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ICE-Raver

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Posts posted by ICE-Raver

  1. Posted

    EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard - Retail

    $239.99

    XFX HD-485X-YDFC Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

    $134.99

    AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ965FBGIBOX - Retail

    $245.00

    Crucial 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

    $112.99

    LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDP118-04 - OEM

    $17.99

    Subtotal: $705.96 (This is the subtotal after some rebates that I deleted when I copy and pasted it)

    Does that seem like it would be a good build for a computer that would be able to handle the game? I tried to take your suggestions and apply them while also trying to keep the system relatively cheap.

    That motherboard does not support the AMD CPU. It's an intel mobo.

  3. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    i brought the game yesturday and every time i start the game it instantly goes arma 2 has stopped working i have vista 32bit 2.4ghz quad core 3 gbs memory and alot of hdd space i have tried loads of different methods but none of them have worked some one please help i beg of u guys.

    thx

    I had this issue before as well.

    I was clicking a desktop shortcut and it loaded then just quit. I ended up moving my shortcut to the games folder and launching it there and it worked fine. I don't know why.

    You may also try right clicking the shortcut and "run as administrator.

    You could also need to reinstall.

    Are you running steam or retail btw?

  5. Posted

    i personally think the problems have to do with the nivada drivers, becuase i had the defult drivers for my 275 one and it ran somewhat low FPS so i turned off phsyx and updated the drivers and it ran wayyy faster but now it crashes alot. and i notice that everyone here has a nivadi card so far so.

    Well, Arma 2 doesn't support phys x anyway so just leave it off.

    I have ran several different driver versions with arma 2 and the 190.38's & 190.62's both gave me the best performance. I know Ethne;) doesn't like them but they have done very well for me.

    Do I get crashes? Occasionally, but very seldom.

    In my personal opinion the game is just not optimized very well atm.

    That said I run max settings with great performance about 99% of the time.

  6. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    Ouch, if you're building on a budget, the Core i7s are a terrible choice, and you're better off with the somewhat slower but much cheaper Phenom II. Look at it this way - by the time the Phenom II goes out of date, it will be time to replace the Core i7 anyway. They're also a terrible investment, as Intel will be introducing a new CPU socket in a few months time, and the current LGA1366 sockets will be reserved for expensive workstation chips only.

    .

    I only linked him core i7 because he had his eye on an i7 system at Dell.

    It's definitely not a budget system. And yes in a few months time the prices will fall on them when the new chips come out.

    That said the i7 is a beast of a processor.

    When I was doing my new current build I considered doing an intel quad core build with a 9650 and the price difference wasn't enough for me not to go ahead and go with i7. Like 100ish bucks difference or something. I also considered going phenom x4 but after comparing benchmarks, futuremark scores and head to head tests the current intel chips always came out on top vs phenoms from what I have seen. Not that benchmark scores matter much when it comes to gaming, but anyway. I've ran AMD in the past and I probably will again when they leapfrog intel.

    As far as the ATI GPU I didn't link anything ATI because I haven't ran it. The last ATI I ran was an x800xt plat back in the day and I had so many driver issues with that card that I haven't ran another. That said, from all I have read they are great. I just don't have first hand experience with them.

  8. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    Ok, so now I'm starting to feel like a real tool. You guys have been so helpful and I keep asking questions.

    Can someone explain to me in simple terms what a lot of these terms mean?

    A friend directed me to dell.com to check out their computers and I found one that has:

    - Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)

    Now, I've heard somewhere that i7 was a really powerful processor, but I've seen other computers that have a higher GHz. Honestly, I have no idea what any of this stuff means.

    - 4GB6 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM5 at 1066MHz - 4 DIMMs

    My brother keeps telling me that DDR3 is really good, so I figure this has to be a good spec.

    - 640GB 7200 RPM8 SATA Hard Drive

    - nVidia GeForce GT 220, 1024MB

    I guess this is the one that's got me really nervous.

    I'm really attracted to this piece of hardware because it's actually less than a grand and every cent counts.

    Again, if someone would be so kind as to explain what a lot of these terms mean, I'd really appreciate it and I wouldn't have to keep bothering you guys.

    The i7's are top of the line processors at the moment.

    IMHO the i7 920 is the best choice out of the lineup. I know your not an overclocker but the 920 easily clocks over 4ghz out of the box. There are guys on the evga forums getting upwards of 4.5 out of it. It is only a $279 processor at the moment and I've seen it on sale for as low as $199 compare that to the other i7's and it's a no brainer.

    Guys over there that spent $1000 bucks on the i7 975 aren't having such luck overclocking theirs.;)

    That ram is really strange. All the mobos that I have looked at for the i7's all support DDR3 triple channel ram and typically the speeds supported are 1333, 1600, or 2000.

    Hard drive is decent

    Graphics card is no good.

    In all honesty a decent prebuilt i7 system is going to cost you a minimum of about 15-1600 bucks.

    If you go below that on prebuilt you are going to sacrifice something.

    It cost me $900 bucks just to build my i7 system and I already had the case, psu and graphics card.

    However the i7 is a beast of a processor. So if you get an i7 base you will be future proofed for a long time.

    Your best bet in all honesty is to have someone build you a system.

    Here are some recommendations of a base system for you.

    Processor:i7 920 $279 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

    If your not going to overclock the stock heatsink will be fine. But don't overclock it without a decent aftermarket heatsink

    Motherboard: EVGA x58 LE. $239 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049&Tpk=evga%20x58%20le *you need a SATA dvd drive for this board. IDE (Ribbon cable) Is not supported. They are like $25 bucks for LITE on sata drives at wal-mart.

    Memory: I like Corsair Dominator or mushkin but you can really save money here going with some cheaper memory. $124.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

    Hard Drive: I'm running one of these along with a second 1T drive. It's pretty decent. $69 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

    Graphics card: I bought one of these about a month ago to go SLI (2 cards) and it is running great. It is recertified with a 90 day warranty. If that scares you the 275's are about the samme price. $239 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130427

    OS: Try to get windows 7 RC if you can and then upgrade. Vista was coming with a free upgrade but I don't see any now.

    All of that comes out to $950.99. If you already have the case and a power supply your golden. I would recommend at least a 650-700 watt psu for this setup btw so check your case. You may also already have a SATA drive and OS so you could save some money there.

    Now I don't know anything about your case but make sure it has decent airflow as you need to get the heat out. If not you could get a good case for about 100 bucks if it is an issue. The HAF 932's are really popular.

  9. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    Not sure where you got that idea, the GTX275 is at least as good as a HD4890, and a good deal better than the GTX260 you linked.

    I could have swore that I read about alot of people having issues with the 275's and arma? Maybe it was another card I was thinking of.

    Anyway, I'm not sure and I really have no personal experience with 275's but I knew 260's were really good.

    If that's the case I would definitely go with the second pc I posted with the AMD x4 if I were choosing between it and the one you posted.

    It has the 275, a better proc and comes with a free windows 7 upgrade for 30 bucks more than the original one you posted.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227157

  10. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    Would it be more cost effective to just buy the parts to upgrade an older computer? We have an older tower that we don't use anymore so I'm wondering if I'd just end up spending a lot of money on a tower that's going to be OK, when I could spend less money to get it up to the same level or better. Any opinions?

    What about this one?

    iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme 948D3 Core 2 Quad Q9300(2.50GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 Windows Vista Home Premium ... - Retail

    Recommended Usage: Gaming

    Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300(2.5GHz)

    Processor Main Features: 64 bit Quad-Core Processor

    Cache Per Processor: 6MB L2 Cache

    Memory: 4GB (2GB x 2) DDR3-1333

    Hard Drive: 500GB SATAII

    Optical Drive 1: 22X DL DVD+/-RW Drive

    Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX-275 896MB Video Card

    Model #: Gamer Extreme 948D3

    Item #: N82E16883227159

    Well if you can do the build yourself you can definitely come out ahead building your own system.

    As far as the other system you posted it is decent, but I am unsure about the 275. I have heard mixed reviews about them.

    IMO this one is a better deal and only 20 bucks higher.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227135

    Or this one for 30 bucks more that comes with a free windows 7 upgrade.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227157

  11. Posted

    Interesting thread. I never gave a second look at anything concerning 3d until today. Now I am pretty interested.

    Hell, my wife thinks I'm a big enough nerd as it is with my trackir and flight sticks. Why not throw some 3d glasses in the mix?

    Only issue is my monitor is 60 hz so it's a no go for me atm.

    I went to newegg and checked out monitors for S&Giggles but I don't see any monitors that are 120. Am I missing something?

  12. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    HP Firebird 802:

    - Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9400

    - 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM

    - 500GB Serial ATA hard drive capacity

    - Dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S SLI graphics cards

    The firebird small form factor pc is made by Voodoo PC just an FYI and sold as HP.

    http://www.voodoopc.com/#/productsfirebird

    IMO it is not a great platform for gaming.

    Will it play games? Sure. But for ARMA 2 I could see it struggling.

    First off, the 9800s is a notebook/mobile graphics processor.

    Mobile graphics are generally pretty weak.

    It's also basically non-upgradable. So you would be stuck with what you have.

    In reality the firebird is not much more than a glorified laptop put into a shiny SFF setup.

    IMO it was probably built to go toe to toe with MACs. Small, compact and good looking.

    For everyday tasks and mild gaming it's probably pretty decent but for arma 2 I wouldn't risk $1000 bucks on it.

    They had a pretty nice one called the Blackbird, but I haven't heard anything about them lately.

    I'd suggest going to newegg and browsing gaming pcs.

    They have many that are just slightly above $1000 that would be better suited for this game.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2032280010%201308920938&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Page=2

  13. Posted

    Seems to be very different on wich settings & resolution you have when it comes to grass? To me grass doesnt do much damage at all. Not like ArmA1 where if i looked through grass my pc would halt. In ARMA2 there is a tiny tiny drop.

    But i play with normal textures ad low resolution (1024x768 until i get my new hardware).

    All in all with that low res and most things to normal (AA=high, AF=high, PP=low) i run the game very good. Step up the res one step and performance drops hard in forest/village areas. But about the grass - at my settings it doesnt do much harm at all.

    Strange, turning grass on high pretty much cuts my fps in half.

  14. Posted

    Ok, i'll try W7, but i read about people running Vista 64 who can get their SLi working.

    What is your rig? edit: just nocited your sign ;)

    Some people have had good luck with vista. I'm not one of them.

    What is your fps in game right now. My bet is that your dealing with the old vista 33 fps issue like I posted.

    If so, your sli is probably working, your just not seeing a gain because your hitting a v/sync like ceiling.

  15. Posted · Edited by ICE-Raver

    How do i change it?

    Did u use Nhancer o whatever trick (like -winxp parameter etc)?

    edit: i've found the way to change max rendered frames, i'm trying.

    re-edit: i set 8 max rendered frames, but nothing changed :cry:

    Well me and you are running very similar rigs So I'll tell you how mine is setup for reference.

    The MAJOR difference between me and you is Vista Vs Windows 7.

    I was running vista at first but had major issues. I partitioned my drive and installed windows 7 and my performance with arma 2 skyrocketed.

    And what is your fps with vista? For some reason vista locked my fps at 33 on arma 2. Lots of others had the same problem.

    I run:

    190.62 drivers.

    1680 x 1050

    Hyper Threading = off (in the bios)

    Nvidia CP settings

    Ambient Occlusion = OFF atm.

    AF= Application Controlled

    Gamma Correction=On

    AA= Application controlled

    Transparency= off

    Texture Clamp=Use Hardware

    Pre-Rendered Frames=8

    Single Display performance Mode

    Maximum Performance

    SLI-Force alternate frame rendering 2

    Texture Filtering = on

    Texture filtering/neg bias=clamp

    Quality=High Performance

    Trilinear Optimization= on

    Threaded optimization=on

    Triple buffering=off

    Vsync=off

    Game resolution 1680x1050/1680x1050 100%

    All settings Very High/PP Low due to preference

    With these settings I can run Arma 2 maxxed out with full grass and rarely ever see a dip under 30. Usually 30-50.

    If I disable grass I can see upwards of 100fps. Put AA and AF on normal and performance really climbs. However I usually leave them very high, sometimes I tweak them down when fighting in Electrovodsk.

  16. Posted

    i'm actually surprised here, you have a powerful rig and GPU setup, i think you should you should be able to hit 100 FPS when playing arma2. What is your fps looking like when playing other games? i was planning to get another 4870 to crossfire but found out that my both PCIx will run at x8 in crossfire mode, hence P45 chipset.

    If I disable grass I get a huge FPS boost and it does get upwards toward 100fps and above. I've actually seen 130ish in some areas. For some reason grass in this game really give me a major fps hit.

    I haven't played any other games on this system yet since it is a new build with a fresh OS.

  17. Posted

    Hi all, i'm going crazy with my sli system (2xgtx280).

    My rig is the following:

    i7 920@3,6ghz

    3gb Corsair

    2xgtx280

    Nvidia driver 190.38

    Vista Ultimate 64bit

    I cant get one frames more swithcing from Single Gpu to Sli mode. I tried every possible solutions found on the web:

    - remaning armaII.exe in crysis.exe

    - winxp parameter on sortcut

    - forcing AFR2 in Nvidia panel

    - forcing vsync off

    - using nHancer to create a Sli profile

    - using Nvidia SLI patch

    None works :(:(

    Nhancer load balancing graphs are working, and the green bars are moving, but i cant get one frames more. Please help me. :butbut:

    Change your max rendered frames to 8.

    Give that a try and let me know, thats how I run mine.

  18. Posted

    . there is NO computer out there in this currant generation of cards , processors, that can play this game with smooth frame rates on high graphic settings. It is future proofed to hell.

    As usual you are wrong and have come out to bash 200 series GPU's and praise the almighty 8800.:rolleyes:

    I run this game with all settings set to Very High 1680 x 1050 , INCLUDING AA and AF + FULL grass and the game runs VERY SMOOTH on my rig.

    Typically I get around 30-50 fps with these settings.

    The only time I dip below 30 frames is in Electrovodsk and I think there is just something wrong with that area.

    Could it be done with a single GPU? I doubt it, but you shouldn't say no computer out there is capable at running this game maxxed out.

    ---------- Post added at 12:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 AM ----------

    AMD 6000 X64 3.01 Ghz dual core

    GTX280/1 gig memory

    680watt supply

    4 gigs low latency corsair ram

    asus crosshair mb

    vista enterprise x64

    Your biggest problem is your amd 6000. I was running an amd 5600 when this game came out and I can tell you after upgrading and going back and forth that the 5600 struggles on this game. The 6000 isn't much better than the 5600 is. The game is very very cpu intensive and the 5600/6000's just barely cut it.............and I mean barely.

    I would also get rid of vista if I were you and go to windows 7. It made a huge difference for me.

    ---------- Post added at 12:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 AM ----------

    Intel Q6600 @ 3.0GHz

    XFX GTX 260 Core 216

    4GB Kingston HyperX T1

    Windows 7 RC1 x86

    ForceWare 190.56

    ArmA 2 1.03

    ArmA 2 plays great at all very high with a view distance of 3600.

    Really now? All settings maxxed out with a single 260 and a 6600 and the game runs great? It's not that I'm doubting you, but if your serious you should sell your pc to NASA.

  20. Posted

    My tribute to the developers of ArmA 2.

    I have permission to use the song from it's creator.

    Enjoy, hope it makes you smile!

    Absolutely EPIC! I literally laughed till I cried.

    Love the "I bought myself a monster rig, spent all of my cash.............to get 14 frames per second before I crash!":D:D:D

  22. Posted

    Yes it's still free to get a product key but Microsoft is no longer offering downloads of the release candidate. Vista in and of itself will not limit frames. What Vista will do is devour resources as it is the most incredibly bloated OS of all time. If the OS is a concern try minimizing the resources it's using (to start with turn off that SideBar). Good Luck.

    i7 920 @ 3.6

    12 GB DDR3 @ 1440

    GTX 295

    VU64

    Vista limited my FPS to 33 on 2 different builds my current build is one of them. I did everything I could to get the fps unlocked but it was set similar to a vsync at 33. Lots of others had this 33 issue with vista as well.

    I switched to W7 and my fps is through the roof now. No more 33 BS.

  23. Posted

    LOL

    LOL

    LOL

    You call THAT a mess??

    You should see my computer.

    4870x2 (HUGE) stuck into an antec 900. Barely fits and I got this corsair that has like a billion wires. I have no idea what to do with it.

    I switched to an antec 1200 this week. It has much more room than the alienware case and fantastic airflow. My cpu idle temps dropped 6 degrees with just the case swap and that is with stock fans on the antec.. I'm very happy with it.

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