Battlefield 3 recommended specs only good for medium settings

Dice community manager Daniel Matros has dropped an internet bombshell by stating that a PC built around the Battlefield 3 recommended system requirements, which were released earlier this week, will only be able to run the game at Medium settings.

The revelation came via a Twitter-based question and answer session earlier today, when Matros stated that ‘recommended is usually medium’.

When asked if a single Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB would have enough power to run the game at Ultra settings, Matros went on to say that if you were aiming for that level of detail from the Frostbite 2 engine, then you’ll probably need two GeForce GTX 580s in SLI configuration.

No mention was made of the resolutions Matros had in mind when he was making the suggestions, but it’s clear that Battlefield 3 will indeed prove challenging for today's hardware. The news is sure to have hardware manufacturers rubbing their hands with glee too, as many people are likely to need an upgrade if they want to play the game at anything approaching the highest settings.

The announcement does raise some questions about how well Battlefield 3 will fare on consoles, however. If a PC is going to need that level of grunt to run the game, it’s a fair bet that it will have to be significantly cut back to run on the current generation of consoles.

Are you pleased by this news? Do you think your PC is capable of running Battlefield 3 at half-decent settings? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.