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

[pendragonuk 0]

Just got OA finally and thought my laptop would have no problems with this game but man was I wrong.

I get and average of 20 fps if I put the pre set to very high!! Shame it runs so slowly cos it looks epic!!!!!

Currently running

i7 Q740, 4gb of dual channel ram and an nvidia gtx 460m.

I dont suppose anyone knows if theres a way to get the anti aliasing off of tress cos the moment I get to a group of trees my laptop starts to cry :(

Give this a go and work from there:

Once you have it running smoothly so that no point the frame rate drops below 25fps. You can then start turning thing up.

[Leon86 13]

Thanks for the reply...I'm planning on SLI'ing in the near future (and no, my board can't support it...it's a gateway piece of shit) :D. (it's running DDR2 Memory) which is another thing I'm going to upgrade...New CPU, GPU, Memory, Mobo :).

intel are more expensive though...so I'm iffy about that. :/.

also, here are the Gpu's I was deciding on:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683 (one I am going to get)

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610 (the 1 GB Version I'd get, but others have lead me to get the 2 GB card).

-TodaysKiller

The 2GB card is especially usefull for a sli setup.

AM3+ boards that support sli arent really cheaper than basic sli capable 1155 boards. Also, an i5-2400 will be faster than the phenom overclocked to the max. And even the 2400 will overclock 400 mhz above stock on all sli capable boards.

If you plan on using dual cards in the future you want a fast cpu to keep those cards busy. If it's possible to get a Z68 sli capable board with a 2500K you'll have the fastest processor available for gaming for a reasonable price.

Then again the 2500K is 2 times as expensive as the 955BE and not twice as fast. and you'll save 20% on the board as well.

[vetrox 10]

Give this a go and work from there:

Once you have it running smoothly so that no point the frame rate drops below 25fps. You can then start turning thing up.

Have just set everything to the lowest settings (disabled where availible)

The max I get is 27fps :S when looking at the sky i only get 30 :(

Would rather sacrifice the slight loss of fps and have it looking tastey.

[pendragonuk 0]

Have just set everything to the lowest settings (disabled where availible)

The max I get is 27fps :S when looking at the sky i only get 30 :(

Would rather sacrifice the slight loss of fps and have it looking tastey.

I'm not sure that to suggest, there are people running this game on 6 year old single core desktop computers at higher settings and frame rates... There is something bottlenecking your system badly. My guess is that the CPU is the weak point. It's an i7 running at only 1.73 GHz. Can you check to see if you can turn off Hyper-threading in the BIOS?.

[todayskiller 10]

The 2GB card is especially usefull for a sli setup.

AM3+ boards that support sli arent really cheaper than basic sli capable 1155 boards. Also, an i5-2400 will be faster than the phenom overclocked to the max. And even the 2400 will overclock 400 mhz above stock on all sli capable boards.

If you plan on using dual cards in the future you want a fast cpu to keep those cards busy. If it's possible to get a Z68 sli capable board with a 2500K you'll have the fastest processor available for gaming for a reasonable price.

Then again the 2500K is 2 times as expensive as the 955BE and not twice as fast. and you'll save 20% on the board as well.

Alright, here is what I was looking at getting (tell me if this is a good setup or not please)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683 (will SLI in the future, not a big need right now)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131637 (for AM3 6 GB support and SLI)

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138162R (for the intel cpu) (is this a good mobo for that? idk how to read the mobo speeds and all that...I know it says it's SLI ready and can support i5's)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 (I'm currently running DDR2, so I need an upgrade, this looked good)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 (intel cpu)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849 (Amd cpu)

Well, that's what I was looking at...what do you think?

-TodaysKiller

[vetrox 10]

I'm not sure that to suggest, there are people running this game on 6 year old single core desktop computers at higher settings and frame rates... There is something bottlenecking your system badly. My guess is that the CPU is the weak point. It's an i7 running at only 1.73 GHz. Can you check to see if you can turn off Hyper-threading in the BIOS?.

I will take a look when i get back home. This seems to be the only game im having running problems with. Currently got the witcher 2 and that runs at a very reasonable average of 24.7fps with settings on high. That was in the jungle.

Might do a clean wipe on my laptop and start over. Have done some pissing about with it the last few days.

Edit: Might also take a look and see if my Turbo boost is working. Its supposed to be capable of more with the boost enabled depending on how many cores are active.

Edited August 3, 2011 by vetrox

[vetrox 10]

Right, just done a clean re install of my laptop. All drivers updated and its back to the state it was when I first put ARMA2 OA on. Only problem now is I struggle to get past 15 fps lol.

This is the only game causing problems. Witcher 2 works fine, EVE works with no problems. Just ARMA and its driving me mental!

---------- Post added at 04:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:46 AM ----------

Finally sorted it.

Changed every setting one by one and it turns out that ARMA 2 doesnt like "Virtualisation technology". I disabled this in the BIOS and it has sorted it.

All graphichs settings set to high, with pp turned off (i just dont get on with it) and just finished the first mission with a very respectable avrage fps of 24.8.

This may not seem very high but it is extremley playable the only time it really drops is when staring at a helicopter whilst its kicking up dust everywhere. Even the bunches of trees aren't causing me hassle any more. The whole game just feels really smooth compared to before on all low settings when I was getting better fps but the game still felt sluggish.

[Leon86 13]

Alright, here is what I was looking at getting (tell me if this is a good setup or not please)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683 (will SLI in the future, not a big need right now)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131637 (for AM3 6 GB support and SLI)

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138162R (for the intel cpu) (is this a good mobo for that? idk how to read the mobo speeds and all that...I know it says it's SLI ready and can support i5's)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 (I'm currently running DDR2, so I need an upgrade, this looked good)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 (intel cpu)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849 (Amd cpu)

Well, that's what I was looking at...what do you think?

-TodaysKiller

If you go intel you'll want a 1155 board and a 1155 cpu. the board you selected is a 1156 board and doesnt work with the cpu.

If you go the amd route get an AM3+ board with a 990 chipset, some of them have sli (example), they're just out and far superior to the old boards with nvidia chipset (those arent even being made). Those boards will also run the bulldozer cpu's amd will release this year. If you go amd the 955BE is the cpu to get, decent performance and quite cheap. Sixcores are useless for arma.

---------- Post added at 06:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 AM ----------

Changed every setting one by one and it turns out that ARMA 2 doesnt like "Virtualisation technology". I disabled this in the BIOS and it has sorted it.

:confused:

Edited August 4, 2011 by Leon86

[Bee8190 10]

@Vetrox , You'd have been better off with i5 as they're clocked bit higher and considering that not just games like arma have better use of 2cores with higher frequency than 4 underclocked cores.

Anyways last i cant think of atm is try this and close all unneccesary backround apps

I used to have it on my old PC and it did help a bit

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

[todayskiller 10]

If you go intel you'll want a 1155 board and a 1155 cpu. the board you selected is a 1156 board and doesnt work with the cpu.

If you go the amd route get an AM3+ board with a 990 chipset, some of them have sli (example), they're just out and far superior to the old boards with nvidia chipset (those arent even being made). Those boards will also run the bulldozer cpu's amd will release this year. If you go amd the 955BE is the cpu to get, decent performance and quite cheap. Sixcores are useless for arma.

---------- Post added at 06:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 AM ----------

:confused:

Thanks for the reply!

I think I might go the AMD route...It's a lot cheaper.

I know 6 cores might be useless now, but what about in the future? (like a year or two)...or is that still pointless to get, since games are just now using 4 cores?

I was looking at this cpu, it has the highest Ghz and is decently priced.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894

I'm probably gonna go with that mobo you posted aswell (thanks for that)...but it says it's for AM3+? so does that mean that cpu won't work on it because it's a AM3? (or am I retarded, and does that mean it will support AM3 and newer cpu's)?

Thanks for the help

-TodaysKiller

[pendragonuk 0]

Thanks for the reply!

I think I might go the AMD route...It's a lot cheaper.

I know 6 cores might be useless now, but what about in the future? (like a year or two)...or is that still pointless to get, since games are just now using 4 cores?

I was looking at this cpu, it has the highest Ghz and is decently priced.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894

I'm probably gonna go with that mobo you posted aswell (thanks for that)...but it says it's for AM3+? so does that mean that cpu won't work on it because it's a AM3? (or am I retarded, and does that mean it will support AM3 and newer cpu's)?

Thanks for the help

-TodaysKiller

First off AMD are nice to us and they do their best to maintain an upgrade path. So AM3 was for the Current crop of CPU's AM3+ Will take the new ones coming out in a few months, but they still take the current Phenom II Chips as well.

So if I were to building an AMD rig today I would ensure I bought an AM3+ board so that in a year or so I could get a new Chip for it and extend it's life.

As for you CPU selection now I would recommend the Phenom II 1090t. Partly because it's what I'm running and I can talk from first hand experience. The people that have commented that ArmA can only use 4 cores are correct but if ArmA was the only thing you were going to use your computer for they would have a point. My guess is that as well as playing ArmA you will be using your computer for many other things as I do. Those two extra Cores come in handy, we are talking about a 50% increase in raw processing power for an extra $30! I'm sure if you were to offer most people 50% more for $30 I think you know what they would do...

I also recommend a really nice heat sink, do some research on this first don't just grab the first big shiny one you can afford. Many HS say they work for both Intel and AMD but even though they have the correct fittings for both types. Some have a small foot print. AMD CPU's are larger than Intel's. I bought what I thought was a good HS only to discover that the chip was 2 to 3mm larger than the contact plate. I'm currently running a NH-D14 There other coolers if this kills your budget. The point of using the NH-D14 is that you can overclock and keep the system quiet.

I'm running my Phenom II 1090t at 4GHz.

Edited August 4, 2011 by PendragonUK

[Leon86 13]

just get the 955, the 970 is less than 10% faster but 25% more expensive.

Just look on the cpu support list, you can find it on the mobo's page on the gigabyte site. AM3+ means you'll be able to upgrade to a bulldozer processor in the future, but those processors arent for sale yet.

[todayskiller 10]

just get the 955, the 970 is less than 10% faster but 25% more expensive.

Just look on the cpu support list, you can find it on the mobo's page on the gigabyte site. AM3+ means you'll be able to upgrade to a bulldozer processor in the future, but those processors arent for sale yet.

Thanks for the replies both of u.

I'll just post on this post to make it less cluttered.

I know 6 cores might be better than 4 cores, but I mainly just play Video Games on my Computer...which I know a lot of games (if not 99% of all of them) don't use the 6 cores, and they are just now getting into the Quad-Core Era. (red orchestra 2 is recommending a Quad core 2.6 GHZ)...Also, how would the 955 fair on Arma 2? (Doesn't the cpu depend on how many units you can have on your screen before it lags)?...or something of the sort?

And for the Price difference, the 955 is almost 100 bucks cheaper than that 6 core one (don't get me wrong, thanks for the Reply, but I'm limited on a budget).

I'll see as time comes, like I mentioned in a previous post, I just ordered my new Graphics Card (got the 2Gb EVGA gtx 560 TI). So I need to calm down on buying stuff now, but in a month or two, I'll look into the new mobo/cpu/memory/etc...but thanks for the replies now, so I can get a glimpse at what is better now, instead of asking within a week of buying something :).

[Shadow NX 1]

Got a X4 965 running since yesterday and boost from a X4 9850 is very nice, double framerate in every A2 default bench so im very happy.

OCing it to 3,8Ghz didnt bring much or better said nothign at all so i asume my HD6950 is at its limits in these regards.

Offcourse if one needs even higher frames a i5 or i7 is the best choice but considering that the HD6950 and the X4 965 together were more or less 320Eur im pretty happy with the result and the price/performance ratio.

[pendragonuk 0]

Got a X4 965 running since yesterday and boost from a X4 9850 is very nice, double framerate in every A2 default bench so im very happy.

OCing it to 3,8Ghz didnt bring much or better said nothign at all so i asume my HD6950 is at its limits in these regards.

Offcourse if one needs even higher frames a i5 or i7 is the best choice but considering that the HD6950 and the X4 965 together were more or less 320Eur im pretty happy with the result and the price/performance ratio.

I have read that is is possible to convert a 6950 to a 6970 with some software. Not sure how but no harm in Googling for it.

[PuFu 4600]

no harm possible (dual-bios)...i felt bad/ripped for getting the 6970. the cards are exactly the same from a hardware pov, the shaders are locked for the 6950. that's the only diff.

[Shadow NX 1]

I have read that is is possible to convert a 6950 to a 6970 with some software. Not sure how but no harm in Googling for it.

Mine runs on HD6970 level shader wise but i didnt flash it completely as from what i heard some components on the HD6950 may not be up to take the higher specs of the HD6970 and definatly they differ between the two cards.

Thats why i took the few extra frames that the shader unlock brings and played safe.

Also my card only OCs up to 880Mhz without freezes, raising voltage doesnt help much either and the boost is tiny so i have doubts that it could handle the HD6970 specs for a long time.

Together with a decent CPU the HD6950 runs the game smooth enough anyway and so far i didnt found another game as hungry as ArmA2, not even Crysis in highest settings.

Btw, the whole unlock thing only works on the reference design cards ( red black ones on blocky one fan design differing only by the sticker from each manufacturer ) and a few non reference cards if they have the dual bios switch.

Personally i use a Asus HD6950 Direct CUII, no reference design and huge as feck ( three slots ) but it is perfectly silent even under heavy load and keeps the card extremely cool with idles of like 35 degrees and most important it has a dual bios.

Not to mention that it is a real bargain looking at how well its made with metal body, silent fans, high quality components... i paid 220Eur when it was brand new, same price as a noisy reference design card back then.

Originally it was intended to switch to another bios and have more monitors on the card but as its not write protected you can flash it with either just shader unloack or whole bios of the bigger card... if it goes wrong you just flip the switch back, yet you loose your warranty anyway.

[Leon86 13]

the 6970 has more power electronics and a better chip, the 6950 is often unstable with unlocked shaders or on 6970 frequency. If it is stable powertune will limit performance more often.

Price/performance wise the 6950 will win but that's always the case with very high performance parts.

[todayskiller 10]

Well, I bought this card...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683

and I'm noticing no difference AT ALL in my performance with arma 2, same lag when I put it on High settings, and what not...what is going on???

is it my cpu/mobo/memory that's bogging it down?

Amd Phenom 2.2 GHZ Quad Core

DDR2 6GB Memory

Gateway Mobo RS760 or something like that.

does having outdated stuff like that ^ make my gpu not run fast at all?

[froggyluv 2136]

Amd Phenom 2.2 GHZ Quad Core

I know next to nothing about AMD chips but 2.2 sounds pretty low -can you overclock that puppy?

[todayskiller 10]

I know next to nothing about AMD chips but 2.2 sounds pretty low -can you overclock that puppy?

I have no idea, Idk where to go if it could, I bought a computer at Best Buy, which had that Processor in it...and I haven't upgraded since...except to that 9800 GT I had, and which is now that GTX 560 TI 2 GB card.

[froggyluv 2136]

Aye, Best Buy :)

Your probably bottlenecked by that cpu and I doubt that mobo is overclockable but it's worth a check into your BIOS.

[Leon86 13]

a phenom 1 on 2.2 is a terrible processor. I thought you were going to upgrade the cpu and mobo as well?

[pendragonuk 0]

Here in the UK I would recommend a bundle from a retailer like Novatech. Anyone in the US selling Motherboard bundles or barebone bundles, at sensible prices???

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/bundles.html

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/barebones.html

You can find the bundle to fit your budget, makes upgrading real easy...

[todayskiller 10]

@Froggy...Yeah, been getting that response on every forum I post on lol :/.

@Leon...It's a Amd Phenom 2 not a 1

@PendragonUK...I'll look into it.

Thanks for the help guys, It's my cpu and what not bottlenecking it...*sigh*