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What upgrade to play BF3 on an ageing system?

post #1 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
Ok so my son has roughly the below config:

Intel E8400 (3GHz dual core)
6 gig of RAM
GTX 460



So I want to make BF3 playable on this PC. Even if its at low settings.

Question, what would be a bottleneck in this system, i.e. what part should I replace 1st.

I can't OC the CPU on the current motherboard, I can OC the GPU tho. Not sure that it would change much in case of a 460 tho lol.
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Inqrix Qubux
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post #2 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:23pm
I was going to tell you to upgrade your GPU, but it's a GTX460. A 460 is perfectly fine. The only thing I can see being a problem is the CPU. 6GB of RAM is fine too.

i5 2500k + P67 motherboard should be fairly cheap, and a good upgrade.

EDIT: I just realised you said you wanted to play it at low. I'm assuming you can't already play it at low? I would have thought that system would have gotten you good FPS at low already.
Edited by Arnotts - 11/7/11 at 10:25pm
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post #3 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ints View Post
Ok so my son has roughly the below config:

Intel E8400 (3GHz dual core)
6 gig of RAM
GTX 460



So I want to make BF3 playable on this PC. Even if its at low settings.

Question, what would be a bottleneck in this system, i.e. what part should I replace 1st.

I can't OC the CPU on the current motherboard, I can OC the GPU tho. Not sure that it would change much in case of a 460 tho lol.
Hmmmmmmm. That's tough. I would probably say the CPU is holding you back. But then again, so is the 460.

The 460 would give you low/med I think. I would go for a CPU upgrade first then a GPU upgrade. OC that GPU when you up the CPU.
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post #4 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:25pm
CPU and MOBO. I would upgrade to a Quadcore CPU.
Currently you are probably being bottlenecked by your CPU.
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post #5 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:27pm
Play using medium settings, and post-aa instead of deferred.

Overclock some more, or get a quad core (hey that rhymes)
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post #6 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:29pm
CPU is definitely a bottleneck in multiplayer. consider a 9550 or 6600 along with a good cooler for overclocking.
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post #7 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:33pm
CPU may bottleneck a bit in MP 64 man server. I get about 72% usage max (bf3.exe alone) with my CPU at stock. benchmarks on the net reports 100% usage reached with 90% mostly for dual-cores. i'd get a quadcore.
460 OC pretty well. btw if his mobo is SLI capable 460 SLI will max the game (given that you get a quadcore)
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post #8 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:34pm
Quad-core CPU at 3.2GHz+ and it will play medium.
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post #9 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnotts View Post
I was going to tell you to upgrade your GPU, but it's a GTX460. A 460 is perfectly fine. The only thing I can see being a problem is the CPU. 6GB of RAM is fine too.

i5 2500k + P67 motherboard should be fairly cheap, and a good upgrade.

EDIT: I just realised you said you wanted to play it at low. I'm assuming you can't already play it at low? I would have thought that system would have gotten you good FPS at low already.
Thanks mate, I thought the GPU should be fine, just wanna make sure I dont end up buying a new cpu/mb and the gpu is still a bottleneck lol
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Inqrix Qubux
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post #10 of 25
11/7/11 at 10:59pm
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What is the res?

At 1680x1050 my lowely old E7500 and 5850 was playing the game on high. On 1920x1080 I was at medium. That computer is fine for you're son.
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