ArmA2 / OA (low) performance issues

[Nerdwing]

Hello, and thanks all for the replies. I'm sorry for the delay in replying

It seems OCing my CPU isnt really feasible at the moment, as even using the autoclock function in AMD Overdrive leads to a crash around the 2.9ghz mark. That coupled with bios that cant be unlocked (apparently) mean that it doesn't seem like a possible option at this point. I assume the crash is due to the motherboard's limitations though I've nothing to confirm my suspicion.

Regarding the PSU, I'm not sure of the exact make now. I recieved it from a friend awhile back, and I was told its in the 700 watt range. This was a huge upgrade from my default 300-ish watt model that came with the PC.

Duly noted on the card issue. I'll do what I can to upgrade the CPU in the future, and the GPU will be on the list afterwards.

Thank you for the advice everyone, its certainly appreciated. ArmA2 was one of the games I was hoping to handle with this PC setup, and I regret having not done any more research beforehand.

[rob151515]

6970 here

game video settings, set graphics ram to very high, if it's set to default. Geting bad performance with default vram setting.

I have 2 crossfired 6970's and I agree with this. Getting terrible frame rates running when this setting is set to 'Default'. Getting better frame rates running with video memory set to 'Very High' but by doing so I'm finding I'm getting far more textures popping in all over the place. I can't win!!!!!!

[NeuroFunker]

wow, i was actually thinking, default vram is kind for crossfire/SLI users, but it seems just to be bugged at ATI cards.

[Leon86]

you can enter your a custom vram value in the .cfg file. Be aware that games are not the only things eating up vram, windows aero interface takes a big chunk as wel as modern (hardware accelerated) browsers.

[NeuroFunker]

you can enter your a custom vram value in the .cfg file. Be aware that games are not the only things eating up vram, windows aero interface takes a big chunk as wel as modern (hardware accelerated) browsers.

on BI wiki, i could read, this values are auto generated, everytime you start the game, and it doesn't work when u change it manualy or something.

thats what i got there right now:

localVRAM=2107830272;
nonlocalVRAM=1877524480;

[sapped]

hey guys, I'm having some serious performance issues with athlon II X4 640 cpu,
how much performance can I get if I overclock it to say @3.6ghz from @3.0ghz??

[HR4 Elite]

hey guys, I'm having some serious performance issues with athlon II X4 640 cpu,
how much performance can I get if I overclock it to say @3.6ghz from @3.0ghz??

I have the same cpu but with no problems and great performance, what gpu are you using and OS, whats your average fps on an open plain area i.e. desert (I use two for testing 51km desert pmc gets your higher fps out and Podagorsk as it’s a heavy terrain on high or very high settings, restricts fps a little or even alot).


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[NeuroFunker]

hey guys, I'm having some serious performance issues with athlon II X4 640 cpu,
how much performance can I get if I overclock it to say @3.6ghz from @3.0ghz??

ofcourse it will, i clocked my from 3,4 to 3,8, game feels quite better with it.

[rob151515]

Been doing some further testing (using 'Hike in the Hills') and it looks like I can get fairly smooth frame rates (40's - 50's) if I select 'Very High' and let Arma select the advanced settings. It's great getting smooth frame rates but seems a shame I can't run smoothly with higher graphics settings considering the specs I now have:

• i5 2500k
• 16gb RAM
• 2x6970CFX

(Already tried ocing the CPU and GPU's)

Should I be getting better performance than < 25 fps with everything maxed (view distance at approx. 4500) or is this as good as I can expect?

I seem to get good frame rates using the 'Very High' video memory setting with everything maxed until I push out the View Distance a little bit (over 3600) then suddenly it becomes very laggy (50-60 fps down to 15 - 20 fps) - only when I turn around in the game. If I keep my head looking forward it's great! unfortunately occasionally I need to turn around and check behind me. Its as if each time I turn around it needs to load the scene behind me into memory again... I've tried using the 'Default' video memory setting - this fixes the 'Turning around' issue but the frame rate instantly drops to a constant 25-30 fps everywhere.

[HR4 Elite]

Should I be getting better performance than < 25 fps with everything maxed (view distance at approx. 4500) or is this as good as I can expect?

Yes, I would think is the answer to that..

These are the things I did:

1/ I first started by finding out what my best fps was, I use ‘PMC 51km desert’ to test for highest fps as there is virtually no clutter or fps sapping surroundings, so makes for a good test site.. Fraps as you know is the one to use but also ‘DVD’ mod is very good take a look at that as well..
This gives an idea of the fps I have now..on PMC map, I have no screen shot of what I started out with but it was around 140-170fps..

2/ I defragged the hd, down to 0% fragmented, I have to point out that the pc I use for Arma2 is simply for Arma2 and related stuff, i.e. mod’s addons, etc, (so there is no other onboard clutter other than OS, security, Arma2 plus related stuff and game booster 3)

3/ I then adjusted Win7 64bit to ‘Performance’ I have this set all the time on my Arma2 pc, you can do it just for games if your using your pc for general use and want the frilliness, then switch it back afterwards. If your not sure how, just type in ‘search programs & files’, ‘Performance’ then click ‘Adjust the appearance and performance of Win7’, highlight ‘Performance’...

4/ I have ‘Game Booster 3’, it switches any background programs off that are not needed, use this before going into the game and switch off afterwards, very easy program to use and its free..

5/ Check the cores are working across fairly evenly, I use AMD Overdrive you may have a similar program, you can see both gpu & cpu workloads.. I have a quad core and had to tell the game I had 4 although it is supposed to do it automatically, it works all my cores reasonably evenly..

6/ Got Landtex, Sap Clutter, DVD, all good mods I have around to help fps…

7/ Made sure I was patched to the latest game patches (which I was) you can also run with or without the latest Beta ( I usually run with Beta)

On advice I did the following, as I know very little regards overclocking..
8/ I OC’ed my gpu, you can see the results in the system setup I have below.. (using in-built overclock facilities, ‘auto overclock’)

9/ I OC’ed my pc to 3.4Ghz from 3.0, could possibly get a little more, but it does the job.. (using AMD overdrive program ‘auto overclock’)

10/ Went back to test, and my fps had gone up considerably and the game ran even smoother than it did before, which if I am honest was pretty smooth anyway, but I could instantly see a difference, especially when spinning around a lot in combat, no more drag, lag or stutter, which I did have a little before this process..

Chernarus fps, overlooking Nova Sobor in using A2 way in using A2,OA way..

Did all this around 3-4 mths ago and since then have had zero lag or stutter and good fps on whichever map/island I use..

I make smaller combat missions and skirmish type missions to play, so there is never more than 150-200 ai in combat at once, usually less than 70 is the norm for my missions, plus some hardware, civilians, vehicles etc..

This may help, or may not, but its worth a go, you should be getting very good fps with your setup. Of course different pc’s will act differently depending a lot on what’s on there and what’s plugged into it… (not my words but the chap that built my Arma2 pc), but it makes very good sense… I have my everyday pc and would not want to even try Arma2 on that, its got so much junk on it, plus thousands of working files, so Arma2 fps wise would probably be dismal..



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