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

[BasileyOne 10]

Turns out the processor I have is the Athlon II X4 630, not 640. I found this review which shows the Phenom II X3 720 does noticeably better in games than the 630 due to the L3 Cache http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon-ii-x4-630_6.html#sect0 (not to mention being a better/easier overclocker) so maybe I should hang on to that after all.

mild OC could do some help.

actually absence of 1600 DDR3 memory support could harm memory-intensive appz even more[than L3 cache absence impact].

well, despite lower peak IPC, recent FX chips wasn't bad too, just worth less money, sadly.

so, keep them in mind 4 upgrade[if you mobo support AM3+], esp after Piledriver derrivatives come[mild 10% improvements expected, unless AMD seriously improve arch-specific optimisation of boards firmware. and/or AVX support by Operating system itself.].

p.s.

some AII X4 CPU's actually contain Deneb chips inside, with [disabled]L3 cache.

there are some chances thats yours - one of them. about 1/5 or so. in that case you had about 40% chances to turn L3 cache back to life[with corresponding impact/boost], probably with mild over-voltage and cooling improvement.

check OC-related Web-resources for references/info about.

Edited August 23, 2012 by BasileyOne

[Leon86 13]

If you manage to overclock the athlon with a higher blck and an a lower multi it goes a long way in compensating for not having L3.

[doveman 7]

If you manage to overclock the athlon with a higher blck and an a lower multi it goes a long way in compensating for not having L3.

But then I can overclock the Phenom II X3 as well, so it's a choice between that at 3.7-3.8Ghz with L3 cache or the Athlon II X4 at maybe 3.6Ghz (as they don't overclock as well as the PhII) without the L3 Cache.

---------- Post added at 14:22 ---------- Previous post was at 14:07 ----------

some AII X4 CPU's actually contain Deneb chips inside, with [disabled]L3 cache.

there are some chances thats yours - one of them. about 1/5 or so. in that case you had about 40% chances to turn L3 cache back to life[with corresponding impact/boost], probably with mild over-voltage and cooling improvement.

check OC-related Web-resources for references/info about.

I know the very first batch of AII X4's were produced with the Deneb core but I didn't get mine right when they first came out, so I'm pretty sure I haven't got one of those. I doubt it's 1 in 5 anyway as I'm sure more than 4/5 of all AII X4s sold were after this first batch and so are Propus cores with no L3 to unlock.

[BasileyOne 10]

just pull powerful [like TR Silver Arrow 140, CM 812SM, Scythe Mine2], but inexpensive CPU cooler on it and do some OC then ;-) you can re-cycle/re-use it with SteamRoller or Piledriver or IB-E is come to stores :)

with proper airflow in case it could do the trick[if mobo power subsystem and firmware are good enouh, btw].

Deneb vs Propus inside AII x4 ? well, you should check chip marking, its listed on OC resources and can clearly discover what particular crystal mounted/used within/inside. 1/5 ration i provided is relative/for reference, but inside OEM stream i saw "in persion", its kinda like that :-)

[doveman 7]

Yeah, I already have good coolers for both. The point is the X3 still seems like it might be better than the X4 for games as even if they both overclock to the same Ghz, the X3 has the L3 cache which it's very unlikely my X4 does.

Which would be better for music composition programs and plugins (which the PC also gets used for), that's another matter.

[brammm 1]

Hi all,

this week i'm going to buy a new laptop, a msi ge60 onc. It has a i7 3610QM processor, a Nvidia gt 650m gddr5 GPU and 8 GB of ram. At which settings will i be able to run Arma 2?

Thanks :)

[PuFu 4591]

medium^^

[stevch0 1]

yes i'm a newbie here hey everyone, i've been wanting to play this game for the longest time, just never got to it because my pc isn't up to par and i dont feel like watching a slideshow when i play so i need everyone's help!!

first i'll post my current system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ @ 2.6 GHz (brisbane) (weak crap)

Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

4 GB of ram

K9A2 CF Version 1 motherboard

GeForce 8500 GT DDR3 (weak)

SPI ATX-400PN 400W Power Supply

so with research and some recommendations i decided on these upgrades,

-New gpu MSI Geforce GTS 450

-new cpu AMD Phenom II X4 945 Quad Core Processor

-not sure if i need to upgrade my power supply aswell any suggestions would be great

everything else will stay in the comp, as with the motherboard i know its an older one but don't really feel like replacing it now, knowing it supports AM2+/AM3 processors and has two pci-e slots for dual cards so i think it'll do the job with the upgrades just fine again let me know if its a MUST that i replace it with a new one.

thanks again guys i just want a great arma II experience!!

[skulldragon 1]

I have no wish to add confusion to the matter, and I'm not claiming to be an expert here either, but seeing as a GTS 450 is 2 generations old now, I'd have thought you could get a card with equivalent performance for less money (or alternatively more performance for the same amount of money). You'd benefit from lower power usage as well. How much are you expecting to pay for the GTS 450? Also, what resolution do you intend to play at?

As for the motherboard, yeah it will be fine. As for the PSU, it does meet nVidia's recommendation for that GPU, so now worries there, although you probably be limited in terms of overclocking.

[stevch0 1]

no thats great feedback thank you, wasn't aware i could get something more up to date just concerned about it needing a new psu anyway im looking at a GTS 450 for $120..please if theres a better deal that you can recommend or that makes more sense let me know thank you!

[Leon86 13]

dunno, best price/performance is now the hd7850 but those are $200. A gts450 is a very unimpressive card, although it's a beast compared to the 8500.

[stevch0 1]

alright so what would i be expecting settings and fps wise? 1280 X 1024 is what i'll be running it at

[skulldragon 1]

For $120, this may be of interest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131477

If you're interested in how it compares to the GTS 450, then this may be of use: http://www.hwcompare.com/11909/geforce-gts-450-1gb-vs-radeon-hd-7770/

Those graphs by no means tell the whole story, but they're are decent indicator of such things.

In terms of Arma 2 performance, this should be useful: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/02/15/amd-radeon-hd-7770-1gb-review/3

The GTS 450 would get lower performance than the GTX 550 Ti listed in the graphs. Also, at some time after that review, a driver update by AMD increased it's higher end 7000 series cards' performance in Arma 2 (and other games by) around 20%. Unfortunately, bit-tech never got around to retesting the 7770, and no longer use Arma 2 as a benchmark, but you'll be getting even better performance than that graph suggests, assuming you use the correct driver version. Also, don't worry about the low score the card gets in the review, that was before the driver update and based on it's original price of $189.

Hope this is of use to you :)

Edit: just saw the several posts made whilst I was typing this. At 1280x1024, you'll get more performance still! Don't know how much more, but it should be a decent amount.

Another edit: It seems AMD recommends a 500W PSU for this GPU, which is odd, seeing as it uses less power than the GTS 450. Sorry if this is a problem.

Edited August 29, 2012 by skulldragon
New info, not worth new post

[Leon86 13]

A gts450 is only a bit faster than an 8800gtx which I used for some time, it wasn't fast enough for 1920x1080, but that's of course 1.5 times higher res. It should run good as long as you dont use antialiasing.

[stevch0 1]

so first off thank you guys for the helpful insights and posts! much appreciated! ive finally decided on another gpu to pair with the Phenom II X4 945... its the eVGA GeForce GTX 550Ti..it says it requires a 400 watt power supply which i have..but im not really computer handy and not sure what the usual practice is but is that cutting it too close? am i risking an overheat by just meeting the "requirements" so again opinions on how my system will stack up with these upgrades! thanks:)

---------- Post added at 21:37 ---------- Previous post was at 21:26 ----------

and.. what i'll end up doing is replacing my 400 watt psu with a new one question is i dont know what wattage to get? what would be overkill? also what brands should i avoid and what brand do you recommend? thanks

BTW heres the psu im looking at right now just right? or overkill?

Corsair 600W Builder Seriesâ„¢ CX600 V2 80 Plus PSU

[Bhallzy 1]

Ok first off, sorry if this a repost. I don't really feel like fishing through the forums for an answer because I know there are a lot of questions about this being asked. I'm running a Dell Vostro 220 with Intel Pentium Dual CPU @ 2.4GHz, 2GB Ram, 32 bit, and ATI Radeon HD 3400 on a Samsung LED 180p 120Hz. My question is, what settings should I run this on for maximum resolution/performance? I am currently playing(trying to play) the Arma II demo as of now. I am experiencing a lot of lag(blur) though. If I missed anything let me know. Thanks for the help.

[Leon86 13]

so first off thank you guys for the helpful insights and posts! much appreciated! ive finally decided on another gpu to pair with the Phenom II X4 945... its the eVGA GeForce GTX 550Ti..it says it requires a 400 watt power supply which i have..but im not really computer handy and not sure what the usual practice is but is that cutting it too close? am i risking an overheat by just meeting the "requirements" so again opinions on how my system will stack up with these upgrades! thanks:)

---------- Post added at 21:37 ---------- Previous post was at 21:26 ----------

and.. what i'll end up doing is replacing my 400 watt psu with a new one question is i dont know what wattage to get? what would be overkill? also what brands should i avoid and what brand do you recommend? thanks

BTW heres the psu im looking at right now just right? or overkill?

Corsair 600W Builder Seriesâ„¢ CX600 V2 80 Plus PSU

Yeah, that's kind of overkill. Cpu uses about 80W, gpu about 110, rest of the system about 30. The gpu and cpu use almost exclusively 12V power, modern psu's can deliver a lot of that, older psu's have their wattage more equally divided over 12, 3.3 and 5V. 80+ Gold psu's convert AC to 12V and then use DC-DC convertors to make 3.3 and 5 from the 12V DC (more efficient), that's why they can deliver all their wattage on 12V.

---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 AM ----------

ATI Radeon HD 3400

That's quite a bit below system requirements, might be sortof playable at the lowest resolutions.

[stevch0 1]

alright i get it but say i were to throw that psu in the system could it hurt anything? and what would you personally recommend with the upgrades i'm putting in? im looking only at the Corsair psu's since i hear they are reliable thanks!

[Leon86 13]

Any corsair psu will do, they dont go under 400W afaik.

[stevch0 1]

thanks so much! youve been great help to me!

[domokun 515]

stevch0: as long as your PSU is decent quality (Corsair is good but so are Antec) and you're running a single graphics card (not Crossfire, nor SLI) then 400W is more than sufficient. For many their mantra of bigger is better :rolleyes:

as for graphics cards, the 7770 is a good choice @ the $125 price point

but if you want to game @ 1920x12000, you'll be better off paying $50 extra to get it's big brother, the 7850

because, as this more accurate benchmark demonstrates, the 7850 offers almost 50% more performance that the 7770, especially when you overclock it to 7870 speeds ;)

OA benchmark within Bit-Tech review of Radeon HD 7850

[skulldragon 1]

domokun - that benchmark is out of date. This one: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/06/22/amd-radeon-7970-3gb-ghz-edition-review/3

shows the performance of the 7850 after the performance boost it got from a driver update. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the 7770/7750 as comparatives (I assume they sped up in a similar way).

Also, bit-tech has unfortunately stopped using OA as a benchmark. Does anybody know any other sites that do?

[chrisb 196]

Benchmarks are fine and a good indicator, but until its in your system you just don’t know how it will perform. If you have a dedicated gaming pc with little on it, then yes performance is going to be good (usually) if the bench gives good results. If its an everyday pc (work/personal), then what’s onboard will effect the performance in-game, from what I have seen pc gaming through the years..

Onboard junk wise, no, ‘keep it lean’.:D

[domokun 515]

domokun - that benchmark is out of date. This one: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/06/22/amd-radeon-7970-3gb-ghz-edition-review/3

shows the performance of the 7850 after the performance boost it got from a driver update. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the 7770/7750 as comparatives (I assume they sped up in a similar way).

Also, bit-tech has unfortunately stopped using OA as a benchmark. Does anybody know any other sites that do?

The benchmark I quoted is 6 months old.

The benchmark you quoted is 2 months old.

So the first is 4 months older.

But what counts for our friend stevch tech is not whether the 78xx series benefited from a +30% increase in performance due to improved drivers (such large gains seems VERY unlikely) but how budget (sub-$200) cards compare.

The newer benchmark doesn't compare these cards, so it's pretty worthless when it comes to evaluating a 7750 card.

That's why I chose the older but more relevant benchmark.

Newer doesn't necessarily mean better :o

[skulldragon 1]

Yeah, fair point. Sorry. I just saw you had linked to the 7850's review and overlooked that it was to compare to the 7770.

As for the performance gains, they were more around the 20-25% mark, which is still huge, I admit. However, Arma 2 seems to have benefited much more than other games, so perhaps the driver changes just happened to change something that had been a significant bottleneck in Arma.