Ultra Quality Performance
At 1680x1050 using the Ultra settings we were surprised to find Battlefield 3 to be so demanding. The Radeon HD 6950 averaged just 30fps, while the GeForce GTX 570 was noticeably faster, matching the Radeon HD 6970 with 39fps. The GeForce GTX 580 scored 42fps which is still low for the fastest single GPU graphics card money can buy.
The Radeon HD 6990 spat out a more respectable 61fps, while a pair of Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire cards were slightly faster with 64fps. The GeForce GTX 590 averaged 67fps, following the pair of GeForce GTX 580 SLI cards that managed an impressive 74fps.
Increasing the resolution to 1920x1200 hit performance further as the Radeon HD 6950 delivered less than 30fps. The GeForce GTX 580 remained the fastest single GPU card with an average of just 36fps. Dual-GPU solutions performed considerably better, with the GeForce GTX 580 SLI configuration stealing the show once again with 64fps.
There is no denying that dual-GPU configurations are a must at 2560x1600 using Ultra settings. The slowest single GPU card we tested, the Radeon HD 6950 averaged just 20fps. The GeForce GTX 570 also managed 21fps while the GeForce GTX 580 was slightly faster with 23fps.
Even the Radeon HD 6990 scored a mere 34fps while the Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire cards and GeForce GTX 590 were matched at 36fps.