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FIRST... THANK YOU ALEX SIX! I WILL REPAY YOU WHEN THE BF3 LAUNCH HITS. The Game: The game itself is a very weird combination of web interface plus back end engine. In truth I don't like the web interface but maybe it's something they have chosen to have it more lite on the front end. The game itself only has 4 settings in game once it's launched. Low, Med, High, Auto. The config file is located at C:\Users\YOURWINDOWSLOGINID\AppData\Local\BF3\settings The settings are strange in that if you make even one change and save, it will lock your game completely up. I have tried in game, out of game, auto. Here are some comparison screenshots taken with FRAPS. Stock Clocks, No OC. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto Here are more screenshots taken with FRAPS. GPU @ 750/1000. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto More screenshots taken with FRAPS. GPU @ 750/1000. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto More screenshots taken with FRAPS. GPU @ 750/1000. Each on Low, Medium, High, Auto Here are screenshots of the actual configs on each setting level. Notice that even on lower settings that Ambient Occlusion is enabled. This alone will cause major impact to game performance. Again Low, Med, High then Auto. (Thoughts.. I am wondering if the config options are in mem **a lot like ATI driver settings** and rather than config file modifications we need a tool to modify the settings in memory) The config file is located at C:\Users\YOURWINDOWSLOGINID\AppData\Local\BF3\settings PROF_SAVE_body I played for many sessions (and on/off a few more). I stayed above 30fps for 95 percent of the time and up to 45fps during the outside maps. If Dice allows the ability to disable the ambient occlusion and AA we should easily be able to stay above 35-40fps even during the most intense fire fights IMO. I am very impressed with the game so far. I will post a few screenshots soon to follow. As you can see in the config file theirs really not much to choose from. I was yelling for others to optmize but at this point you really can't do much. I hope BETA allows for better individualization. For M14x Owners, if you get access to the Alpha, you can set it to AUTO, Low or Medium and play. If you set it to HIGH you will most likely see some drops into the 20s. I strongly advise you overclock to at least 750/900 as the screenshots show you its an extra 5 to 6fps for smooth gameplay. My concerns... 1. Dx9 was not supposed to be supported yet the directx9 source files are included with alpha install and when I run the bf3.exe in compatibility mode as Windows XP it runs. You get a warning at the top of the in the web browser but the game starts and works. 2. Is the game really running in DX10 or DX11? I can run the game without issue in vista sp2 compat mode and dont get an increase in performance. NEXT UP.. CPU UTILIZATION, GPU UTILIZATION, CORES, and other... CPU Utilization - i7-2630QM with all 8 threads enabled (parking disabled) hovered anywhere between 40-60percent utilization. most threads were around 40 percent utilized but overall total it was normally between those numbers. Never at 100 percent. GPU Utilization - The nvidia 555mGT stays pegged at 99-100 percent the entire match. My temps were normally around 72-74c at all times. The graphics themselves are a step back from BFBC2 it still seems to push the card. StevenX

OK, people have been asking for this for a while so I thought since I can tear this down in about 10min, I should do a quick write-up. Like the title said, I did this quick so pictures wont be the best but you will get a better understanding on how to teardown the system enough to at least repaste etc.. Here we go 1 - Shot of the underside 2 - Remove battery and the 4 screws in red to remove bottom cover 3 - Bottom Cover Off: Remove Screws Labeled I (5 of them in Red), P ( 5 in Blue), and HD Bay screws (4 in Green) 4 - Remove Hard Drives 5 - Remove Screws In Empty Hard Drive Bay (4 in blue) 6 - Remove the LCD Hinge Screws ( 4 in Red) and disconnect the wireless antennae (circled and traced in Red) 7 - Flip System over and open screen 8 - Pop off the media control panel by lifting the back right and left corners until it "pops" off. I find using my guitar pick helps with this 9 - Once the back corners have popped loose, run the guitar pick around the edges to loosen the rest (around the keyboard) 10 - Picture of the media panel loose but still connected with the ribbon cable (disconnect this now) 11 - Remove the Keyboard and macro keyboard screws ( 6 in Red) 12 - Disconnect all cables from the motherboard and graphic cards ( 11 in total) and 2 more lcd screws ( 2 in blue) This includes: 2 ribbon cables for the macro keyboard 2 ribbon cables for the keyboard 3 for the handrest/trackpad (2 on bottom, 1 near the right crossfire cable connector) 2 for the screen (one toward the bottom left, one at the top left) 2 for the crossfire cable (labeled L and R on the cable) 13 - Remove 3 more screws securing the cover ( 3 in Red). You will need to pop off this cover starting at the back... just lift until it pops off. If it is being difficult, make sure all screws labeled "P" on both the top and bottom are removed. 14 - Once the cover is off, remove the screws (going from #1-4) on your heatsinks.... clean and repaste. If anyone wants pics of the heatsinks removed just let me know (I took a couple but not really necessary for this guide). Once again, I did this all very fast so I know it is not as polished as it could have been.... but I wanted this out sooner than later for everyone to use. Let me know if anything is unclear etc... D.

"Yes Mr. Dell rep, I personally need 748 dual pipe heatsinks"

Really? Must've missed this information... this would explain a lot, also it makes sense since it's still alpha. But this would also mean that there will be a huge drop in fps once everything runs at DX11. And just a little thought... the game developers are always on a very tight schedule. Recently a lot of games (major titles) were scheduled too tightly, which resulted in delayed or crippled releases. I'm taking for example about the poor story of Black Ops (which was almost unplayable at the beginning and had literally required to be patched up) and Crysis 2, where they simply left out some main features, namely DX11 support. These games were release in an incomplete state, the DX11 patch for Crysis2 was "nice" of course, but it doesn't change the fact, that this should've been there from the very beginning, everything else is just very poor business and inacceptable in my opinion. I really hope that DICE manages to finish BF3 completely before the scheduled release date, I can't stand buying a such expensive game just to realize that half of the expected features are missing.

NO GET OUT My little pony 2

just pick the case up. there are a few minor imperfections but looks awesome.