nth1739

When I first puchased the game I started with: AMD64 4000+ (2.4 GHz single core) 2GB DDR1 RAM 1x 7950GT 512MB This setup was adequate to play at 1440X900 with everything set to medium settings. I averaged about 20-40 fps throughout the game. I then upgraded to SLI 7950s to help boost my FPS. Though Arma isn't optimized for SLI I did notice an increase in FPS and smoother game play all around. Though I still bog down to 25-30 fps in online matches and heavy AI encounters, its still very playable. For arma the athlon 3800 X2 is a minimum for decent FPS. This game is very CPU intensive, especially if you want to turn the draw distance up beyond 2000 yards. I have to cap mine at 2000 until I upgrade my CPU.

If you are going to play with one 7950GT just make sure you have a pretty good CPU. The Intel Core Due 6600 seem to perform well with Arma. I would like to upagrade my PC but at this point I would have to invest in a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM :/ I have reached a brick wall with my current 939 chipset. I have a PC with: AMD 4000+ 64bit Athlon (single core) 2GB DDR RAM 2x 7950 GT 512mb in SLI As many have already discussed in the past, SLI wont get you a huge boost in Arma FPS as it will in other games, but it does really help to smooth it out. SLI also allows you to turn on more of the graphic settings without impacting your performance. I get maybe -4 FPS difference from highest AA compared to no AA setting, and about -2 FPS on max AF compared to no AF. Without SLI these settings have more of an impact on your FPS. but the FPS is more constant than before. Open Desert - 40-60 FPS Avg Rural Grassy/Wooded area - 30-40 FPS Heavy Woods/ Urban City - 25-35 FPS This acceptable to me, but I was expacting more from SLI. My CPU is the main bottleneck in my system right now.

I think the question is valid, since I have spent over $350 just to play a $40 game at an avg FPS of 30 LOL. I really feel strongly about the OFP/Arma franchise so I didnt mind.

@ Victor : Thanks man, this is exactly the info I was looking for. I have 2GB of decent ram (not really performance/OC RAM) so I think I will start with just a single SATA/300 drive and see how that works. I can always purchase another one later if I want, but based on what Victor said I think a single will do just fine. Thanks for all the feedback guys, now I have to start saving my dollars

@Vassago, Yes you are correct, I had the RAID 1 confused with 0. @Mr_Tea, thank you for stating the obvious, but I am looking for a little more technical feedback... thanks for playing though

I am on a quest to make Arma as playable as possible as I am sure 50% of you out there are too Since purchasing ArmA I have upgraded to SLI 7950GT which helped to increase my max FPS quite a bit, but I still get the intermittent stuttering where FPS drops to 15-20 while objects/textures load in the cache (especially in towns). The frame rate goes back up after objects load but I really want to reduce that "load time" as much as possible. My hard drive is a few years old so I was wondering if anyone can give me positive feedback about upgrading. Currently I have a single ATA-133 hard drive. Would upgrading to a new SATA-300 help increase in game performance much? What about RAID 1 configs, how much of a boost would that bring? Thanks

If you are set on buying an Intel processor wait until July 22!! Intel is dropping prices on Quad Core processors. You will be able to purchase the QUAD CORE 6600 for under $300!!! Now thats a great deal!! Check it out: http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/story93215.html Intel’s Price Reduction on July 22 May 14, 2007 @ 21:21 While AMD AM2+ processors are due out in Q3, Intel announced another plan on price reduction just 3 months after the previous drop on April 22. With a remarkable cut at 50%, AMD is facing another harsh battle with Intel. As reported before, Intel has had hinted a price drop in Q3, expecting a second price drop someday in August and September. However, the exact date turns out surprisingly on July 22 as the first hand information we have received. Undoubtedly, the move give certain impact on the sales of AMD processors. Not until the release of next-generation AM2+ processors, it’s hard for AMD to get profit from their existing products. In the most updated plan, Intel Quad-Core Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz/4MB L2 x2/1066MHzFSB) will be further cut to $266, a second drop within 4 months since its release on March with 68.7% accumulated price drop. For the original price segment of Core 2 Quad Q6600, now it will be replaced by a new model Quad Q6700 (2.66GHz/4MB L2 x2/1066MHzFSB), pricing at $530. For the mainstream desktop processors, while Core 2 Duo E6000 family has no price update information at this moment, its relatives, Core 2 Duo 6050 family which features 1333MHz FSB releasing on July 22, has got a very impressive price advantage.

So it sounds like the patch may be having issues with the 8xxx series of Nvidia cards? Are those who are having issues with HDD spinning and no shadows on trees all using the 8xxx series cards? Can anyone comment on the performance of the patch using a 7950 gt card?

Hey Jerry, Thanks for the update on the project status and very sorry to hear about your flame related technical difficulties :/ Until you get the tracker up and running again can you give us a little more info about its functionality. Does it work similar to Xfire, as in both users need to be running it to see each other, or does it query player lists directly from the servers themselves. Thanks Player tracking ability would be a great feature to build into the in-game server browser, but thats another forum post in itself. Thanks Jerry and goodluck with Saharani Studio

The link has not worked for me all day. I would like to try it, can you post when the site is back up please. Thanks

yes...yes.... the ATI can do AA and HDR at the same time in oblivion...thanks for rubbing it in my face that I dont own an ATI card :P Oh well, seems like both ATI and NVidia have their own issues, it just depends on what games you play. I am very glad that ArmA managed to find a way for Nvidia users to utilize HDR and AA at the same time. I dont think I could enjoy ArmA as much without Anti Aliasing.

Quero, It sounds like you are having some Windows OS issues. You should definitely correct those before you scrutinize your ArmA performance too much. It could turn out that Windows was the culprit all along. Focus on getting your system running smoothly and crash free, then work on optimizing ArmA. I wish I could tell you how to fix your windows problems but it could be a million things causing your errors. When in doubt....back up....format.....re-install. Wish there was an easier way but this is what solves windows crash problem 90% of the time.

Pay no attention to the people who think they know how to review a game after playing the demo for 15 mins. Armed Assault has a steep learning curve and it takes days/weeks to fully explore all it has to offer. I have been playing for 4 weeks now and still discover new facets everytime I play.

Download the free version of FRAPS (www.fraps.com). Its a handy FPS utility that displays your frames per second in the top left corner of your screen. Start FRAPS then start ArmA. You notice yellow numbers in the top left corner of your screen displaying your FPS in game. Start a typical mission, then open your video setting menu. Start tweaking each setting and look at the FPS in the corner to see what impact the setting has. This makes tweaking much easier and faster since you dont have toggle in and out of the settings menu to see what kind of effect each setting has on your performance. I did this myself and found a the perfect balance between visual quality and acceptable FPS for my PC setup.

@ Helmut_AUT - Try limiting your view distance to 1200 or so. Also the AI is a big factor in performance especially when you have the viewdistance cranked up. The AI is CPU intensive, not GPU intensive. If you play missions with alot of AI you are going to get sluggish performance even on higher end dual core CPUs. I too played Oblivion, but Oblivion does not allow HDR and AA at the same time, so that might explain some of your better performance. Another tip - Download FRAPS (fps utility) and load up a typical mission. With fraps running you should see your frames per second in your top left corner. Go to your Video settings and start playing around with all the options while keeping an eye on your fps in the top corner. I did this last night and ended up finding a great combination of video settings that surprisingly gave me better performance along with better visuals. The benefit of fraps is that it allows you to see fps performance without having to toggle back and forth between the game and the video settings, which makes tweaking much less of a pain.