Graphics memory (VRAM) usage and conclusion

Graphics memory (VRAM) usage

How much graphics memory does the game utilize versus your monitor resolution with different graphics cards and respective VRAM sizes? Well, we already addressed this bit of course. But let's have a look at the chart below. The listed MBs used in the chart is the measured utilized graphics memory during our testing. 

Far Cry 5 will eat up and fill your VRAM efficiently but the developers made very sure that 4 GB usage is the upper limit being used. Above some random cards ranging from 4 GB up-to 11GB, all of them utilizing a maximum of ~4GB, that's including the measurements at 4K Ultra HD, well .. a screen resolution of 3840x2160. With the graphics memory filled at 4GB you are not going to notice anything weird, the game runs very smooth overall. Again, all cards consume roughly the same amount of VRAM, the Vega series cards are a bit more hungry in the lower resolutions, but also utilized that maximum of 4 GB.

Concluding

So, it goes a little like this. You either love or hate the Far Cry series right? Some frown upon Ubisoft with all the DRM stuff, others are fine with it. When you put all that annoying stuff to rest, you have to agree, Far Cry 5 looks to be a promising game. Perhaps the feeling is like FC4 once you pass the cinematic scripted scenes, the scenery and setting have changed with a Far Out storyline in a huge open world. The intro scene certainly is impressive and looks really good.

This, however, is a PC quality and performance review, so we'll focus on that. Far Cry 5 feels very polished on the PC. It is obvious that any graphics card will run if you give it the right image quality settings. The trick with PC gaming, however, is that image quality is something you want and prefer, as otherwise, you'd be playing on a console. In that respect far Cry 5 certainly delivers, it's a good looking game at high-quality and ultra settings, and with a bit of a card, Ultra quality settings at up-to 2560x1440 really should not be an issue, and that is the icing on top of the Far Cry 5 cake. So overall my suggestion and recommendation would be to use the ultra setting as there is no real reason to drop below it from a framerate point of view.

Aside from a random occasional stutter and some FPS drops in huge combat fights, overall the title will be very playable and enjoyable to watch. Ultra HD does look spectacular, but for that, you'll need a Vega 64 or Geforce GTX 1080 Ti or better can achieve proper framerates at the highest quality settings. Vega 56/64, performs really well with the game. It also makes use of Rapid Packed Math, where it renders at a lower precision where you can not see the difference anyway, water for example. It works well as the Vega's definitely shown they can keep up with the competition. Not bad for something 'sub-par' eh?

Things really start to look better at the high-quality mode, and sure either 2560x1440 resolution wise or something above that up-to Ultra HD, serves this game the best. Up-to 2560x1440 the game remains very playable. At 1920x1080 the vast majority of the game plays with proper framerates though combined with any modern age graphics card. Overall the game feels smooth in game-play, nothing negative to mention. FCAT/Frametime plots look good for both brands as well. As always, we do hope you like this little test as it will be an indicator of overall performance. All modern graphics cards will run the game at Full HD without any issue. There is just no need to drop down in images quality modes too massively and heck, that's where we as PC gamers need to be. Please do make sure you have installed the latest compatible graphics card driver, the new 18.3.4 or newer driver from AMD, as well as at least GeForce 391.xx or the newer drivers (Nvidia will release their new WHQL driver this Tuesday). AMD will release 18.3.4 Monday evening (CEST).

Update: March 27th, 2018: Nvidia just released their 391.35 WHQL drivers for Far Cry 5. We can see a tiny bit of a performance increase with the fastest GeForce cards. The charts have been updated based on this new driver.

It's been a while since we have seen a proper AAA title, Far Cry 5 should bring you dozens of hours nice gameplay. We'll cross-check the performance results once more with any upcoming drivers, and update accordingly. As always, you can download the latest AMD Catalyst drivers and Nvidia GeForce drivers here directly from our fast and easy to use download section.

- H.

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