The AT Battlefield 4 F.A.Q., News, and Discussion thread

[skipsneeky2]

Other factors to consider: power use and price. The 290X uses far more power and produces much more heat. In addition, the 290X is hovering back up near the price of the 970 - the aggressive discounts are few and far between. These factors tip in favor of the 970, given your resolution and familiarity with the Nvidia ecosystem.

The 290 non x is cheaper then the 970 but there is simply 2 cons to it,i would need to buy a hdmi cable and i couldn't get a good looking hdmi pic on my t.v with my 770 if i tried.Going vga would require a goofy hdmi to vga converter as the dvi on the 290's won't support vga converters LOL.

I'm more interested in the 290 non x as the 290x apparently can't offer me nothing but headache and a obviously higher spending budget and i'm sitting at $360 as a max for a Gigabyte G1 970.Maybe as Gary Busey crazy my"special" needs are perhaps i am just giving this one just to much effort to think about.

Perhaps someone who has done a 290 to 970 upgrade and plays this game could chime in,these crazy BF4 singleplayer benchmarks are as useless as tits on a bull.:awe:

 

[Midwayman]

I'd go with the 290 non-x it's such a screaming deal of a card. Especially at 1080p you don't need the X for anything really. FWIW Mantle is pretty much flawless on bf4 (single gpu at least, can't comment crossfire) I use it 100% now. The one thing the average won't show you for mantle is that you'll have much higher minimum rates. Mantle really helped with the dips into stutter territory. I have my 290 locked @ 100fps (via frame limit) and pretty much never see it waver.

 

[skipsneeky2]

I'd go with the 290 non-x it's such a screaming deal of a card. Especially at 1080p you don't need the X for anything really. FWIW Mantle is pretty much flawless on bf4 (single gpu at least, can't comment crossfire) I use it 100% now. The one thing the average won't show you for mantle is that you'll have much higher minimum rates. Mantle really helped with the dips into stutter territory. I have my 290 locked @ 100fps (via frame limit) and pretty much never see it waver.

Not bad at all actually

 

[skipsneeky2]

Is anyone running a 970 at 1080p?What sort of frame rate are you getting at what fps? I ordered a 970 and looking to compare it to what my 770 gets.

Been a while since i played this,which driver version is best for both cards for benchmark purposes or simply stable game play?Will end up using something like Test Range as i can replicate scenarios

 

[GoStumpy]

Here is my Afterburner screenshot of me running BF3 @ Ultra settings 1280x1024 resolution, running a Q8200 @ 2.3ghz, 4GB ram, and a HD6870 GPU:

Thinking I might see a benefit from overclocking to 2.8ghz once I can put 4GB of higher speed Ram in?

 

[leeland]

Looking for some help with some random and now constant stuttering in the game.

I just built a new high end rig...vid card is a 970, i7, 16 gb ram, SSD

Initially the game ran smooth as butter on ultra...fps never really dipped below 50.

I am on the latest drivers...and regardless of what graphics setting I am in I get stuttering when I am moving around...every 5-15 seconds.

task manager shows CPU in the 70% range.

I went into the nvidia control panel and changed "maximum pre-rendered frames to 1" based on a recommendation I found but that hasn't fixed it.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Lee

 

[skipsneeky2]

Here is my Afterburner screenshot of me running BF3 @ Ultra settings 1280x1024 resolution, running a Q8200 @ 2.3ghz, 4GB ram, and a HD6870 GPU:

Thinking I might see a benefit from overclocking to 2.8ghz once I can put 4GB of higher speed Ram in?

Sucks your not using your I3,i remember when i bought a i3 2100 and you participated in my thread showing charts like above with your 6870 and i3 2100 in BF3.It was a excellent pair for 1680x1050 if i recall.:thumbsup:

Is that rig out of commission?As for your Q8200 any overclock and additional memory would be great unless you run low and 32 bit which worked for me on another rig with 4gb.YMMV but that is what happened with me anyways.

 

[Termie]

Looking for some help with some random and now constant stuttering in the game.

I just built a new high end rig...vid card is a 970, i7, 16 gb ram, SSD

Initially the game ran smooth as butter on ultra...fps never really dipped below 50.

I am on the latest drivers...and regardless of what graphics setting I am in I get stuttering when I am moving around...every 5-15 seconds.

task manager shows CPU in the 70% range.

I went into the nvidia control panel and changed "maximum pre-rendered frames to 1" based on a recommendation I found but that hasn't fixed it.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Lee

Can you list out your specific components, as well as the monitor/resolution?

I'll just point out that your CPU use is relatively high - since that's an average, one of your cores could well be hitting 100%.

Also, just to make sure it's not a network problem, see if the issue exists in the Test Range or single-player game.

 

[leeland]

Can you list out your specific components, as well as the monitor/resolution?

I'll just point out that your CPU use is relatively high - since that's an average, one of your cores could well be hitting 100%.

Also, just to make sure it's not a network problem, see if the issue exists in the Test Range or single-player game.

Good point on the test range portion...didn't even think of that.


PC is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1

I did cycle my router...didn't get a chance to test that out.

You pointed out a good point...

I did monitor the CPU and GPU in the game and the graph was flatline.

I changed the settings to low and got the same results.

FPS was averaging well over 50

I had task manager open in another window and network and disc were very low...CPU was the only thing that was high...at 70 to 85%.

Tonight I will see if the restart of the modem and router fixes anything...if not I will go into the single player / test mode.


In the event all that checks out and I get the issue online any recommendations for that to tweak anything?


Thanks again in advance for any replies.


Lee

 

[Termie]

Good point on the test range portion...didn't even think of that.


PC is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1

I did cycle my router...didn't get a chance to test that out.

You pointed out a good point...

I did monitor the CPU and GPU in the game and the graph was flatline.

I changed the settings to low and got the same results.

FPS was averaging well over 50

I had task manager open in another window and network and disc were very low...CPU was the only thing that was high...at 70 to 85%.

Tonight I will see if the restart of the modem and router fixes anything...if not I will go into the single player / test mode.


In the event all that checks out and I get the issue online any recommendations for that to tweak anything?


Thanks again in advance for any replies.


Lee

Just to double-check, what's your resolution?

At 1080p/Ultra, with a nearly identical setup (OC'd 4770K, single 780 Ti), I average around 100fps, so 50fps sounds a bit low, but maybe that's really a minimum you're talking about.

That CPU usage is just really high - maybe check Task Manager to see if other apps are using some clock cycles. I'll double-check my CPU usage to give you a comparison point, but I think it's closer to 50-60% (will update when I have the chance).

 

[scooterlibby]

Looking for some help with some random and now constant stuttering in the game.

I just built a new high end rig...vid card is a 970, i7, 16 gb ram, SSD

Initially the game ran smooth as butter on ultra...fps never really dipped below 50.

I am on the latest drivers...and regardless of what graphics setting I am in I get stuttering when I am moving around...every 5-15 seconds.

task manager shows CPU in the 70% range.

I went into the nvidia control panel and changed "maximum pre-rendered frames to 1" based on a recommendation I found but that hasn't fixed it.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Lee

I had great performance for about a year, but over the last few months I've been getting debilitating FPS dips. I've tried many fixes, including a fresh install of Windows 7, but it's still a problem. I usually just have to reset my PC and it clears it up for awhile. I'm interested if you find a solution. Specs in my sig.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Performance with Ultra has been goofy for me at least,my 770 right down at 1366x768 with 4x MSAA would randomly drop into the lower 60s for no apparent reason.Sometimes cpu or sometimes gpu would cause the dips so i ended up running high+4x MSAA.

Not sure if a patch came out or something in the last month or 2 since i played this but my new 970 simply isn't showing this type of behavior.Even odder is the load on my cpu which has changed from 6 good threads loaded on my i7 3770 to pretty much a good clean even load across all 8 threads.

I am under the impression with how dramatic the difference is that either Dice cut Kepler out or Maxwell has been supported much more so over Kepler with the newest drivers.

 

[GoStumpy]

Sucks your not using your I3,i remember when i bought a i3 2100 and you participated in my thread showing charts like above with your 6870 and i3 2100 in BF3.It was a excellent pair for 1680x1050 if i recall.:thumbsup:

Is that rig out of commission?As for your Q8200 any overclock and additional memory would be great unless you run low and 32 bit which worked for me on another rig with 4gb.YMMV but that is what happened with me anyways.

I am using the i3 as well, I have to PC's side by side for gaming with a friend.. this was on the 'other' PC.

I did notice the CPU was near maxxed all the time so I'm hoping that an overclock from 2.3 to 2.8ghz will help out a bit... if I had settings on HIGH, the GPU would only be at ~65% utilization... on ULTRA it's near pegged.

Yet even at 65% utilization, the framerates weren't that great, dipping down into the 30's sometimes.

 

[Midwayman]

I am using the i3 as well, I have to PC's side by side for gaming with a friend.. this was on the 'other' PC.

I did notice the CPU was near maxxed all the time so I'm hoping that an overclock from 2.3 to 2.8ghz will help out a bit... if I had settings on HIGH, the GPU would only be at ~65% utilization... on ULTRA it's near pegged.

Yet even at 65% utilization, the framerates weren't that great, dipping down into the 30's sometimes.

In multiplayer, CPU is a huge deal. I'm not sure if mantle will work with your GPU, but its a huge help for weak CPUs.

 

[skipsneeky2]

I am using the i3 as well, I have to PC's side by side for gaming with a friend.. this was on the 'other' PC.

I did notice the CPU was near maxxed all the time so I'm hoping that an overclock from 2.3 to 2.8ghz will help out a bit... if I had settings on HIGH, the GPU would only be at ~65% utilization... on ULTRA it's near pegged.

Yet even at 65% utilization, the framerates weren't that great, dipping down into the 30's sometimes.

Yeah you should get as much out of that chip as you can for the overclock,not sure if your 6870 could really handle high or ultra with the 1gb vram buffer though even with the right chip.It's certainly different then BF3.

I believe medium is about all 1gb can do officially,YMMV it seems for people running other settings with or without stutter.Had a gtx650 hitting 1gb on high,ran miles better on medium.

 

[GoStumpy]

I don't have BF4 if that matters.. heh. Too cheap to upgrade for the exact same game ;-)

The only reason it could handle HIGH or ULTRA is because I'm running 1280x1024 resolution, nowhere near 1080p

 

[skipsneeky2]

I don't have BF4 if that matters.. heh. Too cheap to upgrade for the exact same game ;-)

The only reason it could handle HIGH or ULTRA is because I'm running 1280x1024 resolution, nowhere near 1080p

Oh i see what you did there,had to double look but your chart was of BF3.Yeah i wouldn't blame you for posting that here since that BF3 thread is dead.

I remember you running your 6870 in my i3 2100 thread and it was very balanced with that cpu at 1680x1050.Buddy is using the 1280x1024 monitor?

 

[GoStumpy]

Yeah, the small monitor is on the secondary PC.

I no longer have the 1680x1050 monitor, I upgraded to 1920x1200 and I could use a new GPU

I wonder if crossfire 6850's would work? My friend has an identical HD6850 in his PC that I bought at the same time as mine, I would just need to upgrade my Mobo to support crossfire, which would be nice because then I could give my 1150 board to the secondary PC.

Then my friend can upgrade his video card lol.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Yeah, the small monitor is on the secondary PC.

I no longer have the 1680x1050 monitor, I upgraded to 1920x1200 and I could use a new GPU

I wonder if crossfire 6850's would work? My friend has an identical HD6850 in his PC that I bought at the same time as mine, I would just need to upgrade my Mobo to support crossfire, which would be nice because then I could give my 1150 board to the secondary PC.

Then my friend can upgrade his video card lol.

Much better single cards to be had these days,i wouldn't bother unless the deal cost you minimum.Even crossfire/sli 2gb with the latest games isn't really working out well.

 

[leeland]

I am gaming at 1920x1080

I went through the whole power cycle of the modem, router and switch...

changing nothing else the stuttering went away...


ping remained solid...I had it good for about an hour last night...then one match it seemed to start to come back and I was like FFS!

then I died and didn't have it again...odd.

I was watching to see if something was throttling my internet connection...while it was a saw tooth pattern nothing even sniffed my limits of up or down...so I am going to just pass it off as randomness.


Also to answer the question, there is usually nothing else that is running when the CPU is that high. Only FF and BF4...everything else is 0%

 

[Mondozei]

I had great performance for about a year, but over the last few months I've been getting debilitating FPS dips. I've tried many fixes, including a fresh install of Windows 7, but it's still a problem. I usually just have to reset my PC and it clears it up for awhile. I'm interested if you find a solution. Specs in my sig.

This is a somewhat late reply, but Nvidia has dropped a lot of Kepler support in their drivers recently, that's a known issue and could be a factor. When I say dropped I don't mean stopped supporting, just doing less and not fixing new issues as they arise as frequently.

 

[skipsneeky2]

With this game,would you use DSR or use scale resolution?Would you use both MSAA and scale resolution together or ditch MSAA and up scale resolution?

My t.v is native 1366x768, 970 is severely overkill for this resolution in this game so i need something added in there.DSR has had meh results in other games so i am thinking scale resolution?

Insane performance but if this was a 144hz panel with GSYNC i am still not averaging 144fps with this set up,i'm held back by something as i often hit about 98-101.Lowest so far 89fps.I spike to about 165fps occasionally but 101 is about average.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Tried me 2732x1536 Ultra with 200% scale resolution and 4x MSAA,memory went to 3550mb then DX Error which crashed the game.Ran out of memory on my"4gb 970" LOL. Wanted to see how it looked.

I guess you would need tri sli 970 to really be able to use those settings and ejoy the experience,then you need to turn them down lol.

LOL,just tried it at 175% and no MSAA and google crashed with a whoa message followed by BF4 with the same DX error,that is funny.

 

[SeductivePig]

Is this game worth buying (premium edition) for $22.50? I was a big fan of BF3 but heard this BF4 was full of aimbots, bugs, and too COD like.

I can max this game, btw.

 

[Phoenix86]

At this point, probably no. Next expansion is around the corner.