'The infantry combat is responsive and engaging, the vehicles a grin-inducing joy ride. The fact that there are so many game types and that the maps reconfigure depending on player count means there’s a huge amount of variety in BF3’s online offering, and with more unlocks than you can shake a boom-stick at, it’ll take you ages before you’ve seen and done everything. Battle Log and Origin are awkward, but Battle Log is at least functional, making it easy to find servers with free slots or running your favourite maps.
In short, Battlefield 3’s multiplayer is a triumph, and while the single player campaign isn’t the most original, or entertaining shooter, it’s the online modes that will keep us playing for months to come.'
Battlefield 3 has garnered an almost Crysis-esque reputation as a graphical benchmark for PCs. We run the game at its highest 'Ultra' settings with the Field of View set to 70. We record the average and minimum frame rates during a ninety second on rails section in the campaign mission 'Going Hunting'. The benchmark begins the moment one of the NPCs says "plans have changed".
Click to enlarge
Battlefield 3
1,920 x 1,080 4xAA 16x AF, ultra detail settings, DirectX 11
Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 4GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GHz Edition
Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB with Boost
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB
AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB
Zotac GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB amp! Edition
EVGA GeForce 650 Ti 1GB SSC
AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 1GB
AMD Radeon HD 7750 1GB
117
141
65
79
61
77
60
72
55
68
54
65
50
62
46
58
44
54
44
53
35
44
32
39
30
37
23
28
20
25
17
22
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Frames Per Second
Minimum
Average
Battlefield 3
2,560 x 1,600 4xAA 16x AF, ultra detail settings, DirectX 11
Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 4GB
AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GHz Edition
Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB with Boost
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB
AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB
Zotac GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB amp! Edition
EVGA GeForce 650 Ti 1GB SSC
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 1GB
AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB
AMD Radeon HD 7750 1GB
70
83
39
47
39
46
35
42
34
41
31
38
31
37
29
36
26
32
25
31
21
26
18
22
15
19
11
14
9
15
8
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Frames Per Second
Minimum
Average
Battlefield 3
5,760 x 1,080, 4xAA 16x AF, ultra detail settings, DirectX 11