Licensed2Chill 10 Posted July 18, 2011 Hey guys, So I've been reading this thread off and on for a while now, waiting to join in the discussion till I was in a position to work on my own pc build and had done research, etc. Here's what I've come up with and I'm wondering how it'll fare with this game: Mobo: Asus M4A88T-V EVO USB3 CPU: AMD Phenom II 955BE @ 3.2Ghz GPU: XFX Radeon 6870 1Gb RAM: Corsair 4Gb @ 1333Mhz HDD: Western Digital 750Gb HDD @7200rpm, 6gb/s and 64Mb buffer The monitor I'm looking to pair with this system is an Acer 20" with a max resolution of 1600 x 900. Haha, this will be my first pc build so I'm pretty excited and kind of anxious at the same time. I haven't purchased anything yet either so I'm very much open to suggestions of alternate setups (though I'd like to keep the cost close to my budget of $600-$700 US). Thanks for the comments! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pendragonuk 0 Posted July 19, 2011 Hey guys,So I've been reading this thread off and on for a while now, waiting to join in the discussion till I was in a position to work on my own pc build and had done research, etc. Here's what I've come up with and I'm wondering how it'll fare with this game: Mobo: Asus M4A88T-V EVO USB3 CPU: AMD Phenom II 955BE @ 3.2Ghz GPU: XFX Radeon 6870 1Gb RAM: Corsair 4Gb @ 1333Mhz HDD: Western Digital 750Gb HDD @7200rpm, 6gb/s and 64Mb buffer The monitor I'm looking to pair with this system is an Acer 20" with a max resolution of 1600 x 900. Haha, this will be my first pc build so I'm pretty excited and kind of anxious at the same time. I haven't purchased anything yet either so I'm very much open to suggestions of alternate setups (though I'd like to keep the cost close to my budget of $600-$700 US). Thanks for the comments! The CPU should be good for 4GHz the hard drive should be quick enough and the graphics card is strong enough for what you need. Make sure you plan to fit a real nice heatsink, pick up some extra fans and think about air flow. It has to get in and then out again. Don't cheap out with the power supply. Nice modular power supply make instillations easy. What case are you going to use? This is a nice cheap but not crap. Antec Three Hundred Case - Black - For the Heatsink I like the noctua D14, it is said to be the next best thing to water cooling and thought to be the best air cooler on the market. That said it's expensive for a CPU heat sink, you can get the overclock with the smaller HS it's just they are so loud! Mind you it will have to be going some to drown out the leaf blower fitted to the ATI 6870! That's a point try to avoid the reference cooler ATI designed for that series of cards. two fans or one fan in the middle, just not the centrifugal fan fitted at one end. Those little blades moving so fast, they are bound to be noisy! PSU, I like Corsair, they have a good reputation 500W should be enough for was you need unless you intend to add a second card at a later date then 650 or 750 might be needed. I'm not sure about the motherboard, ASUS is an excellent choice. But why a board with built in graphics? you are going to be fitting a 6870?? Have a look at the motherboards that are confirmed to take the Buldozer CPU that would be AM3+. It will be out in a few months and will give you an option to upgrade in a year or so. It will still take the CPU you are looking at, you will have that option later. This one is just a little more expensive but may save you the heartache. Asus M5A97 EVO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) Motherboard As for the RAM the 1600MHz sticks at just about the same price, faster is better :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Licensed2Chill 10 Posted July 19, 2011 Thanks Pendragon for the quick reply! A couple more questions, if you don't mind: I have read both in your posts in this thread as well as from other sources that the 6870 produces a lot of noise, and I was wondering if there was another card you might recommend in the same price range with comparable performance. Having never heard it in person I don't know if it would get on my nerves or not, but if you think the noise is bearable in exchange for the card's performance, I doubt it'll be too big of a problem. I'd considered another card, the EVGA Geforce 550 ti, but wasn't sure if the fact that it was a 192-bit card, as opposed to the 6870's 256-bit interface, would cause too big a difference in performance. The research I've done comparing the two seems to indicate that the 6870 is better, but I may well have missed something. Which do you think would perform better, particularly in ArmA 2? The case I planned to use is the Thermaltake V3 Black Edition http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5520044&Sku=T925-3018&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-h51AXcdtcr69Ae3_IDlwbQ. It seemed like a decent enough case with several mounts for fans and a fair amount of space. In regards to the motherboard I chose, I actually didn't realize it had an integrated graphics unit installed, haha. I chose it largely because I saw a bundle for it and the processor on tigerdirect that could save me a couple bucks (as opposed to buying each separately) and after looking into what people seemed to think of it, it sounded like a solid board. Much thanks for catching that and also for your recommendations! By the way, the power supply you recommended is also cheaper, in addition to being better, than the one I'd been looking at before. So a big thank you there :) Thanks again! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pendragonuk 0 Posted July 19, 2011 Thanks Pendragon for the quick reply!A couple more questions, if you don't mind: I have read both in your posts in this thread as well as from other sources that the 6870 produces a lot of noise, and I was wondering if there was another card you might recommend in the same price range with comparable performance. Having never heard it in person I don't know if it would get on my nerves or not, but if you think the noise is bearable in exchange for the card's performance, I doubt it'll be too big of a problem. I'd considered another card, the EVGA Geforce 550 ti, but wasn't sure if the fact that it was a 192-bit card, as opposed to the 6870's 256-bit interface, would cause too big a difference in performance. The research I've done comparing the two seems to indicate that the 6870 is better, but I may well have missed something. Which do you think would perform better, particularly in ArmA 2? The case I planned to use is the Thermaltake V3 Black Edition http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5520044&Sku=T925-3018&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-h51AXcdtcr69Ae3_IDlwbQ. It seemed like a decent enough case with several mounts for fans and a fair amount of space. In regards to the motherboard I chose, I actually didn't realize it had an integrated graphics unit installed, haha. I chose it largely because I saw a bundle for it and the processor on tigerdirect that could save me a couple bucks (as opposed to buying each separately) and after looking into what people seemed to think of it, it sounded like a solid board. Much thanks for catching that and also for your recommendations! By the way, the power supply you recommended is also cheaper, in addition to being better, than the one I'd been looking at before. So a big thank you there :) Thanks again! Graphics card noise: The only issue with the latest crop of ATI's is the reference cooler. This one: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iE1A04D_OUo/TLduIgzRZQI/AAAAAAAAAHk/Wd5cisjeQrc/s1600/vga.jpg (Picture is too big to post directly) It has a centrifugal fan, they are always loud if running to fast. The ducked nature of the design is supposed to push the air outside the case. This would be good but with a well ventilated case it's just not needed. Any of the manufactured designed coolers will avoid this small but annoying issue. This one would do nicly: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bestrangerdx 10 Posted July 19, 2011 would these settings work? if so on what setting? AMD Athlon II X4 640 Overclocked to 3.8Ghz Quad Core CPU - Socket AM3 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 Quiet CPU Cooler Asus M4A78LT-M LE DDR3 Motherboard - Socket AM3 4GB DDR3 1333MHZ RAM Memory 2GB Radeon HD 5570 1GB HDMI Low Profile Graphics Card 1tb hardrive :D thx if it will, on what settings Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maher90 10 Posted July 20, 2011 HEY HEY HEY PEOPLE!...yes i am hardcore gamer but i am not Really THAT SMART!..how the heck would i unlock fourth core and overclock my Graphic CARD?!...i can buy the GTX 560 Ti OC version but about the CPU i am not smart enough in processors and also it's risky more than GFX in overclocking or unlocking :L so yeah my final decision is getting GTX 560 Ti..it has won every website badge eveyrwhere..while the 6950 wins over it but yet reviewers liked GTX alot :D ---------- Post added at 03:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:37 AM ---------- List of GFX in Egypt: ------------------- GTX 560 Ti=268$ Ati 6950=268$ ATI 6970=377$ ATI 6850=201$ ATI 6870=261$ GTX 580=520$ GTX 570=369$ ------------------------------------- i know prices are so HIGh because they are thieves here..anyways my max Budget is 352$ (GTX 560 Ti+PSU 600w Total=351$) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bangtail 0 Posted July 20, 2011 Good choice - excellent card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgt gul 0 Posted July 20, 2011 OMG how come its so expensive there? Is it because of the uprising/revolution? Or is it just business as usual? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lozz08 10 Posted July 21, 2011 Pretty much every country is expensive compared to USA these days. Those egypt prices are only a little over Aus prices at the moment. Keep in mind he may be buying from a retailer and not online (more expensive in most countries) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sw1 10 Posted July 21, 2011 would these settings work? if so on what setting? AMD Athlon II X4 640 Overclocked to 3.8Ghz Quad Core CPU - Socket AM3 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 Quiet CPU Cooler Asus M4A78LT-M LE DDR3 Motherboard - Socket AM3 4GB DDR3 1333MHZ RAM Memory 2GB Radeon HD 5570 HDMI Low Profile Graphics Card 1tb hardrive :D thx if it will, on what settings The HD 5570 is the weak link there- it will probably manage A2OA on minimum settings but don't take my word on that. On an unrelated topic I don't see why a card as weak as a HD 5570 needs 2GB of memory (more than the 1.5GB of the stock GTX 580), that seems crazy to me... ---------- Post added at 12:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:53 AM ---------- how the heck would i unlock fourth core and overclock my Graphic CARD?!... To OC a gfx card use software such as MSI Afterburner (which is free and works very well) or Nvidia system tools, there's a guide here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maher90 10 Posted July 21, 2011 (edited) OMG how come its so expensive there? Is it because of the uprising/revolution? Or is it just business as usual? yes because when revolution came,all imports of tech were CLOSED COMPLETELY...and now..they JUST started importing some small things..so it may take 2 or 10 months so prices go down :( it's like only 150,000 GFX is left egypt xD! Edited July 21, 2011 by Maher90 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Petar 10 Posted July 21, 2011 Hey guys,So I've been reading this thread off and on for a while now, waiting to join in the discussion till I was in a position to work on my own pc build and had done research, etc. Here's what I've come up with and I'm wondering how it'll fare with this game: Mobo: Asus M4A88T-V EVO USB3 CPU: AMD Phenom II 955BE @ 3.2Ghz GPU: XFX Radeon 6870 1Gb RAM: Corsair 4Gb @ 1333Mhz HDD: Western Digital 750Gb HDD @7200rpm, 6gb/s and 64Mb buffer The monitor I'm looking to pair with this system is an Acer 20" with a max resolution of 1600 x 900. Haha, this will be my first pc build so I'm pretty excited and kind of anxious at the same time. I haven't purchased anything yet either so I'm very much open to suggestions of alternate setups (though I'd like to keep the cost close to my budget of $600-$700 US). Thanks for the comments! Get some 21" 1920 x 1080 monitor or larger.Also go for the largest HDD you can.When i bought my PC with 500GB HDD i thought it was impossible to run out of space (which happened 2 months ago ) because i had an 80GB HDD on my now 7 year old PC :( Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sw1 10 Posted July 21, 2011 (edited) Mobo: Asus M4A88T-V EVO USB3 I would recommend (if you can afford it) buying an AM3+ motherboard (such as the fantastic Asus Sabertooth 990fx)- it will cost you more in the short term, but it gives you the option of upgrading to a newer AMD Bulldozer CPU later. All AM3+ motherboards have backwards compatability with AM3 CPUs so the 955BE will work well. Edited July 21, 2011 by SW1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Djames0706 10 Posted July 23, 2011 Hey guys, I have been playing arma2 since it released until my pc died on me and now I have bought these new parts what kind of settings will I be playing arma2 at,and is this a good system? Mobo: MSI 880GM-E35 Socket AM3 880G CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1075T@ 3GH GPU: MSI Radeon HD 6670 1024MB GDDR5 RAM: Corsair 4Gb @ 1333Mhz HDD: Western Digital 500Gb HDD @7200rpm, 6gb/s and 64Mb buffer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
froggyluv 2135 Posted July 23, 2011 ^^^ Video card is somewhat weak. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Petar 10 Posted July 23, 2011 If you have money grab a GTX 560 or better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pendragonuk 0 Posted July 23, 2011 Hey guys,I have been playing arma2 since it released until my pc died on me and now I have bought these new parts what kind of settings will I be playing arma2 at,and is this a good system? Mobo: MSI 880GM-E35 Socket AM3 880G CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1075T@ 3GH GPU: MSI Radeon HD 6670 1024MB GDDR5 RAM: Corsair 4Gb @ 1333Mhz HDD: Western Digital 500Gb HDD @7200rpm, 6gb/s and 64Mb buffer Slap a big heat sink on it and the CPU will go to 4GHz. 1600MHz RAM is just as cheap as 1333MHz. As others have said the G/Card is weak. 6870 or better still a 6950. The 6950 can be unlocked to become a 6970 :) The hard drive is small but that can be added to later. The Motherboard, as you are getting new now and want to use AMD go for an AM3+ so you can upgrade in a year or so to the soon to be release Bulldozer CPU's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
triplea 10 Posted July 25, 2011 (edited) Nothing anymore. Edited July 27, 2011 by TripleA Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bangtail 0 Posted July 25, 2011 (edited) I just wanted to drop a little note to all those who plan on playing ArmA 2 at more than 1080p with high detail settings. My settings: 2560 x 1600 View Distance: 4K All details: Very High Video Memory: Default Post: Off I hadn't done a lot of testing with the 3GB 580s being it summer and all and had previously noticed that ArmA 2 was pushing the full 1.5GB on my 1.5GB 580s. I have since done some testing only to discover that ArmA 2 (and several other games) will push more than 2GBs of video memory. I've seen Arma 2 go as high 2.7 (and that is without post processing enabled). Equally, it seems that when the older 1.5GB cards were hitting the memory limit, it was causing them to get very hot. This does not happen with the 3GB versions and they are exactly the same cards, the only difference being the amount of memory. So the moral of this story is that if you plan on gaming at any res higher than 1080p (2560 or surround resolutions) I would strongly recommend a video card with 2GB+ VRAM. As a side note, Crysis 2, Vanguard, Metro 2033 and BC2 all exceeded 1.5GB with Crysis 2 going over 2GB (in DX11 mode with everything on Ultra). PS: For those that are interested: http://www.fudzilla.com/processors/item/23517-core-i7-3960x-is-about-47-faster-than-core-i7-990x Edited July 25, 2011 by BangTail Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
todayskiller 10 Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) Hey everyone, I already own Arma2/Arrowhead, but I'm only getting about 30-40 FPS on medium settings (no AA, etc, etc)... Here are my quick specs: 9800 GT 6 GB Ram AMD Phenom Quad Core 2.2 Ghz ----------------------------------------- I'm thinking about getting these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130662 OR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130686 I'm wondering what card do you guys/gals think is the best out of these two? Does the Memorzy Size mean A LOT in gaming? or would I be better going off with the second option, with the higher Shader Memory/Core Clock/Memory Clock/etc? Edited July 26, 2011 by todayskiller Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgt gul 0 Posted July 26, 2011 30-40fps? you should be happy to be able to play at least with your specs. Most of similair specs dont get that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
todayskiller 10 Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) 30-40fps? you should be happy to be able to play at least with your specs. Most of similair specs dont get that. Yeah, I know...but although I get 30-40 FPS...I get quite a bit of stuttering (and this FPS is with little to no units around)...In battle it dips to about 10-30. (especially if there is explosions going on). So, Although I get decent FPS, I'd love to have battles, or just walking around and driving for that matter that is smooth, and can handle some explosions going on, without lagging my system to high Hell. lol (and don't get me started on Cities...That almost makes me want to cry) :D Edited July 26, 2011 by todayskiller Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
triplea 10 Posted July 26, 2011 Sorry for being an attention whore, but could someone answer my question? I just want to know how this epic game is gonna run on my new PC :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PuFu 4599 Posted July 26, 2011 @todayskiller: get the 2GB card. Due to A2 texture sizes, as BangTail said, this game pushes the 1.5GB on a vid card, especially on higher resolutions. I can tell the difference in how the game performs on my 2 rigs gtx 460(1gb) and amd 6970(2gb). @TripleA: Your rig should play it on medium-high settings. I for one would get the 560TI card instead of the 460. Regarding CPU, quad cores are recommended, so you might wanna put some chips there before anything else. Might wanna check that PSU as well, 600W should be a minimum for your system. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liquidpinky 11 Posted July 26, 2011 I hadn't done a lot of testing with the 3GB 580s being it summer and all and had previously noticed that ArmA 2 was pushing the full 1.5GB on my 1.5GB 580s. I have since done some testing only to discover that ArmA 2 (and several other games) will push more than 2GBs of video memory. I've seen Arma 2 go as high 2.7 (and that is without post processing enabled). Equally, it seems that when the older 1.5GB cards were hitting the memory limit, it was causing them to get very hot. This does not happen with the 3GB versions and they are exactly the same cards, the only difference being the amount of memory. I have noticed this a while back, while using EVGA precision as I could monitor memory usage as well as GPU load. Why I would always recommend GFX card buyers to get a card with as much memory on board as possible. Using 5940x1080 I will see my 3GB memory almost full in some situations. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
