GRID is the latest racing game from Codemasters. The game is using the latest version of the EGO Engine, so it’s time to benchmark it and see how it performs on the PC platform.
For this PC Performance Analysis, we used an Intel i9 9900K with 16GB of DDR4 at 3600Mhz, AMD’s Radeon RX580 and RX Vega 64, NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, GTX980Ti and GTX690. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, the GeForce driver 436.48 and the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.10.1 drivers. NVIDIA has not included any SLI profile for this title, meaning that our GTX690 performed similarly to a single GTX680.
Codemasters has added a respectable amount of graphics settings. PC gamers can adjust the quality of Lighting, Anti-Aliasing, Post-Process Effects and Textures. There are also options for Shadows, Particles, Reflections, Crowd, Mirror, Ambient Occlusion, Weather Effects, Ground Cover and Skidmarks. Codemasters has also added an option to lock your framerate if you want to.
In order to find out how the game scales on multiple CPU threads, we simulated a dual-core, a quad-core and a hexa-core CPU. Since the game does not come with a built-in benchmark tool, we used the San Francisco stage with a “Day Rain” weather condition. We also reduced our resolution to 1280×720 for our CPU tests, though the NVIDIA RTX2080Ti was still the limiting factor here. In other words, we were GPU-bound even at 720p.
Our simulated dual-core system was simply unable to offer an enjoyable gaming experience. With Hyper Threading disabled, the game had major stuttering issues, making it unplayable. With Hyper Threading enabled, we were able to hit a minimum of 52fps and an average of 70fps. Now while these figures appear to be great, the game still had major stuttering issues. Seriously, the game was not that enjoyable on that system.
GRID 2019 is one of the few games that benefits from more than eight CPU cores/threads. While our overall framerates were not increased, our hexa-core and eight-core systems suffered from stuttering issues when Hyper Threading was disabled. Take a look at the first image that accompanies this article; you can easily see the game using ten CPU threads. Therefore, and in order to avoid any stutters, we strongly suggest enabling Hyper Threading for this particular title.
Now the good news here is that older quad-core and hexa-core CPUs, that support Hyper Threading, will not have a problem with it. Our Intel i7 4930K was able to run the game on Ultra settings at 1080p with constant 60fps. Not only that, but we did not experience any stutters. Yes, the CPU was bottlenecking our RTX2080Ti at 1080p, however 89fps are more than enough for a racing game. At least in our opinion.
GRID also requires a powerful GPU in order to be enjoyed on Ultra settings. Only the Vega 64 and the RTX2080Ti were able to offer a constant 60fps experience at 1080p/Ultra. Our GTX980Ti also came close to it, though there were some drops to 54fps.
Surprisingly enough, GRID 2019 appears to be running great on AMD’s hardware. At 2560×1440, both our Vega 64 and RTX2080Ti were able to offer a smooth gaming experience. As for 4K, the only GPU that was able to offer a smooth experience was the RTX2080Ti.
Graphics wise, GRID looks absolutely stunning. GRID 2019 is easily one of the most beautiful racing games to date, and looks better than Codemasters’ previous racing titles. There are some truly amazing particles and weather effects, and all cars look incredible. There are also some cool reflections and all of the stages are full of small details. Moreover, the rich 3D crowd does not bring modern-day systems to their knees.
All in all, GRID appears to be running smoothly on the PC, provided you have at least a quad-core CPU that supports Hyper Threading. However, the game does require a really powerful graphics card in order to be enjoyed. Thankfully, PC gamers can reduce the game’s settings in order to improve overall performance. Now while the game does require high-end GPUs, it also looks ridiculously great. So yeah, GRID does justify its high GPU requirements.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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