Battlefield 3: Will you be going SLI, or waiting for the next wave of cards?

I mean you gotta expect bugs in beta? Thats why they call it beta testing...you are testing the horrible bugs for bf3.

Now if retail hits and all these horrible bugs are still around, then Dice fails miserably.

I wont even go that far. They have way too much to fix and I don't expect them to have it done in the next 18 days. The scope of the game is so ambitious I'll forgive them for not having everything 100%, this game is still amazing. My problem is I don't want to pay for a half assed game. Once it's worthy of my $$ they can have it.

I wont be hard on them.
 
I wont even go that far. They have way too much to fix and I don't expect them to have it done in the next 18 days. The scope of the game is so ambitious I'll forgive them for not having everything 100%, this game is still amazing. My problem is I don't want to pay for a half assed game. Once it's worthy of my $$ they can have it.

I wont be hard on them.

Too each there own I guess. But when you compare beta to retail....I mean come on.

Calling a Beta a half-assed game tells me you made your judgement of the final product already, and its not even out.

It's like Beta testers for SWTOR. Saying the game sucks and it wont be good....yet ITS BETA
 
Yes, but it's not just minor bugs we're talking about here. The game's a wreck, and the code needs to be finalised well before the date it's actually released to the masses, so they've got less than 2 weeks to fix all this. It's not going to happen.
 
Yes, but it's not just minor bugs we're talking about here. The game's a wreck, and the code needs to be finalised well before the date it's actually released to the masses, so they've got less than 2 weeks to fix all this. It's not going to happen.

Very much true, But this beta was ready weeks before it was released. For all we know this could be an old build from early Aug/Sept.

I remember reading Open beta was ready to go in the middle of Sept. But they were waiting on Consoles.

So For all we know, this open beta are playing is over 4 weeks old.

IF they were working on new code/bugs etc since Sept 1st. And game comes out Oct 26th. That gives them a good 7 weeks to work on the game before its released (compared to the Open beta version we are playing now)
 
Well let me shed some light on this
I'm running 3 24" screens on 6970 Xfire, I checked mem usage @ 3600x1920 for BF3, It wsa 1560 mb with settings @ high and 0 AA, so for multi-screen gaming NV is out unless you snag up the 3GB cards.

Running 2 570's @ a resolution of 5760 x 1080, AA off, AF 16x, HBAO disabled, all settings ultra/high and the lowest fps I've seen in game is 45fps outdoors peaking at around 65fps - Which is actually quite smooth, indoors and in the tunnels I get a min of 60fps peaking at around 80fps.

Vram not yet maxed out:

vramuseage.png


Nothing wrong with multi screen gaming on NV hardware....
 
I daresay 1260MB suggests you are maxed out. The memory usage probably isn't going to reach 1280 on the nose, in the same way windows won't ever go right to 100% system memory usage, it tends to stick around 97-98% then start paging.
 
vram is a frame buffer, it'd wanna be maxed out otherwise it's underutilized - Memory management plays a role here.

I have no fps dips and performance is good, vram is coping just fine.

vram is not maxed out as upping the AA uses more vram.

vramuseage2.png
 
It might fill it more, but trust me, the game is being VRAM limited. You should be seeing pretty much 2GB usage at your resolution. Using AA would normally add far more than an extra 15MB, that's obviously all it can fit.
 
Too each there own I guess. But when you compare beta to retail....I mean come on.

Calling a Beta a half-assed game tells me you made your judgement of the final product already, and its not even out.

It's like Beta testers for SWTOR. Saying the game sucks and it wont be good....yet ITS BETA

It's like Samual morris says, it's not that there are a few bugs for them to fix. The game in it's current state is a buggy mess. I don't expect any company to be able to fix all of this stuff and I'm not trying to be negative about it. I expect them to squash quite a few but I woudn't hold it against them if they can't squash them all in time. I mean there is no feedback system where you can post bugs that you notice. It is a beta and I'm supposed to be beta testing but if they aren't soliciting feedback then it's obvious they will have bugs left over until they do a few rounds of patching.

That's all I'm trying to say. It's a great game and very ambitious by scope and they are gonna work hard. I just don't expect any miracles come launch time. Hopefully what you say is true and this game is a very old build. If the game comes out super polished I'd be shocked.

What I'd love to see is a thread that compiles verified bugs from the bata and then when the game launches everyone can discuss what bugs still linger and which ones were squashed.
 
It might fill it more, but trust me, the game is being VRAM limited. You should be seeing pretty much 2GB usage at your resolution. Using AA would normally add far more than an extra 15MB, that's obviously all it can fit.

Look, I'm not really interested in arguing the merits of AMD's 2GB of vram vs NV's 1.28 - 1.5GB of vram, however, I have screenshots disproving your generalizations of vram useage, I also have a system running very smoothly with framerates that are in the ballpark that everyone seems to be getting at high to very high resolutions and gameplay that is smooth and fluid with no sudden fps dips or choppiness.

So I'll trust my experiences with NV hardware and what I'm personally seeing on my three displays over your overgeneralized expert opinion.

The fact is, that in my experience, NV hardware handles BF3 just fine in surround, with good fps and no fps dips or choppiness - This is coming from someone actually running NV hardware in surround - If my words not good enough, then good day to you sir because I'm not getting into another argument over AMD's 2gb of vram vs NV's 1.28 - 1.5gb of vram.
 
vram is a frame buffer, it'd wanna be maxed out otherwise it's underutilized - Memory management plays a role here.

I have no fps dips and performance is good, vram is coping just fine.

vram is not maxed out as upping the AA uses more vram.
we have the same setup! - the video cards, I'm using a 920 @ 4ghz with 12GB DDR3 1600, and a vertex 3

bf3.gif


1700mb =p
 
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i am waiting for next gen cards anyways, i sure wont buy a card soley cause of BC3, not until it is out for a week or 2.
 
As to the VRAM issue, I'm definitely seeing my combined usage top 3gb on my 6950 xfire setup. To my knowledge, it's being reported correctly, but who knows. That's at 2560x1600 with I believe 2xmsaa.

Now, my question to everyone else is how bad their "tearing" "glitches" or whatever you want to call it is when you're outdoors? I've tried different driver versions incl. the preview ones , but still get pretty terrible black horizontal bar flickering and other texture glitching that makes it borderline unplayable until I get indoors. Problem is only in bf3, so I'm hoping this is just a beta problem and other people are running into similar issues?
 
I really REALLY REALLY wanted to wait. I promised myself I would...but I honestly enjoy the BF3 beta too much.

For me, waiting until the next generation would mean playing BF3 for several months at less than optimal settings (ATI 5970 at 2560x1600 can't cut it). So I went ahead and picked up two MSI 580 3Gb Lightening Xtremes...

$1200 later, I'm good to go :)

I figure they'll still be worth something on eBay if I need to upgrade Q1 2012.
 
I really REALLY REALLY wanted to wait. I promised myself I would...but I honestly enjoy the BF3 beta too much.

For me, waiting until the next generation would mean playing BF3 for several months at less than optimal settings (ATI 5970 at 2560x1600 can't cut it). So I went ahead and picked up two MSI 580 3Gb Lightening Xtremes...

$1200 later, I'm good to go :)

I figure they'll still be worth something on eBay if I need to upgrade Q1 2012.

Congrats!
 
I am now thinking I will wait at least for Kepler information and specs, if not the launch.
 
I have an unlocked 6950 to stock 6970 specs and I cannot get greater then 30fps in the outdoor sections of Metro... I have a second 6950 inbound specifically for this game.
 
Runs just great on my CF 5870's so i will stick with them for now, the beta has a few buggy issues, but after playing for a couple of days the experience has improved tremendous, it's a beta so cut DICE some slack. Hopefully get some Caspian gameplay before the beta ends and DICE sort out most of the glaring bugs, expect a few patches come release :)

One bug that stands out is the dynamic terrain damage system, i managed to run through a bomb crater only to be thrown to my death halfway across the map.
 
Probably going to snag a used 1.5gb 580 as soon as I can. My old 295 is doing alright but I really see the limits of such low vram these days.
 
I wonder how much vRAM will be needed for bf3 ultra @ 1080p with details maxed
 
I am now thinking I will wait at least for Kepler information and specs, if not the launch.

rumors have it that 28nm midrange kepler will have around 560 cores for $349.

if true, i think getting two of those in sli would be a great deal.

but im wont be upgrading until new consoles come out, it will be only then that we will see true dx11 games running with proper coding.
 
Added a second 470 last week. Frame rates are decent (40-65 FPS) but vram @ 5760X1080 is almost maxed out. However I shouldn't need to turn my heat on much at all this winter.:rolleyes:
 
will stick with my 6950, i think its ridiculus to drop 700 bucks worth of video cards just to play a game that is not all that amazing...
 
Running 2 570's @ a resolution of 5760 x 1080, AA off, AF 16x, HBAO disabled, all settings ultra/high and the lowest fps I've seen in game is 45fps outdoors peaking at around 65fps - Which is actually quite smooth, indoors and in the tunnels I get a min of 60fps peaking at around 80fps.

Vram not yet maxed out:

vramuseage.png


Nothing wrong with multi screen gaming on NV hardware....

How does it run with some low AA enabled? I'm tempted to go triple screen for this game but I'd want at least SOME AA I'd think..

One 570 right now, I could add a second..
 
Running crossfire 6950s right now & its not enough gpu power to run eyefinity on the Caspian Border Map. Game ran perfect in Metro, with low settings but I wana be able to turn up settings to at least high and get descent framerate on the bigger conquest maps. Going tri 6950s soon or quad-fire with 6990 + 2x 6950s

The benchmarks I've seen all over the web indicate 3 cards are kind of optimal for crossfire/SLI. A fourth GPU will likely not make much difference, so I'd save yourself a few bucks and just grab the 3rd 6950 instead of springing for the 6990.
 
will stick with my 6950, i think its ridiculus to drop 700 bucks worth of video cards just to play a game that is not all that amazing...

Agreed, although a second 6950 (unlocked to 6970) would give you nearly 100% boost in frame rates in many games, and nowadays, you can get a 6950 2Gb for ~$250 (or even less if you really shop around). To me, that would seem reasonable to double my performance, although I have to admit, I'm currently waiting for the 7000-series Radeons right now.
 
I'll be waiting for the release of the actual game. If i'm not getting decent 35+ FPS then I will probably get another 580
 
Agreed, although a second 6950 (unlocked to 6970) would give you nearly 100% boost in frame rates in many games, and nowadays, you can get a 6950 2Gb for ~$250 (or even less if you really shop around). To me, that would seem reasonable to double my performance, although I have to admit, I'm currently waiting for the 7000-series Radeons right now.

I think at the moment, the general consensus is that you shouldn't necessarily be investing for a lot of headroom, but if you're anticipating not having playable/enjoyable framerates in something you're planning on playing (BF3), then picking up the most reasonable option to get you to that point makes sense.

Its also not like its completely dead money picking up a 6 series amd or a 5 series nVidia at the moment, as you'll probably be able to recoup at least a chunk of that when you move to the new series. Obviously you'll lose some money in the changeover, but that's the cost of playing the titles you want to, how you want to, in the meantime, especially given that we still aren't 100% sure of when the new upgrade paths will actually be available.
 
As the date for battlefield 3 approaches I think I might wind up getting a 6950 1GB card.... as it would be a marked improvement over my 280GTX.

I keep telling myself to just wait for the 7000 series, but that could be six months from now. Hell even if I sell my 280GTX for 75 dollars that would put me at 150 dollars out of pocket for a standard XFX 6950, if for whatever reason I wanted to bump to super awesome fast action I could always drop in another one and CrossFire them, by that time I'm sure all drivers and patch issues would be worked out in Battlefield 3
 
I got another gtx570 in the mail. Hopeing to play this game in 3D good when the retail drops.
 
my GTX 460's are struggling with the beta. i have to run a mix of med and high settings, most of which are at med, to get 60+ fps. anything lower than 60 jitters pretty badly. i'll upgrade to the next generation flagship single card.
 
my GTX 460's are struggling with the beta. i have to run a mix of med and high settings, most of which are at med, to get 60+ fps. anything lower than 60 jitters pretty badly. i'll upgrade to the next generation flagship single card.

I have a same problem, but i'm not that patient anymore. Earlier I was hoping for AMD to get their cards out there around the BF3 launch, but now i have daily fights with myself not to buy GTX 580 this late. I noticed that there are no deals on GPU's anyways, what's up with that, you would think that bunch of people would like to upgrade now.
 
I have a same problem, but i'm not that patient anymore. Earlier I was hoping for AMD to get their cards out there around the BF3 launch, but now i have daily fights with myself not to buy GTX 580 this late. I noticed that there are no deals on GPU's anyways, what's up with that, you would think that bunch of people would like to upgrade now.

if i knew that upgrading to a single GTX580 would solve the jitter i would consider doing it. it will be interesting to see what happens once the final game is released. if 40fps on a single 580 ends up feeling more fluid than 60 fps on my 460's (as an example), i'll probably bite the bullet.
 
I have a 5870 .. but I also have a 30 inch monitor.

I have had to reduce settings to medium and reduce resolution (letter box) to get it to run OK.

I will be picking up a 7xxx card the day they come out.

Your biggest problem is the lack of a Quad core. Even BFBC2 shows a massive increase in framerates going from dual to quad. Even a Q6600 would improve your game greatly.
I am using a 5850 at stock clocks, settings all high. I tried it with a Pentium G620 dual and then plunked my 2600K back in and it was night and day. Don't spend money on a GPU till you upgrade that CPU!
 
Just installed the 2nd 6950 on Monday.

Will be sticking with a single monitor@1920x1200.

Now just have to decide between cheap x6 or BD, when available.
 
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