Advice on GPU + 120Hz

[Skynet5]

Hello,

I have a rather faithful 5970 which when paired with my Benq 120Hz monitor played BFBC2 easily at 120fps. This was an absolute joy.

I am pretty good at FPS games in general, and do notice input lag and refresh, so consider these more important that maxing the settings to Ultra. So I'm pretty clued up on input and display components. I never use crap stuff in this department.

With BF3 I can only get consistently above 60 fps on High settings with 0xAA, so I have locked it at 60fps (GameTime.MaxVariableFps 60).

But now I'm really not enjoying the 60fps and feel I can't get the balance of dropping graphics anymore to be pleasing on the eye. Plus, being a reasonalbe player I don't like the fact I can't have at least 2xx AA to ensure I see enemies clearly in the distance.

So will a single 7970 or 680 get me up to 120fps if I keep the graphics at high, hbao + 2xAA? I don't mind my current settings, but definitely want to enable some AA and hit 120fps. I have not seen a review that will confirm this, although I haven't looked too hard if im honest.

My PSU is a very good one (BeQuiet) but only 750W. I new this was a bit skimpy when I bought it 3 years ago (didnt have any other instock when I bought all the components) but with gfx requiring less and less power I'm hoping I can cfx/sli anyway now.

Any advice/expeirence would be much appreciated.

 

[Skynet5]

If you are a competitive gamer, and play BF3 on medium/ high mix, may I suggest a 680gtx.

I have recently acquired one and play BF3 with the fore mentioned settings and enjoy 120-160 FPS with my i7/680gtx combo on my 120mhz monitor.

These figures are in a 64 man Caspian Border Server (WonkaWarriors).

Hope it helps.

AM

This is great news. I only have a 750w and I know it will drive 2x 680 but probably not 2x7970.

 

[Skynet5]

It might seem like a silly suggestion but i thought competitve gamers turned details down in game deliberately to remove clutter from your view.

If that is the case anything from a 480 upwards can run 1080p @ 120Hz on medium.

I run either high or medium on my o/c'ed 480 to keep frame rates up and either enjoy the view or get serious!

Sadly your 5970 is probably just VRAM limited.

We do. Well, I'm not really competitive - I did a little bit back in my early 20's.

Problem is AA...and I think nvidia are better at this.

Defo VRAM limited at the moment (my 5970 is the 1GB version).

Think I'll pick up 1x680 this weekend, and then get another when prices fall.

Either way I'm sure I'll be getting improvements.


I notice that the 680 only comes with 2GB! I guess this is fine for a few years at 1080p.

 

[Skynet5]

I second the above, like you I'm using a 120Hz monitor and am sensitive to fps drop / input lag. My spec is in my sig and even on a modest "High" setting with occlusion effects disabled it's still not a *solid* 120fps. On large 64 player maps it dips to 60ish (shock horror)

Waiting for whatever comes after 7990

::edit:: at 1080p. I do have an eyefinity setup but forget it for BF3, nowhere near enough horsepower

Change of mind. OC are out of stock, so i wont bother this weekend driving round to them. Think ill wait forthe prices to drop amd just get 2 680s in a couple of months.

Hopefully at high and 2xAA ill get my 100+ frames.


Shame that 2 generations on and im having to step down in quality of play.