Battlefield 3 stuttering/chuggin - read this if this happens to you

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FireBlade74

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Jul 30, 2011
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Hey guys, i've been really unhappy about how Battlefield 3 performs compared to BC2. When pretty much do anything i get micro stutters/chugging. This doesn't happen in any other game.

It seems to be mostly with ATI users, but what I changed to fix this had nothing to do with my ATI/AMD gpu = disabled CPU HyperThreading. Anyone with a hyperthreading cpu should disable it on their motherboard to see if it resolves it. Any Intel I7 processor has hyperthreading. I happen to have an I7 930

1. Download current driver for your Video Card
A. ATI users only Download the latest 11.10 Version 3 Preview drivers: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/GPU124AMDCat1110PreDriverV3.aspx
B. NVidia Users only Download the latest driver for your card at nvidia.com - Current driver for newer generation NVidia cards is version 285.62 - Mobile users (laptops) do have this version available, but it is a different package, so make sure when you are on the nvidia website to select the card with the M after it. example nvidia 285m instead of 285 which would be for a desktop card!
2. ATI users only Do not download or install the CAP3 <--- if you don't know what this is, you probably don't have it.
3. ATI users only If you have the CAP3 installed currently, remove it by going to Control Panel, Programs, and Remove or Uninstall the one that says "Application Process", (I think that's what its called, something like that)
4. Uninstall current video driver and any other item from your video cards driver installation from control panel -> add/remove area
5. Reboot
6. Install driver you downloaded in step 1
7. Reboot if it asks
8. If you use a processor that has HyperThreading, go into the BIOS and Disable HyperThreading - see pic below the bios probably won't say HyperThreading - might say "Intel HT Technology" or something similar
9. Enjoy your new stutterless game.
 
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Fire,
I went into the BIOS settings and couldn't find anything that says 'Hyperthreading' is it called something else on Vista?
 
MachineGunMack said:
Fire,
I went into the BIOS settings and couldn't find anything that says 'Hyperthreading' is it called something else on Vista?
Click to expand...

you sire are priceless...do you have a intel processor? (what one) if so in the bios it could be under "CPU features" (at least thats whats its under in my bios)
 
You will only have this setting in bios if you have an Intel Core I7 or other intel processor with hyperthreading. If you send me the model of your motherboard and list the CPU have. I can identify if this fix will work for you. It's amazing how much smoother my game is now after disabling HyperThreading.

This does not work for I5 processors such as the 2500k as they do not have hyperthreading.
 
Yes I have an i7 processor, I'll give you exact specs when I'm at home from work tonight, and I realized that AMD catalyst is for ATI cards but I downloaded anyways then restarted, played for 5 mins in a server before work and it was night and day better, I have no clue what may have fixed that as I clearly don't know lots about computers, I could get home tonight and it will be back to crap with my luck!
 
I want to post a picture of a bios that shows the setting that should be disabled as it can be confusing. In this picture the setting is called "Intel HT Technology"

advTurbodisable.jpg
 
MachineGunMack said:
Yes I have an i7 processor, I'll give you exact specs when I'm at home from work tonight, and I realized that AMD catalyst is for ATI cards but I downloaded anyways then restarted, played for 5 mins in a server before work and it was night and day better, I have no clue what may have fixed that as I clearly don't know lots about computers, I could get home tonight and it will be back to crap with my luck!
Click to expand...

If you don't have an ATI/AMD card do not install the ATI drivers/Catalyst suite. If you have an NVidia card, they just released new drivers that help with BF3 on the 26th I think and you can download them for your card at nvidia.com.
 
Just went online and I have a gateway fx 6800 series computer, not sure of exact model but, it has intel core i7 processor 2.64 ghz, 12gb ram with an nvidia geforce 285 vid card
 
FireBlade74 said:
If you don't have an ATI/AMD card do not install the ATI drivers/Catalyst suite. If you have an NVidia card, they just released new drivers that help with BF3 on the 26th I think and you can download them for your card at nvidia.com.
Click to expand...


Ok, I'll remove that download and I think I remember seeing that option this morning.

I am now wondering why the game actually ran smooth this morning, I never rebooted after installing and upgrading maybe it needed that?
 
MachineGunMack said:
Just went online and I have a gateway fx 6800 series computer, not sure of exact model but, it has intel core i7 processor 2.64 ghz, 12gb ram with an nvidia geforce 285 vid card
Click to expand...

Well, you definitely need to do one thing for sure and that is update to the newest Mobile Video drivers from Nvidia which you can get for your card here

http://www.geforce.com/Drivers/Results/39066 These are only for Nvidia Mobility Cards! and only certain models!

those drivers are for windows vista or windows 7 64 bit and for the 285m video card you have.
Steps
1. download the drivers to desktop or other location you are familiar with on your computer
2. I always recommend completely uninstalling the drivers from the control panel. then reboot, even if it doesn't ask.
3. find the drivers you downloaded above and install after the computer reboots. your screen might look funky till you install these new drivers!
4. reboot if it asks, otherwise you are done!

now..........your laptop does have an I7, so I would recommend disabling hyperthreading for now in the bios. If you can't figure out where it is in bios, i might be able to help, but see picture above as it might not exactly be called HyperThreading in the bios screen.

If you installed the ati catalyst, please uninstall as it will not help and actually might harm performance or cause computer to lock up.
 
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Ok, sweet...removing the old drivers through add/remove programs I'm assuming?

I downloaded the new 285.62 driver I believe but I'll try it again and follow the steps you have there and do the BIOS changes on the reboot, thanks!

I'll post in here tonight and let you know how it goes
 
MachineGunMack said:
Ok, sweet...removing the old drivers through add/remove programs I'm assuming?

I downloaded the new 285.62 driver I believe but I'll try it again and follow the steps you have there and do the BIOS changes on the reboot, thanks!

I'll post in here tonight and let you know how it goes
Click to expand...

Correct, remove old drivers through add/remove and then reboot before installing new drivers.

If you didn't have these new drivers installed you will see atleast a 10% improvement in frames per second most likely :)

Would love to hear a couple more success stories!
 
I have been having screen flashes running my system. I have two Nvidia GTX 570 cards SLI and a Core i7 2600k, is anyone else with Nvidia SLI setups observing random screen flashing while running the newest Nvidia driver?
 
cbpagent72 said:
I have been having screen flashes running my system. I have two Nvidia GTX 570 cards SLI and a Core i7 2600k, is anyone else with Nvidia SLI setups observing random screen flashing while running the newest Nvidia driver?
Click to expand...

I have noticed that too..

With the BETA it was fine...now its seems to be at least 3 times per round I will get flashes.
 
I would get screen flickering in bc2 and it was annoying but never lasted long.

Fire, when you say nvidia mobile drivers you don't mean for laptop do you? I saw you put 'your laptop' in a post above but mine is a desktop, I believe it's still the 285.62 driver so I'll have to reinstall it cuz I did download the 285.62 driver for my comp through my nvidia control panel when I first installed the game.
 
MachineGunMack said:
I would get screen flickering in bc2 and it was annoying but never lasted long.

Fire, when you say nvidia mobile drivers you don't mean for laptop do you? I saw you put 'your laptop' in a post above but mine is a desktop, I believe it's still the 285.62 driver so I'll have to reinstall it cuz I did download the 285.62 driver for my comp through my nvidia control panel when I first installed the game.
Click to expand...

Oh man, sorry, it won't harm anything, but ya, not sure why i thought you had a laptop! just go to the site and download these drivers
http://www.geforce.com/Drivers/Results/38916 <---- those are for desktop cards
 
cbpagent72 said:
I have been having screen flashes running my system. I have two Nvidia GTX 570 cards SLI and a Core i7 2600k, is anyone else with Nvidia SLI setups observing random screen flashing while running the newest Nvidia driver?
Click to expand...

I think screenflashes are a common occurence in this game. I get them every once in a while too. Mine happen to be super short occuring green or white flashes...... I read that other people are getting them too so I wouldn't be too concerned. My don't happen often, but i have seen them.
 
cbpagent72 said:
I have been having screen flashes running my system. I have two Nvidia GTX 570 cards SLI and a Core i7 2600k, is anyone else with Nvidia SLI setups observing random screen flashing while running the newest Nvidia driver?
Click to expand...

Since you have a 2600k I would try disabling hyperthreading also. Come to think of it........I don't think I've had the screenflashes since i disabled it. Maybe i just haven't noticed, but it's worth a try and might smooth your game out too!
 
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