Hi, As I understand it, these are the minimum specifications for Battlefield 3: Windows Vista, 2 GHz Dual Core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ or Althon X2 2.7 GHz), 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA GEFORCE 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 OR 500 series with NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GT or higher performance. My concern is regarding the fact that my computer was completely unable to run Battlefield's Beta. I have Windows 7 (64bit), 3Ghz Dual Core, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS. Simply put, will my PC be able to handle Battlefield 3? (At least on low settings). I'm aching to play this game, but I don't want to spend my hard earned money on it to then simply be disappointed because my rig can't handle it. At first glance, this looks like a stupid question. "Uh, duh, your system specs are higher than the minimum requirements. Of course it will run." But from previous experience it isn't quite this simple, and I'm used to manufacturers being slightly devious. Minimum specifications for a Graphics card might be the GeForce 8 series, but that could be on the condition that I have 8GB RAM and a Quad Core 3.5Ghz Processor to balance it out I know, my PC is in need of a major upgrade. Whilst I used to have a cutting edge gaming PC - most of my friends take the mickey out of me these days for still being stuck on the GeForce 8 series and having "only" 2GB RAM. I don't even know why I'm using 64bit windows with only 2GB RAM, but I think possibly it was the only disk I had to hand at the time. *shrugs* Anyway, all comments welcome If you have the same setup as me and are running the game, PLEASE let me know.
I'm running an e8400 3.0ghz, 8gb RAM, 2x8800GTS 512 in SLI and the game's playable. All lowest settings (except whichever affects draw distance, which you have to whack right up else you have no chance). I do get the odd stutter at times, so I would say you're going to struggle - it's making me look into an upgrade after christmas has passed!
You seriously need upgrade if u want BF3. I have SLI with 2 x 560Ti and I can't run it on ultra settings on big maps. I can have some settings ultra and some high. If you can't afford new parts all at once then do like I did. Buy motherboard, then buy ram and CPU later when you can afford. Sell your old parts when you have the new parts installed. SLI is the way to go. It gives you the biggest performance boost for the least cost. You can buy 2 x 560Ti at 170 each and that is still cheaper and faster than a 580.
I've not monitored fps yet and I've not gone onto MP which will probably mean messing about with settings by the sounds of things. I hear the MP hits it pretty hard if you want smooth gameplay.
Id ignore the minimum specs completely. About as useful as a chocolate tea pot. The rig in my sig plays BF3 on high with average 50-60fps. A GTX 570 is around the £250 mark. Whilst two 560ti would be more £300. At the end of the day its all down to money.
It was reported prior to release that sli 580s would be the only way to run the game in ultra, 560s sli may do it but i doubt it very much!
I find it hard to believe that @1920 you need sli 580's to run ultra settings on BF3. Can't look at the BT graphs at the mo, gaming articles are blocked at work
That is pretty accurate I reckon. The DICE BF3 lecture videos also stated the same. ULTRA defaults to 4 x AA if I recall. That is way too much at 1080 with dual 560Ti. I tried taking AA down to x 2 but still there was lag on Firestorm during busy moments. I will try it with AA off on ultra. Maybe shadows on high. Actually AF was 16x on Ultra and that also drags down performance. I remember when I first played the single player campaign. I had everything on Ultra at 1080. The sequence when you're in the APC and then the doors opened onto the street... FPS dropped from 60+ to 26. I changed AA to 2 x and the FPS jumped to 60. Multiplayer is even more demanding obviously.
I thought that performance guide on bit-tech about battlefield 3 was accurate... I'm sure at 1080p on ultra a GTX 580 was playable (minimum above 30fps, 40 something IIRC) Wasn't tested on multiplayer but on a demanding single player level.
That came from a Dice employee, lol i went with a 570 to get the best out of any game without breaking the bank
Not on Ultra with 4 x AA. 30fps is a bit low though anyway. Multi will be significantly worse with lots of players.
AFAIK the ultra preset on BF3 enables 4 x AA... Sorry but I think a GTX 580 can run BF3 in ultra settings, even in big multi player maps with loads of stuff happening. Maybe not at 60fps but certainly at a minimum of 30, which I agree is not good for a shooter.
Thanks for all your input so far really great to hear all your opinions. If I'm just considering running on the lowest settings all the time would my setup be at least "okay" for single player, if not Multiplayer? I know I probably won't get a high FPS, but I'm happy as long as it's reasonably smooth to watch. I'm definitely thinking of upgrading asap. Will post my ideas in the hardware section of the forum.
BF3 is "playable" on my M11x. This is running a Core 2 duo clocked at 1.86GHz, 4GB DDR3 (980MHz CL6) and a heavily overclocking GT335m (~ 40% OC). Oh it is also running a 64GB C300 SSD as well. I think the Op's lack of Ram is the killer here. His system should at least make it playable at 720p like resolution with minimum (possible some medium) settings. For what it's worth the new maps are more than playable on my HD6970 2GB at a resolution of 3560x1920 (portrait eyefinity). I run a mixture of medium and high settings and attain between 35 and 50fps. The game can scale very well with the right hardware mix but it can also be a bugger (drivers can make a BIG difference - at least they did with my M11x).
I'm thinking about upgrading my system shortly after Christmas (if my cashflow allows). But I mean, a complete system overhaul xD Thinkingg.... Asus ROG Maximus IV Extreme-Z Intel i7 2700K (Quad 3.5Ghz) 8GB Corsair Vengeance (1600Mhz) MSI GTX 580 (1.5GB / 800Mhz CPU / 1544Mhz Shader) Fingers crossed it might run BF3 eh? haha.
Really My spec plays conquest large maps all settings at ultra and I get between 40-60 heavy battle and over 100 when its quiet or am running in a field!
