Did I make a mistake buying a PNY Nvidia GTX 960 OC? Bad performance for single player Arma 3

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REDJARHEAD

REDJARHEAD

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Dec 27, 2013
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Well just yesterday I went into best buy to get a new nvdia card (the 900 series if it was available) and come to find out, there was the GTX 960 OC for $209.99 . I thought damn, this is what I needed in order to run some games smoothly (espcially Arma 3 - Previously I had a GTX 660 TI).

Come to find out, I still get the same performance issue:??: >>> Like come on really? Is it that necessary for me to also get a better CPU in conjunction with the upgraded GPU?

Also, I have heard how the GTX 770 does better than the 960 --- wtf? Can someone help me with that reason?

I also want to know your guys' input as to whether I should get my money back or I should go digging around for something better. As of now, I am pretty bummed out thinking I could run Arma 3 on Ultra ON single player with no luck

Specs: Windows 8 64 bit: ASUS Desktop PC M11BB Series
Processor: AMD A8-5500 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.20 GHz
Graphics Card: PNY Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 OC

Thank you (in advance) to anyone who can respond to my thread :)
 
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migronesien


It depends. CPU have to go into a certain socket. So a single motherboard can hold like a bunch of different CPUs. But for AMD to Intel it's always another board. ARMA needs very high single core performance. A switch to Intel will be quite pricey. You'll need a new CPU, motherboard and also a new Windows copy, because they are bound to motherboards. But if you still want to switch i'd suggest i5-4690k, i5-4690, i5-4460 in this order, depending on what you want to spend. Anything less is...
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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Nov 3, 2009
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I have no opinion to offer about the GTX 770 vs 960.

But in reference to Arma 3, I own that game as well, and you should know that it's horribly optimized. It only utilizes one CPU core and it's a 32 bit application. Therefore it can only access up to 4 GB of RAM, regardless what is installed in your system. The game play and physics of Amra 3 is good and the title is very enjoyable, but it's an embarrassingly optimized game (simulator?) in my opinion. If I had to guess, I'd assume that your CPU was the biggest bottleneck for that specific title, but again, it's only designed to use a single CPU core. I personally have a six core CPU and two 980 Ti's, and you'd think the title would run blazingly fast. But honestly it just run normal or average. It's a horribly optimized game. I know that I've said this but it bears repeating three times.

Addendum: If you want to see an example of just how poor performing single core 32 bit titles are, go on Twitch.tv and watch the game play of "Life is Feudal". Granted that title is in early alpha, but it'll still give you a good idea of how horrible single CPU core games perform. I'm surprised that Arma runs as well as it does. If I were you, I would do a quick calculation of what your AMD motherboard and CPU could fetch if sold on Ebay or some other source. Then I would consider keeping my old GPU and returning the GTX 960. I just don't think upgrading from a 770 to a 960 is a good return on your investment for the performance. I think you'd be better putting that money towards a motherboard + 6700k + 212 EVO cpu fan. I know it's a lot of money. Perhaps you can find someone's used motherboard and i7-4790k on Ebay or Tom's hardware classifieds (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-8.html). I know that I started my response with "I have no opinion..." but ultimately I couldn't help myself.
 
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migronesien

migronesien

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Well first of ARMA is programmed like a piece of crap. Second it's VEEERY CPU heavy.
The 960 is definitively a nice upgrade coming from a 660ti, but your CPU is holding you back big time in stuff like ARMA.

Also the 960 does not perform worst than a 770. Because it is basically a 770 but newer. So 960 > 770.
 
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RCFProd

RCFProd

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Dec 8, 2013
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The problem with Arma 3 is not the graphics card. Arma 3 is a very CPU intensive game and requires a very good CPU to run 'smoothly'. Your CPU is very weak so having a good GPU is not going to help much unfortunately.

The PNY Nvidia GTX 960 is fine by Itself. Also yes, the GTX 770 is better by 4-5 fps. But there is nothing strange about that.
 
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REDJARHEAD

REDJARHEAD

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when it comes to CPU replacement, the whole motherboard gotta be replaced too? o_O (shet I didn't know that - correct me if I am wrong). If I had to get an intel cpu, what are you guys' best recommendation when it comes to games (like arma 3)?
 
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migronesien

migronesien

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It depends. CPU have to go into a certain socket. So a single motherboard can hold like a bunch of different CPUs. But for AMD to Intel it's always another board. ARMA needs very high single core performance. A switch to Intel will be quite pricey. You'll need a new CPU, motherboard and also a new Windows copy, because they are bound to motherboards. But if you still want to switch i'd suggest i5-4690k, i5-4690, i5-4460 in this order, depending on what you want to spend. Anything less is not worth it for the whole change in my opinion.
 
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