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

[Leon86 13]

Hey peeps, currently running ;

Intel 9450@3.0gz OC,d.

4 Gigs of DDr3 1600

Gainward Nvidia GTX 470

Corsair force 120 SSD.

I see a lot of discussions about the performance in AH, and it seems like whatever computer you get, you wont be able to top 50fps.

However i think getting an i7 must the only logical upgrade for me, I,d love to push some extra fps into the game, and I dont think buying another GTX 470 would make any difference.. but maybe a RAM upgrade would?

Currently got about 30fps @1900x1200 (the rest is default)

Thoughts?

Cheers!

I'd get an i5 2500K if I were you. If you want to re-use your ram make sure it's at least "low voltage" (thats 1.65V max). Preferably see if it also runs on 1.55V or something.

[oldy41 61]

What people get all depends on how much money they have to spend, Most people from this community who buy a new pc will buy components rather than a full pc, as they can build a better one for the price.

And its not that difficult considering at bare minimum theres only about 7 components to throw in, and wire it up.

If you're after ideas about what you can get, You should give people your budget. and include more of your current rigs spec as thats key to saving you money

Crash,

are you sure that was my post you wanted to comment? :rolleyes:

Please let me clarify:

I mainly wanted to know what type of processor to go for, and how good the ArmA2 / OA engine is scaling with processor cores.

This will help me decide whether to go for a hexacore AMD or an Intel I something.

Budget is not my primary issue, but the gain should be worth the money, and the AMDs and the A3 mainboards are significantly cheaper...

Thanks for reading :-)

A.

BTW:

My current board is a socket 775 MSI. I am pretty sure there is not much use to get a better processor for that dated socket, so I am prepared to swap mainboard, RAM and processor.

Edited January 21, 2011 by oldy41

[Leon86 13]

Crash,

are you sure that was my post you wanted to comment? :rolleyes:

Please let me clarify:

I mainly wanted to know what type of processor to go for, and how good the ArmA2 / OA engine is scaling with processor cores.

This will help me decide whether to go for a hexacore AMD or an Intel I something.

Budget is not my primary issue, but the gain should be worth the money, and the AMDs and the A3 mainboards are significantly cheaper...

Thanks for reading :-)

A.

BTW:

My current board is a socket 775 MSI. I am pretty sure there is not much use to get a better processor for that dated socket, so I am prepared to swap mainboard, RAM and processor.

yeah, but still a budget would be usefull.

In any case, if you have 400+ euro's to spend and use the rig mainly for arma, get an i5 2500K and appropriate (P67) motherboard/ram. That'll give you the performance of the most expensive setups processor-wise.

ram is pretty cheap nowadays,I'd get at least 4GB (sufficient for arma with nothing in the background). preferably get a 2x4GB kit. And make sure it's low voltage (1.65V) or lower.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Leon86

[dutten 0]

I'd get an i5 2500K if I were you. If you want to re-use your ram make sure it's at least "low voltage" (thats 1.65V max). Preferably see if it also runs on 1.55V or something.

Hey, thanks, but if im first to upgrade i want to go for an i7, question is how much better will ArmA:OA run? As for my RAM, if i upgrade i will crush those bricks under a rock, worst RAM i,ve ever had. And then i,ll be getting 8gigs.

My RAM has always ran on 1.65v,s but i its supposed to have 1.80, got loads of bluescreens on the 1.8v tho.

Does ARMA OH utilize 6 cores? and what is the memory cap ingame?

[flattermann 12]

check this benchmark to compare the i7 on the 1156 chipset and the i2nd (1155) generation, including the 2500k, you will be surprised:

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/prozessoren/2011/test-intel-sandy-bridge/39/#abschnitt_arma_2_operation_arrowhead

View distance in this benchmark: 10,000 metres

ArmA2 does not utilize 6 cores, if im not mistaken Battlefield is the only game that supports 6 cores now (?). ArmA uses 2 cores, but you wouldn't want to buy any cpu with fewer than 4 cores.

The memory cap is 2 Gig afaik

Edited January 22, 2011 by Flattermann

[Leon86 13]

ArmA uses 2 cores

Arma2 scales well to 3 cores. unless you compare performance on an empty map with nothing going on. 4 cores might perform noticably better than 3 in some scenario's but that's rare.

In any case, if you have 400+ euro's to spend on cpu/mobo/ram you'll want to get the i5-2500K. For gaming purposes the i7-2600K is 5% faster due to the 3% higher clockspeed and the 2MB extra cache. If you dont mind setting the clockspeed yourself there shouldn't be a difference.

In things like photoshop the i7 is about 10 to 20% faster due to hyperthreading. Not worth the 50% higher price imo. But if you have money to burn and want an i7 sticker by all means go for that one.

If you dont have 400 euro to spend you'll want to look at the amd camp or good secondhand intel deals (i5-750's / older i7's)

[JohnnyDust 10]

This just goes on, sorry guys ;P

I'm at a loss as to which graphicscard I should get. I had my mind set on a 5870, but now I just dont know.

I have a wet dream of getting triplehead one day, and that's the biggest problem in the equasion. Will that require a dualcard setup for pretty graphics and smooth fps, or would I be fine with a single 5870 or 6870.

I'm aware that CrossFire has some problems in Arma, but as far as I've been able to find out, the ATI cards run slightly better.

It should be said this rig is only going to be used to play Arma. Also I'm a giant whore for smooth FPS, but I obviously also want the best graphics I can get.

I hope you guys can see my conundrum. I'm on the verge of ordering, and this is the last thing I need to sort out. So please, gimme your two cents and help me out, I'm itching to get going. Badly.

Cheers! :D

[Leon86 13]

This just goes on, sorry guys ;P

I'm at a loss as to which graphicscard I should get. I had my mind set on a 5870, but now I just dont know.

I have a wet dream of getting triplehead one day, and that's the biggest problem in the equasion. Will that require a dualcard setup for pretty graphics and smooth fps, or would I be fine with a single 5870 or 6870.

I'm aware that CrossFire has some problems in Arma, but as far as I've been able to find out, the ATI cards run slightly better.

It should be said this rig is only going to be used to play Arma. Also I'm a giant whore for smooth FPS, but I obviously also want the best graphics I can get.

I hope you guys can see my conundrum. I'm on the verge of ordering, and this is the last thing I need to sort out. So please, gimme your two cents and help me out, I'm itching to get going. Badly.

Cheers! :D

If you want to go triple screen you'll need a recent ati card (5870 will work) or an nvidia dual card sli setup (2 screens per card max). Sli seems to work much better with arma than crossfire.

The problem with going nvidia now is you'll have to buy the monitors AND another card when you decide to go triplescreen.

Maybe the best option is to get an ati 6970 and hope for the best. If performance isn't good enough crossfire might work, but dont count on it.

[JohnnyDust 10]

If you want to go triple screen you'll need a recent ati card (5870 will work) or an nvidia dual card sli setup (2 screens per card max). Sli seems to work much better with arma than crossfire.

The problem with going nvidia now is you'll have to buy the monitors AND another card when you decide to go triplescreen.

Maybe the best option is to get an ati 6970 and hope for the best. If performance isn't good enough crossfire might work, but dont count on it.

Thanks mate, good point.

Only thing is, from what I've seen of 6870 benchmarks, the 5870 seems to perform better, so I'm a little suspecious of spending the extra money (approx. 100$ where I live.) on a 6970, if I don't really get much compared to the older 5870. Then again, I can see that the 6950 isn't that much more expensive, so maybe that would be an option? Also I'm not sure the 6970 has actually been released here yet.

I think I'm slowly sliding towards staying with the 5870, that seems to be the wiser choice, regarding price and thermals.

Thanks again, useful input.

Anybody else? :D

Edited January 22, 2011 by JohnnyDust

[flattermann 12]

IMHO triple head runs better with a large amount of ram in the gpu, so a 6950/6970 with its 2 gigs would be a good choice.

Edit: Plus you can flash a 6950 to a 6970, any vendor.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Flattermann

[JohnnyDust 10]

IMHO triple head runs better with a large amount of ram in the gpu, so a 6950/6970 with its 2 gigs would be a good choice.

Edit: Plus you can flash a 6950 to a 6970, any vendor.

Okay, but I'm wondering; I found that the 5870 2gb was quite heavier in price than the 6970 2gb, any idea why that is?

God, it seems the more I research the more in doubt I get. Now I'm mostly thinking 6970 2gb. Curse this indecisive brain of mine ;)

[flattermann 12]

as far as i know the 5870 is a dual-gpu card, hence the price. i think i have to correct myself, Eyefinity is designed for up to 6 full HD monitors, so that's where the 2 gigs are actually required. Triplehead will run fine with 1 Gig i suppose.

well i don't know the benchmarks, but i'd say you'd be better off with a 6970

[pauliesss 2]

Ehm, sorry, I don´t have a time to read all previous posts but why do you want to go with Ati? Take Nvidia GTX580 and you will be fine. :)

[Leon86 13]

Ehm, sorry, I don´t have a time to read all previous posts but why do you want to go with Ati? Take Nvidia GTX580 and you will be fine. :)

not with 3 screens he wont

[Kenwort 0]

not with 3 screens he wont

Keep in mind that ATI has some problems with their drivers. I had 5850 and two monitors, had a common flickering problem with them. Also I got a lot of BSOD for unknown reason not sure if it was overheat or just the bad drivers.

btw I got my new GTX 570 and it runs amazingly smooth! Also I think A2 now looks much better. Check out some screenies, click here.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Kenwort

[pauliesss 2]

not with 3 screens he wont

As I said, I did not read previous posts so I didn´t know he use 3 screens. However, I still think he should go with Nvidia - maybe SLI GTX570 or SLI GTX580. :)

[flattermann 12]

GTX580 in SLI = 980€

[pauliesss 2]

GTX580 in SLI = 980€

GTX570 in SLI = 670€. :)

Edit: anyway, he will be fine with Ati too, but Nvidia graphic cards works generally better in ArmA2(OA).

Edited January 22, 2011 by Pauliesss

[JohnnyDust 10]

as far as i know the 5870 is a dual-gpu card, hence the price. i think i have to correct myself, Eyefinity is designed for up to 6 full HD monitors, so that's where the 2 gigs are actually required. Triplehead will run fine with 1 Gig i suppose.

well i don't know the benchmarks, but i'd say you'd be better off with a 6970

Thanks for all the the feedback Flatterman, you've been very helpful.

I looked around, and as far as I can tell, the 5870 is a single GPU card, it seems the 5970 is the only mainstream dual GPU card from ATI.

Ultimately I'm just a bit worried that maybe the RAM on the 6970 is of a lower quality and therefore cheaper, I know that was the case with some large RAM cards a couple of years ago. I don't know, I kinda pisses me off that I can't make any sense of it, but what the hell, if nobody can come up with a good reason why the old card is better than the new, then I'll throw caution to the wind and get the 6970. Or else I'm just gonna wind up reading reviews and benchmarks for the rest of my life, and wont actually get to play any Arma ;)

So I think I'm ending up with a i5-2500k and a XFX HD6970 if I can afford it altogether.

By the way, I saw a post a little while back, that 1600mhz RAM didn't really make a difference as compared to 1333mhz RAM, any inside knowledge on this? I've been planning to get 1600mhz, but if I could get a cheaper motherboard on account of not needing the 12800 speed, I might be able to afford a couple of extra gb of RAM.

Lemme hear from you guys, either on the RAM speed issue, or if anybody has a good reason as to why I should get something else than 6970 2gb. And I pretty much decided to go with ATI (AMD?), instead of Nvidia, on account of lower power requirement, lower thermal and better options for triplehead without CFX, or CFX without having to upgrade motherboard.

Thanks to all you have helped me out so far. Cheers! :D

[Leon86 13]

By the way, I saw a post a little while back, that 1600mhz RAM didn't really make a difference as compared to 1333mhz RAM, any inside knowledge on this?

Thanks to all you have helped me out so far. Cheers! :D

well, I haven't seen any test results yet. I saw something with the civ5 lategame benchmark where the 1866 had a 5-10% advantage over 1333. I dont think it's going to do much for arma, even in civ lategame the processor clockspeed was way more important than ram speed.

If you get 4GB the 1600 kit's cost about the same as 1333. so then the choice is obvious. If you get 2x4GB the 1600 kits are pretty expensive compared to the 1333. I'd just get 1333 in that case, who knows, they might work on 1600 as well.

[JohnnyDust 10]

With the help of you guys, especially Flatterman and Leon86, I actually think I've agreed with myself on the final setup, it looks as follows.

XFX Radeon HD 6970 (2 GB)

Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge

GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4 Sandy Bridge

Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz (2x4GB) XMS3

NZXT Hades Crafted Series No PSU Black

2x Kingston SSDNow V100 Desktop 64GB

XFX 750W BLACKEDITION SINGLE PSU

Lemme know what you think, or if I've missed something crucial (like; hey dude, thats laptop memory and not a compatible speed, and the mb is the wrong socket for the processor or whatnot. I think the whole thing fits, but one can never be too sure ;) ).

So cheers!!! :D And thanks for all the help, I'm stoked about this setup

(It prolly goes with the story, that I havn't been able to play arma for like 6 months, since I split up with my girlfriend. Yeah thats right, I used to hijack my girlfriends laptop for Arma, and it didn't even meet the minimum requirements fully. It was not quite optimal, but better than nothing. So I feel I've paid my lowspec dues, and that I'm ready for a proper killer rig now (please tell me this is atleast a somewhat killer rig ;P).).

[dutten 0]

With the help of you guys, especially Flatterman and Leon86, I actually think I've agreed with myself on the final setup, it looks as follows.

XFX Radeon HD 6970 (2 GB)

Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge

GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4 Sandy Bridge

Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz (2x4GB) XMS3

NZXT Hades Crafted Series No PSU Black

2x Kingston SSDNow V100 Desktop 64GB

XFX 750W BLACKEDITION SINGLE PSU

Lemme know what you think, or if I've missed something crucial (like; hey dude, thats laptop memory and not a compatible speed, and the mb is the wrong socket for the processor or whatnot. I think the whole thing fits, but one can never be too sure ;) ).

So cheers!!! :D And thanks for all the help, I'm stoked about this setup

(It prolly goes with the story, that I havn't been able to play arma for like 6 months, since I split up with my girlfriend. Yeah thats right, I used to hijack my girlfriends laptop for Arma, and it didn't even meet the minimum requirements fully. It was not quite optimal, but better than nothing. So I feel I've paid my lowspec dues, and that I'm ready for a proper killer rig now (please tell me this is atleast a somewhat killer rig ;P).).

Im also convinced on the i5 - 2500k, along with asus Formula motherboard (dunno which ram yet, i,ll read some reviews) but question remains ; should i just get another 470gtx and hook them up in SLI? or get 1 new 570GTX? My psu would handle SLI, according to psu calculator at least..

IT IS A KILLER RIG! but why wouldnt you want to look at some reviews of the SSD i have? or alternative the intel x disks.. i think the one i bought is on sale now, can probably get it under 200£. great R/W specs.

Edited January 23, 2011 by dutten

[flattermann 12]

IT IS A KILLER RIG! but why wouldnt you want to look at some reviews of the SSD i have? or alternative the intel x disks.. i think the one i bought is on sale now, can probably get it under 200£. great R/W specs.

If he's gonna put those 2 64GB SSDs in Raid0...the speed will be incredible. Although you're right, it's not the cheapest way for storing data :D

@Johnny With that rig, and triplehead, you maybe will have a hard time finding a new girl then :D

Edited January 23, 2011 by Flattermann

[Leon86 13]

With the help of you guys, especially Flatterman and Leon86, I actually think I've agreed with myself on the final setup, it looks as follows.

XFX Radeon HD 6970 (2 GB)

Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge

GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4 Sandy Bridge

Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz (2x4GB) XMS3

NZXT Hades Crafted Series No PSU Black

2x Kingston SSDNow V100 Desktop 64GB

XFX 750W BLACKEDITION SINGLE PSU

Lemme know what you think, or if I've missed something crucial (like; hey dude, thats laptop memory and not a compatible speed, and the mb is the wrong socket for the processor or whatnot. I think the whole thing fits, but one can never be too sure ;) ).

So cheers!!! :D And thanks for all the help, I'm stoked about this setup

(It prolly goes with the story, that I havn't been able to play arma for like 6 months, since I split up with my girlfriend. Yeah thats right, I used to hijack my girlfriends laptop for Arma, and it didn't even meet the minimum requirements fully. It was not quite optimal, but better than nothing. So I feel I've paid my lowspec dues, and that I'm ready for a proper killer rig now (please tell me this is atleast a somewhat killer rig ;P).).

If you intend to overclock in the future you may want to get a good aftermarket cooler as well. If you get a Scythe Mugen II now it'll save you a lot of hassle compared to installing it later, since it's installation requires a backplate (not all cases have a cpu cutout)

compared to the intel cooler even 15eu tower coolers are great so it doesn't really matter that much which one you choose.

---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:15 PM ----------

Im also convinced on the i5 - 2500k, along with asus Formula motherboard (dunno which ram yet, i,ll read some reviews) but question remains ; should i just get another 470gtx and hook them up in SLI? or get 1 new 570GTX? My psu would handle SLI, according to psu calculator at least..

620W is a lot but actually you should only look at how much Ampere's can be delivered on the 12V line as cpu's and gpu's almost exclusively use 12V. My psu (Corsair AX 750) can deliver 62A*12V=744W on 12V. But older psu's often have about 70% of power on 12V.

[JohnnyDust 10]

IT IS A KILLER RIG! but why wouldnt you want to look at some reviews of the SSD i have? or alternative the intel x disks.. i think the one i bought is on sale now, can probably get it under 200£. great R/W specs.

Yeah, I see what you mean, it's basically the same price as the two I was looking at, but with quite an improvement in R/W speeds.

And so my troubles continue ;)

If he's gonna put those 2 64GB SSDs in Raid0...the speed will be incredible. Although you're right, it's not the cheapest way for storing data :D

@Johnny With that rig, and triplehead, you maybe will have a hard time finding a new girl then

I hadn't planned on going RAID but that's just because I havn't really looked into setting it up and the advantages of doing so. I was just turned on by the idea of having a separate drive for the OS and one for Arma. Plus I thought it'd maybe give a small nudge in performance, and ease of formatting the OS drive if need be.

And I'm not sure I understand. With that rig and triplehead, why would I need a new girl? ;)

If you intend to overclock in the future you may want to get a good aftermarket cooler as well. If you get a Scythe Mugen II now it'll save you a lot of hassle compared to installing it later, since it's installation requires a backplate (not all cases have a cpu cutout)

compared to the intel cooler even 15eu tower coolers are great so it doesn't really matter that much which one you choose.

Okay, yeah I did plan on trying to overclock it, but just a tiny bit, so I figured the extra cooling from the case (200mm on the side) would be enough. Also, I'm very much on the verge of my financial capabilities right now, so I feel if I could save maybe 50eu that would make a difference, as compared to the hassle (which is obiously free, but not very nice ;) ). And finally, I'm not building it myself, I'm having a small private company do it for me, so I get a warranty on the complete rig, and I don't know how he would respond to the prospect of having to install an aftermarket cooler. But I'll take it up with him, coz it isn't a lot of money and you do have a very good point.

Thanks again guys, brilliant amount of response in a very short time :D