Battlefield 3...

Ok, I played the Alpha for a few short days. I had lag, I mean 25 fps at best!

I have a GTX 470m and I have no clue what to do. Hopefully by the time the game comes out it'll be more optimized, but right now I'm kind of down in the dumps about this.

The whole reason I bought my laptop was to play this game, I'm going to Uni so Desktops aren't exactly available.

Sager-P8170HM-A

 

470m is really subpar nowadays

 

What do you think I should upgrade to?

 

6990M or gtx580M and be sure to have a AC adapter of 180W+

Even tho, BF3 is a really high graphic demanding game as we all knhow. Even desktops will have a hardtime with that thing.

But with these cards listed, u´ll have a much more smooth gameplay in your laptop.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I just have no clue where to start looking to buy one. I bet the prices will be steep too.

Thanks,

Nathan

 

I'd get the 6990M to save a few hundred over the 580m.

If you really want NVIDIA, the 485M is actually a decent card, but might just barely cover you. To save even more, the 6970M is a really good bang for the buck option.

 

In the Alpha, NVidia cards had much more trouble than AMD cards. My 9800GT SLI setup couldn't run the game in fullscreen with any stability. Players with desktop GTX 580s had trouble.
Also, be aware that Frostbite engine games are heavily CPU dependant. My 9800GT SLI setup only runs at 30% in BFBC2, no matter the graphics, except HBAO.

 

I hope this is the case, other wise I might have to go for the 6990 card.

I run BFBC2 everything on high even HBAO and I get 45-50 fps non stop (Playable to me, love the game.) But when the alpha came around I was a little upset at the 25 fps, especially since the computer is fairly new I guess I should have waited a month for better cards to be released. Needless to say I loved the alpha, fun gameplay.

 

imo just wait for the game to come out to get a new card. also what setting were you running?

 

Get the AMD 6990M. It would run the game absolutely fine!

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Sorry for my late reply, playing BC2 haha.

I ran the alpha on high at 25 fps but when I turned it down to low, it didn't seem to make a difference.

 

Actually, I was wondering how fast did you run the game?

You and I have the same specs, aside from your better GPU. Is the 485m that much better than the 470m?

Also, I have no clue where to purchase either card... Can't find them online anywhere.

I really just want to play at a good frame rate. Anyone think that the game's "Low" setting (Which looks amazing anyways) will run OK on my current 470m GPU. I know it's hard to ask people how a game will run when it's not even out yet. I tried asking this stuff on the Battlefield 3 Forums, but they are pretty immature. So I figured I'd turn to you (more mature) individuals.

 

i would says its about 35% better, but i also overclock mine quite a bit, on high at 1080p i was getting about 40 fps, at stock clocks, and i need at least 50 to play comfortably, so i just set the screen to 1600x900 and high and got about 70 fps, and was happy, the actual game will run smoother because you will be able to manipulate the quality settings.

you should add me on bfbc2, my username is "aduy"

 

Cool. How do you keep your GPU cool? I think I'll just turn graphics down to med, and play at 1600x900. Hopefully that will work.

Plus I might be able to run on High with shadows down and the dreaded HBAO off. Witcher 2 runs on High can't run ultra because of Ubersampling (Kills my computer as a whole haha.)

I just added you.

 

i never use hbao, it just drains the fps with no real eye candy. i don't use a cooler right now, although in the future im planning on making a custom laptop board with cooling ducts and fans built in.

 

I'm assuming HBAO will be in B3 just because. I'm going to turn it off if it is lol.
I just turned my res to 1600x900 and it's getting (BC2) 60-70 Fps on high.

If I wasn't so bad at OC'ing I would have done it by now...

 

Typically if you lower settings without a change in FPS that means your machine is CPU bottlenecked. What CPU are you running?

 

i7 2630QM
GTX 470m
Now this may or may not be the problem.

aduy seems to have the same setup and he said he got 40-50FPS but he has a GTX 485m (ALPHA Test).

Then again, I didn't restart the game to have the changes take effect fully. I really hate playing on lower settings so it was on for like a few seconds before I switched it back to high. I didn't notice a difference in quality when I did change it to low, graphics only decreased a tad. I only got to play the alpha for a day and a half though..

 

Just don't forget it's still Alpha, then closed beta, then open beta, blah blah blah. So many bugs need to be worked out. It can only get better.

If you have the resources to get a better card, go for it. I say, wait around 'till just before the game is released. Maybe drop in price on the 6990m by then or whatever your liking is; but then again prices can inflate due to two huge titles being released around that time line.

 

What's HBAO?

 

It's a complex math lighting effect: Ambient Occlusion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion