Maybe it's time to retire the old 295's but I wanted to make a LAN rig, So I decided to throw BF3 on this mobile rig with dual 295's in quad SLI running surround at 5760 x 1080 and it is totally unplayable even on low settings. :( I currently have not put the latest NVIDIA drivers (296.10) on the rig, because surround will not even work right and crashes. So I am currently using (285.62). Could this be the cause of the unplayable conditions on BF3 on Low settings. The auto setting sets everything to High, but again it is unplayable. Even on low it is barley playable at all. or is this a VRAM issue? Any suggestions at all? almost all other games play well, it is just BF3.

Use driver 285.79
The important settings for for getting GTX 295's to run BF3 are...
 
-BF3 In-game settings-
set "Graphics Quality" to CUSTOM 
Turn "Texture Quality" to MED
Turn "AntiAntialiasing Deferred" to OFF
Turn "Motion Blur" to OFF
Turn "HBAO" to OFF
-->everything else can be set to MED or even HIGH
 
You can read over my BF3 Guide shown in my Sig below for more details
 

Even with 285.79 driver the same symptoms occur. I have basically tried every driver from NVIDIA site. see list below.

GeForce 301.24 Driver - BETA
Version: 301.24 - Release Date: Mon Apr 09, 2012



GeForce 296.10 Driver - WHQL
Version: 296.10 - Release Date: Tue Mar 13, 2012


GeForce 295.73 Driver - WHQL
Version: 295.73 - Release Date: Tue Feb 21, 2012



GeForce 295.51 Driver - BETA
Version: 295.51 - Release Date: Tue Jan 31, 2012



GeForce 290.53 Driver - BETA
Version: 290.53 - Release Date: Wed Dec 21, 2011



GeForce 290.36 Driver - BETA
Version: 290.36 - Release Date: Mon Nov 28, 2011



GeForce 285.79 Driver - BETA
Version: 285.79 - Release Date: Thu Nov 10, 2011



GeForce 285.62 Driver - WHQL
Version: 285.62 - Release Date: Mon Oct 24, 2011



GeForce 285.38 Driver - BETA
Version: 285.38 - Release Date: Mon Sep 26, 2011



GeForce 285.27 Driver - BETA
Version: 285.27 - Release Date: Tue Sep 13, 2011
 
Every single driver, same results. COD4 , Starcraft2, Shift 2, all work on surround ( minus starcraft 2, which goes on one monitor) but BF3 starts to load then crashes to black screen then to Desktop each time. I have tried to Repair the install, / re install BF3 but still no good. Any reason it is just BF3 in surround that will not play? I can get it to work in Non surround on most drivers but surround crashes.

You can use EVGA Precision to show your fps, VRAM usage, ect.  I doubt VRAM is the main issue but it is probably a small part of it.  I believe that it is poor SLI performance.  I bet you will get the same fps if you were only using a single GTX295.  Having more than a single dual GPU card is a complete waste of money, except maybe for folding.

boylerya


You can use EVGA Precision to show your fps, VRAM usage, ect.  I doubt VRAM is the main issue but it is probably a small part of it.  I believe that it is poor SLI performance.  I bet you will get the same fps if you were only using a single GTX295.  Having more than a single dual GPU card is a complete waste of money, except maybe for folding.

Thanks for the info, but officially per Nvidia's website, you need two 295's in SLI to get surround. and per the original post I am only having issue with this game in surround. so any info on that topic would be great. has anyone ever made BF3 work on 2x295's and can prove this works? I have looked at youtube and google but it seems no one is even tried.

Did you try the -exact- settings I posted?
You cannot use the "Graphics Quality" in-game preset, it must be set to CUSTOM. 
  
 set "Graphics Quality" to CUSTOM 
Turn "Texture Quality" to MED
Turn "AntiAntialiasing Deferred" to OFF
Turn "Motion Blur" to OFF
Turn "HBAO" to OFF
-->everything else can be set to MED or even HIGH
*you MUST set "terrain quality" to MED or lower, as HIGH and ULTRA are DX11 support -only- 
 
Even with all these changes, trying to run BF3 "well" my just be impossible at that screen res.
You just do not have the VRAM to do so.....  
 
I knida wrote the book on BF3 settings http://www.evga.com/forums/fb.ashx?m=1323124 

radiantdragoon87

boylerya


You can use EVGA Precision to show your fps, VRAM usage, ect.  I doubt VRAM is the main issue but it is probably a small part of it.  I believe that it is poor SLI performance.  I bet you will get the same fps if you were only using a single GTX295.  Having more than a single dual GPU card is a complete waste of money, except maybe for folding.

Thanks for the info, but officially per Nvidia's website, you need two 295's in SLI to get surround. and per the original post I am only having issue with this game in surround. so any info on that topic would be great. has anyone ever made BF3 work on 2x295's and can prove this works? I have looked at youtube and google but it seems no one is even tried.

Depending on the GTX295 you have you don't need 2 of them for Surround at all.  What you need for Surround with pre 600 series is 2 GPUs, and each GTX295 you have already has 2 GPUs. If one of your GTX295's has 2 DVI ports and one HDMI port on the back it can run Surround by itself.
 
Battlefield 3 in fact does terribly with more than 2 GPUs for SLI in Surround. Check your GTX295 and see if one of them has 2 DVI + 1 HDMI post and if it does try using only one for your Surround setup.
 
You will however need to compromise your IQ settings. GTX295's only have 896MB VRAM effective to work with and in Surround that is a HUGE handicap. You'll need to disable AA completely, run low texture settings and definitely no HBAO or motion blur.

CraptacularOne

You will however need to compromise your IQ settings. GTX295's only have 896MB VRAM effective to work with and in Surround that is a HUGE handicap. You'll need to disable AA completely, run low texture settings and definitely no HBAO or motion blur.

^^This.
 
I have the same VRAM in my 260's and only play at 1080p resolution with everything as low as I can possibly get it and I still use 750-800+Mb of VRAM.  I honestly have no idea how you could be running Surround with that little amount in BF3.

LMAFO well its official the 2XX cards just got lumped into the "grandfather" aka old category :)
 
But to answer CraptacularOne's question, Mine are Alienware Aurora 295's one of the only links I could locate - http://www.ebay.com/itm/O...ra-T682N-/230704546034
 
I tried to plug all three into one card and it would not let me enable surround via control panel. so I doubt they mine are the kind that can. It would have been worth a shot to try that.
 
to answer maniacvvv's question. I would love to set those "-exact- settings I posted?" but what I may not be relaying correctly is that the game does not even get to a menu screen, it crashes once the game initializes once you click campaign, multi-player, or co op from origin.
 
At this rate I'm about to move the 295 into my folding farm, and get new cards :)