Benchmark Results: Nvidia Graphics Cards, High Quality
These are our largest Nvidia-based charts, including 11 different cards at three resolutions. Note that the GeForce GTX 400- and 500-series cards are DirectX 11-capable, and the 200-series boards are limited to DirectX 10. This is an important distinction because, even though the 200s throw up some reasonable performance numbers (especially the GTX 295), they’re not doing as much work. The game automatically dials Terrain Quality down from High to Low, yielding some pretty nasty artifacts as shadows interact with the environment.
Hopefully Nvidia can fix this in its drivers. For now, those older Nvidia cards don't do Battlefield 3 any favors; stick to the newer stuff (or go the AMD route—incidentally, AMD’s DX 10 cards don’t have this problem).
Update: Nvidia let us know that the issue we encountered is caused by a shadow corruption bug in its driver, which should be fixed in the next release. The company says it hopes to have that build available within a couple of weeks.
Mentally filtering out the 200-series boards, the rest of Nvidia’s armada scales down fairly evenly. At 1680x1050 (sticking to High quality settings), I’d want at least a GeForce GTX 560 Ti.
The same card would probably suffice at 1920x1080 too, though a GTX 570 would be even better.
Owners of 30” displays already threw down some big bucks for 2560x1600; a GeForce GTX 590 is the right two-slot solution there. If you’re willing to go SLI, two GeForce GTX 570s perform better (and cost less), as we’ll see in a few pages.
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pffft. My HD 6870 handles Ultra maxed just fine!
Great review, thank you very much!
great review. but I am curious if a gtx 560ti can run ultra on a playable fps? because I am about to buy one
nevermind my comment about 560 Ti, I see it in the benchmarks (high) but it is not on the main page list of cards (missed putting it there?) (yes, I used the search feature in my browser, no 560 to speak of)
blah, I guess my first comment didnt come through, nevermind then! ha
Wow does it look good, I played the demo on Xbox did it ever look dumb
great review. but I am curious if a gtx 560ti can run ultra on a playable fps? because I am about to buy one
Without any form of AA you can run it on ultra and get over 30fps on every map @ 1920x1080 easily (over 60 when close quarters). Depends on your cpu and if you OC your gpu though. i have mine at 940/2100 and its always above 40fps.
AWESOME! thank you very much for this. looks like i wont have to upgrade my CPU then. i have HD4870 and i play this on medium settings but still i want the ultra settings.
Great read, lovely to see a wide assortment tested, specially my 5850. Thanks for taking the time Chris, I'm sure it must've taken FOREVER to bench and swap all those cards.
Frikkin' finally, now I can upgrade safely.
looks like my e8500 and gtx 460 can pull through this game (hopefully)
I run BF3 in 1920x1080 ultra MSAA4x with my X4 955+HD5770 and it works fine. Playable 30fps
running x fire 6950's and besting 78FPS avg fps on ultra, i5 2500k W/ Thank God no problems with multi GPU
For anyone interested I get
min - 21 Fps
Max - 71 Fps
Avg - 41.2 Fps
Everything maxed at 1080P
I7-2600k @ 4.3 + Sapphire 6950 2gb Flashed to 6970 with stock clocks 880 1250
For anyone interested I get
min - 21 Fps
Max - 71 Fps
Avg - 41.2 Fps
Everything maxed at 1080P
I7-2600k @ 4.3 + Sapphire 6950 2gb Flashed to 6970 with stock clocks 880 1250
Great article and I love that picture with a pile of graphics cards
Just one obvious thing missing: WHERE ARE SLI 560 Tis??? I was kind of considering picking up a second card for this game... come on, I'm sick of Tom's ignoring that card so often.
Good to see that. And yet I hear the game looks great... kudos to DICE for optimizing the game nicely!
Though I think my 560 Ti still doesn't need a pair if I tone down the settings a tiny bit
Also, 6950 kicked the 560 Ti nicely in this game
P.S. So the FX 8150 now has a Phenom name tag on it?
Great article and I love that picture with a pile of graphics cards Just one obvious thing missing: WHERE ARE SLI 560 Tis??? I was kind of considering picking up a second card for this game... come on, I'm sick of Tom's ignoring that card so often.Though I think my 560 Ti still doesn't need a pair if I tone down the settings a tiny bit Good to see that. And yet I hear the game looks great... kudos to DICE for optimizing the game nicely! Also, 6950 kicked the 560 Ti nicely in this game P.S. So the FX 8150 now has a Phenom name tag on it?
I actually don't even have two 560 Tis to show you, unfortunately.
Phenom? FX? Where? =)
Hey Chris, quick question, did you notice any micro-stuttering with the 6870 cards in crossfire? (kind of like that previous article that was up on toms a while ago). The performance of 6870x2 seems amazing for the price, and am really tempted to pick another one up for my system.
Great read, lovely to see a wide assortment tested, specially my 5850. Thanks for taking the time Chris, I'm sure it must've taken FOREVER to bench and swap all those cards.
Very welcome, glad you enjoyed it. Didn't take forever, just four very long days ;-)