Typically, I prefer to review a game after I have played it for a while. Here I am making an exception, though, as I feel analyzing the game’s performance in my setup is probably worth discussing at this point. In addition to getting the PS4 version of Resident Evil: Village I am using a PS4 Pro with a Sony - 50" Class X80J Series LED 4K UHD Smart Google TV. This television is capable of 4K resolution with a refresh rate of 60Hz.
Up to this point I have had little luck with getting the 4K settings on the PS4 Pro and my television to work. I experimented with it on a number of titles prior to this including Red Dead Redemption II, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Resident Evil 3. In all those instances the 4K colors looked washed out by comparison to what was observed at 1080p and looked better at the lower resolution as a result. With Village, though, I was finally able to optimize the settings of the TV and console to enhance the look of the console’s graphics through the 4K settings. Thus, the primary aim of this review is to discuss some of the settings I configured both the console and the television to in order to get improved graphics and a higher refresh rate for Resident Evil Village on the PS4 Pro.
The fan noise while this game is running on the PS4 Pro definitely serves as the measuring stick for how well the console is handling running this game with 4K settings turned on. After much troubleshooting in the console’s menus I was able to tone down the speed of the fan (and hence it’s volume) to a point where the noise coming off the fan is at least acceptable. Before going any further, it is worth acknowledging that for quite some time there have been several complaints online about the noise that comes off the fan of the PS4 Pro. To that I would say that this is not the first instance in which Sony has released a home video game console that had a rather noisy fan. The original PS2 models would be another example where the fans were noticeably audible during gameplay. I will not argue that it’s an issue that needs attention but it seems to be something that quite often is a tradeoff with playing the newest, most cutting-edge games on Playstation video game consoles.
Some of the most noteworthy changes I made to the console through it’s menus include setting all the resolution features to “automatic”. Sony really seems to prefer this approach as was indicated by the configuration settings that I ultimately settled on with the Sony Bravia television I have been using. Due to this, I figured it was probably best to employ a similar approach between the television and console and the best results with regards to picture quality (and fan noise from the console) on the television seem to come about when everything is set to “automatic” (this, of course, includes resolution and HDR mode). I feel that the other most noteworthy changes included turning on the console’s “Boost Mode” to get a higher frame rate as well as keeping “HDCP” enabled. Several instances online recommend turning off “HDCP” but my console seems to perform better while it is on. I would suspect that this could be tied to copyright and legal issues as HDCP seems to be a setting responsible for encrypting the video signal off of Playstation video game consoles. I made several other changes too but none had as much impact as those already mentioned. Some of the less noteworthy changes included clearing out the console’s HDD as much as possible (something that was made possible by having an external game drive to store applications to), turning off all themes and using only a static image (picture) as the background for the console’s home menu instead, and turning off several pop-up notifications. There is a wealth of knowledge available online as far as addressing the finer points here and how much of it is actually necessary for improved performance I am not entirely sure. I would think, though, that turning off as many extraneous features as possible would help the PS4 Pro funnel more resources into running games at a higher resolution which is probably important given what the standards for resolution were at the time it was released.
Physical placement of the console is also a critical issue to consider, it would seem. It has been typical for some time for Sony to recommend at least 4” of empty space around every intake and exhaust port so that their consoles can cool effectively. This is what I have used as the standard in my setup for quite some time and with regards to placing my consoles and computers, in general. In this particular instance, I might even actually recommend having a little extra space for the PS4 Pro in this setup as even with the proper precautions taken it still runs pretty hot. Something that actually seemed to make a significant difference was placing the console on a couple of books (see image) that left some empty space under it. This seems to help with passive heat dissipation and I couldn’t help but notice that the console was much cooler to the touch after a gaming session when it was set up like this by comparison to just being placed horizontally on a flat surface. Of course, making sure the console is placed on a sturdy surface is important as is keeping it as far away from the floor as possible to prevent the intake of dust and dirt.
I should also indicate that in the game’s menus I set Village to “optimize frame rates” and turned HDR on. This did make a difference with how the game performed and if I chose to “optimize resolution” instead the game did seem to noticeably drop frames.
Even with taking all this into account, the console still gets fairly hot and the fan gets pretty loud as a result. When playing this game like this I tend to play only between 1.5-2 hours at a time before taking a break. This seems to allow the PS4 Pro some time to cool down as putting the console in a position where it starts activating features to address overheating (e.g., emergency shutdown) is a concern and probably best avoided if at all possible.
Overall, I think my PS4 Pro is handling this game well. How well my set up performs by comparison to the PS5 experience I am not sure, though.