Disappointed with SLI performance in BF3

[bbeatty172]

After installing the 2nd Geforce GTX 570 and enabling sli I was disappointed with the performance in BF3. Video settings are all maxed out and with v-synch off I will get 75-130 fps depending on the map. It looks great, but it at moments in the multiplayer game when there is alot of activity (vehicles, explosions and sounds) the gameplay will become very choppy. The in game fps indicator will turn from green to yellow and then it quickly goes back to all is normal. Frequently it will freeze and crash to desktop. Before going sli it ran pretty darn good, but i wanted to max all out. So far not getting the return I had hoped on the investment.

Any help would be appreciated. Maybe another component of my rig is hindering performance.


ASRock P67 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel P67

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost)

(2) EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570

(2) G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Using NVIDIA sound.

Thanks for your time.
Brad

 

[AntiZig]

well according to benches, your fps is normal for SLI 570s. as for choppyness, you sure it's not just server lagging?

try forcing triple buffering on through NVCP

I can't really tell you much more than that, fps wise and SLI wise, you're doing fine. I cannot imagine sli would give you stutter, so it must be something else.

 

[bbeatty172]

I dont think it is server lag, because I never experienced before upgrading to sli. Thanks for the tip on triple buffering, I will try that.

Could my processor or hard drive be causing a bottle neck?

 

[jaguarskx]

You are not the only person experiencing this issue. You can Google for "Battlefield 3 SLI problems."

 

[donkey2008]

Before going sli it ran pretty darn good, but i wanted to max all out.

First of all - ditto on the comment above. I was running a single GTX 470 with all graphic settings on High, eveything else (AA, HBAO) turned off except AF, which was set to 16x. V-synch off, FOV set at 90. The game ran super smooth.

But I got greedy....

I just HAD to see this game in all of its glory with all of the bells and whistles on my 46" LED. So I ordered a duplicate 470 off eBay, bought a new PSU to power SLI (Antec 650W replaced with an Antec 850W HC) and I am having the same experience as you - game looks wunderbar, but gets choppy during high-action sequences.

Through much testing I have narrowed it down to the MSAA 4x causing most, if not all, performance issues when running on "Ultra" settings. When I change the AA to off the game suddenly plays like I expect it to - smooth as butter with ultra textures/graphics at 100+ fps. The motion blur is annoying, but does not seem to affect my performance, so I left it on when testing (but I turn it off usually).

Personally, I do not think the problem is SLI, I think it is a problem with the way BF3 implements AA. I have NEVER been a fan of Anti-aliasing going back 8-9 years when ATI and Nvidia made it sound like it was the greatest thing since Jesus (marketing people, pfft). It always makes games look blurry and kills performance. Turning it off not only brings me McDreamy performance in SLI, but I think the game looks better. Win-Win for me

My 2 cents on the subject.

 

[jay2tall]

I'd turn on VSync, lock it at 60FPS and see what happens.

 

[bbeatty172]

Thanks for all the help. My "Best Answer" goes to donkey2008. I feel better now knowing that this isnt an issue with my build. The adjustment to AA like suggested seems that have corrected the stuttering issue. I really dont notice any negatives with it off. Thanks again for your time.

Always looking for friends on BF3, let me know if interested.
Brad

 

[bbeatty172]

Best answer selected by bbeatty172.