Image Quality Settings
The Resident Evil 5 benchmark has two separate launch options: DirectX 9 or DirectX 10. After you choose the DirectX version you'd like to test, there are only three main detail controls to adjust: Shadow Detail, Texture Detail, and Overall Quality. Each has a low, medium, and high setting. In addition, there is a Motion Blur option that can be set to on or off and an anti-aliasing (AA) option for 0x, 2x, 4x, and 8x AA.
Note that the benchmark randomly assigns different character skins every time it is run, making it difficult to easily compare character levels of detail.
There are no shadows on the low detail setting, which takes a lot of potential depth away from the scene. The textures are blurry and the lighting model is fairly simple.
At medium details, the game still uses low-polygon models, but the higher texture resolution helps out a lot. Shadows are introduced to the characters, which add some much-needed depth to the scene. The lighting model is also really improved--notice how there is a lot more depth and detail to the lighting on structures and objects.
High detail really kicks the graphical fidelity into high gear. Texture and shadow detail are amped up, but the real magic is happening in the model detail, lighting model, and shader effects.
Look at the character models: at high detail, the people have individual fingers instead of blocks for hands, and their feet are separate from their sandals. There are simply a lot more polygons for the game. Lighting is improved again, and there is a bump or displacement mapping effect that gives the models a lot more texture. There are also a number of shader effects that increase quality as well. A depth-of-field effect, for example, blurs objects as they increase distance from the camera, and there appears to be some ambient occlusion going on, as evidenced by the tell-tale dark halo around objects.
At the highest details, Resident Evil 5 offers a leading-edge graphics engine that is capable of some very nice visuals. It's not quite as advanced as titles like Crysis, but certainly very attractive and detailed. The game looks somewhat de-saturated and overexposed, but this is likely a conscious decision on the part of the art department to add to the game's dreadful, survival-horror feel.
I got a 10FPS or 17% improvement in windows 7 x64 RTM by disabling Desktop Window Manager Session Manager Service with this demo.
Well researched and written article. Nice to see a subjectuve take on the i7 vs. Q6600 results.
Wouldn't mind seeing the results using an AMD Phenom II x3.
Interesting to see the CPU comparison at the end. Do we think the i7 was so much quicker due to architecture, HT, or both? and weighted how?
Extremely good article guys! I think you've just about covered any computer worth covering.
Anything higher is going to be playable at any resolution or settings, so definatly not worth the time testing.
keep up the good work! and great tip about the DX10!
A helpful article, as far as gaming graphics is concerned. However, it doesn't mention that the PC version still behaves exactly like it does on a console; even on a widescreen monitor you'll have trouble seeing what is around you and the controls are shockingly inadequate. There is no fluidity to the way you control the character making for a frustrating game. That's not to say that the game is jerky. I've run it on my Q6600 with a GeForce 295 GTX and the game averages over 60fps at 1920x1200 at even the highest graphics settings. It looks lovely. Pity it doesn't play the same. I love the Resident Evil series. I've played almost all of them. But this one should have stayed on the console, where it belongs.
Q6600 is a 2.66 not 1.86
Very interesting about there being no difference between DX9c and DX10 in game. I was running the game with DX10, and thinking it looked great, but now switched to DX9 and it does indeed look just as good.
One useful tip I've discovered elsewhere is that you cannot set all game options from within the game's menu. Instead, by going to Documents/CAPCOM/RESIDENT EVIL 5/config.ini and opening that file in notepad you can change and enable more settings.
Of most use is for those with Crossfire or SLI setups as there is an option to enable it by changing from SLI=NO to SLI=YES. It is also reported by some people to also greatly improve dual cards such as the 4870x2 and GTX295.
And for those of you running a 64bit OS, you can switch the game into 64bit mode by changing the HDR from HDR=LOW to HDR=HIGH. Definitely worth doing if you do.
On my system, which is a Q6600, 8GB RAM, XFX 4870 1GB, Vista Ultimate 64bit, I'm running the game at 1280x1024 with everything set to high, and HDR set to high. And using DX9c. It runs very nicely at over 70fps in all the benchmark tests. With an overall average of 77.3fps.