For that rig, the question should be not so much whether it will run, as how high you can turn settings and have it run smoothly. If it doesn't run as well as you'd like, then a video card upgrade could probably fix the problem.
The 9800GT is basically the minimum system requirement that EA lists for BF3.
Here's a thread where a guy is playing with a 9800 - the general consensus is it runs, but either you get <30FPS or you have to turn the resolution way down. This guy is running a Core2Duo, you have a considerably better CPU, but at least you can see a baseline for performance with the video card.
The 9800 had to run everything on low, it wouldn't even start up with the settings on Ultra. This is on a Core i7 965 (just a hair faster than what you have stock). He has some benchmarks from other video cards on other pages in that same blog running on that same system, so you can see what a video card upgrade to various cards would do for you.
You noticed I glossed over the 9800 GT results - I was able to get average frame rates in the mid-30s with it at much lower (1680x1050, Low quality) and would have likely preferred to drop another resolution setting to get a smoother FPS experience. But obviously, even though we were able to achieve some 30+ frame rates, the image quality does take a noticeable dive at the Low settings.
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For that rig, the question should be not so much whether it will run, as how high you can turn settings and have it run smoothly. If it doesn't run as well as you'd like, then a video card upgrade could probably fix the problem.
Yeah you really need to sort that graphics card out. Its a little behind the rest in terms of spec.
The 9800GT is basically the minimum system requirement that EA lists for BF3.
Here's a thread where a guy is playing with a 9800 - the general consensus is it runs, but either you get <30FPS or you have to turn the resolution way down. This guy is running a Core2Duo, you have a considerably better CPU, but at least you can see a baseline for performance with the video card.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1152918/9800gt-and-bf3
The rest of your rig looks pretty solid though. The 9800GT isn't a bad card, BF3 just takes some horsepower to turn all the options on.
Here's another page where they compare a 9800GT, a 460 GTX, and a 5850 on the same system:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Battlefield-3-Beta-Performance-Testing-and-Image-Quality-Evaluation-Day-1/Mor
The 9800 had to run everything on low, it wouldn't even start up with the settings on Ultra. This is on a Core i7 965 (just a hair faster than what you have stock). He has some benchmarks from other video cards on other pages in that same blog running on that same system, so you can see what a video card upgrade to various cards would do for you.