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Battlefield 3 with socket 775

Soldato
Joined
24 Jan 2006
Posts
2,624
Hi,

I'm currently running a Q6700/Q6600 as my main PC as it's handled nearly everything I threw at it over the years. Having installed a GTX560Ti I noticed a significant boost in FPS, nearly double that of a GTX280. Tracking this in MSI afterburner showed typically 60-80% GPU usage at high settings while playing multiplayer.

I popped onto Smogsy's server earlier for a few maps and was on the side that took a real kicking :rolleyes: though while I was there I set MSI Afterburner to logging and recorded the data in the graph below.

System
Q6700 @ 3.6Ghz (400 x 9)
P5N-D n750i
8GB Kingston DDR1066 @ DDR800 4 x 2GB
Palit 2GB GTX560Ti
LG 120Hz monitor ... forget the model but it's discontinued now.
Res 1080p

Looking at the graphs, the bit where it hits 120fps is loading between levels. Excluding this the average in actual gameplay is 42fps. The average GPU usage, again in gameplay is 70%.

The only reason for such low GPU usage is a CPU bottleneck in multiplayer so I'm now looking at Sandy B. The GTX560;) is still a good upgrade from a GTX280 where I averaged 21fps with lower settings but clearly the S775 Quad doesn't let it stretch it's legs.

Thought this might be useful for those out there, who like me can't find any meaningful data for our elderly systems.

AD


bf3cpus.jpg


Click to make it bigger
 
I am running battlefield 3 at 1680 x 1050 at max settings with an e8400 @ 3.6GHz with a gtx 460 but if i go beyond that things start to struggle.
 
I had a e8400 before this setup. bf3 was pretty choppy, the ingame perf graph was very spiky. since I upgraded, smooth as hell. thats with the same GPU. I think it was optimized for the new quads and not the old quads because people with q6600 also find it choppy.
 
All down to GPU power in BF3.

I've seen C2D E8400s at stock do well with a 560 ti. Makes me want to upgrade but the only big step up would be a GTX 580 which is still ridiculously priced. Must be patient.
 
The game plays perfectly, 40fps is more than enough for decent gameplay. It's only with the stats you can see what's going on.

Would be interested to see similar stats from an I5 users with similar card.

AD
 
Eh, when your CPU is at 100% usage and your crossfire GPU's are only using 50% each, then your going to get a benefit from a new CPU.
Talking multiplayer anyway.
 
This game gains 0% improvement from better CPUs or higher CPU clock spped. It is only GPU dependant.

The published benchmarks were completed using scripted campaign events and show unsurprisingly that there is a defined workload for the CPU which most CPU's cope with and increasing the CPU speed does not have much effect. I spent enough time getting shot in the campaigns to see that when you get to point x event y happens.

Multiplayer is very different, I get a significant increase in FPS from overclocking the CPU from default 2.6 to 3.6. The data clearly shows the GPU is only 60-80% utilised and the frame rate spikes a lot even though half the time I'm running across open ground with a fairly consistent view.

In addition it's not just about CPU, the platform bandwidth is a factor.

AD
 
Running bf3 1920x1200 on high. I went from a dual core e6600 running at 3ghz with a 560 gtx was getting 20-30 fps.
To a phenom 2 x4 3.4ghz with 560 gtx same settings now i get 60-70fps.
Also put in an ssd and wow 15secs windows boot time and about 20sec for bf3 to load up.
 
Decto,

I have a similar system as yourself. Could you tell me how you output that graph?

My HardwareMonitoring.hml outputs differently.



I also get low GPU usage on my 480.
 
Last edited:
Decto,

I have a similar system as yourself. Could you tell me how you output that graph?

My HardwareMonitoring.hml outputs differently.



I also get low GPU usage on my 480.

I don't know a way to directly output a graph, the MSI file is comma separated data. (.csv)

I opened it with excel and imported the data using the comma as the separator. Then it's just a few minutes to create the graph.

For the averages I quote I excluded any data where I wasn't in actual gameplay.

AD
 
I don't know a way to directly output a graph, the MSI file is comma separated data. (.csv)

I opened it with excel and imported the data using the comma as the separator.

I cannot see in Afterburner any .csv files. I will look into it further.

I also reckon my Q6600 is bottlenecking my 480. SB for me soon also!
 
I cannot see in Afterburner any .csv files. I will look into it further.

I also reckon my Q6600 is bottlenecking my 480. SB for me soon also!

Sorry, it's not actually a .csv file but it is formatted the same.

File is .hml

Open with excel or another spreadsheet and it should let you reformat the data into columns.

AD

Edit:
Have an I5 and 16GB in the draw .... motherboard in the post as I couldn't decide which one when I ordered the other parts.
 
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