Resident Evil Village at 8K: can the Nvidia RTX 3090 handle the horror?

Resident Evil Village
(Image credit: Capcom)
Our 8K test system

PC built by Chillblast

Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S
Case fans: Noctua NF-A14 PWM Chromax 140mm
Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K, 8 Cores / 16 Threads
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090
Storage: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIe
Secondary Storage: 2TB Samsung 860 QVO
Power: Corsair RM850x 80 PLUS Gold 850W PSU
Case: Fractal Design Vector RS Tempered Glass
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4 3200MHz
Monitor: Dell UltraSharp UP3218K

Resident Evil Village is the latest entry in the iconic horror series, and not only did we love the game in our review, we've also been impressed with how well the game runs on PCs, with even lower powered graphics cards like the RTX 3060 putting in a fantastic performance.

The fact that it runs so well on PC, while also looking mightily impressive and supporting atmospheric effects like ray tracing, has meant we couldn't wait to try it out at 8K.

We've tested a range of modern games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Watch Dogs: Legion at the demanding 7680 x 4320 resolution, and even the mighty RTX 3090, currently the most powerful gaming GPU on the market today (if you can find one), struggled to reach acceptable frame rates without some serious tinkering.

Hopefully, the fine work Capcom has put into the PC port of Resident Evil Village could give this game a better chance of running at the holy grail of ultra-high definition gaming: 8K at 60FPS. Let's find out how it does.

Resident Evil Village

(Image credit: Capcom)

Resident Evil Village 8K performance

As usual, we started out our tests with the default settings, which had most things set to 'High', with 8GB of textures, and an overall memory usage of 15GB. The RTX 3090 comes with 24GB of the stuff, so that's not an issue, though even the high-end RTX 3080, with 10GB, won't be able to handle that.

It looked fantastic, but it played... not so well. It actually hit an average of 37.6 fps, which is pretty impressive at 8K on high settings, with even the minimum framerates not going below 30 fps. We usually say that 30 fps is the bare minimum for an enjoyable gaming experience, and so the fact that Resident Evil Village goes above that at 8K on high settings is impressive.

However, 60 fps is our goal here, and the game feels like it was made for that kind of frame rate, so even though 30 fps is acceptable, the game feels sluggish. Also, while most things are set to 'high', ray tracing is off. Turning it on (but keeping it low) didn't impact the frame rates that much, however.

There are lots of display settings to tweak, including textures, which has a number of options that are still labelled as 'high'. By knocking a few options down a single step, while keeping things on 'high' saw a slight fps bump to 38 fps.

Putting textures to the lowest setting that is still labelled 'high', with 0.25GB of memory usage, and an overall usage of 7.4GB (so the RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 can handle it), saw another bump to 42.6 fps. The game still looked great, and it started to feel more responsive as well.

Knocking all settings to medium gave us an average frame rate at 8K of 43.4 fps. However, it's here that the drop in visual fidelity was noticeable, with pop-ins and rougher textures. In a horror game that relies on atmosphere, the bump in frame rates at 8K just didn't seem worth it.

But, could we hit 60 fps at 8K?

Open this image in a new tab for the full 8K resolution (Image credit: Capcom)

No.

Even at lowest settings, we just got 47.5 fps. Turning off all additional graphical features, such as volumetric lighting allowed us to eke out a bit more performance (hitting 52 fps on average), but the hit to the graphics was too much to bear. While it certainly didn't look awful, the game felt lifeless and flat. It feels like you're missing out on an important part of the game, and playing at 8K isn't worth that compromise - especially when any benefits from playing at such a high resolution are diminished when you start drastically lowering texture quality.

The fact that Resident Evil Village looks - and runs - so well at 4K on PC means that this is still the best resolution to play at, as you get gorgeous image quality and atmosphere.

So, after a promising start, Resident Evil Village needs too many compromises to play at 8K, unless you're happy with 30 fps on a PC that costs well over $2,000.

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he's reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.

Read more
Screenshot from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle with TechRadar Gaming @8K logo
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at 8K – a fitting swansong for the Nvidia RTX 4090, or a sign that we need the RTX 5090?
Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU with Gaming @ 8K logo
Nvidia RTX 5090 8K performance has blown me away already - and it's mainly thanks to Multi-Frame Generation
Image of the Resident Evil 4 remake & the RTX 4080 Super
I've spent 250 hours in the Resident Evil 4 remake using an RTX 3080 Ti - the upgrade to an RTX 4080 Super and Asus' 49-inch OLED ultrawide is worthwhile
V is held up at a ramen bar
Cyberpunk 2077 runs above 120fps at 4K in full path tracing using DLSS 4 and Frame Generation on Nvidia's RTX 5080 - should we be concerned about game dev optimization?
Image of Indy in cutscene
I just played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super - and this is the GPU you want for every triple-A game
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 on a desk
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 review: the supercar of graphics cards
Latest in Consoles & PC
Asus ROG Ally using Steam
I think Asus could be the perfect partner for an Xbox handheld – but I have questions
Astro Bot PS5 bundle
Sony officially announces new Astro Bot PS5 bundles and they're available from PlayStation Direct right now for bargain prices we can barely believe
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Future PlayStation games could have AI-powered characters, if this leaked prototype of Aloy is anything to go by
The artwork for The Last of Us Limited Edition DualSense controller
Where to pre-order and buy The Last of Us Limited Edition DualSense controller today - UK pre-orders are live but stock has sold out already
Playing games on the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma without an external display.
The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma offers Steam Deck owners a premium design and, of course, plenty of RGB
Image of GTA 6 protagonists and PS5
GTA 6's console-only launch reminds me of how much I despise console exclusivity - is it worth waiting years for PC ports?
Latest in News
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #1147)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #378)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #644)
Three iPhone 16 handsets on show
Apple could launch an iPhone 17 Ultra this year – but we've heard these rumors before
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough