Slow BF3 Map Load times since changing graphics card

[TNGL]

I didn't know whether to post this in the graphics forum, or this forum. Anyway, since I've changed to an an ATI 6950 2GB, map load times have been very bad. Anything from 30 - 60 seconds. Before, it only used to take 10 to 15 seconds. Has anybody else had the same problem, and how did they resolve it? I've tried that ATI Tray Tools fix, but that didn't work.

My specs are:
i7 930 @ 2.8Ghz
4GB XMS3 @ 1600Mhz
Sapphire ATI 6950 2GB (running with latest drivers)
Corsair 750W
Asus Rampage II Gene
10,000RPM 70GB Raptor.

 

[TNGL]

As far as I am aware, there is no fix, yet.

What card did you have before?

A GTX295, but the micro-stuttering issues were a pain (dual core card), it only had 896mb of mirrored VRAM (1.79GB in total) and it was also a DX10 card. Also planning on flashing the 6950 to a 6970 soon.
Have you been experiencing the same problem as myself? I might try and downgrade my drivers and see if that will improve anything. I've also read (on another forum), that a guy with 4GB of RAM upgraded to 8, and that fixed it for him. But I think it all points to the graphics card as that's the only thing I've changed.

 

[TNGL]

Fast load times for me with an GTX 480, it was slow in the beta but for release it's great.

Lucky you, eh?

 

[TNGL]

OP can you clarify what you mean by "load time"? Is it the time from launching from Battlelog, or from switching one map to another after a round is over?

Both. When I join a server, the game will start instantly (almost), but then loading the map will take a long time. Then, when the map changes, it also takes a long time to load.

 

[TNGL]

I have to say, it takes about the same time as you quoted in your OP (30 to 60 seconds) for my maps to load.

The only exception to this is once I have rotated through a number of maps, and then even on exiting the game and joining a different server, load times are nearly instant.

My set-up is GTX480 SLI.

I must also say, if the same map is played on for the second time in a row(on the same server), loading will be near-instant. I will see if any working fixes/driver updates come out, if not I'll probably upgrade my RAM to 8GB and buy an SSD.

 

[TNGL]

From all the replies, it sounds like this is just a caching issue which SSDs can completely mitigate. I for one am happy to stick with my current setup - this issue could be resolved very easily if DICE just made the end of round summary a lot shorter or optional.

Yeah. What would be nice is if it would start to load the next map in the 40, wasted seconds it takes for it to show me the awards I've earnt.

 

[TNGL]

Have the settings definitely stayed the same since you changed cards, could be something like the game detected more VRAM, so increased the texture size which in turn would hit load times.

I've been thinking about the settings myself. I think I may try and delete the Battlefield 3 folder, and reset the settings back to auto. Perhaps this could 'recalibrate' things.

 

[TNGL]

Just an update: It seems that by closing firefox before the first map loads, the rest of the maps will also load a bit quicker than what they would. I think this is because of my lack of RAM.

 

[TNGL]

I suppose an obvious question is: have you turned up your graphics settings since installing your new card? The game takes a significantly higher time to load levels on Ultra than it does on Medium - this is just part and parcel of the game's detail. Upgrading your graphics card, then, doesn't just mean more in-game FPS... it can mean slower loading times, for all of that eyecandy!

Though, hardware wise, I found upgrading from 4->8Gb of RAM helped nicely to give me a nice memory overhead. I think RAM and hard-drive speed are the two most important pieces of hardware in loading a map.

Yeah, I've put some things on Ultra, turned up the AA and put everything else on high.