Got some interesting graphs for you data hounds. These graphs are at 1920x1200, all ultra, except high textures and no MSAA, on a 64-man server without about 45-50 players. The CPU has HT shut off, but that's mostly due to reviews that said it slowed things down in single player. Truth is, I think it helps in multiplayer, and I plan on turning it back on.
(1) The settings I usually play at - GPUs at stock, vsync on:
Note that the CPU and GPUs are pretty well matched, neither are fully loaded at any point, and GPU temps are low.
(2) Now, say I want to open it up and let her loose, GPUs overclocked, vsync off. Here's what I get:
Note that the fps is fluctuating a bit, mostly between 50 and 80, and it looks like it might have hit 45 a few times (I didn't actually examine that at the time I clipped this). Take a look at the CPU. It's bouncing off the limit, more so than the GPUs. I'm CPU-limited here - the GPUs rarely hit 99%.
(3) Finally, a look at memory use:
I've posted about vram and system ram use before, but take a look at what happened here. My vram is holding steady at 1.8GB, or 900MB per card. I have that under control since I'm not using MSAA or ultra textures. But I got the dreaded Windows theme error. Why? Well, take a look at the right side where you can see system memory use. It's gone out of control. Over the gaming session it went from 4GB used to 6GB used. And yet when I checked the task manager, BF3 was only using 1.25GB. I think there's some kind of memory leak that's tripping the Windows theme error - fooling W7 into thinking VRAM is running out. I'm no expert on this, so I'd love to hear others' opinions.
Anyway, food for thought. As you can see, this game craves CPU power in multiplayer. It doesn't affect me too much, as I typically run with vsync to limit tearing and reduce heat/power. But like I said, I'm going to do some testing with HT on - I have a feeling it will give my CPU some breathing room...
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