BF3 CPU bottleneck? Really?

[B-Riz]

moonbogg, thoughts on 4 cores 8 threads for 2560x1440?

I am upgrading the monitor soon, dunno if I should grab the 3770k + Z77.

Though it is one 7950 for the next 6 months, CF after that.

 

[moonbogg]

moonbogg, thoughts on 4 cores 8 threads for 2560x1440?

I am upgrading the monitor soon, dunno if I should grab the 3770k + Z77.

Though it is one 7950 for the next 6 months, CF after that.

The CPU doesn't have much to do with resolution, so 4c/8t would do fine with that res. However, that res will destroy your video card.

 

[2is]

Disable HBAO, use FXAA instead of MSAA and that card should be able to handle 2560x1440 with relative ease.

 

[myocardia]

xx

 

[Hits9Nine]

I think it maybe a mobo setting, I have no FPS issues with my FX8120 @4.4 GHZ & 3 way sli 470 OCed @ 800/1600, or my i7 3820 @4.5Ghz with 3 way sli 570 @820/1900, single player or multyplayer @ 5770*1080 maxed... Something is up, those GPU's should be smashing balls all over the place with that cpu.

 

[moonbogg]

I think it maybe a mobo setting, I have no FPS issues with my FX8120 @4.4 GHZ & 3 way sli 470 OCed @ 800/1600, or my i7 3820 @4.5Ghz with 3 way sli 570 @820/1900, single player or multyplayer @ 5770*1080 maxed... Something is up, those GPU's should be smashing balls all over the place with that cpu.

Most of the time balls are being smashed, just not all over the place. On the hotel in Oman, balls are protected. On TV station in Sharki, balls escape smashing. Um, thats about it. Some other places, a single ball gets smashed while the other is spared, like in the middle of the beach area in Oman. All other times both balls are smashed.

 

[Arum]

Like others here I had to register to join in on the conversation.

Moonbogg - thanks for posting all your findings, it's been very helpful.

Pink FLoyd, Hrrnggh - thanks as well, good to see some others having drops.


I haven't done as extensive testing as others here but I can confirm that I am having problems in Gulf, Sharki, Karkand, etc.


I have 8150 FX OC'ed to 4.6 GHz, CFX HD 6970s @ 800/1400, 1080p (Field of view higher than default - 95 i think) and I get FPS that drop to 45 in the same places that mentioned - Radio Tower on Sharki, Hotel in Gulf. If I use default FOV then the min FPS aren't as bad...47-49 IIRC.

Only thing that seems to help is dropping the mesh quality down. With mesh at medium I can get mins in the 50s... Still not ideal though, I want everything to look great!

So I have to thank you all again since I have been combing the interwebs for information on MIN FPS, which is all I care about, to determine if I should update to a 3570K and Z77... From what I am gathering a 3770K might do the trick, but not a 3930k?? Crazy....


Moonbogg, any chance you are thinking of getting a 3770k and selling your 3930k to see if what Hrrnggh has found is true?


I really don't like that I can't hit a min of 60 FPS, which is what I was hoping to accomplish by buying a 3570K..

Hrrnggh, if you are there still, can you check your MIN FPS in sharki again with your FOV maxxed out? This should give you the worst case CPU load since you are "seeing" more. At least that is what I have found with my 8150 FX testing.

 

[moonbogg]

Like others here I had to register to join in on the conversation.

Moonbogg - thanks for posting all your findings, it's been very helpful.

Pink FLoyd, Hrrnggh - thanks as well, good to see some others having drops.


I haven't done as extensive testing as others here but I can confirm that I am having problems in Gulf, Sharki, Karkand, etc.


I have 8150 FX OC'ed to 4.6 GHz, CFX HD 6970s @ 800/1400, 1080p (Field of view higher than default - 95 i think) and I get FPS that drop to 45 in the same places that mentioned - Radio Tower on Sharki, Hotel in Gulf. If I use default FOV then the min FPS aren't as bad...47-49 IIRC.

Only thing that seems to help is dropping the mesh quality down. With mesh at medium I can get mins in the 50s... Still not ideal though, I want everything to look great!

So I have to thank you all again since I have been combing the interwebs for information on MIN FPS, which is all I care about, to determine if I should update to a 3570K and Z77... From what I am gathering a 3770K might do the trick, but not a 3930k?? Crazy....


Moonbogg, any chance you are thinking of getting a 3770k and selling your 3930k to see if what Hrrnggh has found is true?


I really don't like that I can't hit a min of 60 FPS, which is what I was hoping to accomplish by buying a 3570K..

Hrrnggh, if you are there still, can you check your MIN FPS in sharki again with your FOV maxxed out? This should give you the worst case CPU load since you are "seeing" more. At least that is what I have found with my 8150 FX testing.

Your min FPS isn't that bad compared to the rest of us. I won't be switching to an Ivy bridge. I will wait for something with significantly more ipc. Maybe i'll do the FOV thing for you to see. Anyway, this game is pretty hard on the CPU isn't it? I love it when people say the hardware is so far ahead of software all the time. That doesn't seem to be the case here. So, the 3770k is faster but not fast enough for me to rip my rig apart.

 

[Arum]

Yeah, I think you are right, I'll just stick with what I have...

I have been trying to figure out how to get rid of the min FPS issue for a while. I had a Phenom X4 970 before the FX and the min was about the same, but overall the average is much higher now.

I love BF3 but I hate how it's such a CPU hog...

 

[Arum]

I did have a thought about this...

Does it make sense to just abandon a SLI / CROSSFIRE setup and get a single powerful GTX 680? Wouldn't that, theoretically, alleviate the added work load to the CPU and a min 60 FPS be attainable?

I might be able to do some testing with my dual 6970s and see if running one, at low res, would yield min FPS above my normal 45... if so then I would assume that my CPU should be able to handle a single powerful GPU that can provide a min f 60 FPS in BF3...

 

[moonbogg]

I did have a thought about this...

Does it make sense to just abandon a SLI / CROSSFIRE setup and get a single powerful GTX 680? Wouldn't that, theoretically, alleviate the added work load to the CPU and a min 60 FPS be attainable?

I might be able to do some testing with my dual 6970s and see if running one, at low res, would yield min FPS above my normal 45... if so then I would assume that my CPU should be able to handle a single powerful GPU that can provide a min f 60 FPS in BF3...

In my experience, two cards are always better than one with BF3. A single 680 will not hold 60fps min on the maps we are talking about. Maybe a single 780 would be better but they don't exist yet so we don't know.
A single 670 hits in the lower 40s while two of them don't go below 55 or so.

 

[Arum]

Yeah, after I posted that I checked out some benchmarks and realized just what you said... Bummer...

Well, looks like I will tweak my FOV and Mesh setting to try and get up to 55 min... IIRC I think setting Mesh to low will keep me at 55 MIN, but DANG!!! Mesh on low is very ugly... too much pop in for me...

Stuck between a rock and a hard place here...

 

[Douglaster]

I did have a thought about this...

Does it make sense to just abandon a SLI / CROSSFIRE setup and get a single powerful GTX 680? Wouldn't that, theoretically, alleviate the added work load to the CPU and a min 60 FPS be attainable?

I might be able to do some testing with my dual 6970s and see if running one, at low res, would yield min FPS above my normal 45... if so then I would assume that my CPU should be able to handle a single powerful GPU that can provide a min f 60 FPS in BF3...

LOL hell no. Your setup is fine for BF3

 

[soccerballtux]

it's the FOV probably.

 

[boxleitnerb]

I know that SLI requires a little bit more CPU power. Meaning in CPU bottlenecked scenarios, fps can be 5-10% lower with SLI.

 

[hrrnghhh]

Arum, I'll get a screen grab next time I'm in BF3 and on Sharqi map. I'll get one on Hotel as well just so people see I'm not talking out of my arse.

After a lot more playing since my last post, I have in fact noticed drops below 60. Funnily enough they haven't been on top of the TV Station (Sharqi) or Hotel (Oman). They've been on main beach section in Oman (either from Fort River or Olive Port looking north east toward RU spawn). So I give up

 

[hrrnghhh]

Even though I say I don't drop below 60 from those two places, I do get bloody close. Usually mid/low 60's.

 

[tin88]

I've been reading this thread all the way thru and was also concerned about my 2500K being a bottleneck for my sli 670 FTW setup. After many tests i ran across this link that allows you to view CPU and GPU usage in gaming thanks to Dice. Based on this the only time I have really high usage is when loading the maps or when spawning. Check it out

http://www.geforce.com/optimize/guides/battlefield-3-tweak-guide/#12

 

[Sherlockwing]

Ah, it seems my 120hz i5-3570k+SLI 670 setup would be CPU bottlenecked too bad I already ordered everything.

Selling my use 3570K on Ebay and get a $310 3770K on newegg vs waiting for next year to get Z87+Haswell with HT?

I am leaning toward the latter.

 

[inf64]

Don't sell anything ,your 3570K is fine. I doubt you will see any improvement if you get 3770K.

 

[Sherlockwing]

Don't sell anything ,your 3570K is fine. I doubt you will see any improvement if you get 3770K.

Really? from what I read in this thread HT seems to give a decent FPS(espically min and average) bump for BF3 MP FPS.

 

[inf64]

Where? I mean in what titles and by what amount (percentage wise)?

 

[Sherlockwing]

Too many to quote but in page 6 & 7 there are quite a few people with data saying they got a FPS boost HT on vs HT off in multiplayer BF3.

 

[djnsmith7]

Probably said several times in this thread, so this is just reiteration. No need to worry about a bottleneck in BF3 with a 3570K, 3770K or 2500K+ @ ~4.0+ with 2 670's, 680's, 7950's or 7970's. Two cards will peg @ 99% usage in MSI AB.

A 3rd card will reveal the bottleneck, reducing each card's usage to ~55 - 75%.

One thing I haven't seen yet are the card usage % numbers with a 3960X @ 5.0 with TriFire or Tri-SLI. I'd guess they'd be somewhere around ~65 - 80%, still creating a bottleneck, which is nutz for a $1K CPU.

 

[moonbogg]

Probably said several times in this thread, so this is just reiteration. No need to worry about a bottleneck in BF3 with a 3570K, 3770K or 2500K+ @ ~4.0+ with 2 670's, 680's, 7950's or 7970's. Two cards will peg @ 99% usage in MSI AB.

A 3rd card will reveal the bottleneck, reducing each card's usage to ~55 - 75%.

One thing I haven't seen yet are the card usage % numbers with a 3960X @ 5.0 with TriFire or Tri-SLI. I'd guess they'd be somewhere around ~65 - 80%, still creating a bottleneck, which is nutz for a $1K CPU.

OK you have to be trolling. Nuf said.