At Arma3 launch, "Minimum" and "Recommended" configuration requirements have been released. As far as we know players playing with a rig at the "Minimum" requirements level are still having issues with Campaign on Altis and while playing MP. And it's so, despite the considerable progress done in terms of optimization since Alpha release in March 2013. Today, as specifications for computers supporting A3 ports to Linux and MacOS have been released and some changes have been made in "Minimum" requirements for Windows, it's time to have a look at Arma3 configuration requirements.
Here are my comments on hardware configurations for playing Arma3 and about the minimum to get in order to enjoy the game.
For the record, according to the Arma3 official website, the config were initially: MINIMUM OS: Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 SP1 (Apple OS not supported) PROCESSOR: Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz / AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT / ATI Radeon HD 3830 / Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU MEMORY: 512 MB DirectX 10 RAM: 2 GB HARD DRIVE: 15 GB free space AUDIO: DirectX -compatible on-board OTHER: Internet connection and free Steam account to activate
RECOMMENDED OS: Windows 7/8 (Apple OS not supported) PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-2300 / AMD Phenom II X4 940 GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 / Radeon HD 7750 GPU AMD MEMORY: 1 GB DirectX 11 RAM: 4 GB HARD DRIVE: 25 GB free space AUDIO: DirectX-compatible soundcard OTHER: Internet connection and free Steam account to activate
There has been a first change late 2014 about the "Recommended" OS config from “Windows 7/8” to "Windows 7/8 64-bit." With the release of ports on Linux and MacOS, two versions of the specifications have been published. The hardware specs for the Apple OS are very specific, we will leave them aside yet. Let's have a look at "Minimum" and "Recommended" configuration requirements for Linux :
MINIMUM OS: any current 64bit Linux distribution (tested on Fedora 22, Ubuntu 14.04 and Mint 17.01) PROCESSOR: Quad core CPU (Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz or better) GRAPHICS: OpenGL 4.1 compliant GPU (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 440 or AMD HD 7470 or better) GPU MEMORY: 1 GB RAM: 8 GB HARD DRIVE: 20 GB free space
RECOMMENDED OS: any current 64bit Linux distribution (tested on Fedora 22, Ubuntu 14.04 and Mint 17.01) PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350 4 GHz GRAPHICS: OpenGL 4.1 compliant GPU (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7850 or better) GPU MEMORY: 2 GB RAM: 8 GB HARD DRIVE: 25 GB free space
Several elements in "Minimum" requirements are obviously going in the direction of increasing the level of minimum required specifications: - Using a 64bit OS - Using a quad core 2.4 GHz in the form of an Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz or better - Using 8GB RAM
For the graphics card, the specifications are a bit difficult to understand, the GTX 440 does not exist and the HD 7470 is a card with lower performances than cards previously suggested. These lower specifications regarding graphics cards are more difficult to understand as in the same time in the "Minimum" requirements for Windows, 2 GPUs were added :
Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 / AMD Radeon HD 7750
These cards were already displayed as the specification "Recommended" for GPU! Does it mean a Linux based rig must get more processing power but can afford less graphic computing? Weird.
Based on my own experience, on the tests I made myself and as well on reports made by players on various forums, I can say that even if a "Minimum" configuration based rig allowed Arma3 to "run", it does not allowed a satisfactory gaming experience in SP and MP as well.
My project is to outline what I call "Minimum Recommended" requirements for Windows, in order to allow players to enjoy Arma3 in SP and MP. It could be something like:
MINIMUM RECOMMENDED OS: any current Windows 64bit (Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10) PROCESSOR: Quad core CPU (Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz or better) or Intel Dual-Core i3 4000 (2cores / 4threads - 3.1 GHz or better) GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 (DX12 + Maxwell) or Radeon R7 250 (DX12 + GCN 1.0) or better GPU MEMORY: 1 GB RAM or better DirectX® 12 RAM: 8 GB HARD DRIVE: 20 GB free space [SSHD or SSD / HD combo recommended]
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