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Arma 3 Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide


JediNarwals

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ArmA 3 Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide

by incontrovertible

This guide was collated by me using personal experience and public information, any tweaks and settings are to be used at your own risk as I will not be held responsible for any damage that may occur. Feel free to link or re-post this guide so long as an acknowledgment is present along with a link back here.

These are the original (outdated) threads.

ArmA 3 Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

ArmA 3 Beta Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

ArmA 3 Alpha Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

I also have a DayZ Alpha Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

 

Contents

General Guidelines

 

 

 

 

180px-ArmA_3_FPS_OSD.jpg
 
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The built in ArmA 3 Frames per second on-screen display.

 

 

 

  • No-one can really tell you the best settings for you as it is up to your computers build and your personal preference, this is meant as a guide only to help you make decisions. Running at the settings recommended however will yield good results both in performance and visuals.
  • To help tune your settings ArmA 3 has a Frames per second on-screen display in the video options, after changing a setting and waiting a few seconds your FPS OSD will catch up so you can quickly see if you get a gain or a loss in performance.
  • When changing settings your CPU may start bottlenecking your GPU. MSI Afterburner has an OSD for memory usage, when changing settings (especially view distance) try to keep it as high as possible to avoid bottlenecking, I aim for over 90%.
  • Use ArmA3Mark to fine tune your settings to get visuals and performance you are happy with.

General System Optimization

 

  • Disable CPU Parking, to help steady performance.
  • Use ProcessLasso (or RadeonPro with AMD GPU) to set ArmA 3 to always run on High Priority, and help steady performance.
  • Enabling the 3GB switch on 32-bit Windows XP/Vista may improve performance/stability.
  • MarkC's Mouse Acceleration Fix will let you get that 1-to-1 mouse movement you've always been after.
  • Using Razer GameBooster may improve your performance.
  • Check out the free PC Maintainance, Security and Utility apps here to keep your PC running tip-top.
  • The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion is all you will ever need to tweak and maintain Windows.
  • Steam gives you the option to install ArmA to a different internal Hard Disk Drive, this helps to improve load times and stability.
  • Update to the latest beta drivers for AMD or NVIDIA to get the best performance.

 

 

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    120px-CCleaner.jpg


    CCleaner Registery screen.

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    120px-Razer_Gamebooster.jpg


    Razer Gamebooster Boost screen.

In-Game Settings

General Settings

 

 

 

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ArmA 3 General Settings.

 

 

 

  • Sampling: Use 100% unless you have a very specific reason.
  • Texture Quality (HDD/GPU): High to Ultra, High stops a lot of the building pop-in Ultra basically eliminates it. *
  • Objects Quality (CPU/GPU): High to Ultra, on a higher setting will reduce object pop-in but comes at the cost of frames. *
  • Terrain Quality (CPU/GPU): Standard to High, higher means more frame lag for not much gain visually or otherwise. *

 

 

  • Shadow Quality (GPU): DISABLED or High+, lower settings seem to be worse, Ultra seems to give best performance.
  • Particles Quality (GPU): Low or Standard seem to have no impact on performance.
  • Cloud Quality (GPU): Low, this setting is superfluous unless you are really into flying.
  • PIP (GPU): Low or DISABLED, while better than it was previously keep in mind that it still consumes a lot of frames while driving for a cosmetic effect.

 

 

  • HDR (GPU): Low has better performance.
  • Dynamic Lights (GPU): Low or High, Ultra seems to have no effect on frames.

 

 

  • Overall (CPU/HDD/GPU): Use something like 1050 as Low, 1600 as Standard, 2150 as High, 2700 as Very High and 3800 as Ultra. *
  • Object (CPU/HDD/GPU): Use something like 858 as Low, 1105 as Standard, 1353 as High, 1601 as Very High and 2097 as Ultra. *
  • Shadow (GPU): Leave as 100 or off.

* These settings have the largest effect on your performance.

Display Settings

 

 

 

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ArmA 3 Display Settings.

 

 

 

  • Display Mode: Use Fullscreen Window if you are streaming, else Fullscreen is fine.
  • Resolution: Max this, it is almost always better to run at native resolution.
  • Aspect Ratio: Change this to match your monitor.
  • VSYNC: Set to DISABLED unless you are experiencing screen-tearing or somehow have a high spec 60+ FPS computer.
  • Interface Size: Up to your personal preference.

 

 

  • Brightness: Up to your personal preference.
  • Gamma: Up to your personal preference.

AA & PP Settings

 

 

 

180px-ArmA_3_AA_%26_PP_Settings.jpg
 
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ArmA 3 AA & PP Settings.

 

 

 

  • Bloom (GPU): Purely cosmetic light bloom or glow effect, set to whatever you like.
  • Radial Blur (GPU): Motion blur on objects, set to whatever you like.
  • Rotation Blur (GPU): Simply motion blur, set to whatever you like.
  • Depth of Field (GPU): Is the blur effect you get when trying to look beyond your rifle or other object, set to whatever you like.
  • Sharpen Filter (GPU):
  • SSAO (GPU): Attempts to approximate the way light radiates in real life, recommend off for performance gain.
  • Caustics (GPU): Light rays under certain situations like on the seabed, recommend off for performance gain.

 

 

  • Antialiasing (GPU): Shouldn't lose much performance having on x4 as compared to x2 (x8 is for over 1080p), if while scoped there is an FPS drop lower the setting.
  • AToC (GPU): A technique to help get rid of jaggies on foliage, set to DISABLED or Grass Only.
  • PPAA (GPU): DISABLED or SMAA High to Ultra, Ultra will likely not impact performance. *
  • Anisotropic Filtering (GPU): High to Ultra, will most likely not impact or increase performance.

* If you disable AA and use just SMAA you should get a similar look but improved performance.

External Settings

ArmA3.cfg

Located in C:\Users\\Documents\ArmA 3\

 

  • GPU_MaxFramesAhead=4; This may help smooth your frames and with mouse responsiveness, try settings 1-4.
  • GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=0; This may help smooth your frames and with mouse responsiveness.
  • refresh=120; This will make VSync work better if you need it.

Field of View (FOV) Settings

Use these Field of View settings courtesy of Hi,A3. Open <username>.ArmA3Profile in your C:\Users\<username>\Documents\ArmA 3\ folder. 

Aspect Ratio 70 (Default) 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105
1920x1080 (16:9) fovTop=0.75; fovLeft=1.33; fovTop=0.75; fovLeft=1.33; fovTop=0.82; fovLeft=1.46; fovTop=0.89; fovLeft=1.58; fovTop=0.96; fovLeft=1.71; fovTop=1.03; fovLeft=1.83; fovTop=1.12; fovLeft=1.99; fovTop=1.19; fovLeft=2.12; fovTop=1.28; fovLeft=2.28;
1920x1200 (16:10) fovTop=0.75; fovLeft=1.33; fovTop=0.84; fovLeft=1.33; fovTop=0.91; fovLeft=1.46; fovTop=0.98; fovLeft=1.57; fovTop=1.05; fovLeft=1.68; fovTop=1.14; fovLeft=1.82; fovTop=1.21; fovLeft=1.94; fovTop=1.30; fovLeft=2.08; fovTop=1.38; fovLeft=2.21;

Startup Parameters

 

 

 

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ArmA 3 Launch Parameters.

 

 

You can also use the startup parameters to help in certain situations by right-clicking ArmA 3 in Steam > Properties > Set Launch Options and entering the following.

 

  • -enableHT Enables Hyper-Threading on supporting CPU's, this option may be overridden by -cpuCount so if you want to use maximum number of CPU cores use -enableHT without -cpuCount. This can help smooth the game by letting it know how to spread the load properly.
  • -malloc= This can set the particular allocator to be used. Significantly affects both performance and stability of the game. More details.
  • -maxMem= set this to 2047 as ArmA 3 uses automatic values (512-1536 MB) without the maxMem parameter.
  • -maxVram= this option will tell ArmA how much Video RAM your graphics card has, 128 is hard-coded minimum (anything lower falls backs to 128). 2047 is soft-coded maximum, any value over 2GB might result into unforeseen consequences!
  • -noBenchmark mainly for the development build this option disables any benchmarking that ArmA automatically does.
  • -noCB Turns off multicore use. It slows down rendering but may resolve visual glitches.
  • -noLogs Mainly for the development build this option disables any logging that ArmA automatically does.
  • -noPause Does not pause the ArmA window when alt-tabbed in Fullscreen window mode, good for multi-taskers and streamers.
  • -noSplash Gets rid of the intro stuff at startup.
  • -world=empty Starts up the game faster as it loads empty level.

So for instance my startup parameters look like

-enableHT -maxMem=2047 -maxVram=3071 -malloc=tbbmalloc -noBenchmark -noLogs -noPause -noSplash -world=empty

SweetFX, AMD & NVIDIA Colour Saturation

SweetFX is a universal image improvement and tweaking mod, that works with almost any 32-bit DirectX 9, 10 or 11 game or application.

Basically you can use SweetFX to improve the colours of ArmA 3 making it more pleasant to look at, I recommend just using the LumaSharpen and Vibrance (or maybe up to 0.60) values that come already enabled. Both AMD and NVIDIA users can use theSweetFX Configurator to more easily install and manage SweetFX, however AMD users can use RadeonPro instead to even more easily manage it (this however requires SweetFX 1.4 at the moment).

A similar effect can be generated via the Colour Saturation option in the AMD or NVIDIA Control panel if you are not comfortable with SweetFX, I use a Saturation of 125.

 

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    120px-SweetFX_Configurator.jpg


    Default SweetFX Configurator screen.

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    120px-RadeonPro.jpg


    Default RadeonPro screen.

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    120px-SweetFX_OFF.jpg


    SweetFX OFF.

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    120px-SweetFX_ON.jpg


    SweetFX ON.

Fred41's Tweaks

GimmeMoarFrames

GimmieMoarFrames is a very simple tweak that can potentially increase performance. It requires a 64bit OS and at least 8GB of RAM, I gain an extra 8 average FPS in ArmA3Mark. Note that you may not see any performance increase in Multiplayer as it is entirely dependent on the server.

The above information is no longer relevant as of patch 1.38 as it causes the game to crash at launch. I am leaving it here however as a reference in case it becomes viable again in the future.

tbbmalloc for ArmA

tbbmalloc for ArmA is an experimental custom memory allocator modification that can potentially increase performance. It requires a 64bit OS and at least 8GB of RAM, I gain an extra 5-7 average FPS in ArmA3Mark. Note that you may not see any performance increase in Multiplayer as it is entirely dependent on the server, also this is very experimental and may cause crashes or the like.

Screen Recording

This section is dedicated to screen recording solutions that I believe have merit, increasing performance in ArmA by proxy.

FRAPS Alternative: Dxtory

 

 

 

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Recommended x264 settings for Dxtory or MSI Afterburner.

 

 

Dxtory is alternative video capture software to FRAPS with a number of other benefits. To enhance your Dxtory you will need to download and install the x264 codec.

Pros

 

  • Compresses in real-time.
  • Custom codecs including x264 (smaller file sizes!).
  • Doesn't limit game FPS.
  • Records at the FPS or screen scale you want.
  • Records separate audio channels, ie headset (game), microphone and Skype/Teamspeak.
  • 1080p 60FPS.

Cons

 

  • Not free.
  • Uses a lot of CPU reducing FPS drastically.

FRAPS Alternative: MSI Afterburner

MSI Afterburner is alternative video capture software to FRAPS with a number of other benefits. To enhance your MSI Afterburner you will need to download and install the x264 codec.

Pros

 

  • Compresses in real-time.
  • Custom codecs including x264 (smaller file sizes!).
  • Doesn't limit game FPS.
  • Displays vital computer stats.
  • Records at the FPS or screen scale you want.
  • 1080p 60FPS.
  • FREE!

Cons

 

  • Doesn't have full audio channel support for splitting headset (game), microphone and Skype/Teamspeak.
  • Uses a lot of CPU reducing FPS drastically.

FRAPS Alternative: AMD GVR & NVIDIA Shadowplay

 

 

 

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AMD's GVR settings.

 

 

AMD GVR and NVIDIA ShadowPlay are new features from both AMD and NVIDIA, basically they use a little bit of the grunt from your GPU to encode and compress footage of your game. The best thing about these methods is that as well as offering high quality recordings at good file sizes they are free. While they aren't as featured as some other options they are still being developed and we may see more in the future.

AMD HD 7900 and Rx 200 Series as well as NVIDIA GTX 650 or higher graphics cards ONLY are capable of GVR / ShadowPlay!

Pros

 

  • Compresses in real-time.
  • Can timeshift up to 10-20 minutes of footage.
  • Doesn't limit game FPS.
  • Encodes and compresses in real-time.
  • Has minimal impact on game FPS.
  • 1080p 60FPS.
  • FREE!

Cons

 

  • Doesn't have full audio channel support for splitting headset (game), microphone and Skype/Teamspeak.
  • Uses some GPU, can reduce FPS a bit.

FRAPS Alternative: Capture Card

 

 

 

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AVerMedia's RECentral settings.

 

 

A capture card like the AVerMedia Live Gamer HD is a dedicated PCIe or USB card that allows you to capture and encode whatever is happening on your screen in real time with no CPU or GPU usage. This translates into no FPS loss during gaming making a solution like the Live Gamer HD or a similar product a great way to record, if you can handle the price.

Pros

 

  • Captures straight from the Video Card.
  • Doesn't limit game FPS.
  • Encodes and compresses in real-time.
  • Has no impact on game FPS.
  • Records at the FPS or screen scale you want.

Cons

 

  • Doesn't have full audio channel support for splitting headset (game), microphone and Skype/Teamspeak.
  • No 1080p 60FPS.
  • Price

FRAPS KILLER: PlayClaw

PlayClaw is the ultimate solution for screen recording, it features support for custom codecs like Dxtory and MSI Afterburner, separate audio channels for Dxtory and overlays for computer stats like MSI Afterburner as well as teamspeak. PlayClaw also supports AMD GVR and NVIDIA Shadowplay by default. All of this comes together with the awesome support from the devs to make for the best overall screen recording solution.

Pros

 

  • Compresses in real-time.
  • Custom codecs including AMD and NVIDIA!
  • Can timeshift up to 10 minutes of footage.
  • Displays vital computer stats and teamspeak.
  • Doesn't limit game FPS.
  • Records at the FPS or screen scale you want.
  • Records separate audio channels, ie headset (game), microphone and Skype/Teamspeak.
  • Has minimal impact on game FPS.
  • 1080p 60FPS.

Cons

 

  • Not free.
  • Uses some GPU, can reduce FPS a bit.

Tips & Tricks

Dslyecxi

It's hard to mention tips and tricks for ArmA and not mention Dslyecxi, as the most prominent member of the ArmA community he's provided us with mountains of content to explore and learn from. Among this content is the

and

series, which are both worth a look at.

Troubleshooting

ArmA 3 & GTX 500 Series Cards

Our very own L2TG found the solution to this fix for NVIDIA GTX 500 Series cards that are experiencing a black screen, while still hearing full sound (and likely full function, without screen), with or without SLI function.

Low FPS issue and fix

The main cause of abnormally low FPS is having VSYNC on, either alt-tabbing out and in of ArmA or turning it off should fix the issue.

Memory Flush

In ArmA you can actually flush or refresh the VRAM if you are experiencing graphical glitches or sometimes performance issues. To do this you hold down "SHIFT" and "-" release then type "FLUSH".

Steam Performance Troubles and How Mitigate Them

From my own experience this is what eats most CPU from highest to lowest - Dwarden

  1. STEAM friend-list (even while online, just closing friend-list saves most CPU usage)
  2. STEAM chats (the more of them active the worse the overall load)
  3. STEAM updating (as uses checksums it needs some CPU and I/O, so make sure nothing is updating)
  4. STEAM overlay
  5. STEAM IM (switch yourself to OFFLINE for lowest CPU usage)
  6. STEAM website (if you keep website open and minimize, it still keeps playing the flash animations for example, so ideally you visit e.g. your profile page as last)

+ then set STEAM to lower priority than arma3.exe

Stuttering Fixes

Some AMD users may experience stuttering during gameplay, the fix seems to be disabling Tessellation in either Catalyst Control Center or RadeonPro. Alternatively virus scanning tools may be causing the issue, try disabling them while playing but remember to re-enable them!

Benchmarks

After much experimentation it seems that the most reliable way to benchmark ArmA 3's settings is by running each setting from minimum to maximum, then restarting the game and moving to the next setting. Each setting has been run three times @ 1920x1080 and 2150 view distance unless otherwise stated, using ArmA3Mark v0.51 Stratis on patch 1.30.127372.

A control sample was taken on both all minimum and all maximum settings @ 2150 view distance. When looking at the results if they are within around 2 frames that means it is within the margin of error and there should be no loss in using the higher setting. Keep in mind the hardware that was used in this benchmarking, as such there may be more variance in your results.

Minimum Control - 102.33

My Optimized Settings - 75

Maximum Control - 50.33

 

Overall / Object Distance

Settings 1050m / 858m 1600m / 1105m 2150m / 1353m 2700m / 1601m 3800m / 2097m
Frames per second 126.67 113 102.33 91.33 77.67

General Settings

Settings Disabled Low Standard High Very High Ultra
Texture N/A 103.33 103 101.67 102.33 101.33
Objects N/A 104.33 96.67 90.67 87 84.67
Terrain N/A 104.67 99 95 87.33 79.33
Shadow @ 100 102.33 96.67 95.33 94.33 94 95.67
Particles N/A 102.67 100.67 94.33 N/A N/A
Cloud N/A 102.67 99.33 101 96.33 98.33
PIP N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
HDR N/A 103 98.33 N/A N/A N/A
Dynamic Lights N/A 103.33 102.67 100.67 103 97.67

AA & PP Settings

Settings Disabled Low (25%) Standard (50%) High (75%) Very High (100%) Ultra (200%)
Bloom N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Radial Blur N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Rotational Blur N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Depth of Field N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Sharpen Filter N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
SSAO 102 102.33 101.67 100.67 N/A N/A
HDAO 103 103.33 101.67 102.33 N/A N/A
Caustics 104 101.67 N/A N/A N/A N/A
FSAA 102.33 101 100 101.67 N/A N/A
AtoC N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
PPAA - FXAA 103 N/A 102.67 102 103.67 101.33
PPAA - SMAA 102.33 N/A 103 101.33 103.33 102.33
Aniso. Filtering 102.33 102.33 103 102 102.33 101.33

 

My Optimized Settings

These settings are tuned to my particular hardware and preferences.

General Settings

 

  • Resolution: 1920x1080, my maximum resolution.
  • Sampling: 100%
  • Texture: Ultra, reduces a lot of pop-in.
  • Objects: High, depending how much pop-in I may be experiencing this could be changed to Very High
  • Terrain: High, doesn't really need to be higher.
  • Shadow: Ultra, for detailed shadows.
  • Particles: Standard, good performance.
  • Cloud: Low, wish I could disable this like we used to be able to.
  • PIP: Disabled, not worth the frame loss to me.
  • HDR: Low, for performance.
  • Dynamic Lights: High, need some lights to work!
  • Overall Distance: 2150
  • Object Distance: 1353
  • Shadow Distance: 100

AA & PP Settings

 

  • Bloom: 100, personal preference.
  • Radial Blur: 25, personal preference.
  • Rotational Blur: 12.5, personal preference.
  • Depth of Field: 25, personal preference.
  • SSAO: HDAO Very High, personal preference.
  • Caustics: Disabled, doesn't come into play much.
  • FSAA: 4x
  • AtoC: Grass, having only grass using this means that I can see through trees easier.
  • PPAA: Disabled
  • Aniso. Filtering: Ultra

 

 

 

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inco-PC internal set-up, average functional cable management, hard drives should be lower, overclocked system.

 

 

Overclocking

THIS STEP IS NOT NECESSARY AND CAN RESULT IN DAMAGE TO YOUR HARDWARE, I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR AS A RESULT!!!

First up I will say that this step is not for the faint of heart, if you do not do this correctly you run the risk of destroying your hardware and I will not be held responsible for that outcome. I also will not provide any guides other than what is mentioned here as overclocking can be different for every CPU / GPU / Motherboard setup. Overclocking should only be done with a supported CPU / GPU / Motherboard and advanced custom cooling, as you need the temperatures to be within operational norm. Do not overclock if you are in any way uncomfortable!

CPU Overclocking

ArmA 3 is a very CPU intensive game and because of this you will see better results the faster it is. Please note that when overclocking it is better to be conservative and stay at the default voltage, this will help make sure your CPU does not have a reduced lifespan. When overclocking your CPU first make sure it is working and not excessively hot when being stress tested, with 70 degrees Celsius being too hot to overclock. Only once stability and temperatures have been tested and confirmed to be within limits can you start overclocking in 100Mhz steps. Once the system is no longer booting into the operating system or no longer stable under stress testing it is time to dial the overclock back two steps and call it a day. Tools to use for overclocking and stability testing include but are not limited to:

 

  • CPU-Z gives you all the information you need to know about your CPU including what clock speed it is really running at.
  • HWMonitor is open during all stress testing and displays the temperature of various components in your system. Generally speaking you want to remain in the low 70 degrees Celsius.
  • IntelBurnTest this stress test is used for 10-30 minutes at most and is the quickest way to test for system stability on a new overclock, it is not designed for long term use.
  • prime95 this stress test is used to determine long-term stability of an overclock and is typically left running for 24 hours.

The following benchmarks were done on my rig @ default speeds unless stated otherwise using ArmA3Mark v0.51 Stratis on patch 1.30.127372. [TABLE=border: 2, cellpadding: 4, cellspacing: 0]

Frequency 3.9Ghz (stock) 3.9Ghz (4-cores) 4.0Ghz 4.1Ghz 4.2Ghz 4.3Ghz 4.4Ghz 4.5Ghz
Frames per second   76.67 77.67 80 81.67 83.33 84 85.67

These results show us that there is a direct correlation between increasing the frequency of your CPU and gaining FPS, making overclocking the CPU an efficient way to increase performance. Linus over at LinusTechTips and NCIXcom has done a fantastic overview of overclocking both Intel's Ivy Bridge and Haswell as well as the AMD's FX Bulldozer CPU's.

GPU Overclocking

Please note that when overclocking it is better to be conservative and stay at the default voltage, this will help make sure your GPU does not have a reduced lifespan. When GPU overclocking just like CPU overclocking you must first start by making sure your GPU is working and not excessively hot when being stress tested, with 80 degrees Celsius generally being too hot to overclock. Only once stability and temperatures have been tested and confirmed to be within limits can you start overclocking the Engine or Memory (not both) in 5-10Mhz steps. Once the system is no longer stable under stress testing it is time to dial the overclock back two steps and call it a day. Tools to use for overclocking and stability testing include but are not limited to:

 

  • GPU-Z gives you all the information you need to know about your GPU.
  • HWMonitor is open during all stress testing and displays the temperature of various components in your system. Generally speaking you want to remain in the low 80 degrees Celsius range on the GPU, but some like the AMD 290X are designed to run at 95 degrees.
  • Kombustor / FurMark is the quickest way to test for stability, typically you would run the test then proceed to another test or game if it seems stable, it is not designed for long term use.
  • Valley Benchmark is a longer test designed to stress your GPU but in a more realistic way, do a full run after FurMark to check for any issues.

The following benchmarks were done on my rig @ default speeds unless stated otherwise using ArmA3Mark v0.51 Stratis on patch 1.30.127372. [TABLE=border: 2, cellpadding: 4, cellspacing: 0]

Engine / Memory 950Mhz / 1425Mhz 1000Mhz / 1450Mhz 1050Mhz / 1500Mhz 1250Mhz / 1650Mhz
Frames per second 76.67 76.67 75 76

With these results we see that there is no upwards trend and all results are within the margin of error, meaning that there is no benefit to be had overclocking your video card. Linus over at NCIXcom has done a fantastic general overview of overclocking GPU's.

RAM Overclocking

Do not overclock your RAM, the following information is for use when purchasing only.

The following benchmarks were done on my rig @ default speeds unless stated otherwise, I downrated the RAM where appropriate to emulate a slower kit. ArmA3Mark v0.51 Stratis on patch 1.30.127372 was used. [TABLE=border: 2, cellpadding: 4, cellspacing: 0]

Frequency / Timing 1600Mhz / 7-8-8-24 1866Mhz / 8-9-9-24 2133Mhz / 9-11-11-31 2400Mhz / 10-12-12-31
Frames per second 73 75 76 76.33

From these tests we can see that there are good gains to be had from faster RAM kits, up until a point. While going faster than 1866Mhz will give you benefits they are far less pronounced, this is likely due to the higher CAS latency more than anything else.

Conclusions

So in conclusion I can say that by overclocking your CPU and buying faster RAM you can expect better performance to a point, but the same cannot be said for overclocking your GPU and it should probably be left well enough alone. Again I cannot stress how important it is to have proper advanced custom cooling on your overclocking supported CPU / GPU, something like the Air Cooler I am running on my rig or a Water Cooler like Enermax's Liqtech 120X / 240 will do the job, while on GPU's a Custom Cooler is always recommended over the Reference Cooler. Also performance in Multiplayer is still very much dependent on server performance so results will vary in that environment.

THIS STEP IS NOT NECESSARY AND CAN RESULT IN DAMAGE TO YOUR HARDWARE, I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR AS A RESULT!!!

Hardware Recommendations

In this section I will suggest hardware that I feel is the best fit for ArmA 3, this is as unbiased and as informed as possible based on my experience and the experience of community members. All estimated prices are in AUD and should be easily found in online stores. Again this is solely aimed at ArmA 3 not any other games.

Low End

Part Description Est. Price
Case Don't need to go overboard here as almost any ATX Mid-Tower will do. Antec, BitFenix, Corsair and NZXT are all favourites. <$100
MoBo Don't go overboard here, you do not need a motherboard with overclocking features since i3's are not capable of this. ASRock and Gigabyte are my favourites. ~$115
CPU The top clock Intel i3 is your best bet, unless you want to also stream in which case an equivilently priced AMD chip may edge it out. ~$160
GPU Sub $200 the best bang for your buck is probably going to be AMD. <$200
RAM Aim for a 2 x 4GB RAM kit at the highest MHz, lowest CAS you can afford that is compatible with your chosen motherboard. G.Skill is my RAM of choice. ~$100
PSU This part is very important, do not cheap out on this, check an online PSU calculator to make sure you get one that will provide enough wattage for 3 years at least. Corsair CX Modular PSU's are my favourite. ~$100
HDD The best bang for your buck here will be an SSHD from Seagate as it offers a hybrid SSD/HDD environment at an affordable price. ~$100
OS Grab the newest OEM version of Windows, yes even if it is Windows 8 as you can get back to Windows 7 style using the free Classic Shell. ~$135

Mid Range

Part Description Est. Price
Case Don't need to go overboard here as almost any ATX Mid-Tower will do. Antec, BitFenix, Corsair and NZXT are all favourites. <$100
MoBo Because this is the level at which overclocking becomes viable you will want to invest in a motherboard to take advantage of your unlocked CPU. Again however do not go overboard as there are many superflous features. ASRock and Gigabyte are again my favourites. ~$210
CPU The top clock unlocked (K-series) Intel i5 is your best option at this level, nothing more is needed for the best ArmA 3 experience. ~$325
GPU A mid-range AMD/Nvidia card will be the best bang for buck option here. <$450
RAM Aim for a 2 x 4GB or 2 x 8GB RAM kit at the highest MHz, lowest CAS you can afford that is compatible with your chosen motherboard. G.Skill is my RAM of choice. <$220
PSU This part is very important, do not cheap out on this, check an online PSU calculator to make sure you get one that will provide enough wattage for 3 years at least. Corsair CX Modular PSU's are my favourite. ~$100
HDD At this level we want to have 1 HDD for games and 1 HDD for recording if so desired. Seagate or Western Digital Blues are my preferred drives. ~$80-$160
SSD Here we can afford to get a SSD for booting the OS and for ArmA, it does not need to be extravagent in size with 120GB being enough and 250GB being nice. Intel and Samsung SSD's are the only ones I would consider with Samsung SSD's being preferred but premium. ~$100-$170
OS Grab the newest OEM version of Windows, yes even if it is Windows 8 as you can get back to Windows 7 style using the free Classic Shell. ~$135

High End

Part Description Est. Price
Case Don't need to go overboard here as almost any ATX Mid-Tower will do. However at this price we may start to look at silence optimised cases. Antec, BitFenix, Corsair and NZXT are all favourites. <$160
MoBo Because this is the level at which overclocking becomes viable you will want to invest in a motherboard to take advantage of your unlocked CPU. Again however do not go overboard as there are many superflous features. ASRock and Gigabyte are again my favourites. ~$210
CPU The top clock unlocked (K-series) Intel i7 will be the best for this level as to spend this much you'd also be interested in better streaming performance and video editing ~$470
GPU A high end Nvidia card is usually the absolutely best single card option to be had. <$770
RAM Aim for a 2 x 8GB RAM or 4 x 8GB kit at the highest MHz, lowest CAS you can afford that is compatible with your chosen motherboard. G.Skill is my RAM of choice. <$370
PSU This part is very important, do not cheap out on this, check an online PSU calculator to make sure you get one that will provide enough wattage for 3 years at least. Corsair CX Modular PSU's are my favourite. ~$140
HDD At this level we want to have 1 HDD for games and 1 HDD for recording if so desired. Seagate or Western Digital Blues are my preferred drives. ~$80-$160
SSD Here we can afford to get a SSD for booting the OS and for ArmA, it does not need to be extravagent in size with 120GB being enough and 250GB being nice. Intel and Samsung SSD's are the only ones I would consider with Samsung SSD's being preferred but premium. ~$100-$170
OS Grab the newest OEM version of Windows, yes even if it is Windows 8 as you can get back to Windows 7 style using the free Classic Shell. ~$135

 

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ArmA 3 Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide

by incontrovertible

This guide was collated by me using personal experience and public information' date=' any tweaks and settings are to be used at your own risk as I will not be held responsible for any damage that may occur. Feel free to link or re-post this guide so long as an acknowledgment is present along with a link back here.[/b']

These are the original (outdated) threads.

ArmA 3 Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

ArmA 3 Beta Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

ArmA 3 Alpha Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

I also have a DayZ Alpha Performance Tweaks and Settings Guide.

[uSER=808]Sean[/uSER], first paragraph says who wrote it with all of his previous posts. I never once claimed, and don't claim, it as my own work. Just taking from the source and making it available for all of us here to be able to read and appreciate this guy's work.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There is soo much here but i want to ask something. I have this problem that when too many people are shooting at the same time around 6-7+ people i get maby 1-2 fps when im usually around 60-100. I also get the same FPS drop when im at Athira rebel (i think due to the crashed blackfoot).

Anyone experienced with this kind of stuff that can help me out i got pretty much everything on the lowest posible but my computer is actuall pretty good.

Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth X79, Socket-2011

SSD: Corsair SSD Force Series GS 480GB

HDD: WD Desktop Green 3TB x2

RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 32GB

CPU: Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition

GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 780Ti 3GB

Here is a Editor 10v10 just to make you see what i mean.

Link to comment
There is soo much here but i want to ask something. I have this problem that when too many people are shooting at the same time around 6-7+ people i get maby 1-2 fps when im usually around 60-100. I also get the same FPS drop when im at Athira rebel (i think due to the crashed blackfoot).

Anyone experienced with this kind of stuff that can help me out i got pretty much everything on the lowest posible but my computer is actuall pretty good.

Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth X79' date=' Socket-2011[/font']

SSD: Corsair SSD Force Series GS 480GB

HDD: WD Desktop Green 3TB x2

RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 32GB

CPU: Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition

GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 780Ti 3GB

Here is a Editor 10v10 just to make you see what i mean.

Make sure your Vsync is off

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  • 2 months later...

Would be nice to see some talk about the NVIDIA control panel as well as NVIDIA inspector to tweak settings in there, as these are well known sites with a plethora of benchmarked info for one person's computer. Although useful, using the NVIDIA control panel and especially NVIDIA inspector to tweak the driver settings globally as well as for Arma 3 can be the difference of 20 fps and 80 fps. I wrote a guide on this in the old forums but it's not longer online.

 

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  • 1 month later...

I'm on 2880x1800 everything ultra @ -window -high -nopause -useallavailablecores -cpucount=16 -maxmem=24576 -malloc=system -skipintro -nosplash

 

Others should try and tweak the startup strings to see how Arma3 improves


-window -high -nopause -useallavailablecores -cpucount=X -maxmem=X -malloc=system -skipintro -nosplash 

Change the following to your system then copy and paste into startup parameter.

-cpucount=X (#of cores+virtual)

-maxmem=X (60-80% of total memory)

Edited by Vanadium
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