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

[Leon86 13]

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.

It won't run on that, Integrated graphics aren't suitable for gaming. Get a pc wit a dedicated ($120+) gpu.

---------- Post added at 08:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:50 AM ----------

How well would this laptop run arma 2?

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250

doesn't run, you need a more powerfull gpu, look for something with at least a Geforce GT330 or a radeon HD5650

---------- Post added at 08:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 AM ----------

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

He meant getting an 5870 instead of an 5850, the 5870 is 30% faster and 40% more expensive. Not uncommon in hardware.

---------- Post added at 09:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:58 AM ----------

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.

Dunno ebay? I use local sites but unless you live in the netherlands that won't help you. Most gpu's are reference designs by ati or nvidia, there will not be much difference between brands. Gigabyte makes pretty good motherboards, their gpu's are probably fine as well. If you want to know more about a certain gpu just look for reviews, I'm sure there are plenty.

[Tex-Twil 2]

Hi,

I still can't decide which GPU I shoud get for this setup:

Intel Core i7 860 4x2.80GHz
Sapphire HD 5850 Rev. 2 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe
Corsair XMS3 KIT 4GB PC3-12800U DDR3-1600

I"m hesitating between a GTX 470 and a Radeon 5850. I'm scared that the 470 is too loud/hot.

[Primarch 10]

Hi,

I still can't decide which GPU I shoud get for this setup:

Intel Core i7 860 4x2.80GHz
Sapphire HD 5850 Rev. 2 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe
Corsair XMS3 KIT 4GB PC3-12800U DDR3-1600

I"m hesitating between a GTX 470 and a Radeon 5850. I'm scared that the 470 is too loud/hot.

It is hot and loud since its Fermi; but it is almost as powerful as 5870 but has a fan of a jet engine.

[Tex-Twil 2]

It is hot and loud since its Fermi; but it is almost as powerful as 5870 but has a fan of a jet engine.

ok, I will then get the 5850 with a vapor-x technology which runs in even quieter.

[ck-claw 1]

Just to replied to Wolle in a thread he just closed.

"it will not run on a single core"

Not strickly true,i have been since release;)

And i have a worst graphics card than the original poster! :eek:

Yeah i know not idea but i get away with it on less demanding missions etc.

[Leon86 13]

Hi,

I still can't decide which GPU I shoud get for this setup:

Intel Core i7 860 4x2.80GHz
Sapphire HD 5850 Rev. 2 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe
Corsair XMS3 KIT 4GB PC3-12800U DDR3-1600

I"m hesitating between a GTX 470 and a Radeon 5850. I'm scared that the 470 is too loud/hot.

Just get a GTX460, much cheaper then the 470 and gets pretty close in performance. The 460 beats the 5850 in some benchmarks but loses in others, dont know how it's in arma 2 though.

The 460 and 5850 consume about the same so that's no argument either.

[RSharpe 0]

I'm currently running a i7 920 at 4.0ghz and a ATI HD5850. The card runs the game OK, high high settings, but I really want to run a multi monitor setup.

Has anyone had any experience running ARMA2 with two Geforce 480s SLI and running in surround? I'm wondering if 5760x1200 will be too demanding for even two 480s.

[Tex-Twil 2]

Just get a GTX460, much cheaper then the 470 and gets pretty close in performance. The 460 beats the 5850 in some benchmarks but loses in others, dont know how it's in arma 2 though.

The 460 and 5850 consume about the same so that's no argument either.

Most of the reviews I've read place the 460 behind the 5850. E.g this one or this one. So the 460 is not an option for me.

[Leon86 13]

It better be slightly behind, it's quite a bit cheaper.

[Tex-Twil 2]

It better be slightly behind, it's quite a bit cheaper.

well in the benchs I posted there is almost 20 FPS difference which is quite significant.

[jsa2001 10]

Actually the noise of the gtx 470 is subjective regarding decibels when testing even the type of case you have can make the noise resonate. At idle you can hardly hear the fan its inaudiable compared to whats running in the rest of the case. Even when the fan is at full speed or playing arma 2 it's not that bad. I should know i have two of them, besides if you have speakers or earphones its not going to spoil anything.

[Tex-Twil 2]

Actually the noise of the gtx 470 is subjective regarding decibels when testing even the type of case you have can make the noise resonate. At idle you can hardly hear the fan its inaudiable compared to whats running in the rest of the case. Even when the fan is at full speed or playing arma 2 it's not that bad. I should know i have two of them, besides if you have speakers or earphones its not going to spoil anything.

I found this noise test of both cards here. Of course it's difficult guess what it would be in a real usage (with case) but at least it gives and idea how much louder the nvidia 470 is .. and it is louder. Since I really want to minimize the noise of my pc I think I will buy the 5850.

[DaSquade 0]

Since my previous post didn't answered me a lot, i did some research for a new PC. Although i have roughly an idea what to get, i would still appreciate feedback. We all know BIS/BIA engines aren't your average game.

Anyway, like mentioned, in the first place i need my PC as workstation. That means it will be used for modeling and texturing, data storage. In the second place it is for hopefully be able again to run BIS/BIA games at decent FPS (= decent ingame feel/look).

This is what i was thinking of:

-Windows 7 64bit Ultimate

-SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB -> Windows7 boot

-SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB -> Games BIS/BIA

-Intel 1336 Quad Core I7 930 (might overclock it slightly as i think this will be the bottleneck).

-Thermalright Venomous X (with push-pull fans).

-ASUS ARES/2DIS/4GD5

-Corsair Dominator GT 6GB (3x2GB), 1600Mhz, 7-7-7-20 (2 sets = 12GB)

-ASUS Rampage III Extreme

-3x Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW (already have 2)

Availible hardware from current PC:

-WD Raptor 150GB SATA II x2 (RAID): BIS/BIA Tools / Photoshop CS / Modo / Workstation (projects)

-WD Raptor 74GB SATA II : Reference material.

-WD 300GB SATA I : Backup

-Cooler master Real Power Pro 850Watt

-Thermaltake Kandalf case

Maybe some additional info.

Currently a dual screen user since many years, couldn't go for less. Even more, the build would actually be build around triple screen. Therefor i'm considering to go with the Asus Ares. Overall good card from what i read (even for Operation Arrowhead).

Pro:

-'One' card.

-Consumes less power then 2 GTX480 cards.

-ATI Eyefinity.

Cons:

+-200-300$ more then 2 GTX 480 cards, but since my PC runs almost daily the powerbill should cover this to equal or more.

Happy ASUS (striker extreme and other previous board) user here, so somehow i tend to lean throughwards an ASUS motherboard again. Although most features on the Rampage III extreme are too extreme, but i couldn't find much X58 chipset boards with a Marvell 9128 PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller witch are needed afaik to get the most out the SSD crucial C300 drives. The EVGA was even more expensive and didn't offer more, in fact i think the ASUS is more user friendly, especially when it comes down to 'safe' overclocking.

I have been following the SSD topic a bit and it seams it does help BIS games, although this isn't my first need. But afaik it does help the OS a lot, but again bootup times aren't that important for me imho. I read the 256gb and even 128GB versions have better write speeds, but afaik OS and games don't really need write speeds but good read speeds (350mb/sec if not mistaken for the SSD C300 ones). Since i still have my good old WD raptors, i was considering putting two of them (150GB) in RAID0 or maybe RAID1 for my modeling tools and projects. A SSD 128GB might be better, but somehow i want to keep them. Not sure if a +250€ extra is worth it :s.

My current PSU should cover the hardware (luckly) and the thermaltake Kandalf case should be big and good enough (airflow) for the hardware.

Not sure yet about how much DDR i would need. I didn't checkout out the performence of RAMdisk versus pagefile or other alternatives, but i though it made a good difference. Just not sure how much ram one would actually need. If i see that my BIS addon folder is +-8gb (arma2) and +-4GB (OA), that would mean i would even have to consider 16GB as my OS and other programs need some ram :s. Maybe someone can clear this out for me.

Anyway, like said, primaly for modeling and sicne i recently decided to do high polymodelling and baking, i guess ram and decent GPU would benefit from it.

I'm not really into upgrading my PC every year or when something better comes out, so i'm looking at a high-end PC that covers a few years.

Looking at a big total cost (+-3000€), so if someone has any suggestions or better setups, please give them.

Edited August 21, 2010 by DaSquade

[banenwn 10]

Hi,

I still can't decide which GPU I shoud get for this setup:

Intel Core i7 860 4x2.80GHz
Sapphire HD 5850 Rev. 2 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe
Corsair XMS3 KIT 4GB PC3-12800U DDR3-1600

I"m hesitating between a GTX 470 and a Radeon 5850. I'm scared that the 470 is too loud/hot.

I would go gtx 470 they run dx 11 games alot better then the 5850 there both good cards though.the 470 is faster and actually keeps with the 5870 in alot of games and actually has better minimum fps then a 5870 overall,if heat is an issue just turn the fan up alittle.or you could look into the zotac amp edition 470 which has a nie dual fan solution and runs about 10 celcius cooler then the stock 470

---------- Post added at 08:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 PM ----------

It won't run on that, Integrated graphics aren't suitable for gaming. Get a pc wit a dedicated ($120+) gpu.

---------- Post added at 08:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:50 AM ----------

doesn't run, you need a more powerfull gpu, look for something with at least a Geforce GT330 or a radeon HD5650

---------- Post added at 08:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 AM ----------

He meant getting an 5870 instead of an 5850, the 5870 is 30% faster and 40% more expensive. Not uncommon in hardware.

---------- Post added at 09:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:58 AM ----------

Dunno ebay? I use local sites but unless you live in the netherlands that won't help you. Most gpu's are reference designs by ati or nvidia, there will not be much difference between brands. Gigabyte makes pretty good motherboards, their gpu's are probably fine as well. If you want to know more about a certain gpu just look for reviews, I'm sure there are plenty.

for the most part the 5870 is only about 15% faster and the point of the reply was you see no difference in arma between a 5850 and a 5870 5 fps average.that money would be better spend on a better cpu for arma.100$ for 5 fps isnt worth it.I ran a 5850 in arma 2 and it was silky smooth so to say he would be dissapointed is simply not true.Not only that you can overclock a 5850 to within 5% of what a 5870 runs so 100$ is wasted if he got a 5870

[jsa2001 10]

Since my previous post didn't answered me a lot, i did some research for a new PC. Although i have roughly an idea what to get, i would still appreciate feedback. We all know BIS/BIA engines aren't your average game.

Anyway, like mentioned, in the first place i need my PC as workstation. That means it will be used for modeling and texturing, data storage. In the second place it is for hopefully be able again to run BIS/BIA games at decent FPS (= decent ingame feel/look).

This is what i was thinking of:

-Windows 7 64bit Ultimate

-SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB -> Windows7 boot

-SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB -> Games BIS/BIA

-Intel 1336 Quad Core I7 930 (might overclock it slightly as i think this will be the bottleneck).

-Thermalright Venomous X (with push-pull fans).

-ASUS ARES/2DIS/4GD5

-Corsair Dominator GT 6GB (3x2GB), 1600Mhz, 7-7-7-20 (2 sets = 12GB)

-ASUS Rampage III Extreme

-3x Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW (already have 2)

Availible hardware from current PC:

-WD Raptor 150GB SATA II x2 (RAID): BIS/BIA Tools / Photoshop CS / Modo / Workstation (projects)

-WD Raptor 74GB SATA II : Reference material.

-WD 300GB SATA I : Backup

-Cooler master Real Power Pro 850Watt

-Thermaltake Kandalf case

Maybe some additional info.

Currently a dual screen user since many years, couldn't go for less. Even more, the build would actually be build around triple screen. Therefor i'm considering to go with the Asus Ares. Overall good card from what i read (even for Operation Arrowhead).

Pro:

-'One' card.

-Consumes less power then 2 GTX480 cards.

-ATI Eyefinity.

Cons:

+-200-300$ more then 2 GTX 480 cards, but since my PC runs almost daily the powerbill should cover this to equal or more.

Happy ASUS (striker extreme and other previous board) user here, so somehow i tend to lean throughwards an ASUS motherboard again. Although most features on the Rampage III extreme are too extreme, but i couldn't find much X58 chipset boards with a Marvell 9128 PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller witch are needed afaik to get the most out the SSD crucial C300 drives. The EVGA was even more expensive and didn't offer more, in fact i think the ASUS is more user friendly, especially when it comes down to 'safe' overclocking.

I have been following the SSD topic a bit and it seams it does help BIS games, although this isn't my first need. But afaik it does help the OS a lot, but again bootup times aren't that important for me imho. I read the 256gb and even 128GB versions have better write speeds, but afaik OS and games don't really need write speeds but good read speeds (350mb/sec if not mistaken for the SSD C300 ones). Since i still have my good old WD raptors, i was considering putting two of them (150GB) in RAID0 or maybe RAID1 for my modeling tools and projects. A SSD 128GB might be better, but somehow i want to keep them. Not sure if a +250€ extra is worth it :s.

My current PSU should cover the hardware (luckly) and the thermaltake Kandalf case should be big and good enough (airflow) for the hardware.

Not sure yet about how much DDR i would need. I didn't checkout out the performence of RAMdisk versus pagefile or other alternatives, but i though it made a good difference. Just not sure how much ram one would actually need. If i see that my BIS addon folder is +-8gb (arma2) and +-4GB (OA), that would mean i would even have to consider 16GB as my OS and other programs need some ram :s. Maybe someone can clear this out for me.

Anyway, like said, primaly for modeling and sicne i recently decided to do high polymodelling and baking, i guess ram and decent GPU would benefit from it.

I'm not really into upgrading my PC every year or when something better comes out, so i'm looking at a high-end PC that covers a few years.

Looking at a big total cost (+-3000€), so if someone has any suggestions or better setups, please give them.

Regarding pushing and pulling polygons in modelling The gpu wont make much difference. The gpu will give you a faster refresh rate with your screens. More ram you can get the better especially when your polygon count goes up. So go for the best cpu and as much memory as you can afford that will vastly improve any 3d package you have as to a gpu would.

I'm a bit similar to you in my needs, so i have an i7system with 12gig of ram 930cpu overclocked to 3.8gig this improves my system for 3d modelling. 2 zotac 470sli with a 22" Samsung 3d monitor (SM2233RZ) and Nvidia 3d vision glasses for the gaming side of things.

[polar bear 10]

Really, NO-ONE is going to comment on this?

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

[zaira 10]

Really, NO-ONE is going to comment on this?

My only comment is that mods should put this on the first page.

[Leon86 13]

Since my previous post didn't answered me a lot, i did some research for a new PC. Although i have roughly an idea what to get, i would still appreciate feedback. We all know BIS/BIA engines aren't your average game.

Anyway, like mentioned, in the first place i need my PC as workstation. That means it will be used for modeling and texturing, data storage. In the second place it is for hopefully be able again to run BIS/BIA games at decent FPS (= decent ingame feel/look).

This is what i was thinking of:

-Windows 7 64bit Ultimate

-SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB -> Windows7 boot

-SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB -> Games BIS/BIA

-Intel 1336 Quad Core I7 930 (might overclock it slightly as i think this will be the bottleneck).

-Thermalright Venomous X (with push-pull fans).

-ASUS ARES/2DIS/4GD5

-Corsair Dominator GT 6GB (3x2GB), 1600Mhz, 7-7-7-20 (2 sets = 12GB)

-ASUS Rampage III Extreme

-3x Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW (already have 2)

Availible hardware from current PC:

-WD Raptor 150GB SATA II x2 (RAID): BIS/BIA Tools / Photoshop CS / Modo / Workstation (projects)

-WD Raptor 74GB SATA II : Reference material.

-WD 300GB SATA I : Backup

-Cooler master Real Power Pro 850Watt

-Thermaltake Kandalf case

Maybe some additional info.

Currently a dual screen user since many years, couldn't go for less. Even more, the build would actually be build around triple screen. Therefor i'm considering to go with the Asus Ares. Overall good card from what i read (even for Operation Arrowhead).

Pro:

-'One' card.

-Consumes less power then 2 GTX480 cards.

-ATI Eyefinity.

Cons:

+-200-300$ more then 2 GTX 480 cards, but since my PC runs almost daily the powerbill should cover this to equal or more.

Happy ASUS (striker extreme and other previous board) user here, so somehow i tend to lean throughwards an ASUS motherboard again. Although most features on the Rampage III extreme are too extreme, but i couldn't find much X58 chipset boards with a Marvell 9128 PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller witch are needed afaik to get the most out the SSD crucial C300 drives. The EVGA was even more expensive and didn't offer more, in fact i think the ASUS is more user friendly, especially when it comes down to 'safe' overclocking.

I have been following the SSD topic a bit and it seams it does help BIS games, although this isn't my first need. But afaik it does help the OS a lot, but again bootup times aren't that important for me imho. I read the 256gb and even 128GB versions have better write speeds, but afaik OS and games don't really need write speeds but good read speeds (350mb/sec if not mistaken for the SSD C300 ones). Since i still have my good old WD raptors, i was considering putting two of them (150GB) in RAID0 or maybe RAID1 for my modeling tools and projects. A SSD 128GB might be better, but somehow i want to keep them. Not sure if a +250€ extra is worth it :s.

My current PSU should cover the hardware (luckly) and the thermaltake Kandalf case should be big and good enough (airflow) for the hardware.

Not sure yet about how much DDR i would need. I didn't checkout out the performence of RAMdisk versus pagefile or other alternatives, but i though it made a good difference. Just not sure how much ram one would actually need. If i see that my BIS addon folder is +-8gb (arma2) and +-4GB (OA), that would mean i would even have to consider 16GB as my OS and other programs need some ram :s. Maybe someone can clear this out for me.

Anyway, like said, primaly for modeling and sicne i recently decided to do high polymodelling and baking, i guess ram and decent GPU would benefit from it.

I'm not really into upgrading my PC every year or when something better comes out, so i'm looking at a high-end PC that covers a few years.

Looking at a big total cost (+-3000€), so if someone has any suggestions or better setups, please give them.

X58 is tri-channel so if you want a lot of ram it's probably nice to get a 12 GB kit + a 6 GB kit, giving you 18. Also wasting money on an ares and windows seven ultimate will not get you better performance. If you want more performance don't get a 930 and overclock a little but get a 980X and overclock it A LOT, 4.6 Ghz can often be done with a good aircooler. Like jsa2001 said a fast cpu helps more with polygons then an insane gpu. 2 480's in sli seem to perform better than 2 5870's. Also 2 5870's will still be better then the ares. By the time your power bill catches up with the ares instead of the dual 5780's we'll be 10 years older.

[RSharpe 0]

Sill ARMA2/OA see any benefits from RAM upgrades beyond 6GB? Would 12GB total make much difference?

[Leon86 13]

Sill ARMA2/OA see any benefits from RAM upgrades beyond 6GB? Would 12GB total make much difference?

You can run the game from a software ramdisk, very easy to do if you have lots of ram.

[DaSquade 0]

jsa2001 & Leon86: thanks for feedback. I can see your points about the CPU versus the GPU. Makes sense and i'm abit aware the ARES might be not a good price/performence item. An the other hand, read 2x480 producing a lot of heat/power and also i'm not sure how userfriendly they are when it comes to triple screen setup (that was why i would prefure cards that support eyefinity). Maybe i checkout some more reviews of the Asus 5870 Eyefinity 6 (comes with stock 6 outputs). Price difference might justify upgrading the CPU to the 980X as it balance the price difference.

About the DDR ram, i might need to check but not sure if they make decent (low CAL level) RAM in 4Gb+2Gb kits. Think it will be hard to find equaly spec RAM. There is always the option to buy 24gb (6x4gb) but that might be just too much.

[jackass888 0]

Hei

Anyone here using gtx460... what setting are you running Arma2 or OA at? Thinking about upgrading from a hd4870.

@Rsape

The most ive seen Arma2 ever use is 1,6gb, so it would be only useful if you make a ramdisk and put some pbo-s on it. Btw how does the -mod= look when i would want to put something on another disk?

[Leon86 13]

jsa2001 & Leon86: thanks for feedback. I can see your points about the CPU versus the GPU. Makes sense and i'm abit aware the ARES might be not a good price/performence item. An the other hand, read 2x480 producing a lot of heat/power and also i'm not sure how userfriendly they are when it comes to triple screen setup (that was why i would prefure cards that support eyefinity). Maybe i checkout some more reviews of the Asus 5870 Eyefinity 6 (comes with stock 6 outputs). Price difference might justify upgrading the CPU to the 980X as it balance the price difference.

About the DDR ram, i might need to check but not sure if they make decent (low CAL level) RAM in 4Gb+2Gb kits. Think it will be hard to find equaly spec RAM. There is always the option to buy 24gb (6x4gb) but that might be just too much.

You can run 3 monitors off of a 480 sli setup. As for the ram, I very much doubt you'll notice any difference with lower cas latency's. The latency is in clockcycles, not time. DDR3 with a high latency will still have fast acces to the ram as DDR3 has a pretty high frequency. A 12GB 3 module DDR3-1333 can be yours for a little over 300 euro's.

The only reason to buy super-expensive ram is if you want to overclock like a maniac and get that 5% performance increase in your benchmarks.

If I were you I'd just get a system with a dual 480, 12+6 GB ram, a 930 @ 4GHz, a decent aircooler and either a single vast SSD or a raid of intel X25's.

The power use of the 480 in idle is lower than the 8800gtx I'm running now, so I wouln't worry too much about that.

Edited August 22, 2010 by Leon86

[jsa2001 10]

jsa2001 & Leon86: thanks for feedback. I can see your points about the CPU versus the GPU. Makes sense and i'm abit aware the ARES might be not a good price/performence item. An the other hand, read 2x480 producing a lot of heat/power and also i'm not sure how userfriendly they are when it comes to triple screen setup (that was why i would prefure cards that support eyefinity). Maybe i checkout some more reviews of the Asus 5870 Eyefinity 6 (comes with stock 6 outputs). Price difference might justify upgrading the CPU to the 980X as it balance the price difference.

About the DDR ram, i might need to check but not sure if they make decent (low CAL level) RAM in 4Gb+2Gb kits. Think it will be hard to find equaly spec RAM. There is always the option to buy 24gb (6x4gb) but that might be just too much.

Yeah dont bother with high spec expensive ram if you dont intend to overclock. You can get some Corsair XMS3, DDR3 at 1600mhz and is perfect for x58systems, you would be able to clock it as well and is not that expensive for 12gb. I would hold off from purchasing any SSD at the moment if it was me, the price per megabyte is not worth the upgrade till prices start to fall. Just my opinion.

[Tex-Twil 2]

I just ordered this rig ;)

Intel Core i7 860 4x2.80GHz

Sapphire HD 5850 1024MB Vapor-X

Corsair XMS3 KIT 4GB PC3-12800U DDR3-1600