Date:
Tuesday , November 03, 2009
Author:
Mark Warner
Editor:
Brent Justice
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Resident Evil 5 Gameplay Performance and IQ

Greedy multinational biotech corporations have infected hordes of African citizens with an apocalyptic mind-controlling parasite, and it's up to you and your sexy sidekick to save the world! But before you get started, you better make sure your video card is up to the task. Check it out with us as we test the best video cards out today including all of the new Radeon HD 5000 series video cards!

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Gameplay Performance Summary

2560x1600

At 2560x1600, the GeForce GTX 295 ruled the day as far as performance was concerned, with the GeForce GTX 285 and Radeon HD 5870 trailing close behind. Of all nine video cards we tested at 2560x1600, the Radeon HD 5850 proved to be a good value, giving us a great experience with 4X MSAA at this high resolution for a relatively minor amount of money.

1920x1200

At 1920x1200, the GeForce GTX 275 was a great performer, but the GeForce GTS 250 was the very best value. Coming in at just over $100, it offered a great performance with 8X CSAA at 1920x1200. Other video cards certainly were capable of outperforming it, but at a steep price premium for the gameplay advantage offered.

1680x1050

Gaming at 1680x1050 is a wondrously inexpensive proposition, thanks to the high performance of current mainstream tier video cards. Again, the GeForce GTS 250 shone brightly, matching the Radeon HD 5770 for the experience delivered. Both the GeForce GTS 250 and Radeon HD 5770 outperformed the diminutive Radeon HD 5750, which still performed respectably for a video card of its price.

CPU and Memory Utilization

Using an NVIDIA video card, our CPU was utilized about 30% average across all four cores. With the AMD ATI video card installed, it was half that amount. It looks to be related to the bug we saw where ATI Radeon performance dropped significantly during in-game cinematic sequences. Memory usage was typical, with Resident Evil 5 using slightly more system memory with an NVIDIA video card installed than with AMD’s ATI video card installed.

No Real Surprises

Resident Evil 5 gave us exactly what we were expecting. We knew it was a console game going into it, and that console port experience is precisely what was delivered. From the frustrating control scheme to the obtuse and spartan game menus, Resident Evil 5 positively oozes its console-born heritage from every possible location. And for what it is, it is fine. It is a cinematic game. It is supposed to be more like an interactive film than a traditional shooter, and that is accomplished in fine style.

Ultimately, the only thing wrong with Resident Evil 5 is that it is a console game running on a PC. It would be incorrect to call it unoptimized, as performance is certainly not a problem, even on low-end video cards. This game just does not bend the way we expect PC games to bend. It is not terribly configurable, and the gameplay can seem somewhat obtuse and awkward.

AMD GPU Problems and Driver Support

The new AMD Radeon HD 5000 series (and the Radeon HD 4000 series) performance seems to be impaired in this game. For whatever reason, there are several issues with these video cards. There is a definite image quality bug which causes overblown HDR on all Radeon HD 5000 series video cards in DX10. This causes the game to look completely different in lighting from all other video cards, even the Radeon HD 4000 series. This overblown HDR rendering is very annoying in-game, causing game characters to be hard to see, blending in with the background lighting. Then you have the fact that all Radeon HD 4000 and 5000 series video cards are experiencing a very odd performance drop in cinematics (which are rendered via the engine remember in real-time) while in DX10. Not only that, but the CPU performance also drops in these same scenarios. We have no idea what that is all about; we’ve never seen that before. Factor all of this in and it seems the new Radeon HD 5000 series video cards may not be performing at their full performance levels in this game, holding their potential back.

When all is said and done, AMD has some driver problems to work through in this game. Thankfully, we have made AMD aware of the graphics bug and they are duplicated the issue and say that a fix will come in a later Catalyst driver version. However, while AMD is waiting to get that fix out to gamers, those same gamers can already enjoy Resident Evil 5 on current generation NVIDIA GeForce cards with no graphics bugs, no performance dips, and really great performance right now. Once again we see AMD lagging behind when it comes to driver support in new games, and in fact Resident Evil 5 isn’t even that brand new, it has already been out a month and a half on the PC. The fact we have to wait even longer until a new Catalyst release for these fixes is very depressing.

The Bottom Line

Resident Evil 5 represents a compelling cinematic experience for PC gamers. Ultimately, Resident Evil 5 is a console game that was ported to the PC well after its original release. It shows its console heritage without shame, for better or worse. There are endless quick-time events to make sure you don’t move your hand too far from your keyboard, and you will want to make sure that you are prepared to address three possible key combinations for it.

For gamers looking to upgrade for those high-resolution monitors, the Radeon HD 5870 and GeForce GTX 285 are the best values in the high end. For more moderate budgets, the Radeon HD 5850 is a good value, while the GeForce GTS 250 is still supreme on the low end.

While we are sure AMD currently has a better GPU than NVIDIA, this game goes to show that AMD needs to step its game up when it comes to drivers. 45 days after launch and here will still have a AA title with graphical bugs galore on its new hardware.

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