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

[avengerzx 10]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum and also new to pc gaming. I primarily chose to switch to pc gaming because of Arma2, definitely a good looking game. I know this question has been asked a million times but, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of performance i can expect out of this laptop. I've recently ordered an Alienware m17x with the following specs. - Intel® Core™ i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache

-Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit

-CrossfireXâ„¢ 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeonâ„¢ Mobility HD 5870

-17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)

-6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3

-320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD

Any and all answers/comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance :)

Hi there, Laptop is definitely not recommended

1st Point:

CPU are Half the speed of an PC's CPU, that is a huge bottle neck for this heavy scripted game

2nd Point:

Laptop/Notebook Chipsets may not be supported

3rd Point:

A Mobility Graphics card also gets only half of the power of its actual model

[ChicAgO_89_ 10]

Thanks for the reply. Like i said im brand new to the whole pc thing so i dont fully understand what you mean. I was told these specs would be able to run arma2 on high settings. I guess maybe i was mistaken? any further explanations? IF it will run this game what type of settings could i expect to be dealing with? Sorry if my lack of knowledge about pc specs and my questions are frustrating but, im just trying to get a better understanding of what im dealing with

[millerhighlife 1]

I don't take price into account when it comes to enthusiast gear and that is not a 'budget' build.

BUT, if you take price into account, I would still go with the 580 :D

The 480 is an exceptional card, but if you are buying now, the 580 is the best choice and the fastest card.

In North America, you can get 480s for as low as ~$350.00 now,

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=51952&vpn=ZT%2D40101%2D10P&manufacture=Zotac&promoid=1264

the cheapest 580 is ~$500.00.

http://www.ncixus.com/products/56599/015-P3-1580-AR/eVGA/

I'm not sure where Leon is or what currency he is working in as he doesn't specify.

:eek::bounce3: Dude, thank you so much for those link's. I had no idea about this place. New egg is asking damn near 500 for the 480. I'm fore sure going with the 580 now. Your specs are nice btw, What performance do you expect I will get with the specs I listed?

[TechnoTerrorist303 10]

Thanks for the reply. Like i said im brand new to the whole pc thing so i dont fully understand what you mean. I was told these specs would be able to run arma2 on high settings. I guess maybe i was mistaken? any further explanations? IF it will run this game what type of settings could i expect to be dealing with? Sorry if my lack of knowledge about pc specs and my questions are frustrating but, im just trying to get a better understanding of what im dealing with

Whoever told you that was lying, were they the sales department at Alienware?

The CPU speed is well below what this game really needs. You might be able to handle it with gfx settings on "normal" and view distance at 3km though.

[Leon86 13]

Well, with turbo boost the clockspeed will be 1.86 Ghz for 3 or 4 cores. That may be much slower than desktop cpu's but until recently the i7-920 was the most common high-end cpu. It turbo'ed to 2.8 I believe, the 920 is only (2.8-1.86)/1.86=50% faster than that 740.

A 5870 is the same as a desktop 5770. Not quite a high-end card but when arma2 was released there weren't that many cards that are much faster. Besides, if you play around with your settings it's pretty easy to compensate for a "slow" gpu.

I used to play arma with an 8800gtx, the 5770 should be faster.

You won't be able to run on all high settings with the laptop, for that you need a high-end overclocked desktop. but arma2 still looks good on low/low terrain and model detail. and if you dont mind running on low fps you can always run on higher settings. You dont need that many fps for this game.

[Antigoon 10]

You won't be able to run on all high settings with the laptop, for that you need a high-end overclocked desktop. but arma2 still looks good on low/low terrain and model detail. and if you dont mind running on low fps you can always run on higher settings. You dont need that many fps for this game.

Just put everything on normal with VD around 2-3000 and try to forget all the performance issues and go play some decent MP...you won't regret it!

[rfd1337 10]

Hi guys

Long time pc gamer here.Just wanted to get your opinion on this budget builds performance at 1440x900.

i3 550 processor

EVGA p55v motherboard

4gb ddr3 ram

Radeon HD 5750 1GB video card

Thanks in advance

[EDcase 87]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum and also new to pc gaming. I primarily chose to switch to pc gaming because of Arma2, definitely a good looking game. I know this question has been asked a million times but, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of performance i can expect out of this laptop. I've recently ordered an Alienware m17x with the following specs. - Intel® Core™ i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache

-Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit

-CrossfireXâ„¢ 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeonâ„¢ Mobility HD 5870

-17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)

-6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3

-320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD

Any and all answers/comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance :)

Hi and welcome,

I have a very similar spec 15" laptop (not alieware) and it runs ARMA2 & OperationArrowhead quite well at around 30-40fps with these settings:

1920x1080, Viewdistance 4000

Everything on normal except:

Shadows - HIGH

PostProcess - LOW

Keep in mind that the CPU will struggle with lots of AI so best performance will be when playing online where the server takes the load.

[Flubadoo 10]

If I overclock my i7-740QM to 2.00GHz, will it make that much of a difference?

[Leon86 13]

That'll make about 7% difference. I wouldn't bother overclocking and risking overheat in your laptop.

[Lokkith 10]

Hey what settings can I run this at with the following set-up?

Phenom II x2 550 BE

6gb ddr2 800

radeon 5670 1gb gddr5

7200 rpm 32mb cache harddrive

1366x768

if you need any other specs I will post them.

[longhorns1695 10]

Will Arma II run on my MacBook Pro if I have Parallels or Bootcamp? Does anyone know? Please get me back with advice on how to make it work.

[greglo 10]

Yes it will work. Performance can be difficult to juggle, but I've put well over 150 hours into A2+OA. In fact, I passed the BAF campaign just this morning...

Obviously it will also depend on your MBP configuration and drivers.

But use Bootcamp for games, never Parallels. PM me if you need to.

Here's a video I made for a friend a couple of months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQqCrtOj0IA

Lag is mostly due to fraps and SLX Mod (awesome mod btw).

Edited December 2, 2010 by greglo
Added video link.

[Leon86 13]

Hey what settings can I run this at with the following set-up?

Phenom II x2 550 BE

6gb ddr2 800

radeon 5670 1gb gddr5

7200 rpm 32mb cache harddrive

1366x768

if you need any other specs I will post them.

dunno, that's a pretty low resolution so you might get away with that card. Cpu isn't that powerfull as well it'll run. expect it to be playable but not smooth at high settings or with lots of ai.

---------- Post added at 11:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 AM ----------

Will Arma II run on my MacBook Pro if I have Parallels or Bootcamp? Does anyone know? Please get me back with advice on how to make it work.

like greglo said use bootcamp.

If it will be playable on your macbook pro depends on the model. Older models with the geforce 9400gt will not be able to run it, others might.

[Kirby 2]

Figured this would be the most appropriate place, sorry if it's ben asked before but it's kind of specific to go searching for, and a quick few opinions will be good:

For a computer almost exclusively going to be used for A2, would y'all recommend an Intel or an AMD CPU? Same for nVidia/ATi graphics cards. Which would you think?

I've heard of problems with ATI/AMD on BIS games. Any suggestions folk? According to where I'm getting things, the Radeon is better and slightly cheaper, and in general the AMD based system seems better for the price.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Kirby

[bangtail 0]

AMD is cheaper but certainly not better.

[Kirby 2]

I'm going for an Intel based system with an nVidia card now. Was just over my price range but with a little help it should be all good =P

Most folk suggested avoiding AMD, so, I shall.

[eymerich 11]

AMD is cheaper but certainly not better.

i disagree completly...

[bangtail 0]

i disagree completly...

That's nice :D

Nvidia has the fastest GPU with more features than AMD and Intel has the fastest CPUs by a country mile so I'll defer to the facts and my own extensive experience, your 'disagreement' notwithstanding.

@ Kirby - You haven't told us what you are buying specifically but you went in the right direction :)

Edited December 2, 2010 by BangTail

[Kirby 2]

Yeah I just wanted an idea of what direction to go in originally.

My mouse is running out of battery as I type this, and the shop's closed. Bugger.

But, likely I'll be getting a system with;

Intel Core i7-950 3.06GHz

6GB (3x2Gb if I remember rightly) DDR3/1600mhz Triple Channel Memory

NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 2GB

That's just the basic 3 things folk usually like to know, anything more specific and I'll be happy to post it =P

Edit: What kind of performance would you expect from A2, on what kind of settings, from a system roughly along those lines? I know BIS games can be temperamental with systems, but still.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Kirby

[bangtail 0]

It should run very well at 1080p for example with a mix of high/vhigh and a moderate VD (2-3K for example).

[Leon86 13]

NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 2GB

typo?

Make sure to get a good cooler like the mugen 2 or something. They're really quiet and maybe you'll want to overclock in a couple of years. Getting a big cooler in an assembled system is a lot of work.

[Kirby 2]

No typo. Lol.

And yeah, decent cooling is in the plans. I'm not gonna splash out on mostly decent sh...tuff without parts to complement it and keep it going strong =P

Edit: In fact, I'm still debating cooling, I went for a cheaper but still good looking option in my last lineup but I might go back to my original expensive-and-better if I have the cash. As for big coolers, all the ones I've looked at are pretty chunky anyway, so any upgrading in the future I'm sure will be fine.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Kirby

[Lokkith 10]

dunno, that's a pretty low resolution so you might get away with that card. Cpu isn't that powerfull as well it'll run. expect it to be playable but not smooth at high settings or with lots of ai.

what if i unlock it to a phenom II x4 955 with a clock speed of 3.2ghz? i was thinking of upgrading to a 6770 whenever they come out as well.

[Leon86 13]

@kirby: You'll only see performance increases with 2 GB over the 1GB version when you run at 2560x1600 with 8x aa, at those kinds of settings it'll be unplayable on a 460, why not just get a regular 1GB version?

---------- Post added at 02:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 AM ----------

what if i unlock it to a phenom II x4 955 with a clock speed of 3.2ghz? i was thinking of upgrading to a 6770 whenever they come out as well.

Well if you do that you'll have a pretty fast cpu, if it works. And why not get a "real" gpu now like an ati 6850 or gtx460.