Windows: Resident Evil 5 on 2012 Mac Mini?

[Philalbe]

Hi. I'm a longtime console gamer/newbie pc gamer. I just recently installed Windows 8 on my 2012 Mac mini via bootcamp (specifically for gaming). I picked up a cheap copy of RE 5 pc off of Amazon (a game I beat to Hell and back on Xbox 360).

My Mac mini is the base 4GB model but I bumped it up to 8GB. I've been playing the directx 10 version of RE 5 at the default resolution of 1280 x 720 on my Asus ProArt 1920 x 1200 monitor. I have motion blur enabled, AA set to 4x and quality and textures set to high. In general with these settings I get fairly fluid gameplay with a look not too far off from what I was used to on my 360 (there may be some minor jaggies).

When I run the game's built in benchmark test I get a "C" rating with an average frame rate of about 21.3. If I try to jump up to AA 8x or set the resolution higher I run into considerable lag. Does this type of performance sound normal for my hardware? Also would bumping my ram up from 8GB to 16GB help? Thanks.

Intel core i5-321om CPU @ 2.50GHZ
Intel HD Graphics 4000
1280x720 x 32bit ARGB8
Directx 10.0

[Miharu]

RE5 is a very graphically intense game, and the Mac mini has an Intel integrated graphics card, which isn't exactly known for its stellar gaming performance... Having more RAM will not help you since even while running the game I'm pretty sure you still have a lot of free RAM left since you already have 8 Gb. The game sounds like it's actually running surprisingly well for you if you can have 4x AA and high quality, considering the Intel graphics.

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by Miharu

RE5 is a very graphically intense game, and the Mac mini has an Intel integrated graphics card, which isn't exactly known for its stellar gaming performance... Having more RAM will not help you since even while running the game I'm pretty sure you still have a lot of free RAM left since you already have 8 Gb. The game sounds like it's actually running surprisingly well for you if you can have 4x AA and high quality, considering the Intel graphics.

Hi. Thanks for the reply. You've confirmed my suspicions that it's simply a case of hardware limitations. You're right about RE5 being graphically intense. Capcom's one of my favorite game companies. They've always impressed me with their cutting edge graphics. I still marvel at the beautful graphics they were able to achieve with their RE titles back in the Gamecube days. Good thing I'm not trying to play RE5 on an older mini. Next up I think I'll pick up a copy of Dead Rising 2. Should be interesting to see how the mini deals with all those on screen zombies