My PC is having some trouble with BF3

[UltimoBreakfast]

I recently upgraded to a quad-core processor in hopes of playing BF3. My dual-core served me relatively well through BFBC2, but I figured I definitely needed an upgrade if I had any hope of running BF3. I wasn't expecting to run the game on Ultra, or even High setttings, but I figured I would be able to at least get 50 some odd fps on low settings. However, according to Precision X, I'm only pulling maybe 35-45. I've tried messing around with different settings, resolutions, ect. but I'm not really getting any different results.

Here's what I'm working with:

CoolerMaster Elite 310
500 GB HDD w/ 1.5 TB external HDD
Motherboard: Asus M4A77TD PRO AM3 DDR3 AMD 770 Chipset
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition Deneb 3.6GHz
GPU: GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Dual Channel Memory

The build is originally something I ordered from Cyberpower a few years ago. I've upgraded the power supply, GPU and CPU, but not much else. I know I could definitely use a memory upgrade, and a newer GPU would be ideal.

 

[iyzik]

You changed settings with no fps change?? Is MSAA turned off? that is probably the most gpu intense setting.
Also at what resolution are you getting this fps with?

EDIT: Also try messing with AO, I'm honestly have no idea if this is consistent with other gtx500 cards but I have a gtx550ti that can run bf3 @ 40fps with all maxed except no AO, MSAA, and low AA at 1080p. And surprisingly the biggest performance hit was the AO on that card not the MSAA

 

[UltimoBreakfast]

You changed settings with no fps change?? Is MSAA turned off? that is probably the most gpu intense setting.
Also at what resolution are you getting this fps with?

Well the first thing I did when I got in the game was turn the graphics down to the standard Low settings. I believe this turns off MSAA by default.

I've tried out some different resolution settings with no real results. I even tried throwing it in 800x600 for sake of experimentation and, besides looking bad, it didn't really lead to any changes in fps.

I appreciate the help. Thanks.

EDIT

Also try messing with AO, I'm honestly have no idea if this is consistent with other gtx500 cards but I have a gtx550ti that can run bf3 @ 40fps with all maxed except no AO, MSAA, and low AA at 1080p. And surprisingly the biggest performance hit was the AO on that card not the MSAA

That's interesting. Perhaps it is a processor problem then?

 

[iyzik]

No problem. Yeah if you turned the rez all the way down to 800x600 with gtx 560 and no fps that is sounding like a CPU problem (bottleneck?) hard to believe that CPU would be bottlenecking bf3 tho.. Any thoughts or unusual BIOS settings u have for your CPU?

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Its NOT the cpu.... just before anyone suggests an i3,i5,i7 ...

All the best Brett

 

[UltimoBreakfast]

No problem. Yeah if you turned the rez all the way down to 800x600 with gtx 560 and no fps that is sounding like a CPU problem (bottleneck?) hard to believe that CPU would be bottlenecking bf3 tho.. Any thoughts or unusual BIOS settings u have for your CPU?

Not that I know of, but I will do some research. My BIOS should be up to date right now.

 

[iyzik]

Is you 560 overclocked at all? Another thing that happened to me was OC 550 slightly too much resulted in it not switching to high performance mode.

EDIT: i might be able to be more helpful if you could just post a full log of a couple minutes in bf3 from either gpu z or afterburner

 

[UltimoBreakfast]

Is you 560 overclocked at all? Another thing that happened to me was OC 550 slightly too much resulted in it not switching to high performance mode.

EDIT: i might be able to be more helpful if you could just post a full log of a couple minutes in bf3 from either gpu z or afterburner

No, I don't believe so. I've messed with a couple features in Precision X that might have temporarily tweaked some stuff, but I've never properly overclocked the card.

I might be able to do that for you. I've been away from my PC all day, but I might be able to do it before work tomorrow morning.

 

[UltimoBreakfast]

Is you 560 overclocked at all? Another thing that happened to me was OC 550 slightly too much resulted in it not switching to high performance mode.

EDIT: i might be able to be more helpful if you could just post a full log of a couple minutes in bf3 from either gpu z or afterburner

Unfortunately I was unable to grab a log this morning. But I have been doing some research here at work. I checked Asus's site for my motherboard, and I was actually surprised to find that my cpu isn't listed for support with my mobo. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A77TD_PRO/#CPUS

The prior research I did told me the that the mobo is compatible with the entire Phenom II family. I have the Phenom II x4 975, and it appears the closest listed for support is the 970. I'm not sure if this is correct information, or perhaps my cpu wasn't added to the support list by mistake because the mobo itself is getting a bit up there in age. However, the cpu has no problems with BFBC2. In fact I noticed a notable increase in performance after I made the upgrade from my dual-core. I'm going to try to get in touch with Asus, and maybe they can help me out.

 

[iyzik]

That sounds like a good idea to contact ASUS. That is a very strange problem, I would think that if the motherboard didn't support the CPU it would just give you an error on boot or only let you into BIOS or something similar but for it to work fine for everything including other games like you say bfbc2 and then not work on bf3.. Very strange I think.
Anyway I hope my input was helpful, if Asus cannot be of help just let me know on this thread I'll try to find a solution.

 

[HEXiT]

nope your cpu isnt officially supported but the 970 is there which is exactly the same cpu i think, yours just runs faster. update the bios to 2301 and hopefully it will solve the problem.

 

[hooru]

have you tried getting a FPS reading from something else other than precisionX?? try downloading FRAPS and see if you get the same fps readings.

 

[UltimoBreakfast]

The BIOS upgrade seemed like it improved things to a certain extent. It still sucks that my motherboard doesn't support my 975, but hopefully it will not hinder performance that much. I guess I will have to look into buying a new motherboard pretty soon. I'd be open to suggestions on that as well.

I've discovered another possible culprit of my fps problem. I noticed when I logged in today that there was a banner across the top of the server list that says DICE is looking into lag issues. When I played a game I noticed a few other people complaining about low FPS in the chat. After some online research here today at work I saw that this may be an issue everyone is having, due to the public release of the Close Quarters expansion. I've read that this is only an issue with Punk Buster servers, so when I get home today I will try playing a non-PB server and see how things work out.

Thanks for the help, everyone. I greatly appreciate all the replies

 

[HEXiT]

yep bf3 has been laggging over the last 24 hours. it seems to be traveling around the world. at a set rate.
tomorrow the battlog will be off for 30mins or so while they do some work on the backend. as for it being an issue with icq i dont have it and dont play on servers that have it in there rotation so it aint that... if you havent bought it you dont download it unlike in the past where they would release a patch containing the dlc but it would only be active if you entered the key.