Results: Arma 3 And Battlefield 4
Arma 3
Our Infantry Showcase test is most effective when comparing graphics cards, but doesn’t properly reflect just how taxing Arma 3 can be on the processor. To compensate, I shoot for an average of at least 50FPS, though I ultimately base my conclusions on time spent playing Altis Map showcases like Fixed Wings and Gunships.
Both of these gaming rigs are mainly CPU-limited over a single FHD panel, but ultimately survive through 4800x900 at standard defaults.
These Pentiums are relatively strong in Arma 3, proving to be far more capable than Trinity-based AMD Athlon competition. However we believe you’ll need to bolster clocks whenever attempting Ultra details.
Graphics limitations appear by 1920x1080 and our new machine’s R9 270X is clearly more up to the task. However, the overall experience on demanding maps still wasn’t up to par. When hitting those, I’d be inclined to dial down settings a bit for smoother game play.
Battlefield 4
Barring any frame pacing or micro-stuttering issues, 40FPS on average here in this demanding sequence should remain quite playable through the entire single player campaign.
When I first fired up Battlefield 4 on our new PC, the game was an absolute stutter-fest. It hung for many seconds just getting into the game, and then took frequent single digit fps hits during our test sequence. Why didn’t this happen on the last PC sporting the same processor, graphical architecture, and driver package? The answer was pretty simple; I forgot to uncheck “Enable Origin in Game”. Once this feature was disabled, there was a night and day difference; things smoothed right out, and I could proceed with benchmarking the game.
Battlefield 4 favors more available resources, and the dual-core Pentium caps the frame rates. At medium details, last quarter’s higher overclock claims victories up until triple-panel graphical demands. However any one of these configurations handles medium details just fine.
The beefier graphics card comes in handy at Ultra-quality, and our current PC leads at all four resolutions, both stock and overclocked. Multi-player may shift these demands, but the Campaign is easily playable in FHD on both of these overclocked configurations.
