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

[Leon86 13]

Eh, guys, overclock stability should be tested with Prime95, occt or another stress tool. A game will not test your rig for stability and you'll regret it when you'll find corrupt files on your harddrive. Sometimes a computer isn't even stable on stock, mostly because of ram issues, so an 8 hour run of prime95/occt is always recommended.

And the boosted speed of non-K processors on p67 is 400 mhz. So that's 4.1 only on 1 core. with 4 core's you'll get to 3.7 I believe. With a K version you can even set all the turbo modes individually when overclocking, getting you maximum performance in all possible scenarios.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Leon86

[Posta 10]

Eh, guys, overclock stability should be tested with Prime95, occt or another stress tool. A game will not test your rig for stability and you'll regret it when you'll find corrupt files on your harddrive. Sometimes a computer isn't even stable on stock, mostly because of ram issues, so an 8 hour run of prime95/occt is always recommended.

That's actually true! But I still use Orthos. :) Yeah I'm old-school.

---------- Post added at 03:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------

And the boosted speed of non-K processors on p67 is 400 mhz. So that's 4.1 only on 1 core. with 4 core's you'll get to 3.7 I believe. With a K version you can even set all the turbo modes individually when overclocking, getting you maximum performance in all possible scenarios.

Wow, if it's true that's news to me. I'm using CPU-Z to check the core speed. But I can only see one of them. Is there a app for verifying this? Didn't even know that cores can run at different speeds. :/

[Leon86 13]

You can start cpu-z. and then run 1, 2, 3, or 4 threads of prime95. I dont know exactly what the default turbo modes are. It's very possible the 4-core turbo is very close to the single core turbo. Especially if the cpu is cooled well. There's something in it that will allow speed and voltage above the tdp until the cpu gets too hot.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Leon86

[Sevenz 10]

That's actually true! But I still use Orthos. :) Yeah I'm old-school.

---------- Post added at 03:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------

Wow, if it's true that's news to me. I'm using CPU-Z to check the core speed. But I can only see one of them. Is there a app for verifying this? Didn't even know that cores can run at different speeds. :/

Tmonitor :)

Edit:the good version is here

Edited January 29, 2011 by Sevenz

[spork 10]

Is it worth upgrading my current GTX 260 216SPs to a XFX HD4890 1gb Xtreme? I can get one for around $150 AUD... would the increased performance be worth the $150?

[Leon86 13]

Nope, the 4890 is only a bit (I guess 20%) faster.

gpu hierarchy chart, pretty usefull

[avibird 1 141]

I'm trying to find the sweet spot with settings. So I haven't a definitive setup.

I will do a Test 3 later. With my preferred all around settings. If i remember correctly that involves most on at least high other than Post Effects and AA. Some on the highest. And i get a stable and playable FPS that doesn't look bad. A FPS under 60 is a big "no no" for me. :)

Why, anything over ~ 35 FPS your eyes cant't tell while palying the game. Some people say over ~30 FPS is the mark. You have a better system then me and I run a soild 50 FPS with all setting on very high and some stuff on normal.

[NeMeSiS 11]

[/b]

Why, anything over ~ 35 FPS your eyes cant't tell while palying the game. Some people say over ~30 FPS is the mark. You have a better system then me and I run a soild 50 FPS with all setting on very high and some stuff on normal.

Yes you can tell the difference.... If you see them next to eachother, or if your FPS constantly fluctuates between them.

However 35FPS stable is fine, its not COD where you need an exact amount of (ridiculously high) FPS so you can jump higher or whatever.

[Leon86 13]

you dont need 60 fps but it would be awesome. On my pc it doesn't take much to bog down fps. Just firing a couple of littlebird missiles into the control tower at medium range bogs it down to ~15 fps. I run the game on 1920x1080 with most settings at lowest.

[Posta 10]

[/b]

Why, anything over ~ 35 FPS your eyes cant't tell while palying the game. Some people say over ~30 FPS is the mark. You have a better system then me and I run a soild 50 FPS with all setting on very high and some stuff on normal.

Like most people I see a clear difference between 35 and 60 FPS and you should too.

Please do this test:

1. Download Fraps. It's free if you don't want to record longer videos.

2. Go to "Movies" tab where you can set the FPS for the video capture. This will also limit the video FPS to that number.

3. Start up a game that you know will give you more than 60 fps. Can be Quake 3 or what ever.

4. Press F9 to record.

5. Try different FPS in fraps and tell me that you can't see a difference between 35 and 60 FPS.

In many games you can also limit the FPS by console commands. You could set V-sync on and set the Hz manually I think.

Also, higher resolution makes it easier for the eye to spot movement in the picture. Reference points.

---------- Post added at 06:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

You can start cpu-z. and then run 1, 2, 3, or 4 threads of prime95. I dont know exactly what the default turbo modes are. It's very possible the 4-core turbo is very close to the single core turbo. Especially if the cpu is cooled well. There's something in it that will allow speed and voltage above the tdp until the cpu gets too hot.

Yes I did that!

I'm somewhat happy to say that I was limited to 3.8GHz on ALL cores so to say. 4x3.8GHz. And 4.1 with less than 4 cores.

I will try later and shut this off in "BIOS":

OverSpeed Protection

Overspeed Protection function can monitor the current CPU draws as well as its

power consumption. If it exceeds a certain level, the processor automatically reduces

its clock speed. If you want to overclock your CPU, set it to [Disabled].

Maybe that allows me to go 4x4.1GHz so to speak!?

---------- Post added at 06:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:35 PM ----------

Tmonitor :)

Edit:the good version is here

Thanks! It was handy. Not the first version though. :)

[dutten 0]

Is SLi perfectly utilized for ArmA 2? Or does only the 1st card get temperatures and load?

I am considering getting another GTX 470, I,d love to have the 570, but since I just got the 470, I,m either getting 1 more , or bying the Zalman V3000F aftermarket cooler to clock it, and get rid of those awful temperatures.

[bangtail 0]

Works perfectly :D

[Kenwort 0]

Hey.. so I finally got my new system setup and I did a few arma 2 benchmark tests.

FPS might seem low but the gameplay feels smooth. There are still fps drops with smoke and explosions.

Operating System: Windows 7 64bit

Motherboard: ASUS P8P67-M PRO

Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 4.80GHz

Memory: Patriot Viper Series 6.00 GB

Hard Drive: 40 GB, INTEL SSD for OS

Hard Drive: 30 GB, OCZ VERTEX-TURBO for ARMA 2

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

Monitor: Philips 24 widescreen 1920x1080

HAF 932 Case

Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler

[nikiforos 450]

Kenwort thats kind of the system I want.

I watched the video but your FPS were not very good although you used max settings and that Fraps recording gives you -10 FPS.

However can you recommend the same type of system?

[dutten 0]

yeah.. thats the thing with ArmA.. I feel its never ever going to go "smooth" ofc "smooth" is not like smooth in battlefield or whatever other fps, but you know.. you can have a rig funded from selling youre home and still have "slow" fps. Read a good ArmA tweak page once, theres a lot of performance to gain, when you know which settings to turn on/off and so on.

And whats the thing about the video RAM setting? ultra,high, low etc, what is 512megs for instance? is Ultrahigh mem setting like 2gigs of video RAM?

I wont get my new rig until february 8th, but I,ll sure be doing some tweaking back and forth, wanna get to the bottom of all the settings/performance tweaks.

I,ll be benching a vid as well, almost same specs as Kenwort, he,s got the 580, I,ve got the 470, and I,ll be running 2 more gigs, and i7-2600k at same frequencies. Could be interesting to compare results.

Edited January 30, 2011 by dutten

[Sevenz 10]

Kenwort thats kind of the system I want.

I watched the video but your FPS were not very good although you used max settings and that Fraps recording gives you -10 FPS.

However can you recommend the same type of system?

Actually fraps takes more than 10 fps ^^

with the same settings(1900*1200) i get 23 fps in the first benchmark when recording and 38 fps when its not recording.

gtx 580 + 2600k @ 4.7 ghz

[Kenwort 0]

Well thats true, software recording does decrease the fps quiet significantly, although now I feel like the 20 - 30 fps feels more playable than before with lower hardware and settings.

The only noticeable problem now with arma is the weird low texture swapping.. no mater what settings I select the texture it always seems to go very low texture quality in few secs.

btw I just installed metro2033 and gave it a spin, all maxed out 20-30 fps.. and you know how demanding that game is. I'll make more videos soon.. so check or subscribe to my youtube channel if you plan on buying a similar rig. ;)

[Grubert 10]

yeah.. thats the thing with ArmA.. I feel its never ever going to go "smooth" ofc "smooth" is not like smooth in battlefield or whatever other fps, but you know.. you can have a rig funded from selling youre home and still have "slow" fps. Read a good ArmA tweak page once, theres a lot of performance to gain, when you know which settings to turn on/off and so on.

Which tweak page would you recommend?

[JohnnyDust 10]

Does anybody know if I can turboboost and change the multiplier on the 2500(no K version), to take me to just around 4ghz, if I get a, say, H67 gigabyte mobo?

I was looking at an Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H S-1155, for price reasons, as compared to the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 S-1155 I was looking at earlier.

Thanks in advance

[dutten 0]

Which tweak page would you recommend?

Cant find the one I,m talking about, been googling a lot, but they are kind of useless as they are out of date.. I,m just going to try and fail by myself, until I finallly get the setup that works for me.

@johnnydust

Doesnt turbo-mode turn disable some of the cores? in order to increase the clock of the first core? If so, I dont see how turbomode should be so good if that is the case. Maybe for games that dont support 4 cores alright..

[Hiikeri 10]

Doesnt turbo-mode turn disable some of the cores?

I think it increases multipliers if you have 1 or more cores disabled?

Example 3 cores (1 must be then manually disabled) you have 1x multiplier more than 4 cores.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Hiikeri

[Leon86 13]

Does anybody know if I can turboboost and change the multiplier on the 2500(no K version), to take me to just around 4ghz, if I get a, say, H67 gigabyte mobo?

I was looking at an Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H S-1155, for price reasons, as compared to the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 S-1155 I was looking at earlier.

Thanks in advance

Nope, there's no cpu overclocking at all on the H67 platform. A P67 board is only 15 euro's more than the H67 equivalent. If you want to overclock why not get the K? it's only 15eu more.

---------- Post added at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 PM ----------

I think it increases multipliers if you have 1 or more cores disabled?

Example 3 cores (1 must be then manually disabled) you have 1x multiplier more than 4 cores.

turbo is fully automatic and dynamic, no need for manually disabling things.

[Posta 10]

I will test the OC on the i5 2500 (non K on P67) later with a better cooler.

Anyway, this is what I already have tested:

SETTINGS IN BIOS

Multiplier: x 41 (this is the max, x 33 is standard.)

OverSpeed Protection: ON/ENABLE (this is the default. ) ("Overspeed Protection function can monitor the current CPU draws as well as its power consumption. If it exceeds a certain level, the processor automatically reduces its clock speed. If you want to overclock your CPU, set it to [Disabled]."

APPS AND RESULTS

CPUID: 4.1 GHz (Beware! I don't know the speed of all the cores.)

TMonitor & Prime95 running on all cores: 3.8 GHz.

CONCLUSION

It's pretty good for an i5 2500 (non K) with the Overspeed Protection ENABLED. Better than expected. I didn't buy it for the OC in the first place. :)

It will be more interesting when I get the new cooler and can turn of the Overspeed Protection thing. I'm hoping for 4.1 GHz on all four cores.

/Posta the noob OClocker!

Edited January 31, 2011 by Posta

[pauliesss 2]

Do not order/buy Sandy Bridge motherboards! There is an error on the chipset.

".... In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives..."

...The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue. The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems. Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution....

Read: http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-error-implementing-solution?cid=rss-90004-c1-264103

As far as I understand, the CPUs are O.K., the problem is on the chipset(motherboard).

Edited January 31, 2011 by Pauliesss

[Posta 10]

Do not order/buy Sandy Bridge motherboards! There is an error on the chipset.

Read: http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-error-implementing-solution?cid=rss-90004-c1-264103

As far as I understand, the CPUs are O.K., the problem is on the chipset(motherboard).

Yikes, i will check that out.

"The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue. The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems. Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution."

EDIT: Another good use for my RAMDISK if the SATA is slowing down! :)