Calling on all ATI 6870 1GB, BF3 gamers

I need some help here

I'm going to buy a 6870 but i need your help to answer a question, for me its a choice between the 1GB and 2GB versions of that card, the 1GB is an easy choice as its cheap (relatively) and the 2GB is more expensive.

I don't know which i should get for BF3 (that being the most GPU hungry game out there)

If you don't mind (and you have the 1GB version of said card) could you crank up half high and half Ultra @ 1920 x 1080 settings, or as high as you can get them with 45 FPS average @ 1920 x 1080, (turn off AA if need be)

Please tell me what settings you managed with the 1GB 6870 and if it could handle it.

Thanks in advanced

We have a bit of a discussion going on with this topic in the to crossfire or to upgrade thread.

According to Toms Hardware you should be able to average around 50fps at your resolution and high settings without AA. You'd only need the 1Gb model to do it and I'm certain you could change a couple of settings to ultra without losing too much. To get the full ultra experience at your resolution you would need 2 6870's AND you would also certainly want the 2Gb versions since the game is very VRAM hungry on Ultra to the point that 2 of the 1Gb models(still only makes 1Gb in crossfire) would not provide consistent FPS due to not having enough VRAM. I'm just mentioning the crossfire 6870 part to be thorough, it would be disappointing if you got 2 in the future and ended up having to use the exact same settings that you used for 1 card because of a lack of VRAM.

Link to the Toms Hardware article. Link.

Hicksimus said:

We have a bit of a discussion going on with this topic in the to crossfire or to upgrade thread.

According to Toms Hardware you should be able to average around 50fps at your resolution and high settings without AA. You'd only need the 1Gb model to do it and I'm certain you could change a couple of settings to ultra without losing too much. To get the full ultra experience at your resolution you would need 2 6870's AND you would also certainly want the 2Gb versions since the game is very VRAM hungry on Ultra to the point that 2 of the 1Gb models(still only makes 1Gb in crossfire) would not provide consistent FPS due to not having enough VRAM. I'm just mentioning the crossfire 6870 part to be thorough, it would be disappointing if you got 2 in the future and ended up having to use the exact same settings that you used for 1 card because of a lack of VRAM.

Link to the Toms Hardware article. Link.

Click to expand...

That confirms it for me, thanks for that.

just one more question... http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702818

It's a tough time to say what the best choice is. I was just making the same type of decision myself and I went with a second GTX460 768mb to keep me happy until we get to see what Nvidia has coming for performance. FYI 768mb isn't enough to move BF3 above medium texture quality at 1680x1050 without MSAA. The game still looks excellent at any settings though.


The GTX480 route looks to be the most expensive one you could do up front and is probably the best performance you can afford right away. The VRAM is likely to be perfectly fine and it looks like you can run ultra at your resolution with just 1 of them playably. It should be quite well made and last you as long as you would likely want to hold on to it even if it is a hot card. Just don't hold onto it for 4+ years, I replace a lot of 3-4 year old top of the line models because parts other than the GPU wear out faster and I'd suspect it has to do with the high ambient temperatures. Though I'll admit it can be caused by a number of other things a.k.a. the over clocking fairy that OC's while you sleep.