The Evil Within Benchmarked

A PC version to make you shiver. When it comes to games, the PC is often neglected; The Evil Within is a prime example. The high performance demands are particularly effective at spoiling the fun. Our article reveals which GPUs shake in their boots when they encounter this survival-horror game.

Florian Glaser, ✓ Tanja Hinum (translated by Ariana Brodsky), Published 10/23/2014 🇩🇪 🇵🇱

For the original German article, see here.

Graphics

While the console version of The Evil Within scored quite well on the metacritic.com review aggregator, the PC adaptation has not exactly been received with shouts of praise. Nor does it deserve them, as demonstrated by our tests. Not only is the third-person title plagued by sporadic crashes -- regardless of the system hardware, it also occasionally stutters and sometimes the sound is off-kilter. The controls on the PC are also suboptimal. Even in the menu, the mouse functions very spongily and imprecisely. Still, after a while you get used to the defective controls.

The hardware demands also deserve criticism. Like other titles from Bethesda, The Evil Within uses the id Tech 5 engine from id Software. This engine was first used for the game RAGE, and since its release it has been a subject of controversy. The Evil Within also comes with a variety of graphics-related advantages and disadvantages. Thanks to the so-called MegaTexture technology, the levels appear to offer a lot of variety; unlike most other games, The Evil Within's textures don't repeat every few meters.

In addition to the variegated textures, the characters are incredibly detailed and the effects (water, smoke, etc.) are well-executed. The cloth simulation is also fairly realistic. The lighting impressed us the most. Similarly to Alien: Isolation, The Evil Within conjures up a both spooky and pretty interplay of light and shadow. The id Tech 5 engine also deserves praise for its short load times. Even with an HDD, the levels show up very quickly. The fact that the user can implement changes in the settings without restarting the game isn't a matter of course either.

High on the list of cons is the fluctuating texture quality. Here and there, the object wallpapers look somewhat sloppy. Fortunately, the delayed loading of textures when the camera pans quickly (think Wolfenstein: The New Order) is hardly present in The Evil Within. The fact that the horror game lacks a good anti-aliasing option, however, is frustrating. True, FXAA, MLAA and SMAA improve matters, but the enhancement provided by MSAA is simply unavailable. Additionally, PC users have to make do with just a handful of graphics options. Besides resolution and anti-aliasing, only the shadow quality can be adjusted across several notches. The only remaining settings options are motion blur, SSAO (ambient occlusion) and reflections, all of which can be deactivated.

Apart from changes in the number of pixels, modifying the settings doesn't massively alter the performance. Because the id Tech 5 engine doesn't offer super low detail settings, The Evil Within always looks decent. The downside, of course, is that weaker GPUs don't have enough power to run the game -- though the title's poor optimization is the real culprit there. There are certainly cases in which the id Tech 5 engine is more frugal with its resources. The fact that the developers implemented a 30 fps limit (more on that later) and restricted the field of vision with black bars is also hard to understand.

Purely in terms of gameplay, the title cuts a fine figure. In these times dominated by casual games, The Evil Within offers a thrilling level of difficulty. Every step needs to be well-deliberated; every shot and every attack can mean victory or defeat. The upgrade and trap systems increase the depth of gameplay even further. In general, the survival game makes a good impression with its excellent staging -- especially in the video sequences. The camera work and cuts rival that of real Hollywood productions. Stylistically, we found The Evil Within reminiscent of the older horror game Alan Wake -- also a good sign. In fact, the deranged story is even more exciting.

Benchmark

To remove the aforementioned fps limit, you'll have to do a bit of finagling. Before you can enter the appropriate command, you need to activate the console. In order to do this: in Steam right click on the game to bring up the Properties menu and add the line +com_allowconsole 1 in the Set Launch Options. The next time the game is started, it should be possible to bring up the console with the Insert key. Finally, the command R_swapinterval 0 deactivates the 30 fps limit. If you're content with a maximum of 60 frames per second, you can choose to enter R_swapinterval 1 (standard: R_swapinterval 2).

Our benchmarks are based on the beginning of the first chapter ("An Emergency Call"). As soon as we gain control of the main character after a short tracking shot, the recording with the Fraps tool begins. In the following 40-45 seconds, we circle the front area of the madhouse until the main character lands back at the entrance.

Due to the massive downpour, the innumerable objects and the ubiquitous reflections, the sequence demands a lot from the hardware -- in fact, it is basically a worst-case scenario. The performance can be considerably higher at other points in the game. The CPU is to blame for the fact that no notebook reached over 70 fps in our tests; when it comes to high-end GPUs, the CPU is often the limiting factor even at medium settings.

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Results

The Evil Within requires a potent multimedia or gaming platform. More inexpensive graphics chips, like the GeForce GT 740M, can't even render low settings and 1024x768 pixels fluidly; the same goes for Intel iGPU processors. The GeForce GT 750M is the first graphics unit to more or less manage with these settings. If you'd like to play at 1366x768 pixels and with the shadow quality set to "Medium," you'll need at least a GeForce GTX 850M or GTX 765M under your hood.

High details and 1920x1080 pixels are too much even for some high-end processors. Only the Radeon R9 M290X and Nvidia chips starting with the GeForce GTX 780M/870M are cut out for The Evil Within's maximum graphics splendor. Will future GPU drivers improve the speed, or will the developers release a performance patch? That certainly wouldn't go amiss. Currently, the programming behind the graphics is very inefficient.

The Evil Within
1920x1080 High / Enabled AA:SM 1366x768 Medium / Enabled AA:FX 1024x768 Low / Disabled
GeForce GTX 780 Ti, 3770K Desktop-PC	64.7 (43^min) fps ∼73% 65.7 (44^min) fps ∼48% 66.1 (44^min) fps ∼42%
Radeon R9 280X, 3770K Desktop-PC	52.1 (35^min) fps ∼59% 52.1 (36^min) fps ∼38% 53.6 (37^min) fps ∼34%
GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	46.4 (37^min) fps ∼52% 63.3 (43^min) fps ∼46% 64.1 (43^min) fps ∼41%
GeForce GTX 760, 3770K Desktop-PC	43.6 (34^min) fps ∼49% 64.7 (43^min) fps ∼47% 65.4 (44^min) fps ∼42%
GeForce GTX 780M, 4700MQ Schenker W503	41.8 (34^min) fps ∼47% 62.4 (46^min) fps ∼45% 64.3 (43^min) fps ∼41%
Radeon R9 M290X, 4700MQ Schenker W504	41.8 (34^min) fps ∼47% 55 (37^min) fps ∼40% 56.8 (39^min) fps ∼36%
GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	38.2 (31^min) fps ∼43% 61.2 (42^min) fps ∼45% 64.5 (41^min) fps ∼41%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 3770K Desktop-PC	31.6 (26^min) fps ∼36% 55 (43^min) fps ∼40% 65.4 (44^min) fps ∼42%
GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	29 (23^min) fps ∼33% 48.5 (40^min) fps ∼35% 65.6 (45^min) fps ∼42%
GeForce GTX 770M, 4700MQ Schenker W503	28.4 (23^min) fps ∼32% 46.3 (37^min) fps ∼34% 64.4 (45^min) fps ∼41%
GeForce GTX 850M, 4340M Schenker M504	24.2 (20^min) fps ∼27% 42.6 (36^min) fps ∼31% 56.9 (40^min) fps ∼36%
GeForce GTX 765M, 4700MQ Schenker W503	23.1 (18^min) fps ∼26% 38.2 (31^min) fps ∼28% 57.2 (40^min) fps ∼37%
GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ Schenker M503	13 (10^min) fps ∼15% 23.2 (18^min) fps ∼17% 34.4 (27^min) fps ∼22%
Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop), A10-7850K, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU A10-7850K Asus A88-XM-PLUS	12 (10^min) fps ∼13% 21.9 (17^min) fps ∼16% 26.9 (21^min) fps ∼17%
Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 4750HQ, Intel SSD 525 Series SSDMCEAC180B3 SCHENKER S413	11.4 (8^min) fps ∼13% 19.6 (15^min) fps ∼14% 24.4 (17^min) fps ∼16%
GeForce GT 740M, 4200M HP Envy 15-j011sg	9.4 (7^min) fps ∼11% 16.7 (13^min) fps ∼12% 25.2 (18^min) fps ∼16%
GeForce GT 720M, 4200M, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPVX-22JC3T0 MSI CX61-i572M	7.3 (0^min) fps ∼8% 12.9 (0^min) fps ∼9% 19.1 (0^min) fps ∼12%
GeForce GT 630M, 3720QM, Seagate Momentus 7200.5 ST9750420AS Asus N56VM	6.9 (5^min) fps ∼8% 11.9 (9^min) fps ∼9% 17.6 (13^min) fps ∼11%
HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ Schenker W503	6.7 (4^min) fps ∼8% 11.8 (8^min) fps ∼9% 16.9 (13^min) fps ∼11%
Radeon HD 8650G, A10-5750M, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU Pumori Test Platform (A10-5750M)	17.7 (9^min) fps ∼11%
HD Graphics 4000, 3720QM Asus N56VM	8.8 (0^min) fps ∼6%

Test Systems

Four of our test devices are courtesy of Schenker Technologies (mysn.de):

W504 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 860M, GTX 870M, GTX 880M, Radeon R9 M290X)
W503 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 765M, GTX 770M, GTX 780M)
M504 (Core i5-4340M, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 850M)
M503 (Core i7-4702MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 750M)

Windows 7 (64-bit) is installed on each of these notebooks. A further thank you goes to Micron for the 480 GB Crucial M500.

Another test device is courtesy of Nvidia:

HP Envy 15-j011sg (Core i5-4200M, 12 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 740M)

GPU drivers used: Nvidia 344.11, AMD 14.9, Intel 10.18.10.3907

There are also benchmarks from other notebooks, potentially with different drivers.

Overview

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 624 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Archive of our own reviews > The Evil Within Benchmarked

Florian Glaser, 2014-10-23 (Update: 2024-08-15)

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > The Evil Within (2014)
Pos	Model	low 1024x768 Low / Disabled	med. 1366x768 Medium / Enabled FXAA	high 1920x1080 High / Enabled SMAA
164	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI	156.3	137.4	88.1
167	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980	65	65	63.8
182	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI	74.8	73.8	53.8
199	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti	66.1	65.7	64.7
236	AMD Radeon R9 290X	68.7	68.7	64.75ⁿ²
243	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M	88.1ⁿ²	87.25ⁿ²	72.9ⁿ²
251	AMD Radeon R9 280X	53.6	52.1	52.1
261	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M	104.4ⁿ²	101.55ⁿ²	64.7ⁿ²
283	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M	64.1	63.3	46.4
295	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760	65.4	64.7	43.6
296	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M	64.3	62.4	41.8
302	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M	120.2	84.6	51
306	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M	64.5	61.2	38.2
307	AMD Radeon R9 M290X	56.8	55	41.8
327	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M	93.7ⁿ²	67.65ⁿ²	40.4ⁿ²
328	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti	65.4	55	31.6
352	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M	64.4	46.3	28.4
357	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M	61ⁿ²	46.45ⁿ²	28.5ⁿ²
365	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M	60	51.4	35.1
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >The Evil Within
Pos	Model	low	med.	high
373	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M	62.5ⁿ²	44.75ⁿ²	25.65ⁿ²
383	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M	57.2	38.2	23.1
455	AMD Radeon R9 M265X	28.1	20.8	12.1
465	NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M	34.4	23.2	13
468	NVIDIA GeForce 940MX	39.2	27.9	16.7
472	NVIDIA GeForce 940M	38.05ⁿ²	27.1ⁿ²	16.4ⁿ²
503	NVIDIA GeForce 840M	31.9	22.3	12.7
504	AMD Radeon R7 M275DX	19.5
508	AMD Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop)	26.9	21.9	12
509	Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200	24.4	19.6	11.4
518	NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M	25.2	16.7	9.4
520	NVIDIA GeForce 930M	40.2	29.3	15.9
527	NVIDIA GeForce 830M	32.2	21.6	12.7
562	AMD Radeon R7 M270	26.8	20.1	10.1
575	AMD Radeon R7 M360	28	20	12.5
577	NVIDIA GeForce 920M	26.5	17.7	10.1
588	AMD Radeon R7 M260	25.8	18	15.2
650	AMD Radeon HD 8670M	16.4	11.8
651	AMD Radeon R6 M255DX	19.3	13.7
670	AMD Radeon HD 8650G	17.7
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >The Evil Within
Pos	Model	low	med.	high
675	NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M	17.6	11.9	6.9
679	AMD Radeon R5 M330	22.5	15.3
685	NVIDIA GeForce 820M	18.3	13.4	7.7
687	Intel Iris Graphics 6100	19.9	15.4	9.4
689	NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M	19.1	12.9	7.3
693	AMD Radeon R5 M230	14.8	10.4	5.6
706	Intel Iris Graphics 5100	11.4ⁿ²	9.2ⁿ²
710	Intel HD Graphics 4600	15.05ⁿ²	10.35ⁿ²	6.7
712	Intel HD Graphics 5500	16.05ⁿ²	11.65ⁿ²	5.6
746	AMD Radeon R5 (Kaveri)	9.4	7.6
753	Intel HD Graphics 5000	14.2	10.6
790	Intel HD Graphics 4400	14	10.4	6.2
825	Intel HD Graphics 5300	8	6.5
834	Intel HD Graphics 4000	8.8
840	AMD Radeon R5 (Beema/Carrizo-L)	14	10.3
841	AMD Radeon R4 (Beema)	9.8	8
843	AMD Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema)	8.3	5.1
846	Intel HD Graphics 4200	6.6
878	AMD Radeon HD 8350G	11.5
1028	Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)	5.2	3.6

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.