• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Battlefield 3 GPU worry’s….Q6600 @3Ghz

Bobmunkhouse

Bobmunkhouse

Bobmunkhouse

Associate
Joined
5 Nov 2005
Posts
2,242
Hi all

I know the Battlefield 3 GPU question is getting a bit old but still not clear what my plan should be….

I have a Q6600 @3Ghz which I was thinking of replacing but now that bulldozer is a fail I think I may wait it out until something new comes along and also I don’t believe BF3 will need much more CPU power then I have now……

So that leads me on to GPU question, I have a 280GTX which has been great no issues and lasted a long time and I was thinking of maybe waiting for the ATI 7000 series but not sure if my cpu would just massively bottle neck it and also I would have to play BF3 on Medium settings until the 7000 series comes out….. So what do you think, should I just get a 6950 2GB or a 570GTX 1.2GB and will this run at max with 2x AA at 1680 x 1050 or should I just wait and upgrade whole system?

Thanks a sorry for ramble…
 
I would say you can't go much over that because your RAM is only 5400 - 667mhz DDR.

You are currently at 3ghz = 3000mhz = 9 x 333 (333 x 2 for DDR = 666)

So basically if you push further you are overclocking the RAM.

Try to use a memory divider that will allow you to run faster, but still keep the RAM at or below 333.
 
I would upgrade the Q6600, lets face it, it was a great chip, but it's old now, I've still got mine in my HTPC can't let it go.

Anyway, i benchmaked BF3 Beta on both my systems.

Q6600 @ 3.2GHz 4GB DDR2 RAM GTX 560 Ti
i5 2500k @ stock 4GB DDR3 GTX 560 Ti

Massive performance boost on the i5, it doesn't even compare.

Go for the 2500k, it will last a good time, it'll handle any game and in a year or so you can easily overclock to 4.8 GHz if it needs it.

Fantastic chip.
 
Why not buy the game and decide what to do after playing it?

You might be pleasantly suprised by how well your PC handles it or you might decide a full upgrade is on the cards.
 
The 6950 and 570 probably won't max it out with high frame rates at that resolution, not a single one anyway, CF would. May need to drop a couple of things to High from Ultra.

BF3 really isn't that CPU intensive, unlike BFBC2. If you have a quad core of any kind, then thats you sorted on the CPU front, it seems to use the GPU much more.
 
I think you're fine, CPU-wise. As for graphics cards, I don't think any of the currently available single-GPU cards can "max" it (as in, everything on Ultra with at least 2xMSAA). I can't max it fully with my rig, I'm running a mix of High/Ultra (textures on High for example due to only 1GB GDDR5) with 2xMSAA at 1080p. Works fine, but if I switch a couple more things up to Ultra it'll start stuttering in places.
 
My mate had a Q6600 with a 5870. He said he ran BF3 on mid settings just to be playable.

He then upgraded to a i5 25000 and wow didn't he get a performance boost. His old 3D mark vantage score was P13504, that went up to P18543.

He said he could have BF3 on high settings running fine at 1920 x 1080.

As for the graphics card, I have a MSI 6950 2GB , i7 920, 6 GB of Ram running at 1920 x 1080.

I ran BF3 great, all on high settings with 2 AA getting 60 + FPS on metro and 40 - 60 FPS on Caspian border.

I did test out ultra, ran fantastic on metro but 64 Caspian border was a bit to much of a hit, with the FPS dropping by about 15 - 10n leaving me to play with 30 - 50 and some times dipping below 30 when things really kick off.

Realistically on a 6950 your looking to play on High settings, the game looks fantastic on high but you could pick up another 6950 once the 7xxx series is out on the cheap and max BF3 no problems.

Ive just upgraded from a 4890 and got a massive boost in performance in BF3 and overall. Im waiting to see if the 7xxx are something special to see if I upgrade again or just get another cheap 6950 and crossfire. But at the moment im really happy with one 6950, means I can play BF3 with decent FPS :D
 
Last edited:
You people saying that "it will be fine" haven't obviously done any real life benching on the game with a Q6600, bindip is right.

Like i said, I tested BF3 on a Q6600 @ 3.2 ghz and a i5 2500k with a GTX 560 Ti, the performance difference was night and day, the q6600 barely done medium/high details with a decent frame rate.

The 2500k had all high details 2xaa 1080 50fps + constant.

The Q6600 was a great and very robust CPU, but just doesn't cut it anymore.
 
Last edited:
Well benchmarks contradict your statements. I personally tried it on an Athlon X4 640 and then on a 2500k and there wasn't much difference. Maybe a frame here and there.

The GPU utilisation is at 99% for me, so definitely no CPU bottleneck there. For reference, Bad Company 2 hovers around 60-70% GPU usage, so its relying on the CPU for help.
 
Well I am only going by my personal experience.

The q6600 is 5 years old, the 2500k is less than 1.

Newer faster architecture will obviously influence new games today to run a lot better and a 5 year old counterpart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom