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

[Sinistercr0c 0]

I suppose its a subjective thing on my part...with the limitations of my rig, I'd rather try to get more FPS (even if its only a perceived few) than have everything looking great but being a bit 'slow', especially in built up or heavily wooded areas....

[pclipse 10]

okay guys,

About 2 years ago, I played ArmA on my old PC, which has a single core AMD 3200+, and a super old Nvidia FX5900 with 1gb ram.

NOW.

I install ArmA on this PC which is Dual Core AMD X2 6400+ at 3.2GHz with an 8800GT and 4GB RAM...and I get lag.

Honestly this just pisses me off!! I mean, what can possibly be causing lag in ArmA. I play Crysis on HIGH!!

[drewsta 10]

Ok guys I just thought I'd put my 2 cents worth in for those whom it matters. I've been an Arma fan for a long time and havent had any problems with the game to date (apart from some ocassional updates etc).

My computer specs are as follows:

Intel duo core 2 E6600 @ 2.4ghz...totally stock and nothing touched.

Nvidia (Gainward gold edition) 512mb 8800GT.

4 GIG DDR2 667mhz RAM (Using XP 32 bit so utilising only 3.2 GIG)

160 GIG Hard drive.

550W Power supply

22 inch LCD running at max resolution 1680x1050

I have every setting on Arma set to Very High and my view distance setting ingame set at 3000 for land and 3500 for air.

The graphics look very good and crisp and smooth as silk. Now if your like me, you really want to know "what the hell is smooth as silk to me?" Put it this way in a multiplayer session with 15+ and choppers, tanks , explosions etc the game play is smooth and without glitches or stutters. I will however have the very ocassional stutter in regards to internet. By that I mean if I'm flying in the back of someone elses chopper in a muliplayer mission, I might see some jitter because my internet is trying to match theirs. But it still is extremely playable and is not ugly to look at by any means. If I totally max out the Anti aliasing pass very high to 8, I still get smooth game play but if look from left to right very quickly I do experience slight lag. If your an extreme gamer and want every spec and pixel to be the very best it can be, I'm sure you can go spend lots of cash on quad cores and the very best of everything. I still use the dual core and have very impressive game play and graphics. I'm guessing I will be able to run Arma 2 with similar results:)

[pclipse 10]

now please explain to me wtf.....I have pretty much same specs as you, and I need to run on Low-Normal. And u can be maxed out. HOW DOES THIS WORK?

[drewsta 10]

It could be for any number of reasons but I think its safe to say somethings not right. First of all is it a legit clean intstall of Arma? (No offence here intended). Is your hard drive full? Do you have many programs running in the background while your trying to play Arma? Do you have the latest Nvidia drivers for your graphics card? These sorts of questions may seem silly but can have an advers affect on the outcome of your gameplay. It's possible that different cpu's can handle similar tasks with quite diferent results. If you have a look at a wide variety of benchmarks about amd2 vs intel duo core 2, you can see you should have very similar results as my computer in most gaming areas with the odd exception. I was playing Arma once when all of a sudden it became virtually unplayable! The frame rates dropped by half and I thought perhaps there was a graphics card problem. All that happened was that my AVG anti virus decided to do a complete scan of my hard drive at that time. Something rather simple running in the background can decrease your gameplay conciderably.

Edited May 13, 2009 by drewsta

[Balschoiw 0]

Is this thread about specs for Arma 2 or for general hardware talk and issues with Arma 1 ?

If it´s about Arma 2 specs all other posts should go to correct sections of the forum.

Arma technical issues:Arma troubleshooting

General PC issues: General PC discussion

Seriously guys, it´s getting very confusing if you post in the wrong places and leads the original thread-intention ad absurdum.

[Yapab 10]

I think the problem with discussing ARMA2 systems specifications is that no one here knows or can legally talk about how ARMA2 actually runs on a specific set of hardware.

So people obviously ask how their system will run the game or what system is best to run the game.. but no one can answer those questions!

The closest thing we've had to a real ARMA2 system specification discussion is dyslecxi's comment that his system with a Quad Core @ 2.66ghz, GTX285, WinXp, 4GB ren the game fine with "High" settings at 720p (1280x720).

Now this is considered a very low resolution in PC gaming (standard res in console gaming!) so its not really a good indication of how the game will run.

Dyslecxi's system is quite powerful and he did mention that it runs the game at 1920x1080 quite well (assuming also "high" settings).

What we dont know is how "high" the settings can go.. is there a "Very High" or "Ultra/Maximum" setting which would bring his pc to its knees?

Does he use any AA?

I would say if your shopping around for new hardware or system... buy the most expensive system you can afford, at least then you'll know you couldnt run ARMA2 any faster with your budget anyway :) or save up longer!

Yapa

[Deadfast 43]

The closest thing we've had to a real ARMA2 system specification discussion is dyslecxi's comment that his system with a Quad Core @ 2.66ghz, GTX285, WinXp, 4GB ren the game fine with "High" settings at 720p (1280x720).

...while recording with Fraps ;)

[NoRailgunner 0]

Wait till Arma2 is released.

+ test Arma2 with your current hardware

+ read the troubleshooting threads

+ go & buy the stuff you really need

From the past (OFP) many people know that games from BIS are a bit more CPU demanding. AI needs more CPU time than in other games with scripted/dumb bots in a corridor or nutshell. :D

[Pyronick 21]

Wait till Arma2 is released.

+ test Arma2 with your current hardware

+ read the troubleshooting threads

+ go & buy the stuff you really need

Well summarized.

[Steakslim 1]

...while recording with Fraps ;)

Yes, huge emphasis on this. Fraps is a hateful thing.

[pclipse 10]

It could be for any number of reasons but I think its safe to say somethings not right. First of all is it a legit clean intstall of Arma? (No offence here intended). Is your hard drive full? Do you have many programs running in the background while your trying to play Arma? Do you have the latest Nvidia drivers for your graphics card? These sorts of questions may seem silly but can have an advers affect on the outcome of your gameplay. It's possible that different cpu's can handle similar tasks with quite diferent results. If you have a look at a wide variety of benchmarks about amd2 vs intel duo core 2, you can see you should have very similar results as my computer in most gaming areas with the odd exception. I was playing Arma once when all of a sudden it became virtually unplayable! The frame rates dropped by half and I thought perhaps there was a graphics card problem. All that happened was that my AVG anti virus decided to do a complete scan of my hard drive at that time. Something rather simple running in the background can decrease your gameplay conciderably.

Well I use NOD32, so it doesn't do any scans when I don't want it to.

All drivers are always up to date on my PC

yes, Legit copy

No, I have 2 hard drives, C: (with Windows) which is virtually empty, and F: with all my games and programs, which is 200/500GB full. And I defrag every week, so that's not problem either.

:'(

Arma 2 BETTER WORK!

[ck-claw 1]

Wait till Arma2 is released.

+ test Arma2 with your current hardware

+ read the troubleshooting threads

+ go & buy the stuff you really need

Spot on my friend! :D

[boomar. 10]

Spot on my friend! :D

More like

+test arma2 with current hardware

+read troubleshooting threads

+return game to store if you cant play it on high settings

[NeMeSiS 11]

+return game to store if you cant play it on high settings

Huh? :confused:

[maddogx 13]

+return game to store if you cant play it on high settings

So your primary motivation for buying games is the ability to play them on high settings?

[walker 0]

okay guys,

About 2 years ago, I played ArmA on my old PC, which has a single core AMD 3200+, and a super old Nvidia FX5900 with 1gb ram.

NOW.

I install ArmA on this PC which is Dual Core AMD X2 6400+ at 3.2GHz with an 8800GT and 4GB RAM...and I get lag.

Honestly this just pisses me off!! I mean, what can possibly be causing lag in ArmA. I play Crysis on HIGH!!

Hi pclipse

Are you running Vista?

If so check your power settings scheme and make sure it is not set to "Energy saving mode" This tends to be the default on install, among other things it turns down your CPU to lowest frequency. You will need to set it to "Balanced".

Here is a more detailed explanation and ways of tweaking

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/articles/Windows/Vista_Power_Options/2/

Kind Regards walker

[pclipse 10]

Yes sir, I am, I will check it out. Thanks for the tweak(s). Will report back whether or not they worked ;)

[pclipse 10]

Hi pclipse

Are you running Vista?

If so check your power settings scheme and make sure it is not set to "Energy saving mode" This tends to be the default on install, among other things it turns down your CPU to lowest frequency. You will need to set it to "Balanced".

Here is a more detailed explanation and ways of tweaking

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/articles/Windows/Vista_Power_Options/2/

Kind Regards walker

Well Mr. walker. I already had the Performance plan selected. So I don't see what could be slowing me down.

[FAF_DRAKO 1]

I have read through most of this thread and have yet to see any Official Confirmation that ArmA 2 will support Multi Threading... (Actually Support More than One Core).

Many comments on how great this Quad Core ran the game or this system ran the game but NO Official..."The Game was made to Support Multi Core"

I'm only stating this because Most Recent Multi Core Process will out perform any older Single and First gen Multi Cores even if only one of the Cores is being used.

Can anyone Officially Confirm with 100% surety that this game was coded to support Multi Core?

[Deadfast 43]

The game will for sure support at least 2 cores.

1 for AI and 1 for the rest.

[ziiip 1]

It sux on my PC too with a 4850 hd and phenom II 720. Although now i can play it on mostly high with 1500 VD and get 20'ish FPS. It's still a huge leap from the past when high settigns were a "no touch".

Btw: there was another guy here on the forums complaining that the game ran bad on his Core i7 and GTX 260 or 280...i cant remember which one he had.

Edited May 17, 2009 by ziiip

[FAF_DRAKO 1]

The game will for sure support at least 2 cores.

1 for AI and 1 for the rest.

But where is this Officially mentioned or Posted by someone from BIS?

Edited May 17, 2009 by FAF_DRAKO

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

But where is this Officially mentioned or Posted by someone from BIS?

Page #2 of this thread,

and this from over a year ago,

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1149795&postcount=131

The minimum requirements is a dual core system. AI is one of the major reasons for this requirement.

[cartier90 0]

I have a I7 and GTS250 with 4GB RAM - hope Ill be ok ^^