Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked

Test Setup And Sequence

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Test Hardware
Processors Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge) 3.4 GHz (34 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 1 - Cell 0 Intel Core i3-2105 (Sandy Bridge) 3.1 GHz (31 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 3 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 2 - Cell 0 Intel Core i7-875K (Lynnfield) 2.93 GHz (22 * 133 MHz), LGA 1156, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 3 - Cell 0 Intel Core i3-530 (Clarkdale) 2.93 GHz, LGA 1156, 4 MB Shared L3, Power-savings enabled
Row 4 - Cell 0 AMD FX-8150 (Zambezi) 3.6 GHz (18 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3+, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled
Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V Pro (LGA 1155) Intel Z68 Express, BIOS 0801
Row 6 - Cell 0 Asus Maximus III Formula (LGA 1156) Intel P55 Express, BIOS 2001
Row 7 - Cell 0 Asus Crosshair V Formula (Socket AM3+) AMD 990FX/SB950, BIOS 0813
Memory Crucial 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-1333, MT16JTF1G64AZ-1G4D1 @ 1.65 V
Row 9 - Cell 0 G.Skill 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-2133, F3-17000CL9Q-16BZH @ 1.65 V
Hard Drive Intel SSD 510 250 GB, SATA 6Gb/s
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6990 4 GB GDDR5
Row 12 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 6970 2 GB GDDR5
Row 13 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 6950 2 GB GDDR5
Row 14 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 5970 2 GB GDDR5
Row 15 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 5870 1 GB GDDR5
Row 16 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 6870 1 GB GDDR5
Row 17 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 5850 1 GB GDDR5
Row 18 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 6850 1 GB GDDR5
Row 19 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 5770 1 GB GDDR5
Row 20 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 5750 1 GB GDDR5
Row 21 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 4870 512 MB GDDR5
Row 22 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 4850 512 MB GDDR3
Row 23 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 4770 512 MB GDDR5
Row 24 - Cell 0 Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512 MB GDDR4
Row 25 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 5570 512 MB GDDR5
Row 26 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 3 GB GDDR5
Row 27 - Cell 0 Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 1.5 GB GDDR5
Row 28 - Cell 0 Asus GeForce GTX 570 1.25 GB GDDR5
Row 29 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 1.5 GB GDDR5
Row 30 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 1.25 GB GDDR5
Row 31 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 1 GB GDDR5
Row 32 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 1 GB GDDR5
Row 33 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 295  896 MB GDDR3 * 2
Row 34 - Cell 0 BFG GeForce GTX 285 1 GB GDDR3
Row 35 - Cell 0 Zotac GeForce GTX 275 896 MB GDDR3
Row 36 - Cell 0 Zotac GeForce GTX 260 896 MB GDDR3
Row 37 - Cell 0 BFG GeForce GTS 250 1 GB GDDR3
Row 38 - Cell 0 BFG GeForce 9800 GTX 512 MB GDDR3
Row 39 - Cell 0 Asus GeForce 8500 GT 256 MB DDR3
Power Supply Cooler Master UCP-1000 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating System Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectX DirectX 11
Graphics Driver AMD Catalyst 11.10 Preview 3
Row 45 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce Release 285.62
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
  • kyosuke
    pffft. My HD 6870 handles Ultra maxed just fine!
    Reply
  • jrnyfan
    Great review, thank you very much!
    Reply
  • great review. but I am curious if a gtx 560ti can run ultra on a playable fps? because I am about to buy one :D
    Reply
  • orellius
    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)
    Reply
  • orellius
    blah, I guess my first comment didnt come through, nevermind then! ha
    Reply
  • spentshells
    Wow does it look good, I played the demo on Xbox did it ever look dumb
    Reply
  • m0th2
    sirus3020great 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.
    Reply
  • kcorp2003
    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. :)
    Reply
  • aznshinobi
    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.
    Reply
  • canadian87
    Frikkin' finally, now I can upgrade safely. :)
    Reply