BF3 VRAM usage

[cj3waker]

I have posted in a few threads lately trying to dissuade people that 1.5gb or even 1gb of VRAM is not an issue at 1200p or less. On stock ultra settings, at 1080p, I am easily hitting my 1.5gb VRAM wall of my GTX 480s. I am often over 1500mb, highest I have seen is ~1520, I dont think the game can actually allocate all 1536mb.

Recommendations for 560ti SLI or 570 SLI (especially for bf3) dont seem to cut it anymore(unless they are the higher VRAM versions), we are getting into very VRAM heavy games these days, and anyone running 560ti SLI or greater is easily going to max games like BF3 at said resolutions.

Obviously for a single card gamer it wont be as important, because turning up the settings to a 1.5gb usage, wouldnt be feasible due to fps. But for anyone thinking of upgrading to SLI/CFX in the future, I would highly consider the VRAM on the card you are buying

The pic is "stock" ultra settings at 1080p. Im on a 32 player server, and nothing crazy is even going on, only one other play in the screen, no crazy firefights, explosions, vehicles, etc

So my bottomline recommendation would be a 560ti 2gb or 6870 2gb, both of which are amazing budget cards, and do very well in SLI/CFX, anything greater would be...greater!

 

[-Sn1PeR-]

Yep. I don't understand people who are still buying 1GB 6950's when the 2GB card is typically $30 more.

I do believe BF3 does some sort of dynamic vram scaling, but I've never seen this confirmed. I often see it hit 1.7GB of usage on Ultra at 1080p.

 

[Whach]

I agree! returned my 570's to Newegg just in time. Now, I'm all sorts of confused on what to do. Get 2 7970's and call it a day and live with the AMD CF drivers, get the 2x 2.5GB 570's or just wait till Nvidia decides to announce something. Either way, vid cards with minimum 2 GB from now on.

 

[KaptainKhaos]

I'll check the same settings on my 7970 and report back

 

[DuronClocker]

My GTX 460 is using all 1GB with 1080p @ ultra (except SSAO instead of HBAO, motion blur off, no MSAA).

I'd love to be able to turn on HBAO and at least 2x MSAA (LOVE how this game looks with those two), but I could probably only pull that off if I dropped back to 720p. Looking forward to a 2GB 7850/7870.

 

[DualOwn]

64 player servers demand 2gb+ of ram at 1080p and higher.

 

[tangoseal]

When I play on my 6990m in 64 player maps I am quite sure that the game is using all of the 2GB of GDDR5. I hope so .... thats what I paid for it for in the first place.

 

[Forceman]

64 player servers demand 2gb+ of ram at 1080p and higher.

The number of players has nothing to do with how much VRAM is used (except perhaps a tiny amount needed to draw additional player models, but certainly not enough to matter).

 

[Haiku214]

As seen on your screenshot, is it natural for dual cards to not run at 100% full load?

 

[-Sn1PeR-]

As seen on your screenshot, is it natural for dual cards to not run at 100% full load?

No. My cards are pinned at 99% all the time. One quirk I have noticed is that if I boot up BF3 with my side monitors in my eyefinity group powered on (running 1920x1080), gpu usage sits around 66%. If I turn the side monitors off prior to booting the game my performance is much better, with gpu usage pinned at 99%. I've been very impressed by crossfire scaling in BF3.

 

[Met-AL]

So.....
does this actually effect performance or is it just you guys staring at your OSD telling you a game is using all your RAM?

Tip: resize or crop your gimormous screenshot so the words in your post are read without either zooming out or scrolling sideways.

 

[needmorecarnitine]

Tip: resize or crop your gimormous screenshot so the words in your post are read without either zooming out or scrolling sideways.

mmm

I'm only seeing one and its 1600x900. What resolution are you using? 800x600?

 

[cj3waker]

So.....
does this actually effect performance or is it just you guys staring at your OSD telling you a game is using all your RAM?

Tip: resize or crop your gimormous screenshot so the words in your post are read without either zooming out or scrolling sideways.

Its already downsized from 1080p, for a screenie where numbers are important 800x600 doesnt really do anything but waste page length

 

[KaptainKhaos]

tested Operation SwordBreaker - max settings on BF3 @ 1080p - most vram i saw used was 1454 mb, so it uses a fair amount Definetly need 2gb vram or more - hate to know what it will use at 2560 or eyefinity res.
Update - BF3 Multiplayer - On Metro - 1669mb used, guessing probably more on Caspian etc.

 

[WiL11o6]

KaptainKhaos,

How are your frames with that 7970 of yours at 1080p? Any stuttering at all? I am selling my SLI GTX 570s soon and want to make sure a single 7970 is going to be a good change because of the extra VRAM, minus the GPU power.

 

[Met-AL]

mmm

I'm only seeing one and its 1600x900. What resolution are you using? 800x600?

Yes, I am holding on to my 1994 Packard Bell 14" CRT and my Trio 64v+ with 512MB of VRAM. I can only run 640x480 with True Color, otherwise 800x600 is down to just high color.

LOL, when I made the post, it was huge. I am running 1600x and still had to scroll side to side to read his words. In this case, should have cropped the photo, selecting the relevant information in the upper left and ditched the rest. Then it would have still been large enough to be readable.

 

[Hanakuso]

Just upgraded to the 7970 and it seems the VRAM usage is higher then my 6970. FPS is much better and i'm doing ultra now compared to high. My res is 2560x1440

 

[KaptainKhaos]

KaptainKhaos,

How are your frames with that 7970 of yours at 1080p? Any stuttering at all? I am selling my SLI GTX 570s soon and want to make sure a single 7970 is going to be a good change because of the extra VRAM, minus the GPU power.

Zero stuttering but i can't handle dips into 30fps territory so i tend play with all sliders set to low - averages over 100fps then