Graphics Card for BF3

[kissenger]

Now if you could stretch it to 250 (this is getting a bit stretch armstrong) then there is a 6970 at OCUK for £250 and that would really do the job. The 6970 will perform almost as good as a 580 but at an amazing price.

Here is an idea of the sort of bracket of performance each tier of card is in http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/22/battlefield_3_multiplayer_performance_iq_review/3

The 6970 is a really good card and it will better a 570 in many games, but BF3 isn't one of them. If you look more closely at that review it doesn't show the 6970 beat the 570 at all. The 570 gets more FPS (albeit with SSAO instead of HBAO), including 10fps more as far as minimums go. It's misleading because it brackets the 580 with the 6970 and the 570 with the 6950, and if you look at any other performance analysis (e.g. Sweclockers, Bit-tech, Tom's) the 570 comes out on top every time. I read that it's because the 570 handles tessellation better, and there's lots of that in BF3.

But yeah, both great cards. I'd just go for whichever you can get the best deal on. And if you're definitely going to SLI, it would be the 6970, but if the main game you'll be playing is BF3, it would be the 570.

 

[Mr Krugga]

The 6970 is a really good card and it will better a 570 in many games, but BF3 isn't one of them. If you look more closely at that review it doesn't show the 6970 beat the 570 at all. The 570 gets more FPS (albeit with SSAO instead of HBAO), including 10fps more as far as minimums go. It's misleading because it brackets the 580 with the 6970 and the 570 with the 6950, and if you look at any other performance analysis (e.g. Sweclockers, Bit-tech, Tom's) the 570 comes out on top every time. I read that it's because the 570 handles tessellation better, and there's lots of that in BF3.

But yeah, both great cards. I'd just go for whichever you can get the best deal on. And if you're definitely going to SLI, it would be the 6970, but if the main game you'll be playing is BF3, it would be the 570.

Yes, the article shows apples-to-apples comparison and 6970 has more consistent framerates by a fair margin.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/22/battlefield_3_multiplayer_performance_iq_review/4

HD 6970 beats GTX 570 in most games. That's not to say it's better in BF3 as other reviews will show a different view:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/400

 

[RanxZy]

The 6970 is a great card for the money but if the op is used to nvidia they may find they don't fancy the red side.

 

[Mr Krugga]

I have not looked into them properly but the GTX 560Ti 448 cores could also be an option which just looks like a 570 in disguise and should deliver similar performance for about £60 less.

Well, the cheapest one is £227 at OcUK, that's £23 less than the cheapest GTX 570.

Still worth considering if you're on a tight budget though.

 

[RanxZy]

On viewing a few benchmarks for BF3 with the 560Ti 448 cores vs the 570 it's probably better to get the real thing especially if the price difference is that small.

 

[kissenger]

Yes, the article shows apples-to-apples comparison and 6970 has more consistent framerates by a fair margin.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/22/battlefield_3_multiplayer_performance_iq_review/4

No it doesn't. First of all the 6970 has a lower minimum frame rate and second of all it has an average 3fps higher than the 570. That's not a 'fair margin' in anyone's book.

But I would definitely suggest something's wrong with their test, because every other benchmark that's online shows the 570 winning by a real fair margin. That includes Sweclockers, Bit-Tech and Tom's - all reliable sites. Swe's shows the 570 with an average fps lead of 4fps (bear in mind this is on Caspian Border too), Bit-Tech's 5fps, and Tom's 5fps also, with higher minimums in each of those tests also.

Hardcop either just got a bad 570 or it's because they did their test at 1200p as opposed to 1080p, as in all the other tests.

 

[Mr Krugga]

 

[mranderson]

The only explanation is if reviewers used same driver versions. AMD cards tend to benefit more with future driver releases however having a 6870 competing with a 570 is realy impressive.

 

[Mr Krugga]

The only explanation is if reviewers used same driver versions. AMD cards tend to benefit more with future driver releases however having a 6870 competing with a 570 is realy impressive.

It really isn't competing with GTX 570 in any titles.

 

[kissenger]

 

[Mr Krugga]