![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , October 19, 2009
- Author:
- Mark Warner
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
Batman: Arkham Asylum & PhysX Gameplay Review
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Dark Knight pummels an endless stream of thugs, but will the game deliver the same two-fisted brutality to your video card? Find out as we examine gameplay performance and image quality on nine of today's video cards. Extensive testing of NVIDIA's PhysX and what it means to your gameplay experience!
Highest Playable - 1920x1200
1920x1200 has always been a far more reasonable resolution for your average gamer to shoot for in the last year. Not only are the video cards required to drive such a monitor at high settings in modern games more affordable, but the displays themselves are far less expensive. A 30" LCD running at 2560x1600 will still cost you around $1000 new, while a 24" LCD running at 1920x1200 can be had easily for under $300.
Not only that, but 1920x1200 is quite close to the 1080p HDTV standard. So gamers with Home Theater PCs and gamers using HDTVs as primary displays on standard PCs can rely on 1920x1200 to give them an accurate impression of how a video card will perform at 1080p. In general, performance should be slightly higher in 1080p than at 1920x1200, due to the 120 fewer scan lines in that standard.
Performance
At 1920x1200, the GeForce GTX 275 was able to give us 8X CSAA with Normal PhysX effects, 16X AF, and otherwise all maximum in-game graphics options. Both the Radeon HD 5850 and the Radeon HD 4890 were able to give us 8X MSAA, 16X AF, and maximum graphics options, but of course could not give us PhysX effects. We did try it, of course, but since PhysX runs on the CPU if only a Radeon graphics card is present; performance was abysmal with PhysX enabled.
Otherwise, however, the gameplay experience was superb on all three of these video cards at 1920x1200.
Mainstream
The GeForce GTS 250 continues to mop the floor with the Radeon HD 4770 at 1920x1200, allowing us to play with an impressive 8X CSAA and 16X AF, but with no PhysX and otherwise maximum in-game graphics options. The ATI Radeon HD 4770 was able to crawl out of the gutter somewhat, and we were able to turn on the Ambient Occlusion and Distortion options at 1920x1200. It still could not give us AA or PhysX, but at least we had all of the other graphics options accounted for.
Life At 1920x1200
Life at 1920x1200 is very affordable. You can get a GeForce GTS 250 for about $110 now, and it will do just fine for Batman: Arkham Asylum if you don’t care about PhysX features. If you do care about PhysX, the GeForce GTX 275 will deliver it, but at a pretty significant price premium.