CPU Limited in ARMA2

[mozirry]

I was messing around w/ the benchmarking tool in ARMA2 and I discovered I am horribly CPU limited.

Specs:

4850
amd 64x2 5000 OC'd to 3.02ghz from 2.6ghz stock
2gig ram
windows xp pro (32bit)


I can use high textures/etc. and when I move it down to the "low" setting, I barely get any increase in FPS. It basically stagnates around 24-28 FPS.

I'm assuming what is going on is that my CPU is bottlenecking, but wouldn't expect it to be this much.

I haven't researched CPU's for a while, how backwards is the 939 x2 architecture for current gaming?

 

[vj8usa]

http://www.pcgameshardware.com...with-18-CPUs/Practice/
ArmA2 just needs a massive amount of CPU/GPU power - see the chart in the link above. Your CPU's enough for most other games these days. Oh, and you meant AM2 instead of 939, right? There's no 939 5000+ that I know of.

 

[mozirry]

Originally posted by: vj8usa
http://www.pcgameshardware.com...with-18-CPUs/Practice/
ArmA2 just needs a massive amount of CPU/GPU power - see the chart in the link above. Your CPU's enough for most other games these days. Oh, and you meant AM2 instead of 939, right? There's no 939 5000+ that I know of.

lol yes, my last setup was 939

This is vanilla AM2 not AM2+ unfortunately =( Stupid MOBO was bought just before AM2+ came out, otherwise I might just drop in a better AM2 CPU

 

[mozirry]

cool benchmarks.

I wish they would compare those benchmarks vs. benchmarks on a 32bit OS, I wonder if that might make a difference =[

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: mozirry

Originally posted by: vj8usa
http://www.pcgameshardware.com...with-18-CPUs/Practice/
ArmA2 just needs a massive amount of CPU/GPU power - see the chart in the link above. Your CPU's enough for most other games these days. Oh, and you meant AM2 instead of 939, right? There's no 939 5000+ that I know of.

lol yes, my last setup was 939

This is vanilla AM2 not AM2+ unfortunately =( Stupid MOBO was bought just before AM2+ came out, otherwise I might just drop in a better AM2 CPU

AM2+ is backwards compatible with a BIOS update.

 

[mozirry]

AM2+ is backwards compatible with a BIOS update.

this is what the mobo manufacturer says about backwards compatible,

*Note: If you install AMD AM2+ CPU on AM2 motherbord, the system bus speed will downgrade from HT3.0(5200MHz) to HT1.0(2000 MT/s) spec; however, the frequency of AM2+ CPU will not be impacted. Please refer "CPU Support List" for more information.


I don't know how bad that would hurt the CPU but it seeems like it would nerf it worse then my current CPU

 

[mozirry]

welll

Im downloading the Windows 7 RC to see if 64bit makes a difference lol =D

 

[Elias824]

arma 2 isnt 64 bit, so that wont help much, your probably better off with xp. I have a similar problem in arma 2, I have a nicer cpu but im usually hosting superpower games for me and a few buddies and it kills my system. I just orderd a q9550 to help with that.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: mozirry
welll

Im downloading the Windows 7 RC to see if 64bit makes a difference lol =D

It will be slower.* Longer instructions, longer memory addresses, you lose about 5%. You also lose 10% or so going to Vista/Windows 7 (don't believe the hype, 7 is no faster than Vista for gaming when you're CPU limited; I've checked) in the first place.

So, getting Windows 7 64b is NOT going to help you any. You are simply CPU bottlenecked...and pretty badly at that

*unless for some reason the engine works better under 64-bit otherwise. But it looks like from those benches you're not going to gain anything. You'll simply need to upgrade.

 

[mozirry]

http://forums.ogn.com.au/showt...79&p=787206#post787206


ahhh, this thread helped out IMMENSELY! Nice to see a comparison in performance from XP 32bit to a 64bit OS finally. I'm still going to download Windows 7 RC before the thing expires but it's nice to see my curiosity satisfied

 

[dmens]

is it just me or is this game horribly slow? running it at 1920x1080 with mostly high detail on a 4ghz i7 with a 4870x2 and an intel SSD and the game is chugging constantly.

even when i go to 1600x1200 it is still chugging, so i am still CPU limited even with a 4ghz i7? wintf?

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: dmens
is it just me or is this game horribly slow? running it at 1920x1080 with mostly high detail on a 4ghz i7 with a 4870x2 and an intel SSD and the game is chugging constantly.

even when i go to 1600x1200 it is still chugging, so i am still CPU limited even with a 4ghz i7? wintf?

http://www.pcgameshardware.com...with-18-CPUs/Practice/

This game is just plain stressful. Looks like we've got another Crysis on our hands.... (not hating Crysis, I just think it was way ahead of our time-- it's still the best looking game out there).

 

[soccerballtux]

So your thread reminded me of the Demo I'd installed.

Is this game completely borked? It looks like an N64 game for me.

 

[dmens]

it's pretty bad. if you turn too fast the screen draw has to catch up so the textures are all missing for about half a second, and that's on my setup, so i cannot imagine how shitty it would be on a lesser system.

 

[rolodomo]

Originally posted by: dmens
is it just me or is this game horribly slow? running it at 1920x1080 with mostly high detail on a 4ghz i7 with a 4870x2 and an intel SSD and the game is chugging constantly.

even when i go to 1600x1200 it is still chugging, so i am still CPU limited even with a 4ghz i7? wintf?

I don't think the game is recognizing your crossfire card. I have a rather inelegant 4890 1GB paired w/ a 4870 512MB and I can get 60 FPS at 150% fill, normal AF, no AS (Q9550 at 3.9 GHz) easy. For some reason, I get much better FPS with the Steam retail version. I don't have an SSD either, just a software (ICH10R) RAID 0 array.

One strange thing is, when I monitor CPU usage, none of the cores maxes out. OTOH, both my GPU(s) get maxed out.

The biggest problem I'm having is an intermittent strobe effect (flashing whiteout) that might be linked to crossfire, but I read this is on the bug fix list.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: mozirry
cool benchmarks.

I wish they would compare those benchmarks vs. benchmarks on a 32bit OS, I wonder if that might make a difference =[

there is not much difference at all; i just did a 13 game comparison .. actually 32 bit is slightly faster overall

Quick Question - is there a built-in benchmark in the ARMA2 *demo*?


and *no matter what* .. that Athlon is really showing its age
- it's "upgrade time"
:beer:

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: apoppin
[
Quick Question - is there a built-in benchmark in the ARMA2 *demo*?

Yes, it's in the single player scenarios.

 

[apoppin]

big thank-you

i will get it and risk exceeding my d/l cap for the month
:Q

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
It will be slower.* Longer instructions, longer memory addresses, you lose about 5%. You also lose 10% or so going to Vista/Windows 7 (don't believe the hype, 7 is no faster than Vista for gaming when you're CPU limited; I've checked) in the first place.

So, getting Windows 7 64b is NOT going to help you any. You are simply CPU bottlenecked...and pretty badly at that

*unless for some reason the engine works better under 64-bit otherwise. But it looks like from those benches you're not going to gain anything. You'll simply need to upgrade.

The instruction word might be longer, but will also means that it can carry and handle more data with less overhead and penalty access, and the Conroe/Penryn architecture indeed can get a slight impact in performance going into Long mode because their Macro/Micro Ops fusion optimizations won't work in 64 Bit mode, all AMD 64-Bit processors and Nehalem shows better performance when running in 64 bit specially when is working with huge amount of data sets.

In my personal experience, while Vista 64 uses much more kernel memory, the system feels more snappy with less disk trashing and much better memory management, but performance in games or everyday working is hardly noticeable. 32-bit applications will get no benefit running in a 64-Bit environment unless if they are PAE aware which will only bring benefits in memory availability and it also can be very problematic.