Should 6950 1gb be able to handle ULTRA on Battlefield 3 BF3?

[tacloban]

Hey Everyone, Noob Here...

Just built my computer about a month ago here is a rundown of what I've got going:

i5-2500k (water cooled with corsair h50) (got from Craigslist for $40 new )
asus p8p67
corsair vengeance 4gb (should I upgrade to 8?)
1tb samsung hdd (ive been considering getting an SSD)
Antec Neo Eco 620 Watt PSU
HAF 912 case

I want to overclock but every time I start reading about it, its really complicated and I give up. I always justify that its not that much extra performance (not noticable anyway) or that its not worth the stability issues.

Anyways, My reason for this post is that I can play battlefield 3 fine at 1920X1080 on HIGH settings, but when I use ULTRA, my computer struggles and its laggy/glitchy. I was under the impression that my radeon 6950 1gb and my given setup would be able to handle these ultra settings without problem?

Please let me know if my first impression was correct, or if I just built a computer not capable of these ultra settings.


Thanks,

Ben

 

[gmkos]

It sounds like your hardware is performing as expected, Tom's did a great review on BF3 performance, its worth taking a look at:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063.html

You may want to consider a 6950 Crossfire setup if you need better performance, although there are apparently some current issues with Crossfire in BF3 which you may want to wait for those to be resolved first.

 

[jyjjy]

What's complicated about overclocking an i5-2500k? All you are doing basically is raising the multiplier. Considering with a decent cooler you can likely get up to around 4.5ghz it is certainly a notable increase. Stability shouldn't be an issue. If an OC makes your system unstable then it is too high and you should lower it. If you keep the OC to reasonable level though that should never be an issue.
Anyways seems that an HD6950 is not going to cut it for maxing out BF3 at 1080p. You'll have to turn down a setting or two I guess. I would start by lowering AA.

 

[ilysaml]

Who said this ? the game is playable @ ultra with 41-58 FPS
Speaking for myself, CPU @ 4.0 GHz, GPU 890 Core Clock, 1375 Memory Clock

 

[jyjjy]

I'm just going by the Tom's article. That sounds fine to me too but I guess different people have different standards.

 

[ilysaml]

Even with 30-35 FPS i see the game is still playable and no lag at all.

 

[gnomio]

Just to note Gpus are all about throughput. If its cores are asking for data faster than its bandwidth can handle then its going to perform poor as no latency hiding techniques used by software designers can fix that.

 

[jyjjy]

The bandwidth of PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots is more than sufficient for current cards. Not sure why you bring it up.

 

[gnomio]

The bandwidth of PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots is more than sufficient for current cards. Not sure why you bring it up.

nothing to do with bandwidth on PCI-e talking about bandwidth connecting the core with its memory. The more Alus with no cache hierarchy you need a high-bandwidth connection to its memory.
On a high end gpu you approximately 1Tb/sec of bandwidth.
Bypassing bandwidth constraints can only done by the program designers that's why some games perform poorly because they completely mess up their maths

 

[Okcookienc]

I'm running 2x GTX 570s in SLI, and I have to turn down AA to be able to play with 60+ FPS in Ultra. When I turn AA up past 4 with HBAO on, my FPS drops below 60. So, I would say that your single 6950 won't max out BF3... you may want to add a second 6950 for Crossfire. You could also turn AA down to 2 and turn off HBAO. That will certainly help.

 

[ilysaml]

V.sync limits the FPS to monitor's refresh rate, so if you are not getting a constant of 60 FPS you certainly have a problem with your SLI setup.

 

[jyjjy]

V.sync limits the FPS to monitor's refresh rate, so if you are not getting a constant of 60 FPS you certainly have a problem with your SLI setup.

No one mentioned V-Sync. Not sure what you are trying to say really.

 

[neonneophyte]

disable 4xMSAA, driver problems with it atm. the hit in fps is pretty big

 

[ilysaml]

No one mentioned V-Sync. Not sure what you are trying to say really.

Was replying to okcookienc, he said he's not able to get 60+ on ultra.

 

[Okcookienc]

Was replying to okcookienc, he said he's not able to get 60+ on ultra.

I don't have v-sync enabled. I do get 60+ FPS on Ultra, just not consistently when I have AA set to something high (like 8 or 16, MSAA set to 4/8/or 16 and HBAO turned on. But, when I set AA to say 4 or 8 and MSAA to about 4 or 8, I get speeds ranging from just below 60 FPS to over 100 FPS. It all depends on the environment. Note: I'm playing some guess work here, as I haven't yet systematically experimented with AA and MSAA. The point is: when creating a custom display profile in BF3 (or just about any game), Ultra refers to things like texture detail, effects, shadows, etc. Maxing out a game is a different story - it entails all settings on Ultra, HBAO on, and 16X AA and MSAA. I can't max out BF3 with 2x 570 SLI and get a constant 60 FPS.

 

[ilysaml]

That's weird, same rig specs (i7 2600K, 2 570s in SLI) ranging 84-90 FPS with everything on ultra i'm not aware of what you're experiencing, MSAA is 4 max.

Enable V.Sync and see if you're getting a constant of 60 FPS, running the game without V.Sync enabled will cause screen tearing and you're almost having stuttering.

 

[Okcookienc]

That's weird, same rig specs (i7 2600K, 2 570s in SLI) ranging 84-90 FPS with everything on ultra i'm not aware of what you're experiencing, MSAA is 4 max.

Enable V.Sync and see if you're getting a constant of 60 FPS, running the game without V.Sync enabled will cause screen tearing and you're almost having stuttering.

I'm not sure if I've just gotten used to it or if I'm really not getting any screen tearing with v-sync off. It doesn't appear to be tearing. I do get occassional stutter, but I'm wondering if that's because I haven't disabled HT in the BIOS. Tomorrow I'll try running the game with everything maxed - AA and MSAA cranked all the way up and HBAO on with all Ultra settings - and I'll see what kind of FPS I get. I have a halloween party thing to get to, so I won't get a chance to experiment until tomorrow. I'll get back to you, though, and let you know.

 

[ilysaml]

Som sayings state that V.Sync can help to prevent "Microstutter" by enforcing a fixed regular frame update rate no matter how quickly the next frame is or isn't ready the framerate will always be at 60

 

[Okcookienc]

That's weird, same rig specs (i7 2600K, 2 570s in SLI) ranging 84-90 FPS with everything on ultra i'm not aware of what you're experiencing, MSAA is 4 max.

Enable V.Sync and see if you're getting a constant of 60 FPS, running the game without V.Sync enabled will cause screen tearing and you're almost having stuttering.

Ok so I maxed out all my settings (including MSAA and AA with HBAO on) any my FPS never drops below 60. I don't think I'm getting any stutter with v-sync disabled, and I like watching the FPS rocket past 100 in low texture environments so I'm gonna leave it off.

 

[ilysaml]

so you're good to go

 

[tacloban]

Who said this ? the game is playable @ ultra with 41-58 FPS
Speaking for myself, CPU @ 4.0 GHz, GPU 890 Core Clock, 1375 Memory Clock

I'm not exactly what my FPS is while playing on ultra settings. I'll test them using FRAPS (if thats still reliable testing to use), and then get back to you.

The concern that I had is that the game lagged and pause for a half second (sometimes less, sometimes more).

That is why it was unacceptable to play at ultra. When I play at high settings, everything runs fine,

but c'mon, nobody wants to just play at high settings, I want to squeeze every part of the game from the computer!!!!

 

[tacloban]

Here are my FRAPS Benchmarks when my settings are on ULTRA:

Frames 2201
Time (ms)60000
Min28
Max45
Avg 36.683

This just is not good enough. there is too much lagg and shutter.

Here are my FRAPs for Settings on HIgh


Frames 4505
Time (ms)60000
Min 60
Max 94
Avg 75.083


Will these numbers go up with an overclock?
I'm using stock speed i5-2500k on asus p8p67 mobo with corsair h50 watercooling
I'm also using a Radeon hd 6950 1gb graphics card by sapphire

Please let me know what you think

 

[ilysaml]

As i stated above, my GPU was OCed to 890/1375. now it's OCed to 920/1400. With CPU @ 4.0 GHz. Yes OCing should give you a good boost. You should never drop lower than 40 FPS, i was ranging from 41 to 58 depending on the location.

 

[tacloban]

Best answer selected by tacloban.

 

[Max1s]

But I dont think OCing the i5 is gonna be worth the risk. Look at that Tomshardware BF3 performance article, it runs the same with an i3,i5, and i7. Its not CPU heavy at all. But if you have gpu problems just turn off all the useless filtering and even v.sync.

Oh and isnt there a way to flash a 6950 to a 6970?