What Kind of Laptop Do You Need to Play Far Cry 5?

Far Cry 5 is the last entry in the explosive open world franchise and, fortunately, the minimum system requirements of the program are quite low. According to the Ubisoft game editor, you only need a Core i5-2400 or higher CPU, Nvidia GeForce 670 graphics or better and only 4GB of RAM.

But what kind of laptop do you have? Do you need to play this game well? And what kind of quality can you expect when playing Far Cry 5 on superior and inferior systems? To know what level of hardware gives you optimum graphic fidelity and frame rates, we tested the game on five different laptops: a lightweight machine with integrated graphics, an ultraportable with low-end graphics, Nvidia MX150, a budget gaming laptop and Nvidia. GTX 1050 Ti card, a mid-range model with GTX 1060 graphics and a premium mobile gaming platform with a GTX 1070 on board.

Far Cry 5 on Intel HD Graphics

I was curious to see if there was any chance of running Far Cry 5 on a modern laptop with integrated Intel HD graphics. So I tried it on Dell XPS 13 9360 of 2017, which has an Intel Core i7-8550U, Intel UHD Graphics 620 and 8GB of RAM.

I downloaded the configuration to its lowest and set the resolution to 1280×720 (the game does not go down). I also reduced the rendering resolution (internal resolution) to the minimum setting of 0.5, leaving us with a practical resolution of 640×360.

In these configurations, the game managed to maintain an average of 24 frames per second, which is below our normal gameplay threshold of 30 ps. While there were frequent frame falls both at the point of reference and in the actual game, it could be used with a little effort. If all you have is a modern Intel HD and you must play this game, you can probably get away with it if you are patient.

Unlike games like Overwatch or Fortnite Far Cry 5 does not seem to be designed with low resolutions in mind, so readability of combat can be very complicated Distinguishing enemies in the heat of conflict can be a problem.

Verdict: You can play Far Cry 5 on Intel HD graphics, but the frame rates are so low that we would not recommend it.

Far Cry 5 in Low-End graphics, Nvidia MX150

How much improvement do you see if you run Far Cry 5 on a dedicated low-end GPU? The MX150 from Nvidia is the weakest card in the company and appears as an added value in conventional laptops, such as Acer Aspire E 15 .

For the purpose of our test, I ran the game on an Ultrabook imported from Xiaomi Pro with a quad-core i5-8250U CPU, 8 GB of RAM and the aforementioned MX150.

Forget about Full HD. Running the game at 1920×1080 in the lowest setting offers about 22 fps, which is too slow. You can run Far Cry 5 with a minimum resolution of 1280×720, but do not expect a soft 60 fps, even in the lowest settings.

The good thing is that, when you run it at 1280×720, limit your expectations and block the frame rate in the menu to 30 (the frame rate that the game uses in consoles), not only manages to maintain this goal, but which is stable even when it increases some of the adjustments to media such as shadows, geometry and vegetation, environment, water, terrain and volumetric fog.

Texture filtering should remain low to avoid a maximum of 2 GB of VRAM from the GPU. Passing this limit has severe effects on overall performance.

The lowest resolution (and the lack of anti-aliasing) is very noticeable on any cable or diagonal line and the low texture filtering is immediately obvious on any surface after a certain distance. However, the additional detail in the water and vegetation is remarkable, although difficult to appreciate in the lower resolution (especially in the case of shadows, which closely resemble the lower settings).

But while they play, the details can be quickly forgotten as the experience is perfectly pleasant at 30 fps and a resolution of 1280 x 720, without the performance diminishing even in the heat of combat.

If all you have is an ultrabook with comparable dedicated GPU you can definitely start in this game and enjoy everything.

Verdict: Reproducible, but will lose some details.

Far Cry 5 on a budget, GTX 1050 Ti Gaming Laptop

Let's jump from an ultrabook laptop to a gaming laptop. I used the MSI GL62M-7REX a budget option among the games category. It comes equipped with a CPU Core i7-7700HQ 8 GB of DDR4 RAM and a GTX 1050 Ti GPU with 4 GB of VRAM.

With such a jump in specifications, I could set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 with 60 fps as my goal.

While the GTX 1050 Ti of 4 GB of VRAM is quite strong, we can only reach 1080p / 60 fps in the lowest settings The performance drops to around 50 fps in the reference point when many objects they are rendered simultaneously, but the average was still very close to a perfect 60.

To get even this level of performance, you need to disable VSync. The Far Cry 5 VSync crashes at 60 or 30 fps, depending on performance, and tends to jump very quickly at 30 fps if the frame rate is not perfectly maintained at 60 fps (as in the case of our test).

The jump in resolution from 720p to 1080p is great in terms of detail, but it also means that the lower settings are a bit more obvious.

There are some unexpected drops in performance when new areas are loaded, but in general the laptop can stay on target. The extra fluidity of the frame rate of 60 fps is noticeable in combat and in other intense action sequences.

If you prefer the effects on visibility, you can try to decrease the internal resolution. With the processing resolution setting at 0.8, a practical resolution of 1536×864, you can raise all settings to medium with the exception of smoothing and motion blur) and still get 60 fps. However, the difference between low configurations and average configurations is not as dramatic as one would expect. You will notice mainly the best geometry and drawing distance that can improve your experience.

Verdict: Playable at 60 fps without problems.

Far Cry 5 on a GTX 1060 laptop

Kicking a step, I tried Far Cry 5 on an Alienware 15 R3 with a Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU, the next level on the alignment of Nvidia. 19659086] 16 ” width=”670″ height=”377″>

This update provides a very dramatic quality jump, since now you can upload all settings to high, use TAA antialiasing and motion blur and still maintain 60 fps (the heaviest sections of the benchmark index only decreased to approximately 54 fps). This means that we can finally enable VSync without fear that the game will crash at 30 fps.

This time the changes are quite remarkable. The textures look good at any distance, the reflections of the water are very realistic, the game models, the geometry and the whole world look more vibrant and colorful. The volumetric mist is occasionally present and is noticeable at certain moments of the game.

With all those details, you get excellent performance, with a frame rate that rarely drops below 55 fps, even during intense combat.

Verdict: Reproducible with a smooth frame rate and great effects.

What do we get if we go further?

Far cry in a GTX 1070 laptop

So, how? Is the experience in a high-end gaming laptop much better? To find out, I tried another Alienware 15 R3, which had a Core i7-7820HQ, 16 GB of RAM and a powerful Nvidia GTX 1070 GPU.

You can upload four Ultra configurations : Filtering of textures, shadows, geometry, vegetation and environment, so now we can officially maximize the game in 1080p and still achieve 60 fps.

The visual change is not as dramatic as it was when going from medium to high configurations, with more particles and better shadows that are the only main effects I noticed when comparing sequences of both configurations next to the other. In a real game test, the increase in the density and quality of the vegetation is a bit more obvious, but the experience seems to be similar to what you get in high settings.

The GPU has a lot of processing power to spare, with a use that rarely reaches 70% during combat.

This Alienware 15 R3 variant has a 4K monitor, so I was curious to see if that extra power could be used to achieve this super high resolution.

When I switched to the lowest setting in 4K resolution, the benchmark was around 44 fps, dropping to 34 fps at its worst but maintaining a comfortable level of performance throughout the test.

The game plays very well, even during heavy combat. All the problems related to the lower configuration arise again, so it becomes a compensation between resolution and graphic quality.

Verdict: Very playable, even at a resolution of 4 K.

The Bottom Line

Far Cry 5 is a surprisingly flexible game that scales in interesting ways in a variety of ways. Specifications. If you are desperate enough to play on a laptop with the latest Intel HD graphics, the experience is poor, but you may be able to live with it.

If your priority is just to play the game without much style, a low-end, dedicated GPU like the MX150 is acceptable for 720p and 30 fps. Jumping to a mid-range GPU like the GTX 1050 Ti allows 60 fps at 1080p, but will not allow many details beyond the lowest setting unless you're willing to start dropping the resolution or limiting the frame rate.

A laptop with a GTX 1060 offers the best performance for the money. Allows you to get 60 fps at 1080p, in high settings. The change of low or medium to high configurations is very remarkable.

If money is not a problem, a GTX 1070 laptop not only allows the highest setting for the 1080p / 60fps target, but it does so without having to reach the maximum of the GPU. If you want to play in 4K, the GPU should be sufficient for the lowest configuration and an average of 40 FPS. If you want to increase the configuration in 4K, you may need something even more powerful, like a GTX 1080.

Credit: Laptop Mag

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