Very Low Frame Rate

[majorepayne 0]

First off, I have a HP Pavilion DV6. Here are the specs:

Processor: Intel Core i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60 GHz

RAM: 4.00 GB

System type: 64-bit

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M

HDD: 500GB

I just bought ArmA 2: Combined Operations yesterday (for DayZ) and was majorly disappointed in the frame rate. Mind you, I have played games such as Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, and even crisis at medium to high settings. When I play DayZ, or even ArmA 2 or OA, I get EXTREMELY low frame rates. I'm talking no more than 15 FPS at normal settings, and 10 on high. At the very best, I can get 30 FPS at VERY LOW settings, and even then it drops down to 20 every now and then. I will not be able to enjoy the game like this, obviously, so what needs to be done?

Before you give me advice, know that my graphics card firmware is up to date. Also, I've tried going to My Documents, and tinkering with the .cfg files as I was instructed, but to no avail. I've also tweaked my graphics card settings, and the game settings as well. Mouse smoothing is off as well. Last but not least, I've been using Game Booster 3, which is what helped me achieve the above frame rates.

So, pretty much... I've tried everything I can think to do. I'm hoping someone has a solution to my problem, or at least an idea of what might help?

Thanks!

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

GT 320M. I'd say that's your problem.

Edit; ARMA 2 is very unoptimized. Even with my GTX670, 8GB RAM and i5-3570K I only get about.. 50fps on all max with 1000 visibility(since that's DayZ cap).

Edited September 8, 2012 by Dancing.Russian.Man

[sibexus 26]

copy/paste the contents of you config file here, as well as the startup parameters you are using.

[iSkillzorz 5]

Hey man, I know what you're feeling. I, myself, have an i5 ASUS n53s. This laptop, for its money and the fact that it has only an i5, is a beast at running games. But dayz... it struggles. Here are my specs:

Operating System

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU

Intel Core i5 2430M @ 2.40GHz

Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology

GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT 540m CUDA 1gb

RAM

6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. N53SV (CPU 1)

Graphics

Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080@60Hz)

Hard Drives

596GB Western Digital WDC WD6400BPVT-80HXZT1 (SATA) 35 °C

Optical Drives

Slimtype BD E DS4E1S

Audio

Realtek High Definition Audio

I ran speccy so maybe you could get a bit more info out of my response. I've tried almost everything, and fortunately i can get my laptop to around 30 fps on very high, which i am fine with. I don't know how people with desktop computers can disable postprocess effects and get 100 more fps. When I do it I get maybe 5 more fps. Try looking straight up in dayz or straight down. It doesn't fix anything but it's cool to see how much fps you can get and it reassures you that your computer CAN run dayz. You have an i7, how many cores is it? I'm not sure what the "Q" in your cpu means. I've got a quad core. Your GHz output seems to be a bit low for an i7, but that could just be because i don't know what "Q" is or how good the 720 model is. The GT 320M seems like a sturdy midrange card, and nvidia products hold up pretty well, so that probably isn't the issue.

Try:

- making sure that the arma2 and arma2OA .exe files are run with the nvidia processor

- Try Gamebooster 3 maybe? I've tried this with minecraft and it worked wonders, some people say it helped them a lot with dayz, some say its bogus and it can screw things up. Personally, I think it helps a little because it shuts off temporarily processes that just make your computer do more work, allowing more space, memory, and time for the game. Google it.

- Turn shadows, aa, atoc, ppaa (or whatever), shadows, hdr, postprocessing off completely, and also turn ansiotropic filtering off.

- Do a test run of arma 2 and see how the runs. Remember that dayz/arma2 is very poorly optimized for performance and that arma 2 is a HUGE military simulator and it must simulate and control everything in the dayz Chernarus map. Dayz framerates are an issue for almost everybody.

- Close all programs possible except for whatever you launch dayz with and dayz itself. ESPECIALLY don't have minecraft running in the background.

If you're seriously frustrated, and you don't mind using a desktop, I suggest building your own gaming pc. There are many videos on youtube that explain the process and you can build some really great machines to be proud of from any budget, whether it be $300-$1000. A big catalyst for gaming performance is the motherboard (you'd want an i7 unlocked and unleashed model) and the gpu (obviously don't buy a $1,100 gtx 690, but something in the mid hundreds like a gtx 545 or something, idk), and of course, ram. You may want to add more ram to your laptop to maybe help. RAM is pretty cheap, and I'm pretty sure a tech guy at best buy would install the ram for a reasonable price. Hope this helps

-iSkillzorz :D

Edited September 8, 2012 by iSkillzorz

[majorepayne 0]

Hey man, I know what you're feeling. I, myself, have an i5 ASUS n53s. This laptop, for its money and the fact that it has only an i5, is a beast at running games. But dayz... it struggles. Here are my specs:

Operating System

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU

Intel Core i5 2430M @ 2.40GHz

Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology

GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT 540m CUDA 1gb

RAM

6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. N53SV (CPU 1)

Graphics

Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080@60Hz)

Hard Drives

596GB Western Digital WDC WD6400BPVT-80HXZT1 (SATA) 35 °C

Optical Drives

Slimtype BD E DS4E1S

Audio

Realtek High Definition Audio

I ran speccy so maybe you could get a bit more info out of my response. I've tried almost everything, and fortunately i can get my laptop to around 30 fps on very high, which i am fine with. I don't know how people with desktop computers can disable postprocess effects and get 100 more fps. When I do it I get maybe 5 more fps. Try looking straight up in dayz or straight down. It doesn't fix anything but it's cool to see how much fps you can get and it reassures you that your computer CAN run dayz. You have an i7, how many cores is it? I'm not sure what the "Q" in your cpu means. I've got a quad core. Your GHz output seems to be a bit low for an i7, but that could just be because i don't know what "Q" is or how good the 720 model is. The GT 320M seems like a sturdy midrange card, and nvidia products hold up pretty well, so that probably isn't the issue.

Try:

- making sure that the arma2 and arma2OA .exe files are run with the nvidia processor

- Try Gamebooster 3 maybe? I've tried this with minecraft and it worked wonders, some people say it helped them a lot with dayz, some say its bogus and it can screw things up. Personally, I think it helps a little because it shuts off temporarily processes that just make your computer do more work, allowing more space, memory, and time for the game. Google it.

- Turn shadows, aa, atoc, ppaa (or whatever), shadows, hdr, postprocessing off completely, and also turn ansiotropic filtering off.

- Do a test run of arma 2 and see how the runs. Remember that dayz/arma2 is very poorly optimized for performance and that arma 2 is a HUGE military simulator and it must simulate and control everything in the dayz Chernarus map. Dayz framerates are an issue for almost everybody.

- Close all programs possible except for whatever you launch dayz with and dayz itself. ESPECIALLY don't have minecraft running in the background.

If you're seriously frustrated, and you don't mind using a desktop, I suggest building your own gaming pc. There are many videos on youtube that explain the process and you can build some really great machines to be proud of from any budget, whether it be $300-$1000. A big catalyst for gaming performance is the motherboard (you'd want an i7 unlocked and unleashed model) and the gpu (obviously don't buy a $1,100 gtx 690, but something in the mid hundreds like a gtx 545 or something, idk), and of course, ram. You may want to add more ram to your laptop to maybe help. RAM is pretty cheap, and I'm pretty sure a tech guy at best buy would install the ram for a reasonable price. Hope this helps

-iSkillzorz :D

Thanks for the advice! I've tried everything I know to do, and I still only get about 10-15 fps on very low settings. Buying a whole new rig doesn't seem necessary just so I can play this one game. So, I guess I'll just have to accept that I flushed $30 down the toilet, and try not to make the same mistake again. Thanks again!

[nathan17890 1]

sir I have a laptop with gt geoforce 230M and get around 30-50 fps on arma 2 ( on the lowest settings ).

I think Im going to get 30-50 fps on dayZ according to users that have more worse graphics cards than me,.

[sibexus 26]

Thanks for the advice! I've tried everything I know to do, and I still only get about 10-15 fps on very low settings. Buying a whole new rig doesn't seem necessary just so I can play this one game. So, I guess I'll just have to accept that I flushed $30 down the toilet, and try not to make the same mistake again. Thanks again!

I'm confident you have not tried everything yet, there are many similar posts here about people with laptops having problems then someone gives them the answer they're looking for and fixes it. You may need to cough up more info, like the CONTENTS OF YOUR CONFIG FILE. lol

[majorepayne 0]

sir I have a laptop with gt geoforce 230M and get around 30-50 fps on arma 2 ( on the lowest settings ).

I think Im going to get 30-50 fps on dayZ according to users that have more worse graphics cards than me,.

Wow! May I ask what kind of processor and how much RAM you have?

[majorepayne 0]

I'm confident you have not tried everything yet, there are many similar posts here about people with laptops having problems then someone gives them the answer they're looking for and fixes it. You may need to cough up more info, like the CONTENTS OF YOUR CONFIG FILE. lol

I'm not sure which config file you're referring to or where to find it, but I'd be happy to post it if you could tell me how to find it!

[FNVtipsandtricks 0]

I just thought I would post here before I Send back my card, Ill list my system specks below.

CPU - AMD Athlon II X4 635 2.9 GHz

GPU - GTX 670 Reference card from Nvidia

3 Hard Drives

1 - Windows OS - 250 GB 7200 RPM

2 - Game Drive - 300 GB 7200 RPM

3 - Recording Drive - 300 GB RPM

8 GB of RAM Kingston HyperX

600 Watt Power Supply

Antec 900 PC Case, More than enough ventilation.

Yet I still do not know the cause of my FPS problems, It isnt just in ArmA 2, OA, DayZ. It is in almost every game I play.

Please post help if you have any.

[nathan17890 1]

Wow! May I ask what kind of processor and how much RAM you have?

have about 2.9 GB Ram ( Useable )

Intel Core 2 duo.

[sibexus 26]

I'm not sure which config file you're referring to or where to find it, but I'd be happy to post it if you could tell me how to find it!

Documents/Arma 2/Arma2OA.cfg