Arma 3 is not using my GPU and CPU on 100%

[Crusader]

Hello, guys! Just a couple hours back I bought a new CPU Ryzen 5 5600X and Arma 3 is not using my system. My PC specs: Palit 3070 TI, 16GB DDR4, B350 GAMING PLUS ASUS TUF, Samsung SSD 980 500GB. I opened eden editor and spawned 3vs3 squads with 2 apcs on Altis and the game is using only 38% of my new CPU and 40% of my GPU and I'm having only 30fps on Extreme settings. Can you please help me with this.

[orcbuster]

In short, no. Arma is not constrained by GPU but by CPU and its not multithreaded so it'll only use a single core. The gpu is handling most of the stuff that uses it fine and as such does not need to run at max to deal with that side of the game.

This is a problem basically as old as arma III itself.

[Crusader]

@ocrbuster thank you for explanation!

[Hux]

Use a tutorial for setting your graphics and get the most you can from your hardware.

https://youtu.be/GktBSZcglFk

I wouldn't just go from one tutorial though. Check out a few.

[Druark]

Originally posted by orcbuster:

its not multithreaded so it'll only use a single core.

This is partly true. The bulk of the work is done on a single thread yes, but it does autodetect if you have multiple threads available and assign some of the work to those other threads. You can also force this on (or off) in the launcher if you're concerned it's not enabled.
AFAIK it only includes File Operations, Texture Loading and Geometry Loading for their own dedicated threads.

Other operations in the game are likely multithreaded in some way but not too a significant enough degree to increase performance much. This is why they made the new Enfusion engine which handles it much better supposedly. It'll be years though before that's relevant to a new mainline Arma game sadly.

[Alaskan Glitch]

Originally posted by orcbuster:

In short, no. Arma is not constrained by GPU but by CPU and its not multithreaded so it'll only use a single core. The gpu is handling most of the stuff that uses it fine and as such does not need to run at max to deal with that side of the game.

This is a problem basically as old as arma III itself.

Actually, that is not accurate.

Arma III is multithreaded, but limited to a small number (32) of threads. It also uses up to four cores, but no more than four.

Arma III is not graphically demanding and will use much older video cards. It still uses the same graphics engine that it was released with a decade ago.

Arma III is a memory hog. It will gladly consume as much memory as you can feed it. The minimum requirements for Arma III is 8 GB, and while it will function with that amount of memory, it will not be an enjoyable experience. You need a minimum of a 16 GB to make the game playable at 60 FPS (assuming you never fly), and more would be even better.

Arma III will take full advantage of an Intel i5, but lack the ability to use the i7 and i9 capabilities (since neither CPU existed in 2013). So upgrading to a faster more powerful CPU will not improve Arma III's performance, other than the speed improvement you gain from the clock speed.

Adding more memory will improve your FPS far more than improving your graphics card. Arma III works just fine with any old GTX video cards, and adding a high-end video card will not improve Arma III's performance.

[Alaskan Glitch]

Originally posted by Crusader:

Hello, guys! Just a couple hours back I bought a new CPU Ryzen 5 5600X and Arma 3 is not using my system. My PC specs: Palit 3070 TI, 16GB DDR4, B350 GAMING PLUS ASUS TUF, Samsung SSD 980 500GB. I opened eden editor and spawned 3vs3 squads with 2 apcs on Altis and the game is using only 38% of my new CPU and 40% of my GPU and I'm having only 30fps on Extreme settings. Can you please help me with this.

Arma III will only use a portion of what you have. The primary issue in your case is memory. With 16 GB you have what I consider to be the minimum amount.

First, you should be aware that every mod that you have active and load with Arma III consumes RAM. So the more mods you load, the less RAM you will have for the game.

Your system is way over-powered for Arma III, except for the RAM. With 16 GB of RAM you should be able to set your video options Overall Quality to Ultra, with visibility:

• Overall = 2,500 meters;
  
• Object = 1,250 meters;
  
• Shadow = 100 meters;
  
• PIP = 1,250 meters.

That should give you between 60 and 90 FPS, providing you stay out of fast moving aircraft.

[Druark]

Originally posted by Alaskan Glitch:

Originally posted by Crusader:

Hello, guys! Just a couple hours back I bought a new CPU Ryzen 5 5600X and Arma 3 is not using my system. My PC specs: Palit 3070 TI, 16GB DDR4, B350 GAMING PLUS ASUS TUF, Samsung SSD 980 500GB. I opened eden editor and spawned 3vs3 squads with 2 apcs on Altis and the game is using only 38% of my new CPU and 40% of my GPU and I'm having only 30fps on Extreme settings. Can you please help me with this.

Arma III will only use a portion of what you have. The primary issue in your case is memory. With 16 GB you have what I consider to be the minimum amount.

First, you should be aware that every mod that you have active and load with Arma III consumes RAM. So the more mods you load, the less RAM you will have for the game.

Your system is way over-powered for Arma III, except for the RAM. With 16 GB of RAM you should be able to set your video options Overall Quality to Ultra, with visibility:

• Overall = 2,500 meters;
  
• Object = 1,250 meters;
  
• Shadow = 100 meters;
  
• PIP = 1,250 meters.

That should give you between 60 and 90 FPS, providing you stay out of fast moving aircraft.

This is just... totally incorrect. Arma 3 does not use anything approaching 16GB of RAM even when you load 100GB of mods (I've literally done it before). They're not loaded in to memory at all times.

16GB is more than enough, memory speed might affect your performance but as long as you're above 2500MHz you'll be fine on a game this old.

OP - The reason your performance is terrible is because you're running on Extreme. These settings were not originally part of the possible options to select precisely because they're too performance heavy for normal gameplay. The options with the little performance symbol next to them are for cinematic purposes or very high end rigs not general play, especially not with many players/AI running around. My CPU is only a year old i7 and I still can't get away with extreme settings and get over 60FPS with an actual battle going on.

You can get away with extreme textures and Very-High Shadows as long as your shadow distance is under 250 or so. Otherwise keep the extreme settings off, they have diminishing returns in quality gain vs performance. As the previous person said you want your view distances to be reasonable too, between 2500-4000m as otherwise you're forcing your CPU to handle all that extra distance for no real reason.

[Sgt Smash]

Originally posted by Druark:

Originally posted by Alaskan Glitch:

Arma III will only use a portion of what you have. The primary issue in your case is memory. With 16 GB you have what I consider to be the minimum amount.

First, you should be aware that every mod that you have active and load with Arma III consumes RAM. So the more mods you load, the less RAM you will have for the game.

Your system is way over-powered for Arma III, except for the RAM. With 16 GB of RAM you should be able to set your video options Overall Quality to Ultra, with visibility:

• Overall = 2,500 meters;
  
• Object = 1,250 meters;
  
• Shadow = 100 meters;
  
• PIP = 1,250 meters.

That should give you between 60 and 90 FPS, providing you stay out of fast moving aircraft.

This is just... totally incorrect. Arma 3 does not use anything approaching 16GB of RAM even when you load 100GB of mods (I've literally done it before). They're not loaded in to memory at all times.

Arma will use more ram if you have it, when i had 8gb it wold use it all, when i got 16gb it would use more than 8gb but not all the 16gb, when i got 32gb it would us way more than 16gb but not all 32gb, you get the idea, this is how windows manages ram usage based of how much a users actually has.