Are you using the LN2 bios? On my lightning using the LN2 bios would tangibly reduce the smoothness of gameplay. At the time I was using 310.90. I choose to use the standard locked bios and then use kgb to increase my vcore.

 

I've never touched anything with the GPU, it is still on factory settings and not running on the LN2 bios.

 

If you are not running windows 8 have you disabled core parking? Core parking in windows 7 caused some people to have microstutter in BF3 with HT CPUs. I'm pretty sure it won't help with the 1st and 2nd problem but for the 3rd problem it is worth a shot.

 

On the 1st problem:

That's quite normal actually, big FPS drop(s) happen to all of us, you shouldn't be worried too much about this if I were you. You may want to reduce some settings, like the Effects one, so that went things blow right in your face, you don't get as much of a drop.

2nd problem:

I've never recorded or anything along those lines but, have you tried using another codec/program? or maybe lowering the quality?

3rd problem:

This is the big one for me, I truly haven't been able to fully enjoy BF3 because of this, for example, in my rig, BF3 runs at a constant 60 FPS, but every so often I get these little skips or stutters which to put it in a nutshell drive me $%#$% insane, I tried using the very latest driver set 313.95, but they were not that good, uninstalled those, and I downloaded the "legendary" 307.74 set that was released for Quadro/Tesla a couple of weeks ago, these are much better than the R313 ones, but there's still some stuttering/skipping here and there. The weird thing about it is that, I just recently upgraded motherboards, my previous one was an ASUS P8P67, and with that motherboard, I finally resolved my stuttering issues with the use of a 3rd party frame limiter, MSI Afterburner, but with this one, I still get them, but it's worth mentioning that when I had the ASUS one, I used the 310.54 driver set released by Xtreme-G, maybe those drivers do the trick, I'll probably download them later tonight.

 

I get the exact same issue if I don't cap my frame rate... basically stuttering and tearing and it feels like I'm lagging... look below... and this is the same thing that happens if I don't use vsync

Something I posted in another thread... basically, you will want to limit your frame rate to 59 instead of 60. Also enable forcerenderahead. You can do this in the user.cfg file.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Derko1

Don't use MSI to cap it.

The cfg file is in your battlefield 3 main folder.

This is what mine has in it. You can copy the relevant parts if you wish. (To create the user.cfg file... go to your main Battlefield 3 folder and simply create a new text file. Then put the information below in it... now make sure you are able to see it's file extension of ".txt" and rename it to user.cfg.)
Quote:

GameTime.MaxVariableFps 59.000000
Render.DrawFps 0
Render.DrawScreenInfo 0
Render.PerfOverlayEnable 0
Render.PerfOverlayVisible 0
RenderDevice.Dx11Enable 1
RenderDevice.ForceRenderAheadLimit 1
RenderDevice.TripleBufferingEnable 1
Screenshot.Format jpg
UI.DrawEnable 1
WorldRender.DxDeferredCsPathEnable 1
WorldRender.SpotLightShadowmapResolution 1024

So here is my spikes with simply vsync on and no capping.


Here is capped at 59 through the cfg.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derko1

I get the exact same issue if I don't cap my frame rate... basically stuttering and tearing and it feels like I'm lagging... look below... and this is the same thing that happens if I don't use vsync

Something I posted in another thread... basically, you will want to limit your frame rate to 59 instead of 60. Also enable forcerenderahead. You can do this in the user.cfg file.

Yeah but I got a 120hz monitor, what should I set the fps to ?

 

It will not hurt to set it to 59... otherwise... do you get a CONSTANT and by constant... I mean at least 99% of the time, 120 fps if you turn on vsync?

Like I said, just try testing it... you can turn on the same graphs I have pictured by setting the follow to options to 1 in the user.cfg. Then set the frame rate limit to 59 or 119.

Render.PerfOverlayEnable 1
Render.PerfOverlayVisible 1

 

I've set my monitor to 60hz and tried to use your setting, honestly, it only made it worse...

 

Guys the in game limiter is absolute trash.

Trust me, try the frame limiter built in MSI Afterburner.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1b0b1

I've set my monitor to 60hz and tried to use your setting, honestly, it only made it worse...

Ok. Don't know what to tell you then

. Did you enable v-sync when you set it to 59 and your res at 60hz?

Maybe it's cause of your monitor's refresh rate... can you tell me what you did exactly? I typically see people dismiss it without even really trying it. It's a proven "thing" to rid of the stuttering, not a fix I came up with. It works with many games that have stuttering, not just BF3.

So, I'd suggest looking into other things then... FIRST ONE, would be to try a different set of drivers. Also what CPU usage are you getting in game?

You may want to look into these threads:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1342160/bf3-stutter-and-rubber-banding#post_19008816

http://www.overclock.net/t/1332267/bf3-stutter-fix

http://www.overclock.net/t/1279647/bf3-micro-cpu-spikes/10#post_18785308

http://www.overclock.net/t/1335774/battlefield-3-guide-further-improving-gaming-performance-experience

 

To follow up on my previous post here:

I don't wanna claim victory just yet, but yeah, BF3 definitely runs much smoother with the Xtreme-G's driver set over the stock NVIDIA ones, I'm probably gonna get hell for this, but I can definitely vouch for these drivers.

For anyone experiencing any sort of stutter or weird skips in BF3:

1.- Make sure you set the bf3.exe in the NVCP to "prefer maximum performance".
2.- Definitely use a frame limiter, not the in game one please, use a proper one like MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, etc.
3.- Use Xtreme-G's NVIDIA Drivers over the stock NVIDIA ones, go to tweakforce.com for more info and download links.
4.- Set "forcerenderaheadlimit" CVAR to 1 in your User.cfg.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derko1

Ok. Don't know what to tell you then

. Did you enable v-sync when you set it to 59 and your res at 60hz?

Maybe it's cause of your monitor's refresh rate... can you tell me what you did exactly? I typically see people dismiss it without even really trying it. It's a proven "thing" to rid of the stuttering, not a fix I came up with. It works with many games that have stuttering, not just BF3.

So, I'd suggest looking into other things then... FIRST ONE, would be to try a different set of drivers. Also what CPU usage are you getting in game?

You may want to look into these threads:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1342160/bf3-stutter-and-rubber-banding#post_19008816

http://www.overclock.net/t/1332267/bf3-stutter-fix

http://www.overclock.net/t/1279647/bf3-micro-cpu-spikes/10#post_18785308

http://www.overclock.net/t/1335774/battlefield-3-guide-further-improving-gaming-performance-experience

I've set my monitor refresh rate to 60hz, then set the resolution inside the game to 1920x1080 60hz. I also enable v-sync under battlefield and adaptive one under NCP. Finally, i tested different values when capping the frame rate and all resulted with the same stuttering.

Nvidia drivers tested so far: 306.23, 306.97, 310.70, 310.90, 313.96

I also took a look at the threads you gave and found that I've already tested everything mentioned.

I am helpless at the moment.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlackerITGuy

To follow up on my previous post here:

I don't wanna claim victory just yet, but yeah, BF3 definitely runs much smoother with the Xtreme-G's driver set over the stock NVIDIA ones, I'm probably gonna get hell for this, but I can definitely vouch for these drivers.

For anyone experiencing any sort of stutter or weird skips in BF3:

1.- Make sure you set the bf3.exe in the NVCP to "prefer maximum performance".
2.- Definitely use a frame limiter, not the in game one please, use a proper one like MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, etc.
3.- Use Xtreme-G's NVIDIA Drivers over the stock NVIDIA ones, go to tweakforce.com for more info and download links.
4.- Set "forcerenderaheadlimit" CVAR to 1 in your User.cfg.

I'll be testing this fix in a moment.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1b0b1

I've set my monitor refresh rate to 60hz, then set the resolution inside the game to 1920x1080 60hz. I also enable v-sync under battlefield and adaptive one under NCP. Finally, i tested different values when capping the frame rate and all resulted with the same stuttering.

Nvidia drivers tested so far: 306.23, 306.97, 310.70, 310.90, 313.96

I also took a look at the threads you gave and found that I've already tested everything mentioned.

I am helpless at the moment.

You tried which numbers when capping? There's a few different ones that work for different people... also if you notice, people with 120hz monitors weren't really able to fix it in those threads. The issue is really the monitor's refresh rate.

Also DO NOT use the vsync in game. Make sure it's off and then set adaptive vsync outside the game. Try that with cap set at 59.0, 59.95 and there's another one in one of those threads that is a bit longer.

 

tested already, still the same.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1b0b1

tested already, still the same.

Couple more:

1.- Make sure you have HPET set to disabled in the BIOS/UEFI.
2.- Do you by any chance removed your pagefile?

 

Ok, here are some points/Questions/observations:

1. Maybe Im oblivious, but what video card and how much vram are you using?
2. Setting your monitor to 60hz if it is 120hz is a waste of the technology and if you have a halfway decent card, shouldnt make a damn bit of difference. The only thing refresh rates would fix is tearing in my experience.
3. Show us a log from afterburner of VRAM usage through a few minutes of gameplay (single and multi) so we can make some VRAM observations.
4. What kind of cable are you using to connect to the monitor?
5. what type of motherboard are you using and what pci slot are you plugged in to?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlackerITGuy

Couple more:

1.- Make sure you have HPET set to disabled in the BIOS/UEFI.
2.- Do you by any chance removed your pagefile?

1- I'll check it out
2- I did a fresh windows install and haven't touched the pagefile

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarmageddon88

Ok, here are some points/Questions/observations:

1. Maybe Im oblivious, but what video card and how much vram are you using?
2. Setting your monitor to 60hz if it is 120hz is a waste of the technology and if you have a halfway decent card, shouldnt make a damn bit of difference. The only thing refresh rates would fix is tearing in my experience.
3. Show us a log from afterburner of VRAM usage through a few minutes of gameplay (single and multi) so we can make some VRAM observations.
4. What kind of cable are you using to connect to the monitor?
5. what type of motherboard are you using and what pci slot are you plugged in to?

The answer to your questions which are related to the components that I am using can be found in my signature.

I am using a DVI cable and not HDMI.

The GPU is connected to the PCI x16 slot (first slot next to the CPU)

Edit:

Server: 64 players Caspian border
Run time: 13 minutes
Battlefield preset in-game: Lowest settings
V-Sync in-game: off
Adaptive V-sync: off
Nvidia Driver: 310.90 (I've already tested the 306.97 and 310.70, both same results)
CPU Clock: Default

GPU Log (MSI Afterburner) & CPU Log (HWINFO64): http://easy-upload.info/do.php?id=690

Fraps benchmark: (Original files: http://easy-upload.info/do.php?id=689)

 

For BF3 sluttering, try this : Use latest driver or the new 313.96 Nvidia beta driver. Go in the Nvidia control panel, under 3D parameter manager, change Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames to 1 (It's better to program this only for BF3). You can also try to use Adaptative Vsync in Nvidia Control panel who help a lot for GTX 680 (and disable Vsync in the game itself).

It work for me, BF3 is smooth now.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by zzzronin

For BF3 sluttering, try this : Use latest driver or the new 313.96 Nvidia beta driver. Go in the Nvidia control panel, under 3D parameter manager, change Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames to 1 (It's better to program this only for BF3). You can also try to use Adaptative Vsync in Nvidia Control panel who help a lot for GTX 680 (and disable Vsync in the game itself).

It work for me, BF3 is smooth now.

nop, didn't work

 

Try lowering your OC(s), BF3 is very finicky when it comes to OCs.

 

I tried everything on its default settings, still.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1b0b1

I tried everything on its default settings, still.

Mmm, that's weird.

Do you by any chance have any real time AV software installed? if so, disable it.

You may also wanna give Razer's GameBooster software a try, it will disable any unnecessary Windows service(s) just before running any game.

EDIT: One more, disable the "Ram Mouse Input" option from the in-game settings.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlackerITGuy

Mmm, that's weird.

Do you by any chance have any real time AV software installed? if so, disable it.

Nop, nothing installed.

You may also wanna give Razer's GameBooster software a try, it will disable any unnecessary Windows service(s) just before running any game.

already tried the gamebooster but didn't work

EDIT: One more, disable the "Ram Mouse Input" option from the in-game settings

Again, already tested

.

I've really tested every fix out there, Thanks for the effort though.