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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:00 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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Help with a PC build just for Arma high or better @ 60fps


Hi Guys, 

So I've been playing Arma 3 for a while now but on my laptop - Basically wasn't ready for the commitment without a decent community to play with. 

Everything i'm researching online is slightly outdated and not relevant to me. 

Has anyone got any info about builds specifically for Arma 3 on high or Ultra settings that can achieve 60 fps comfortably? What are people currently running which can achieve those frames on those settings?

Currently i'm able to get 30 fps on standard settings no problem. 

My budget is realistic but would like to achieve it around the £700 mark, I have everything else ( Monitor/keyboard etc) just trying to get the technical side.

Thanks all, 

Duncan


Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:02 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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For ArmA your main concern is CPU as the game is pretty processor intensive, you don't need to go all out on a GPU so a basic 1050 will do if ArmA is all you're playing.

This build is similar to mine except this one has a different GPU, less RAM and no NVMe. Processor is the same as mine and I average around 100 FPS (on ultra) but with all the mods and AI you'll be around 60-70fps during ops. This rig will also run modern game at around 80~fps medium.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9MqMdX

EDIT: you'll want to put ArmA on an SSD as it drastically helps with map loading and stops the little freezes you get in-game.


Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:51 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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I disagree a little with Nailer's suggestion.  Arma is about CPU but buying a 6 core is pointless, as Arma is virtually single threaded ie runs on a single core.  Try and get as fast a CPU as possible (ie clock rate) rather than increasing the number of cores.  A 4 core is more than sufficient, and will be faster than a 6 core for Arma.  i5's are probably a better bet than the more expensive i7, for your budget.  I'm not an AMD person, but there might be a better AMD at this price point.

Graphics wise I'd go for a 1060 if you can stretch to it.  

A 120 GB SSD is a little on the small side.  Our repo would eat 2/3 of that.  I'd suggest 256 minimum.

Also a good fan is well worth it.  You might even squeeze in a all-in-one water cooling system. This allows you to overclock a little with no risk of crashing.  Again trying to boost your CPU power for Arma


Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:08 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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Lifetap wrote:
I disagree a little with Nailer's suggestion.  Arma is about CPU but buying a 6 core is pointless, as Arma is virtually single threaded ie runs on a single core.  Try and get as fast a CPU as possible (ie clock rate) rather than increasing the number of cores.  A 4 core is more than sufficient, and will be faster than a 6 core for Arma.  i5's are probably a better bet than the more expensive i7, for your budget.  I'm not an AMD person, but there might be a better AMD at this price point.

Graphics wise I'd go for a 1060 if you can stretch to it.  

A 120 GB SSD is a little on the small side.  Our repo would eat 2/3 of that.  I'd suggest 256 minimum.

Also a good fan is well worth it.  You might even squeeze in a all-in-one water cooling system. This allows you to overclock a little with no risk of crashing.  Again trying to boost your CPU power for Arma
Agreed a 6 core is a little overkill for ArmA alone but I'm assuming he'll be playing other games also and the 8600k is going to be a solid processor for a few years to come


Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:10 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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Thank you both, that's the issue I keep coming up against when doing all the research etc. I've been looking at a few different pre builds as i'm not tech savvy. Pre built is a little more but for me it's worth it as I'd only mess it up putting it together.

This is £834 has the 240GB SSD and a 1060 video card (Pre built) From what I can gather this should perform well. Thoughts? It would be hugely appreciated. It's a bit of a pricey gamble to not achieve what I want haha

  • Intel® Core™ Processor i5-8400
  • 8GB DDR4 2400mhz Memory
  • MSI GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB Video Card
  • Asus H310M-K Micro-ATX Mainboard
  • ADATA 240GB SSD
  • 2TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA3 HDD
  • Cooler Master Hyper 411R CPU Fan
  • Cyberpower ONYXIA Mid-Tower Gaming Case


Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:22 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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Duncan wrote:
Thank you both, that's the issue I keep coming up against when doing all the research etc. I've been looking at a few different pre builds as i'm not tech savvy. Pre built is a little more but for me it's worth it as I'd only mess it up putting it together.

This is £834 has the 240GB SSD and a 1060 video card (Pre built) From what I can gather this should perform well. Thoughts? It would be hugely appreciated. It's a bit of a pricey gamble to not achieve what I want haha

  • Intel® Core™ Processor i5-8400
  • 8GB DDR4 2400mhz Memory
  • MSI GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB Video Card
  • Asus H310M-K Micro-ATX Mainboard
  • ADATA 240GB SSD
  • 2TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA3 HDD
  • Cooler Master Hyper 411R CPU Fan
  • Cyberpower ONYXIA Mid-Tower Gaming Case
Doesn't seem too bad but the i5-8400 is only overclock-able to 4.0GHz due to it being locked (only the K series is fully unlocked e.g 8600k).

Also, does it come with windows? If not that's another £90~ you'd have to spend. Also if you don't use Ethernet you'd need a Wi-Fi card.


Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:29 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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Don't be intimidated by building a PC mate, it's really easy, there's loads of good tutorials on YouTube and sites like PCpartpicker will tell you if your items aren't compatible.

You can also shop around for the best price points for each item, this saving combined with the money you'll save on having it built will mean you can put more in to your rig.

The only thing you miss out on is having a single point of contact for if you have any problems, which is unlikely. Most prebuilt PC warrenties are in practice worthless anyway, unless you pay the additional money to upgrade them. And you'll have the warranty for the individual components anyway.

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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 11:15 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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If I were you I'd save up a bit more and try to get a ~£900-1000 budget which allows a much better flexibility when it comes to parts and you won't have to cheap out on certain parts (usually the motherboard or the PSU become the victims of this).

In my opinion it's really hard to optimize a rig for Arma 3 as Arma 3 itself is an unoptimized game, if you like playing other games as well then I'd certainly not use Arma 3 as the benchmark. This is also important with your CPU choices, AMD Ryzen provides a much better value when it comes to an all-rounder CPU whilst Intel beats AMD when it comes to strict gaming performance due to better single core performance (Intel CPUs can achieve higher core clocks but AMD is slowly closing this gap).
Also bear in mind that AMD CPUs come with really good stock coolers that allow slight overclocking whilst for Intel you need third-party coolers, especially if you go for an unlocked chip to overclock and for that you need a more expensive motherboard as well. I actually struggled to find a good no-compromises Intel system for 1000 quids.

As of SSDs a 256GB is a minimum, currently my Arma 3 folder is 123GB and I only have 3CB mods (including Unsung and WWII) and as I play other games I have to keep my Arma 3 stuff on my HDD. I'd say a 512GB would be the optimal for Arma as it gives you some room to expand in case we add more mods and you can install another 1-2 favorite games on it for better loading times. Thankfully SSD prices are pretty good nowadays and you can get some awesome new 500-512GB SATA3 SSDs for around £70 but the much faster NVMe m.2 SSDs aren't much more expensive either.

If you have a bit of increased budget I'd recommend similar builds like the ones below:

- The one with AMD Ryzen as an all-rounder bang for the buck: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/h3FkP3
- The one with Intel where single core gaming performance is above all: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9KXQ9J

Going for a pre-built instead is a viable option because it saves you the hassle of parting out your system, doing compatibility and system checks. Personally, I think building your own PC is better and the experience of actually building it is really fun but obviously there are others who don't find pleasure in such things and just want to find something that works.
What you need to know about pre-builts and the companies making them is that many are using proprietary components that can make even basic upgrades or fixes impossible, forcing you to mail everything back to the company. LinusTechTips has just recently started a new series about these pre-builts and the customer service / support behind them, pointing out how most of these companies are treating their potential / actual buyers, I do recommend watching the videos in the series, it might help you make a final decision:

Part 1 (Buying)
Part 2 (Unboxing)
Part 3 (Customer support)



Edit: I run Arma 3 on Ultra settings and get 20-40FPS (avg. 25-30) on our OPs. I have an i5 3570k, 8GB DDR3 and a GTX 1060 6GB.


Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2018 2:30 pm     Super secret spam barrier
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Amazing guys thank you, I’ll have a dig through all the information and read up on building rather than buying as you’re 100% right they deliberately don’t allow pre builts to be easily upgradable. It would eliminate the repeat business they get from people like me who are a little less tech savvy and very impatient haha I definitely think with a little more digging and shopping I’ll be able to get the right set up. 

Thank you!! I was losing my mind in all the other forums and videos on youtube, some Arma 3 info is 2/3 years out of date.


Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:11 am     Super secret spam barrier
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Nailer wrote:
Duncan wrote:
Thank you both, that's the issue I keep coming up against when doing all the research etc. I've been looking at a few different pre builds as i'm not tech savvy. Pre built is a little more but for me it's worth it as I'd only mess it up putting it together.

This is £834 has the 240GB SSD and a 1060 video card (Pre built) From what I can gather this should perform well. Thoughts? It would be hugely appreciated. It's a bit of a pricey gamble to not achieve what I want haha

  • Intel® Core™ Processor i5-8400
  • 8GB DDR4 2400mhz Memory
  • MSI GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB Video Card
  • Asus H310M-K Micro-ATX Mainboard
  • ADATA 240GB SSD
  • 2TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA3 HDD
  • Cooler Master Hyper 411R CPU Fan
  • Cyberpower ONYXIA Mid-Tower Gaming Case
Doesn't seem too bad but the i5-8400 is only overclock-able to 4.0GHz due to it being locked (only the K series is fully unlocked e.g 8600k).

Also, does it come with windows? If not that's another £90~ you'd have to spend. Also if you don't use Ethernet you'd need a Wi-Fi card.

I also agree on looking at the K series. I've got an i5-8600K in mine and is more than capable at running ArmA (with mods and many players) at a decent FPS (usually at 75fps dropping to 40 if it's REALLY kicking off). 
This is coupled with a 1070ti though. 

Possible an option for finance? Overclockers and Cube offer 0% interest over an 6 - 24 months if you want to go full out ahaha, currently paying like £38 a month for mine. 


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