BioShock On A Semi-Crappy Computer

If you have been out of the loop for a while, BioShock is one of the most anticipated shooters of 2007, and is on its way to becoming the most highly rated video game ever. It has practically scored a perfect 10 across the board at all the major gaming websites.

Bioshock Logo

The PC demo was released on August 20, 2007, and gives us a glimpse into the action packed shooter. BioShock is far from just a shooter, it has a rich compelling story behind it. Once you begin you journey into Rapture, you truly feel immersed in the environment and what lies ahead.

BioShock has some heavy visuals, and as you can imagine the recommended hardware specs are a bit demanding.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
System RAM: 2GB
Video card:
DX9: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better)
DX10: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better
Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)

When I first fired up the PC demo I expected to run the game at the minimum level due to my PC hardware. My PC specs are getting old, but they still hold up very well in most games. This is what I have to offer to BioShock:

Operating System: Windows XP Pro
Motherboard: Lanparty NF4 Sli-D, on-board sound
Processor: AMD 3700+ San Diego @ 2.45GHz, stock volts, IHS removed
Memory: G.Skill 2x1GB DDR500
Video Card: EVGA NVIDIA 7800GT @ 475/1.13, stock volts
Video Driver: 162.18
Power Supply: OCZ 520w Power Supply
Case: Cooler Master Case
Hard Drives: Hitachi 80GB Sata, Maxtor 30GB

This rig has gone through some heavy overclocking, including volt mods, some surgery, ghetto cooling mod, and the works. But, it still runs strong. It has since been tuned down for longevity. It is clear that this test rig doesn’t meet the recommended specs to play BioShock in all its glory, including running DX10. As you will see, the impact on performance is quite severe at times, but it still playable.

The game settings during my test were set as follows:

Graphic Quality: High on all settings
Resolution: 1280×1024
AA/AF: Both off
Sound Quality: 10 on all settings

The first time playing the demo, I didn’t monitor the FPS values at all. In my opinion, FPS values of 30 and above are acceptable for gameplay, so my opinion may be biased for some. During this first run, my rig experienced the occasional stutter during quick movements and narrative sequences. I honestly didn’t think the FPS values were going to be that bad until I played the second time around while monitoring the FPS, and taking screenshots. As you can see from the screenshots below, my rig averaged 17.7 FPS. The lowest value occurred at 12 FPS.

So, was the game still playable? If I hadn’t known the FPS was so low, I would say it wasn’t noticeably bad. The lowest FPS values occur during the planned narrative sequences. The actual gameplay favored better in performance. If you are the type of gamer that absolutely needs high FPS values of 60 or above, I would definitely recommend upgrading you rig to the recommended specs. If you’re the casual gamer with a similar setup to the test rig, you shouldn’t worry about upgrading. With the graphics set to the medium setting, the FPS values faired a little better, but were still below 30 the majority of the time. The storyline alone is reason to buy BioShock. Without the DX10, and high FPS values, the demo was still highly enjoyable.

Screenshots (FPS values in upper left corner):