Battlefield 3 VGA and CPU performance benchmark test - Platform CPU Performance scaling

Platform CPU Performance scaling

On this page we'll keep it simple and easy. We want to look at CPU performance scaling with the latest, more high-end, processors. There's a good reason for that, have a look below.

Check that out, that is BF3 running mid-game with an AMD FX 8150 processor. Aah yeah correct, it seems that BF3 is very multi-threaded, and as such multi-core processors are definitely going to benefit from that.

We make use of a handful different processors on their respective platform, a couple of them at default and overclocked settings.

• Core i7 975 (X58 motherboard)
• Core i7 2600K (Z68 motherboard)
• Core i7 870 (P55 motherboard)
• AMD FX 8150 (990FX motherboard

Now to spice things up a little, I had the following motherboards waiting in a queue for testing as well: Core i5 661 (H55 motherboard), Athlon X4 645 (890FX motherboard), Phenom II X4 980 (990FX motherboard), Phenom X6 1100T ((890FX motherboard).

But yeah, Orgin decided to get stringent with us with license issue versus several PC platforms:

So we can only show CPU performance for four system at this moment. Currently while writing the article my Origin account still has still not been restored. That means I can not startup and play the game anymore, neither can I test other graphics cards anymore hence we had to halt at ten cards.

Anyway, for all platforms this counts: the drivers remain the same as the same SSD image clone of the OS is used. Have a peek as to what difference a PC, and not the graphics card, makes. All PCs have either 6GB (Triple channel) or 8GB (dual-channel) DDR3 memory at 1600 MHz. We use a GeForce GTX 580 here with the GeForce 285.62 WHQL driver.

DirectX 11 class graphics card performance DX11 - Ultra mode

So we start off with a monitor resolution of 1280x1024 - This is the most effective resolution to test CPU performance really, if you look at the CPU the lower you go in resolution, the less the GPU is stressed. But the reality is, nobody games at this resolution anymore, we show performance as you get it in a real-life situation.

Now i wish my account was restored so i could check some more CPU perf, but unfortunately this is it for now. Mind you that you need to look at the AMD FX8150, BF3 really is a title that shines with the processor thanks to massive multi-threading. So let's hop onwards to 1600x1200.

In a more civilized 1600x1200 monitor resolutions you'll notice that the numbers are ridiculous close. Any modern processor will be sufficient. But once our Origin account is restored we'll look into some slower and cheaper CPUs as well.

Now 1920x1200 is the most preferred monitor resolution (next to to 1920x1080). Here's where the CPU starts to matter less and less, and where the GPU gets increasingly more important. The irony is always the same, bang for buck wise a cheapo CPU will get you the better deal. Hence for hefty gaming the graphics card is way more important then the processor.

And at a monitor resolution of 2560x1600 the CPU doesn't really matter anymore, the GPUs are completely underpowered here hence we left them out.