Battlefield 3 performance thread

[Arkaign]

Ok, so here's my current build:

Current Build:
Intel Dual Core E8500
XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLi Mobo
4GB Patriot Viper RAM
EVGA GTX 260 (Overclocked edition)
500gb Seagate Hard-Drive
Corsair 1000watt PSU
LIAN LI PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
22" Samsung LCD Monitor

As you can see, I currently have a GTX260 as my graphics card. Currently in Battlefield 3 (in Multiplayer, haven't played campaign yet) I can get away with, for the most part, medium settings. The only issue is that I'm obviously not getting the full graphic experience and also my load times in between matches is RIDICULOUSLY long (anywhere between 2-3 minutes of loading screen). I'm kind of short on cash, so my buddy is going to give me 2 GTX280's that I can SLi together on my current rig. My question is, how much of a difference should I expect to see or at least be able to change in the settings going from 1 GTX260 to 2 GTX280's?

I'm running it at 1680 x 1050 currently.

The dual 280s will be more than enough to get 1680x1050 running fairly good once you figure out the best settings. However, the dual-core chip is still gonna hold you back fairly decently. It's up to you to decide if it's worth picking up a used Q6xxx/9xxx level chip for your setup, or just going for a new build sometime in the future.

 

[tokie]

6950 2GB
2500K
8GB RAM

1080p

I have everything on ultra and get around 50fps average (min 30, max 60). This is with SSAO on; with no AO at all I get constant 50-60.

 

[cjbee]

Does anything above 30 fps matter? I'm running 2500k and a 5770 on high. Somethimes I feel like my aiming is stuttering. Could be I am just bad, could be the multi-core issue people talk about or could be my setting is too high. I will have to run the FRAPS and see.

The more FPS the better...at a consistent 30, BF3 feels choppy to me. I like to keep it hovering around the 50's-60's for the smoothest possible gameplay.

 

[zerocool84]

Does anything above 30 fps matter? I'm running 2500k and a 5770 on high. Somethimes I feel like my aiming is stuttering. Could be I am just bad, could be the multi-core issue people talk about or could be my setting is too high. I will have to run the FRAPS and see.

Yes because your minimum fps will much lower. The minimums are the times where you always notice it the most.

 

[SylEm]

The dual 280s will be more than enough to get 1680x1050 running fairly good once you figure out the best settings. However, the dual-core chip is still gonna hold you back fairly decently. It's up to you to decide if it's worth picking up a used Q6xxx/9xxx level chip for your setup, or just going for a new build sometime in the future.

I definetely agree with u, unfortanetely money is tight right now. I got the cards to fit now I just need to test out the FPS. I'll throw FRAPS up and let yall know what I find with the current rig.

What's going to significantly increase the load times? The CPU, HDD, RAM? I ask because load times from the time the game boots up to when I actually get to "deploy" is anywhere between 3-5 minutes now which is REALY long.

 

[CuriousMike]

I'll be surprised if the extra GPU does anything for you FPS wise.

I'm suspecting you're CPU bound.

 

[RiDE]

CPU: QX9650 @ 3.6
GPU: GTX 295
Mobo: EVGA 790i Ultra
Ram: 4 gb

Resolution: 1920x1200

Average graphic settings in BF3: High

Antialiasing deferred: Off
Antialiasing post: High
Motion blur: On
Motion blur amount: 50%
Anisotropic filter: 8x
Ambient occlusion: Off

I'm not using FRAPS but the in game FPS counter is showing 30-50.

Render.PerfOverlayVisible shows I'm GPU limited.

 

[digitard]

Ok, so here's my current build:

Current Build:
Intel Dual Core E8500
XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLi Mobo
4GB Patriot Viper RAM
EVGA GTX 260 (Overclocked edition)
500gb Seagate Hard-Drive
Corsair 1000watt PSU
LIAN LI PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
22" Samsung LCD Monitor

As you can see, I currently have a GTX260 as my graphics card. Currently in Battlefield 3 (in Multiplayer, haven't played campaign yet) I can get away with, for the most part, medium settings. The only issue is that I'm obviously not getting the full graphic experience and also my load times in between matches is RIDICULOUSLY long (anywhere between 2-3 minutes of loading screen). I'm kind of short on cash, so my buddy is going to give me 2 GTX280's that I can SLi together on my current rig. My question is, how much of a difference should I expect to see or at least be able to change in the settings going from 1 GTX260 to 2 GTX280's?

I'm running it at 1680 x 1050 currently.

I was in the same boat, well still am for a few days.

I have a E8500 @ 3.56ghz, 4GB G.Skill DDR2, EVGA 560 GTX Superclocked and I was running smooth at mediums and could run high w/ obvious random studders (especially when packed w/ stuff going on) at 1680x1050. Better than I expected, but it made me want more.

I just bit the bullet and ordered new parts so I'll post it soon. Since I already had the 560 GTX Superclocked (OC'd even more) I added another since a 200 dollar upgrade is cheaper than a new card. So we'll see how it performs on the new rig (will post specs once I have stats to post) w/ the SLI OC'D 560 GTX's.

 

[silvan4now]

6950 2GB
2500K
8GB RAM

1080p

I have everything on ultra and get around 50fps average (min 30, max 60). This is with SSAO on; with no AO at all I get constant 50-60.

lucky dog!

 

[sigurros81]

I ordered another 6870 over the weekend to run Xfire. Will let you guys know how that fare. I've heard people have been having issues running Xfire with the game, anyone else having issues or none at all?

 

[Rhezuss]

I don't have FRAPS or other softwares to monitor my FPS but with the rig in my sig I run the game on ULTRA/1920x1080 incredibely smoothly.

I have some slow downs here and there but no slide shows and far from game breaking.

It's an awesome game and gonna start playing online tonight!

 

[goobernoodles]

Moved from CF4890's to a GTX480 last week after the launch. I was a bit worried I was going to be sidegrading, but I'm extremely impressed with the results. I had everything at Ultra with no AA/low AF and everything else off with the 4890's and was getting 25-70fps.

I need to actually check my FPS, but with AA and AF on high +HBAO the game feels infinitely smoother and looks SO much better it's unbelievable. People that complain about how this game looks must be running DX10 cards like I was because the difference is night and day.

 

[Northern Lawn]

I upgraded from a 8800GTS video card to a 560 Ti and now the sound stutters when it first load, just for a bit, and the game has froze my computer about once an hour. I do have the latest drivers.

 

[ss284]

So is the consensus that HBAO and shadow quality are the biggest performance drains?

 

[Beebu]

i7 950
8gb ram
gtx 580
@1080p

With the 285.62 drivers ultra/high combo was barely playable. Using the beta drivers and all high settings with no AA and it's playable. Quite disappointed in that I can't seem to run it higher without the game crapping out.

 

[(sic)Klown12]

So is the consensus that HBAO and shadow quality are the biggest performance drains?

Deferred AA is the single biggest drain. Those two are next on the list.

 

[jlarsson]

CPU: i7-2600k
GPU: 2xRadeon 6950
Mobo: Asus P8P67 Pro
Ram: 16GB DDR3-1600

Resolution: 5760x1080

V-Sync: Off
FOV: 70
Motion Blur: Off
Texture Quality: Medium
Shadow Quality: Medium
Effects Quality: Medium
Mesh Quality: High
Terrain Quality: Medium
Terrain Decoration: Medium
4x MSAA
Antialiasing post: High
Motion Blur: Off
Anisotropic filter: 8x
Ambient occlusion: SSAO

Results (from Fraps, Grand Bazaar ... 30-35 people online at the time):
Min: 23
Max: 110
Average: 54

It's definitely playable at the Ultra settings, but gets a bit choppy with lots of effects are hitting the screen (stuff exploding). So, I've bumped a lot down to medium to ensure it remains playable regardless of how much stuff it's rendering.

 

[flexy]

I have a old system with a Q6600 OCed at 3.6Ghz (good old Q6600...), 4GB and a rather old GTX 275.

I play anything at 1680x1050 and 4xAA, in BF3 i have Texture Resolution at High, anything else at Medium and of course 4xAA.

Given the fact that the graphics card is like 900 years old, i am surprised the game is really running well/decent. I havent looked at fraps or checked FPS yet, in fact i just installed the game and played maybe 30 mins, defragging my HD now.

I *might* get a 470, 570 or 6950 "soon"....but anything more high-end doesn't make sense since i dont run crazy resolutions here. Even with the current set-up, BF3 looks just absolutely stunning...nothing to complain.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Played some BF3 tonight on a old/new pc i built to hold me over

e8200 oced @ 3.2ghzs
4gb ram
gtx560 non ti not the best choice but budget allowed me to get this and a antec 300 case and wanted the recommended nvidia card of BF3.

Online 1920x1080 high it would crash claiming i ran out of virtual memory on the card but it runs just fine on medium.

Edit:even at 1600x1200 on ultra auto settings tonight i went on two maps and it only took about a minute for the vram to skyrocket to 1gb then poof i got the virtual video card memory error but was able to play on high settings .

Would a gtx570 for even 1600x1200 ultra be enough?I saw how 1gb just went poof in a matter of seconds .

 

[redrider4life4]

Just a heads up for anyone with long load times (I.E. not making it into the game before the next map loads). For some reason my cpu wasn't set to use all cores so I changed that in the affinity option and now my game loads super quick.

 

[sigurros81]

Just a heads up for anyone with long load times (I.E. not making it into the game before the next map loads). For some reason my cpu wasn't set to use all cores so I changed that in the affinity option and now my game loads super quick.

Sorry for noob question, but how do you know how many cores your CPU is using?

My 6870 XFX card should come in today, hopefully I won't have any issues plugging it in for Xfire, will let you guys know how the game fare with dual 6870s.

 

[alex_69]

CPU: i7-920 c0 stepping @ 3.8
GPU: 2x xfx hd6950 2GB
Mobo: MSI ECLIPSE
Ram: 6GB ddr3 1600
PSU: corsair tx850

Resolution: 1920*1080

V-Sync: On
FOV: 70
Motion Blur: On
Texture Quality: ultra
Shadow Quality: ultra
Effects Quality: ultra
Mesh Quality: ultra
Terrain Quality: ultra
Terrain Decoration: ultra
4x MSAA
Antialiasing post: high
Motion Blur: on
Anisotropic filter: 16x
Ambient occlusion: HBAO


Min: 52
Max: 63
Average: 59.61

this was a test with vsync on, later i will post on with vsync deactivated

------------ VSYNC OFF ----------------------

Min: 56
Max: 136
Average: 83.08

 

[gerardfraser]

The game runs sweet for me,but I do find if I did nothing in the game I would still be able to finish it.

BF3 Jet mission going hunting 1920x1080.
Fraps Ultra v-sync.
4MSAA X16AF ,HBAO
580 SLI 3GB CARDS,2600K CPU

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S21Mz63NGr0

 

[alfa147x]

I'll do this in a few:
Intel i7 2600k @ 3.4 GHz
Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
16 GB RAM
Dual MSI N460GTX HAWK @ 750mhz
1920 x 1200

 

[sigurros81]

I hooked up a second 6870 yesterday to run Crossfire, had to download the latest application profile, i think it's version 4, to not get this weird stuttering when I play multiplayer.

Everything on ultra with these eceptions:

shadows: high
Post AA: off (I think this is the biggest killer of FPS and I think it makes everything look blurry anyways)
AA: 4x
SSAO on


I get a constant 40-60FPS in Caspian Border

Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention my specs--I7 950 3ghz, 12gb ram, 1920x1080. On a side note, I'm able to run Crysis 2 with everything maxed out with a constant 40-60fps, no highres pack installed.