 2 vs 4 core are 15%, by my testing with q6600 (same clockspead).

[WimpoD 10]

Hello all!

I've just ordered a brand new PC at a reasonable price, and I just wanted your guys opinions on how well you think it will run ArmA2 + OA. I LOVE the game, but my last PC just couldn't run it. Never mind the busy towns, it struggled to perform even when I was running through the desert!

My new PC is an 'Intel i5 760' overclocked to 4.2Ghz. It has XMS3 4GB DDR3 (ram), and a Geforce GTX 470.

I completely know that I won't be able to full-spec it, but will it play decent enough to really appreciate the graphics in this game?

I'm dead excited, cannot wait to get more involved in ArmA2 and the only thing stopping me has been my PC.

Have a nice day!

[zaira 10]

Hello all!

I've just ordered a brand new PC at a reasonable price, and I just wanted your guys opinions on how well you think it will run ArmA2 + OA. I LOVE the game, but my last PC just couldn't run it. Never mind the busy towns, it struggled to perform even when I was running through the desert!

My new PC is an 'Intel i5 760' overclocked to 4.2Ghz. It has XMS3 4GB DDR3 (ram), and a Geforce GTX 470.

I completely know that I won't be able to full-spec it, but will it play decent enough to really appreciate the graphics in this game?

I'm dead excited, cannot wait to get more involved in ArmA2 and the only thing stopping me has been my PC.

Have a nice day!

I think with that system u will realy enjoy the game:)

Just use reasnoble 3d resolution (if u use it, you dont nead antialiasing), and dont use more than 3k VD (even less, is enoughm exept when you are flying).

Have fun, i wait next gen cpus and gpus :cool:

[Leon86 13]

Hello all!

I've just ordered a brand new PC at a reasonable price, and I just wanted your guys opinions on how well you think it will run ArmA2 + OA. I LOVE the game, but my last PC just couldn't run it. Never mind the busy towns, it struggled to perform even when I was running through the desert!

My new PC is an 'Intel i5 760' overclocked to 4.2Ghz. It has XMS3 4GB DDR3 (ram), and a Geforce GTX 470.

I completely know that I won't be able to full-spec it, but will it play decent enough to really appreciate the graphics in this game?

I'm dead excited, cannot wait to get more involved in ArmA2 and the only thing stopping me has been my PC.

Have a nice day!

Should be a great system for arma2, 4.2 Ghz on a modern intel quadcore should be damn quick. I hope the system is stable and doesn't run too hot, 4.2 Ghz is right on the limit for those cpu's. If you encounter problems try running some stability testing programs and lower the overclock a bit.

---------- Post added at 11:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

what do you think is better for running arma, Q9450 @ 3.2ghz or E8500 @ 3.8ghz?

It's tough call but both cpu's should be able to run at even higher clocks. I'd probably go for the quadcore. Quadcores dont do much for average fps but I think they boost minimum fps quite a bit, on a dualcore fps drops dramaticly with lots of ai. I changed my e6750 @ 3.2 for a q6600 @ 2.8 and it was much smoother in city firefights.

Of course this is my perception, someone else might have a different opinion. My advice is to save up for a core i5-760 system, It'll reach way higher clockspeeds and is faster clock for clock. Plus you can have motherboards that support both sli and crossfire.

[acoustic 82]

Specs-

Asus m3a76-cm Mobo

ATI Radeon 4670

Amd Athlon II X4 Quad Core @ 2.6 ghz

2gb Mushkin Enhanced DDR2 Ram

1366 x 768 monitor.

What settings could I reach by adding another 4670 ?

Is adding another 4670 the smartest and most cost efficient way of going?

Thanks :D

[Leon86 13]

Specs-

Asus m3a76-cm Mobo

ATI Radeon 4670

Amd Athlon II X4 Quad Core @ 2.6 ghz

2gb Mushkin Enhanced DDR2 Ram

1366 x 768 monitor.

What settings could I reach by adding another 4670 ?

Is adding another 4670 the smartest and most cost efficient way of going?

Thanks :D

You're probably better off with a faster single gpu. Your monitor has a really low resolution so you don't need a very expensive card to get good performance. Even a secondhand 4850 (they go for 50-60 euro's) will give a massive boost. If you buy new look for 5750 or a gtx 460 (bit expensive but a great card for the price)

As always, make sure the psu can handle it.

A bit more ram wouln't hurt either.

[acoustic 82]

You're probably better off with a faster single gpu. Your monitor has a really low resolution so you don't need a very expensive card to get good performance. Even a secondhand 4850 (they go for 50-60 euro's) will give a massive boost. If you buy new look for 5750 or a gtx 460 (bit expensive but a great card for the price)

As always, make sure the psu can handle it.

A bit more ram wouln't hurt either.

Any more RAM for me would just help a little in things other than gaming( I run 32 bit ).

On the graphics card thing, your saying I should replace my 4670 with a 4850?

And I really don't have enough money to get anything else.

[Leon86 13]

Any more RAM for me would just help a little in things other than gaming( I run 32 bit ).

On the graphics card thing, your saying I should replace my 4670 with a 4850?

And I really don't have enough money to get anything else.

yeah, look for a secondhand 4850 or a new 5750 That'll make a world or difference for sure.

[acoustic 82]

yeah, look for a secondhand 4850 or a new 5750 That'll make a world or difference for sure.

What settings could I achieve from the 4850 compared to the 5750.

You speak of this "secondhand", where is the best place to buy used parts?

[Leon86 13]

the 5750 is newer, slighly faster and uses less power. That's why its a bit more expensive. On your resolution you could probably run on mosly high for gpu intensive settings on both cards. Performance is more or less on the same level, 4850's arent being made anymore so new they're more expensive than they should be but you can get a good deal secondhand.

If you dont want to buy secondhand spend the $15 extra on the 5750 instead of the 4850, it's directx 11, a bit faster and less heavy on the psu.

[jb92563 10]

What is the best OS to run with a Phenom x4 955 quad core, for the ARMA2-CO

I read that XP and Vista do not Multithread and they dont use the 4 cores all that efficiently either.

Is it best to run Windows 7 to get the Quad processors working efficiently?

In other words was ARMA2 written to multi or Hyperthread, or will it all work just as fast on XP, which I already have.

Ray

[Leon86 13]

Windows 7 will not be faster in games.

[HotShot 0]

How well would this desktop setup be able to play ArmA2?

AMD Athlon II X2 240 (2.8GHz, 2MB Cache)

Windows 7 Home 64bit

Integrated ATI Radeon HD4200 Graphics

2048MB Dual Channel DDR3 [2x1024] Memory

320GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive

I'm not looking for amazing detail, and with ArmA1 on my laptop I use OFP vegetation and thats fine. I just want to be able to play through the campaign without big slow downs. This has already been ordered and is not mine, so no changes, just wondering if it would be worth installing ArmA2 on it or not so I can play it (currently collects dust, unable to be played).

Had a look on Toms Hardware at hierarchy charts and it seems to pass the min specs, and is above it on the graphics card.

[acoustic 82]

the 5750 is newer, slighly faster and uses less power. That's why its a bit more expensive. On your resolution you could probably run on mosly high for gpu intensive settings on both cards. Performance is more or less on the same level, 4850's arent being made anymore so new they're more expensive than they should be but you can get a good deal secondhand.

If you dont want to buy secondhand spend the $15 extra on the 5750 instead of the 4850, it's directx 11, a bit faster and less heavy on the psu.

Quick question. Where do you usually find used PC parts? If I am buying new, what brand would be the best to buy from? ( HIS,Gigabyte,ect ). Currently I use HIS.

[solidsnake2384 10]

How well would this laptop run arma 2? TOSHIBA Satellite L655D-S5076 NoteBook AMD Phenom II Quad-Core P920(1.6GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250

[banenwn 10]

Replace the 5850 with either 5870 or 460 SLI or you will be disappointed.

Replacing a 5850 for a 5870 is he dumbest thing ive ever heard 400$ for a 5 fps difference?please stop giving advice and telling people to throw there money down the toilet. http://www.behardware.com/articles/770-13/report-amd-radeon-hd-5870-and-5850.html