Battlefield 3 is one of the biggest games from 2011 and unsurprisingly interest in this shooter title is still strong.

Its mind numbing to consider just how many multiplayer hours the world has clocked up on BF3 since its release 10 months ago, but the question we are asking today is - Does a gamer need a dedicated graphics solution to enjoy BF3? Let's find out...

This test was made with 8GB of DDR3-1600 RAM and the CPU Core i7-3770 4-Core 3.4GHz. The GPU in question, can be specificly called Intel HD i7 3770 and these are its specs:

Core-Clock: 650MHz (up to 1300MHz)

Memory Clock: 800MHz (due to system ram being DDR3-1600)

Bus Width: 128-bit (due to having dual channel memory installed (2 x 4GB)

Shader Processing Units: 16 (same for all Ivy Bridge GPUs)

These benchmarks were done with  a resolution of 1024x768.

BattleField 3 (Multiplayer) Results:

Low Preset Veredict:

Comment: Battlefield 3's amazing Multiplayer is playable at Intel HD 4000 - but just barely. The average FPS was 30 (30,1 to be more precise) which falls just a little above the playable to non-playable threshold. It's worth pointing out there was a minimum of 24 FPS, meaning on some parts and during intense situations, performance hindered.

Medium Preset Veredict:

Comment: Unfortunatelly, it seems things a little bit more complicated for Intel HD 4000 on medium settings. Probably because the medium preset includes a considerable high amount of AA, deadly for most integrated solutions. The average FPS fall behind the playable threshold (27.1 FPS) meaning most of the time players will experience lousy frame rates and will have a tough time keeping up with BF3's MP's insane competition.

High Preset Veredict:

Comment: Not much to say in here. It was expected. Even the Maximum FPS (which might be a single occurence) fall beneath the threshold line. Only players really used to very lousy frame rates will manage to play BF3 MP this way and even they would probably stick with low, let alone high.

Ultra Preset Veredict:

Comment: It's crazy to even make this benchmark. Only a high-end GPU can pull ultra settings with fluent Frame Rates. On the ultra preset, BF3 MP is completly unplayable and playing it this way is totally out of the question. Even the Maximum FPS registered (17) are ridicously low.

Final Comment: Unfortunately, I was hoping for better results. Even on the lowest settings and a low resolution, Intel HD 4000 has some difficulties when trying to get BF3 to perform. Battlefield 3's MP is graphically impressive experience that needs to be played with smooth frame rates (above 40) to be enjoyed to its full. It's safe to say players will require a dedicated graphics solution if they want to enjoy BF3's MP.