ATI Radeon CrossFireX Review - Batman: Arkham Asylum
CrossFireX Scaling
| HD 5870 E6 2GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 62% | 69% |
| EF | 38% | 41% |
| HD 5870 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 58% | 67% |
| EF | 35% | |
| HD 5850 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 75% | 82% |
| EF | 44% | |
| HD 5770 1GB CFX | ||
| 1680x1050 | 1920x1200 | |
| WS | 82% | 88% |
| EF | 68% | |
Batman: Arkham Asylum is the well received action title by Rocksteady. The game offers very detailed environments with a great visual style and high quality. There are known issues with AA using ATI cards. You cannot set the AA level from within the game, and have to force it with the Catalyst Control panel. All settings within the game were maxed out. I used 4xAA with Adaptive Multi-Sampling (the balance between Quality and Performance) from within the CCC.
The AA implementation produces a greater than expected impact on the performance. I know there are ways to tweak the game to use the AA from within the game itself. However, I believe finding the information and implementing it is beyond the average gamer. While an enthusiast (i.e., target market of both the WSGF and this card) might go through the trouble, many mainstream gamers will not. My testing actually ran all the way down through the Radeon HD 5450, and using the "native" options provided the most consistent platform for testing.
The games runs like a demon in normal widescreen on any of these cards, with 4xAA. The HD 5770 almost cracks 60fps at 1920x1200. However, performance takes the expected hits in Eyefinity, and this is what we are really here to test. At the native resolutions of 5760x1200 (3x1920x1200), the game literally crawls with 4xAA on any card. You will have to make some adjustments for playable frame rates, and dropping to 2xAA gives massive speed improvements.
Batman:AA (pun actually not intended) is a unique title. It is made well, and plays well, but technical issues can really hamper performance. The impacts are so great that 5760x1200 is simply unplayable with any card.
The four cards offer strong scaling in widescreen - but it is overkill for all except the 5770. CFX continues with noticeable improvements in Eyefinity, but the AA performance hits overshadow the scaling. For better performance in Batman, the first step is to reduce the AA. All of the configurations perform and scale better when the AA impact is removed.
