PC upgrade, need some advice

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

Not sure if the General subforum is the right place for this, Troubleshooting could've been more appropriate but then I don't actually have a problem, rather an upgrade dilemma :D

So yeah, I'm actually focusing 90% of my upgrade on improving DayZ gameplay, so here it is:

(Note that any thoughts and advices are much welcome!)

EDIT:

It's a Desktop, not a Laptop (thanks for pointing that out Applejaxc :))

Running W7U 64 (thanks Hetstaine)

My current setup:

MB - Gigabyte H55-S2H, 1156 socket (supports i3 and i5)

CPU - Intel i3 530 @ 2.93GHz (stock cooling), 4Mb L3 cache, dual core (4 Threads), 32nm

RAM - 2 x 2GB Black Dragon 1333Mhz

GPU - nVidia GeForce 560 1Gb DDR5 (Gainward, stock cooling), yeah it's not the Ti edition.

HDD - Western Digital Black Caviar 750Gb (System drive)

HDD2 - Western Digital Black Caviar 1.5Tb (Games run from this drive)

PSU - Coolermaster SilentPro 600W (modular, less cables :D)

Planned upgrades (subject to change):

UPDATED:

GPU - ASUS GTX670 2Gb

MB - ASRock Z77 EXTREME4, Intel Z77, VGA by CPU, 2xPCI-Ex16, 4xDDR3, SATA3/RAID, eSATA3/USB3.0/VGA/DVI/HDMI (Socket 1155)

CPU - Intel Core i7-3770K, 3.50GHz/3.90GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, quad core (8 Threads), 22nm, (Socket 1155)

RAM - Kingston HyperX DDR3 8GB (2x4GB), 2400Mhz, CL11, XMP Predator

1. Right off the bat I know that I paid least attention to the MB when I got the rig ~3 years ago, so any remarks about that would be welcome.

2. Seeing how GPU/CPU intensive Arma engine is, albeit very tweakable for better performance, my aim is to shoot for a minimum of ~35fps 'at all times' (at the moment I'm at 20-25fps in cities with occasional short hickups down to 15ish, and 40-50fps in the wilderness with occasional hickups when running + ALT-head swiveling around), hence the planned GPU + CPU upgrades. Any remarks regarding the choice of upgrades? Are they even needed, and to what extent? (Note: Gainward is not so clock friendly and it gets Sun-hot with the stock cooling I have, as for my CPU it's a similar story with ~3.2Ghz being the optimal stable clock with stock cooling, and my CPU is the only i3 without Turbo, but naturally my MB might be another obstacle when it comes to clocking.)

3. Having only 4Gb RAM sure is low nowadays, and I'll get more most likely regardless of my attention to Arma/Dayz but seeing that the game is capped at 2Gb I wonder is it required for better performance? I did 'run' Dayz using RAMDisk and didn't notice any change at all with regards to FPS, while the shorter loading time feels more like placebo, and the HD hickups aren't actually eliminated.

4. SSD drive?

A paste of my current Arma2OA.cfg file:

language="English";
adapter=-1;
3D_Performance=93750;
Resolution_Bpp=32;
Windowed=0;
Resolution_W=1440;
Resolution_H=720;
refresh=60;
winX=2;
winY=30;
winW=1440;
winH=720;
winDefW=800;
winDefH=600;
Render_W=1440;
Render_H=720;
FSAA=0;
postFX=0;
GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1;
GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=1;
HDRPrecision=16;
lastDeviceId="";
localVRAM=1025966080;
nonlocalVRAM=1807478784;
vsync=0;
AToC=6;
FXAA=1;
PPAA=0;
PPAA_Level=0;
serverLongitude=52;
serverLatitude=0;
shadingQuality=0;
mouseSmoothing=0;

PS - I'm not a big freak about overclocking, but I dipped my toes into it over the years (decades rather) mostly just to see: a - how fast it can go, while remaining stable, b - how much can I improve performance should I ever need to.

Many thanks in advance,

Kreinz

Edited April 2, 2013 by Mail Escort

[fluxley 2228]

If it was me i'd get at least 8gb of RAM and then overclock the cpu, with an aftermarket cooler you should be able to get it up to 4Ghz, If its still not good enough get the quad core I5.

Your current Gpu should be more than up for the job.

[Hetstaine 10852]

I have a very similar rig , i5 @ 3.33, budget gb mobo h55m ud2h 9from memory) 4 gb ram win 32, gtx560ti 1gb. 3Tb black HDD's with win and games on one drive, all shit on others.

Oc'ing did sfa in game (4.1 ghz) so i reset it back to factory specs. I used to run the game maxed out but realised i was shooting myself in the foot because i was hiding under all of these trees and in bushes i could easily be seen in when mostly everyone else was on medium of low settings so i did the disable arma trees and grass option and backed off a few settings to put myself back on a level playing field. Seemed to give me a slight bit more fluidity but without benchmarking it is hard to be specific. SSD and possibly win64 is my next upgrade but waiting on the SA before i worry about throwing any dollars away.

Game plays fine with a few hiccups here and there but i see that when i watch vids of guys with rigs that far exceed mine. Plays everything else i chuck at it flawlessly so like i said, i aint pissing in the wind to try and scrape 2 or 3 more fps..and still have the occasional bog down in cities and other places.

One of mates plays with an i7 , gtx680 win64 16 gb ram and side by side you can not tell the difference in looks , he still gets random stutters, frame drops in cities etc.

[applejaxc 2500]

Is this a laptop or desktop (it's important)?

Go with an i7. For the love of God, just buy an i7!

That graphics card is a swell choice.

[dulix11 731]

The graphics card is very good, get the i5 3570k and a ASRock Extreme4 mobo. You should get pretty decent FPS everywhere.

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

@Fluxley58 - I actually considered that, but now that you've suggested it too, it sounds even more reasonable. That will actually be my first step.

@Hetstaine - Yeah I killed the settings as well to even out the odds (check out my .cfg, it doesn't get much lower than that other than the 100% rendering). Forgot to mention I run W7U 64, thanks for reminding me there.

Well so far it's a no brainer, CPU cooling and an SSD, both very cheap. Thing is, when recording gameplay (I use Bandicam) it's unplayable in cities as my fps varies ~10fps and goes up to 15-20 indoors or when there's not much going on onscreen.

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

Is this a laptop or desktop (it's important)?

Go with an i7. For the love of God™, just buy an i7!

That graphics card is a swell choice.

A desktop, sorry for not specifying that.

The "Planned upgrades" are really subject to change, as I won't be a penny pincher when it comes to this upgrade... after all DayZ is at stake :)

@dulix11: Will check out ASRock Extreme4, seems it's quite cheap really.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Mail Escort

[Hetstaine 10852]

Is this a laptop or desktop (it's important)?

Go with an i7. For the love of God™, just buy an i7!

That graphics card is a swell choice.

You are now and hereby forever thrown out of this thread. Instance 1 - for asking a silly question. Instance 2 - for wanting him to throw money willy nilly at an i7 before SA is released. Instance 3 - for saying Swell.

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

I'm kind of leaning towards thinking that "a rig which makes Arma2/Dayz run smoothly, will make DayZ SA run smoothly as well". I could be wrong, just got the impression that dev diaries seem to suggest it won't be too far off and it just can't get much clunkier than it currently is engine-wise :).

[applejaxc 2500]

You are now and hereby forever thrown out of this thread. Instance 1 - for asking a silly question. Instance 2 - for wanting him to throw money willy nilly at an i7 before SA is released. Instance 3 - for saying Swell.

1. How is it a silly question? Not all hardware is made with Laptops in mind, and vice-versa.

2. How is an i7 a willy-nilly purchase, and how is the release of SA definitive of a good and bad purchase? The higher GHz is only going to help him. The only thing a better motherboard can hurt is his wallet, but the jump from an i5 to an i7 is tiny

3. Where do you come from/live? I, and the people I live around, have no problem with the word swell; in fact, they find the use of "Swell" just swell in the everyday.

[applejaxc 2500]

I'm kind of leaning towards thinking that "a rig which makes Arma2/Dayz run smoothly, will make DayZ SA run smoothly as well". I could be wrong, just got the impression that dev diaries seem to suggest it won't be too far off and it just can't get much clunkier than it currently is engine-wise :).

If anything, the SA should run better than the mod; now that the engine used is modified, things can be optimized to improve the game experience. Less intense zombie skeletons, better pathfinding.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-571G-9683-15-6-Inch-Midnight/dp/B00B7JE6FS/ref=amtcd_B00B7JE6G2_B00B7JE6FS

Edited April 2, 2013 by Applejaxc

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

You're correct about the tiny wallet hit, to take things from i5 to i7, mere 60EU (cba to convert to dollars). The price for ASRock Extreme4 MB is rather low, 135EU, but I've yet to check what people have to say about its' performance.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Mail Escort

[aussiestig 681]

Don't worry about an SSD, but get yourself 8gb of 1866mhz or 2133mhz ram with low latency. I know people that have gained 15-20 fps in Arma 2 just from upgrading their ram.

[Hetstaine 10852]

1. How is it a silly question? Not all hardware is made with Laptops in mind, and vice-versa.

2. How is an i7 a willy-nilly purchase, and how is the release of SA definitive of a good and bad purchase? The higher GHz is only going to help him. The only thing a better motherboard can hurt is his wallet, but the jump from an i5 to an i7 is tiny

3. Where do you come from/live? I, and the people I live around, have no problem with the word swell; in fact, they find the use of "Swell" just swell in the everyday.

Just having a go at ya, don't take it as a stab in the eye, written word is generally average when it comes to getting emotions/ the feel of the content across ..and the pc was clearly a desktop ;) . From years of pc gaming i have learnt to never throw money at upgrades before an actual game release. Every dev/ game company swears that there game will run fine or better on current or older gear. Been caught in the preupgrade trap many times and have found that you can generally run most current games on two year old gear. Swell is just well..swell sweetie ;) Over here (Oz) swell is a word we more use if we want to have a jibe at someone.. 'Thats a swell set of dotted socks you have on there darling.'

Edited April 2, 2013 by Hetstaine

[applejaxc 2500]

Just having a go at ya, don't take it as a stab in the eye, written word is generally average when it comes to getting emotions/ the feel of the content across ..and the pc was clearly a desktop ;) . From years of pc gaming i have learnt to never throw money at upgrades before an actual game release Swell is just well..swell sweetie ;) Over here (Oz) swell is a word we more use if we want to have a jibe at someone.. 'Thats a swell set of dotted socks you have on there darling.'

I didn't take it as a stab in the eye, and what made it so obviously desktop?

[fluxley 2228]

The motherboard and power supply give it away as being a desktop

[Hetstaine 10852]

sorry for derail Mail Escort :)

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

sorry for derail Mail Escort :)

Unforgivable!

[leviski 2152]

This needs to be moved to the proper section.

[Cap'n (DayZ) 1827]

Intel. Intel. INTEL! Thats all I everr hear. You've got a nice upgrade planned, but alot of your components are shite. I'm running this on a laptop & desktop, desktop having an i3 akin to yours. I get OKAY frames at medium.

[kreinzer@gmail.com 7]

Intel. Intel. INTEL! Thats all I everr hear. You've got a nice upgrade planned, but alot of your components are shite. I'm running this on a laptop & desktop, desktop having an i3 akin to yours. I get OKAY frames at medium.

I was afraid someone might say this, as I've had the same feeling myself lately :D Yeah well, I did purchase it some 3 years ago, it was quite good back then.

EDIT: Updated the "Planned upgrades" in the original post:

GPU - ASUS GTX670 2Gb

MB - ASRock Z77 EXTREME4, Intel Z77, VGA by CPU, 2xPCI-Ex16, 4xDDR3, SATA3/RAID, eSATA3/USB3.0/VGA/DVI/HDMI (Socket 1155) - performs quite well vs. Asus P8Z77-WS

CPU - Intel Core i7-3770K, 3.50GHz/3.90GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, quad core (8 Threads), 22nm, (Socket 1155)

RAM - Kingston HyperX DDR3 8GB (2x4GB), 2400Mhz, CL11, XMP Predator

Total damage: ~850EU. Hoped to stay in the mid 600s but after some valid points made by people here I might have to cough up a bit more. Remember, the upgrade (aside from RAM) is solely motivated by Dayz since after 10ish months of ever increasing interest in the game I consider it a worthy investment.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Mail Escort

[disgruntled 38]

I was afraid someone might say this, as I've had the same feeling myself lately :D Yeah well, I did purchase it some 3 years ago, it was quite good back then.

EDIT: Updated the "Planned upgrades" in the original post:

GPU - ASUS GTX670 2Gb

MB - ASRock Z77 EXTREME4, Intel Z77, VGA by CPU, 2xPCI-Ex16, 4xDDR3, SATA3/RAID, eSATA3/USB3.0/VGA/DVI/HDMI (Socket 1155) - performs quite well vs. Asus P8Z77-WS

CPU - Intel Core i7-3770K, 3.50GHz/3.90GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, quad core (8 Threads), 22nm, (Socket 1155)

RAM - Kingston HyperX DDR3 8GB (2x4GB), 2400Mhz, CL11, XMP Predator

Total damage: ~850EU. Hoped to stay in the mid 600s but after some valid points made by people here I might have to cough up a bit more. Remember, the upgrade (aside from RAM) is solely motivated by Dayz since after 10ish months of ever increasing interest in the game I consider it a worthy investment.

if you're gonna buy a 3770k then get some good cpu cooling, the stock fan is not enough.

my rig is 3770k, 16gb g skill, asus 660ti

I've set mine very high (even have AA on) and fps can range from 20 to 80 (in a heli)

the lowest is in a forest when it's raining

i get some stutters too, these never happenned at first but are getting more frequent

the one thing 3rd gen i7s have is hyperthreading, which arma 2 is not designed for. if it's introduced in standalone then GG but i seriously doubt it. with that in mind maybe just an i5 will do (they are also much more overclockable)