BF3 Video Card Upgrade Help!

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SupraSaiyan

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Apr 11, 2008
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I've done a lot of reading but many sites offer different opinions.

My rig is in my sig and it's time for gfx upgrade for BF3. The resolution will be 1920x1200.

What I'm looking for specifically is to play BF3 multiplayer (as apparently 64 player server requires more gfx power) at ultra settings. I don't care about future proofing (ie get 6970 now and add another later for etc etc new game). I just want to play BF3 at 1920x1200 at ultra settings online. As with everybody else, they don't have unlimited funds but rather than me specifying an amount, I just want to pay the least amount of possible. Obviously 6990 CF would be wonderful but for BF3 at my resolution, its overkill.

Heres what I've narrowed it down to from my research:

GTX 570 $290
ATI 6970 $350
6850 CF $260
5850 CF $260
560 Ti $270

I'm leaning towards the 6850 CF setup as it appears to be the best bang for my buck. What do you guys think?

Thanks!!!!!!
 
if you want to use the default Ultra settings don't those use MSAA? I think Radeons have problems with that.

Do you want to keep above a certain FPS?
 
You can turn of MSAA and still retain the Ultra details. The performance drop with any single card is too significant for me to use MSAA in BF3.
 
SupraSaiyan said:
Won't the 6850 cf outperform a single 6950???
Click to expand...



Probably but I prefer to use a single card to avoid any problems. Take a look in the AMD video subforum to see if people have been getting lots of problems with BF3 and Crossfire. If not, then the 6850CF might be the best choice. But you would also be limited to 1GB
 
GTX 570 should be enough if you turn down the AA a bit. It's playable at full Ultra but you might get some occasional slowdown.
 
The problem I see facing you is that 1Gb of video ram is already proving to be a real bottleneck in BF3, particularly on utlra settings. I suggest that the best cheap alternative (since you're willing to crossfire) is to go either with 2x6870 2Gb cards, or 2x6950 2Gb cards. There are also some 2Gb GTX560Ti cards on the market, but they seem grossly overpriced to me (over $300 each!).

In any event, if you're buying now, getting less than 2Gb video memory is stupid IMHO.
 
Considering how low the market price is for 470s now I'd get two for around $300 and call it a day. A moderately overclocked 470 will yield 570 performance to put things into perspective.
 
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