Upgrade for BF3?

[DEFEATEST]

Hey guys, I'm thinking it's time to start saving a few bucks for an upgrade for BF3. I want to run the game maxed @ 2560 x 1600. What do you guys think I should upgrade here considering my specs. I can run BC2 maxed at that res but not constantly high frame rates. Is there any way I could use this motherboard? I would like to maybey just stick in new cpu and vid card. My 5870 is a fine card, but it is important to me to make BF3 sing at high res. I dont think my 9550 is bottle necking it much. Any suggestions would be mundo appreciated!

thanks

 

[Damn_Smooth]

Hey guys, I'm thinking it's time to start saving a few bucks for an upgrade for BF3. I want to run the game maxed @ 2560 x 1600. What do you guys think I should upgrade here considering my specs. I can run BC2 maxed at that res but not constantly high frame rates. Is there any way I could use this motherboard? I would like to maybey just stick in new cpu and vid card. My 5870 is a fine card, but it is important to me to make BF3 sing at high res. I dont think my 9550 is bottle necking it much. Any suggestions would be mundo appreciated!

thanks

As far as I know, we don't know what it's going to take to max BF3. I think it would be a good idea just to save up until then so you know for sure what you need to upgrade.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

ID be sticking with your build for now. Buy BF3, and if framerates are not acceptable, go ahead and pull the trigger for a new platform and a new GPU.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Go ahead and overhaul your system. New mobo, RAM, CPU, and a nice cooler for it. Get you some i5 2500k love, some 1600 Mhz RAM, and a mobo that makes you "muhmjmmmhdjkhammmm".

 

[BondExtreme]

Yeah dude. It's your CPU. It's a bit old.

 

[DEFEATEST]

With regards to my Q9550 and say any game I can find fps charts for at 2560x1600 using my 5870 as the gpu, I find the fps are pretty much what I'm getting, give or take 5 fps. Thats what I was saying about possible bottle necking of my 5870. I dont think my cpu is holding it back.

 

[Conti027]

I say wait. I can't see why your computer now wouldn't be able to max it out.

 

[erocker]

Dice has said that any current hardware, high-end or otherwise is going to struggle a bit with the game. My advice would be to wait for the game. It's really never a good idea to upgrade for something that isn't released yet without knowing what is actually going to be needed.

 

[DEFEATEST]

Ya I guess I might be jumping the gun a bit, I have a bud who wants my stuff, so my brain has been doing some running if you know what I mean. LOL I remember building an ATI x800xt pe and amd 3500 for BF2 and how excited I was to run that at max.

 

[Altered]

Dice has said that any current hardware, high-end or otherwise is going to struggle a bit with the game.

Really, I missed that. The last I read on it was pretty much a rig that plays BFBC2 was suppose to be able to play BF3 and get almost the same fps with equal setting.

As far as the OP post I would be willing to say if your going to be short on hardware it would be the CPU. Just based on BFBC2 the BC3 game is probably CPU dependent.

 

[Volkszorn88]

One of the tweets from the devs said if you can currently play BC2 with no problem, you'll be able to play bf3.

On what settings, is ofcourse still a mystery

 

[BarbaricSoul]

my advice to you as a q9650/5870 owner, before you upgrade anything, OC your Q9550.

 

[xenocide]

Dice has said that any current hardware, high-end or otherwise is going to struggle a bit with the game. My advice would be to wait for the game. It's really never a good idea to upgrade for something that isn't released yet without knowing what is actually going to be needed.

This is the most sound advice. Anyone that thinks this game will be about the same as BC2, have you honestly even watched the in-game footage? It is clearly a more demanding game from that aspect alone. BC2 was chopped off at the knees to make it more console friendly, but BF3 has a dedicated team for the PC version, and will run exclusively DX10/11. Frostbite is a CPU-heavy Engine (in the past) and I don't doubt that BF3 would cause a Q9550 to bottleneck.

 

[Jetster]

Wait. In the mean time. Overclock that 775 and see what it can do

 

[eidairaman1]

The vid card should be fine for the game, worse comes to it you could always grab a second 1

 

[FreedomEclipse]

The vid card should be fine for the game, worse comes to it you could always grab a second 1

a new PSU would also be required then in that case.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Well without the game being out yet, and DICE supposedly saying anyone running BC2 will run this fine, but no one with any hardware out there yet can maximize it (those 2 statements really don't fit together :/) I would say work on the core of your system, if you want to run it maxed, you are probably going to need more PSU, probably a new processor. But with that look at your preferred company, if you like Intel see if they have any upcoming releases, if they do not, then might as well pull the trigger on a 2500 or 2600 right now. If they do, but it won't be a new socket, then pick up the mobo/ ram now and wait for that new shiny proc to land. And wait on the videocard end. At least doing something like this will allow you to split the costs up a bit.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Dice has said that any current hardware, high-end or otherwise is going to struggle a bit with the game. My advice would be to wait for the game. It's really never a good idea to upgrade for something that isn't released yet without knowing what is actually going to be needed.

this is where common sense be leadin me i built this spec pc for crysis 2 and @ first it was OT , conversly now its underperformin but that be gpu power lackin not cpu and mines a bit less worthy then yours even ocd.

i shoulda waited as for 320 notes i got the 5870 for i could buy 2x6950 now maybe 6870s and id be not

plus your not cpu bottlenecked by far maybe mem bandwidth but not cpu. wait a while see whats what

 

[MatTheCat]

Hey guys, I'm thinking it's time to start saving a few bucks for an upgrade for BF3. I want to run the game maxed @ 2560 x 1600. What do you guys think I should upgrade here considering my specs. I can run BC2 maxed at that res but not constantly high frame rates. Is there any way I could use this motherboard? I would like to maybey just stick in new cpu and vid card. My 5870 is a fine card, but it is important to me to make BF3 sing at high res. I dont think my 9550 is bottle necking it much. Any suggestions would be mundo appreciated!

thanks

As many people are telling you, wait for it to be released and then see what you need. You already have a decent quad core set up and believe me, for gaming alone the i7 series CPU's are not offering a massive performance increase over what you already have. I have a dual core CPU and have seen for myself the performance increase that a i7 920 would offer with the rest of my rig and I was far from impressed. As you may be able to make out from various reviews, the Sandybridge gaming performance is not a whole great better than the i7 equivalents either.

Probably the next CPU that will be capable of touching the upper performance bar in BF3 will be the LGA 2011 range, and they aint gonna be available until Jan 2012 (or even longer). Between now and then will be Bulldozer which is looking like it is only a little bit better than the current Sandybrdige 1155 CPU's, but with its 8 cores, and the BF3 team stating that BF3 will be heavily optimised for multi-core, making use of as many cores as in on offer, perhaps the Bulldozer may be the one to go for.

In the meantime, dont waste your money on any upgrades.

When the game comes out, get the best possible newly released gfx card available (or soon to be available). Then it will be a case of checking bulldozer benchmarks for the game and/or chewing on it until LGA 2011 comes available in 2012. But for your insanely high resolution, the gfx card is undoubtedly the most important aspect in not dropping frames.

 

[MatTheCat]

this is where common sense be leadin me i built this spec pc for crysis 2 and @ first it was OT , conversly now its underperformin but that be gpu power lackin not cpu and mines a bit less worthy then yours even ocd.

i shoulda waited as for 320 notes i got the 5870 for i could buy 2x6950 now maybe 6870s and id be not

plus your not cpu bottlenecked by far maybe mem bandwidth but not cpu. wait a while see whats what

I wouldnt be too sure about that.

I have only a 5850 and there are no games that max this card's resources out before my CPU is maxed out. My limiting factor is indeed my CPU (for gaming E8400 > Q6600) and I am well aware of it. The reason I aint upgrading yet is that I want high performance gains for my bucks and like the OP, my eyes are on BF3 and being able to max that game out. BF3 is the important one for me as if the experience is in anyway as groundbreaking and immersive as BF2 was, then BF3 is the game I will be playing the most for the next 5 years. Thus getting a PC that can nail that game from the off is paramount. Most other PC games are mere side issues.

 

[Funtoss]

get i5 2500k, and two gtx 560 in sli, thats only if you wanna spend money otherwise oc your cpu a bit

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I wouldnt be too sure about that.

quad makes a big diff right now m8 as some games like bf2 crysis2 gta4 do use 4 cores a lot,8 nah so 4 high clocked cores may do the job still, maybe not tho, id wait as BD may yet be great and also intel may yet drop prices A lot

 

[FreedomEclipse]

(moment of dejavu - I thought i posted this but i didnt - or i could have but then it got moderated for no reason at all, so I'll post it again)

If you are planning to crossfire 2 5870s. even a overclocked Q9550 will bottle neck them. I was running 2 overclocked 5850s with a Q9550 over 3.9Ghz and even though it was fine and performed well. My jaw totally dropped when i overhauled my rig, with an overclocked 2500k and re-ran the same benchmarks and i went from being in the middle of the pack to close to the top 10 (well...almost top 10...) TPU 3D11/Vantage scores.

So you really need a good SB chip or something similar to drive those graphic cards. as far as performance goes, you will gain performance but at the same time the Q9550 will become the weak link in your system if you choose to go down the crossfire route. as for driving singlecard setups. I dont think the Q9550 is much of a problem. obviously its still not as fast as an SB or early core i7 CPU clock for clock.

 

[1Kurgan1]

get i5 2500k, and two gtx 560 in sli, thats only if you wanna spend money otherwise oc your cpu a bit

Getting a 560 right now would be a bad move. As they are saying no current hardware can play it max, I would assume that means even 2x 580's. So buying 2x of a smaller card would be a very bad choice. If he's going to buy any videocard(s) right now it should be the most powerful GPU he can get, then pick up another later. Buying 2 mid-range GPU's right now surely will not play BF3 at max.

I wouldnt be too sure about that.

I have only a 5850 and there are no games that max this card's resources out before my CPU is maxed out. My limiting factor is indeed my CPU (for gaming E8400 > Q6600) and I am well aware of it. The reason I aint upgrading yet is that I want high performance gains for my bucks and like the OP, my eyes are on BF3 and being able to max that game out. BF3 is the important one for me as if the experience is in anyway as groundbreaking and immersive as BF2 was, then BF3 is the game I will be playing the most for the next 5 years. Thus getting a PC that can nail that game from the off is paramount. Most other PC games are mere side issues.

Theres a difference betwen Maxed out and Close to Maxed out. And theres a difference between maxed out with solid playable frames and maxed out with sometimes frames dropping a bit (which some people can tolerate, but others would rather not). It don't matter what CPU you got, a single 5850 will not play every game out there absolutely maxed, and if it is, then you are looking at sometimes have frame rate issues.

 

[Syuzeren]

a 5850 won't be able to run GTA IV maxed out, it is a fun game but they didnt do any optimising for the PC version.

Devs are always talking nonesense. If a OC'ed 2600k + 6990 or 2x580 can't run BF3 maxed on atleast 1920x1080 then there is something wrong.