Running Arma 3 on very high quality at 1680x1050 produced surprisingly low frame rates for the mid-range GPUs. The GTX 650 Ti Boost averaged only 36fps for example, while the HD 7850 managed just 35fps – unplayable by our standards. Even the HD 7970 GHz Edition only managed 49fps, 3fps faster than the GTX 760 and 8fps slower than the GTX 680. With the GTX 770 narrowly exceeding 60fps, it seems Nvidia’s high-end GPUs are the way to go, though Crossfire seems to scale better.
Increasing the resolution to 1920x1200 brought even more cards to their knees, with the GTX 650 Ti Boost falling below 30fps and the HD 7850 faring only marginally better. If you plan to play at higher than 40fps with these settings, you’ll need at least an HD 7970, while the 7950 Boost and GTX 760 will at least get you in the ballpark. Even the GTX 770 was limited to 51fps, while the GTX 780 just fell short of 60fps – a target the GTX Titan managed to hit despite its less than stellar results of 65fps.
You’ll definitely want to tap into SLI or Crossfire if you’re going to play at something in the territory of 2560x1600 or higher, as the best performing single-card solution (Nvidia’s GTX Titan) averaged just 45fps – the same result offered by dual GTX 660 Tis. Producing more than 60fps was no easy task. It was only achieved by doubling up on the HD 7970 GHz Edition or GTX 770, and only by 4fps in those scenarios.
