Ever since the game has gone live I've been having horrible FPS issues. I can barely pass 20 FPS on ANY of the graphics settings. I've tried switching resolutions from 1680x1050 all the way to 800x600, and its weird that my FPS gain is about 1-2... I've changed graphics settings from Ultra to Low and got a staggering 3-4 FPS increase. What is going on here? To be sure it wasn't my drivers I re-installed them twice yesterday and nothing has changed, even forcing the program to use certain settings on Nvidia control panel, nothing changes. 
 
Does anyone have a config so I can at least get 60 solid FPS in this game? I never had an issue until the game went live so the settings must be in there somewhere right? 

Post yo' system specs, guy.

I assume you have a shitty CPU?

This means your cpu is holding back your gaming experience. I had a similar issue and did abit of testing to find out. I had a C2D e6600 oc to 3.4ghz with a gtx 260. When running battlefield 3 at any graphical setting, the fps would barely change, ie 20 fps at low, 20 fps at ultra. I originaly upgraded my gpu to a 560ti, but only saw maybe a 3-5fps increase. I then ran some monitoring programs in the background to see that while my cpu was getting 100% usage, my graphics card was barely going over 20%. My CPu was holding back my GPU. Now ive got a i2500k oced to 4.6ghz, my cpu across 4 cores(compared to 2) is getting between 70-90% usage and my gpu is finnaly getting to the 80-100 usage it should. Conclusion You need to upgrade your cpu

Same thing happens to me, but since I have an excellent graphics card, I know that it is my CPU holding it back. Which is why I'm looking to buy a new one, along with a new motherboard.

Thanks, Makes sense.. I guess I cant play BF3 until I get a new computer next semester. I currently have a C2D @ 3.2 ghz, can play any other game I throw at it except BF3.  
 
Quick edit --  
 
I just checked the minimum requirements for BF3. 
 
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ or Althon X2 2.7 GHz) 
Graphics Card (NVIDIA): DirectX 10.0 compatible with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GEFORCE 200) 
 
I definitely meet these requirements. Do people really think 20 FPS is playable?

@Vital: Vital, as i said eariler, i was in the exact same boast as you and got the same results. Playable to a publisher basicaly means will it run, and 20fps is defiently "playable", console versions are running that, but its not an enjoyable experience

@Vital: BF3 is much more processor hungry than most games - all those destruction calculations. How much memory do you have btw? If you have only 2 gigs, upgrading to 4 might help a bit.

What is the exact graphics card that you have?

If you are using an Nvidia- or AMD-card you'll sometimes have to "whitelist" the game, forcing it to use your GPU in the instead of the motherboard.

To do this simply;

1. Right click on desktop and choose "NVIDIA ControlPanel" (I have Nvidia so I'm not sure if it's exactly the same for AMD)

2. Go to 3D Settings.

3. Program settings (Not the global ones as it will increase the power consumption greatly without really doing too much overall difference)

4. Find your game in the list or choose "Browse" to find the .exe file that runs the game.

5. Choose "Nvidia GPU with high performance"

6. Wallah! ^^

(If you do not know which .exe file you are too choose, boot the game up, press "Ctrl + Alt + Delete" and open "Tast Manager", go to the process list, find BF3 or whatever you are going to whitelist, right click and choose the first option which should say "Open filelocation" or something similar.

Hope it helped you :)

The setting that affects framerate the *most* besides eye candy settings like ambient occlusion is "Mesh Detail", which is a shame because Mesh Detail is view distance, in effect, affecting when enemy players are drawn in on your screen before you use a scope/zoom.... If you run a MAV, you can see this very plainly even between High and Ultra "Mesh Detail".. You'll see all enemies to the horizon on Ultra, but the view distance draw-in will be severely cut down on High. You can have problems if you're running the side guns on a transpo-chopper as well since you *MUST ZOOM* to see enemies, even on High Mesh.

It also influences the amount of clutter/building detail draw in as well, having an impact on framerate. I've had to play with incredibly low framerate at times and play primarily with low settings, but wish I could reduce them even further by removing some/more of the dynamic lighting.