New Video Card Recommendations for Battlefield 3

Smokey26 said:

Yeah if you use alot of heavy video editing programs then i understand why you're going for the 570 instead.And hey if you got the money then go for it,just wanted to make sure that you're not wasting any money.

Good points, about the OCing.
But by the same token the 570 can be OC'd to do battle with the 580.

This can be argued for most any hardware though, and is the reason many OC in the first place. To gain the performance of the next step up.
When looking at it like this though, I think the major thing is if you want to OC or not.

Myself for example, I always OC my CPUs.
But I do not (or seldom do) OC my GPU. In many cases I run it stock, or get a factory OCd one.

Either the 560 or 570 should be a very card regardless IMHO. Really comes down to what you intend to do with it the most.

Smokey26 said:

Yeah if you use alot of heavy video editing programs then i understand why you're going for the 570 instead.And hey if you got the money then go for it,just wanted to make sure that you're not wasting any money.

Fair enough, and the whole reason that I started this thread. I wasn't discounting your advice...just explaining why I am considering a turn in the other direction.

Obviously, spending less money is always better for me. I have lots of other places that I can put money.

The 570 is really my spending limit though, as the rest of my PC is going to burden down anything higher than a GTX570.

Wishmaster said:

Myself for example, I OC mu CPUs.
But I do not (or seldom do) OC my GPU. In many cases I run it stock, or get a factory OCd one.

Same boat here. Generally speaking, i dont' really really high end video card setups anyway...hence never really had the desire to overclock it to wring out as much performance as possible.

And I'll be honest, I appreciate the reference design fan layout on the GTX570's. I like the fan on one end, exhausting out the back of the case. These other designs look cool, but often pump more heat into the case and heat up other components. The GTX560TI's all seem to use non-reference design cooling setups...

pparks1 said:

And I'll be honest, I appreciate the reference design fan layout on the GTX570's. I like the fan on one end, exhausting out the back of the case.

Same here.

Smokey26 said:

Nice FPS though,if you run on ultra vs high do you see any noticable differences ? Pretty weird that you only have 3 fps difference with ssao disabled though,since its a very gpu heavy feauture.And its quite possible that they optimize the engine even more after the beta.But are you enjoying the game ?

Ok so I tried it on Ultra settings, once again I cannot be sure if the settings took effect, it appeared to be running between 32 and 40 fps which is great if the settings are on.

It ran smooth anyway and looked great. (I have attached a load of screen shots, 1 with the default "Ultra settings", a couple of normal ones plus a before and after shot of me shooting the hell out of a pillar all shots were with ultra settings.)

I have to say so far I am loving the game, it's very playable, runs really well and looks awesome. I am really looking forward to the finished game based on my experience of the beta.

Cheers

Paul.

pparks1 said:

paulpicks21 said:

I guess all I can say is that if it stays around 52-65 fps then I am happy, it looks real pretty on these settings so it will do the job for me.

I think a GTX 570 would cut it with everything on high and a few of the flash bits.

But ultra is reserved for GTX 580+

Thanks for taking the time to post and showing the screenshots of not only your game view, but also your settings. I'm the type who is perfectly content with backing down some of the visuals...especially when I can hardly see the difference. If the change between High and Medium is not immediately evident and I have to search for what is different than I just stick with the lower setting to reduce load and ensure smooth gameplay. I'd bet that even with a 580, I would set most things to Medium...it's certainly what I did with BF2 back in the day...even though my video card could no doubt run at High.

I'm pretty much set on the GTX570 at this point. I was going to go 560TI, but think I will opt for the 570 as it has more CUDA cores and will provide more bang for the buck with my video editing software. I've been leaning towards the EVGA with the reference design fan, as I've had good luck with them, like their warranty, and the card itself is practically identical in size to my current Evga 9800GTX+. Price is running around $329 (with free Batman Arkham game)...and now just waiting for either free shipping or a price drop from NewEgg. Still got 2 more weeks or so until my birthday and nearly a month till Battlefield.

No worries, I have to say I think a GTX 570 will be spot on for this game, as I said before I think it will run it perfect on high settings so you should be fine.

You are in the same boat I just got out of.

I was wrestling with the 560 TI vs 570 and 6850 vs 6950 and budget and case.... etc, etc

I managed to get a Newegg Open Box deal on an MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr III PE/OC and I am so glad I did. The card features sturdier (military class) components and overclocks like a champ. Stock clocks are 770 Core, 1540 Shader, 2000 Memory. I currently have it OCed to 870/1740 and have not touched the memory yet as I just finished moving everything to a new case I got Tuesday. I needed a new case because the mini-tower case I had did not have good airflow.

Now that my temps are under control though I am going to go for 900 Core and then up the memory speed as well just to see how it performs. I do not think I will run it that fast though.

Using the MSI Afterburner software for over clocking I have created 2 primary profiles (5 can be created). One for 2D operations and one for 3D operations. So for daily use the card uses stock settings, very quiet and cool, then for 3D gaming it loads the OC profile.

At 870 core the cards fans hit 60% and do become noticeable, as do my case fans, but when I am gaming either my speaker volume is up or my headphones are on. For more modest OC settings 820-850 Core, if the case is cooled well the fans may be closer to the 50% speed "sweet" spot where they are not very noticeable.

The TFIII card is one of the higher end 570s. But with it OCed to 870 Core it starts banging heads with the 580s on SOME games for a lot less money.

If you do chose to go with a reference card be careful OCing. Some don't OC well and not all have the built in overload protection of a multi phase PWM design.

FYI, prior to my find I was looking at the EVGA Superclocked 560TI and the MSI 560 Twin Frozr II.

Happy Hunting!

Muad Dib said:

If you do chose to go with a reference card be careful OCing. Some don't OC well and not all have the built in overload protection of a multi phase PWM design.

I'm almost positive I am going for the reference design. I have 0 intention of overclocking this at all. I managed to get BF3 up and running on my 9800GTX+ with settings at low. It's fine by me, but it has a hard time going to full screen without crashing the beta 285.38 nvidia driver. So, i'm pretty darn sure I will be 100% satisfied with a GTX570 at stock clocks, full screen, with settings around Med-High.


Edit: eVGA GTX570 reference design card ordered. $329 and a free copy of Batman Arkham game.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

[QUOTE=pparks1;1599379]

Muad Dib said:

I'm almost positive I am going for the reference design. I have 0 intention of overclocking this at all. I managed to get BF3 up and running on my 9800GTX+ with settings at low. It's fine by me, but it has a hard time going to full screen without crashing the beta 285.38 nvidia driver. So, i'm pretty darn sure I will be 100% satisfied with a GTX570 at stock clocks, full screen, with settings around Med-High.


Edit: eVGA GTX570 reference design card ordered. $329 and a free copy of Batman Arkham game.
Newegg.com - EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Given the info in your signature I am surprised you are trying beta drivers. JMO, I stick with the WHQL driver versions (Nvidia and ATI) unless the beta drivers offer something I just can't live without. But I am using Afterburner v2.20Beta6....

The EVGA GTX570 card you ordered has great reviews and EVGA has a great rep. Enjoy!

Muad Dib said:

Given the info in your signature I am surprised you are trying beta drivers. JMO, I stick with the WHQL driver versions (Nvidia and ATI) unless the beta drivers offer something I just can't live without. But I am using Afterburner v2.20Beta6....

I believe that the BF3 beta required the Beta drivers...that's what some of my other gamer friends said. And Nvidia specifically made improvements with 285.38 to improve BF3 beta gameplay by around 30%...hence the reason I am running them. I of course, made a system image before install so I could revert back if need be.

Muad Dib said:

The EVGA GTX570 card you ordered has great reviews and EVGA has a great rep. Enjoy!

Thanks, I'm looking forward to getting this new card.