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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle performance review: VRAM requirements overwhelm many (laptop) GPUs

The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The VRAM demands of current games have increased massively in recent years. As our benchmarks show, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle even surpasses The Last of Us in this respect.
Florian Glaser, Sebastian Jankowski (translated by DeepL / Ninh Duy) Published 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...
Gaming Laptop Desktop Gamecheck

Verdict

Almost a month after its re-release, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is still in a questionable technical state. Although the engine used is visually impressive, the hardware requirements—especially in terms of video memory—are still extremely high. When using the Very Ultra preset, the game crashes on Nvidia GPUs of the RTX 4000 generation with 6 GB VRAM or less at Full HD, with only 8 GB at QHD, and with only 12 GB at 4K as long as full path tracing is enabled, according to our measurements. Only with 16 GB of VRAM did we stop encountering crashes, although the frame rate can still drop massively at extreme resolutions and settings. You are only on the safe side with 24 GB of VRAM. The fact that the VRAM requirement continues to rise is one thing. However, in the case of Indiana Jones, it must be noted that the title is simply not well optimized, and its VRAM hunger is thus unjustified.

Technology, settings & benchmark

Visually, the title makes a very good impression at higher settings (with a few exceptions). Both the indoor and outdoor levels are quite coherent and have been built with great attention to detail. In general, the game shines with its atmosphere, which is not least due to its soundtrack.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

The many setting options are also a positive feature. The graphics menu is so extensive that you have to scroll quite far to reach some settings (after all, there are several presets). Indiana Jones supports all kinds of modern features, from upscaling (though only DLSS) and frame generation to ray tracing or, more precisely, path tracing. If this is enabled, performance takes quite a hit, as the following QHD and UHD benchmarks show.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

For our benchmarks, we used the early part of the game, where the main character traverses the Peruvian jungle with other characters. We recorded the frame rate for approximately 20 seconds using the CapFrameX tool, until a bush blocks the path (as seen in the video).

Results


FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

When path tracing is disabled and the GPU has sufficient VRAM, the system requirements for Indiana Jones are not as steep. At 1080p, an RTX 4050 or RTX 4060 Laptop can run the game on high settings, achieving just under 60 FPS. The Radeon RX 7600S however struggles way more than we would expect, despite having 8 GB of VRAM just like the two RTX card do.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
    1920x1080 Low Preset     1920x1080 High Preset     1920x1080 Very Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, i9-14900K
Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC
182.4 (109.4min, 114.4P0.1, 120.4P1) fps ∼96%
160.6 (96.3min, 97.3P0.1, 101.1P1) fps ∼97%
152.3 (89.4min, 92.5P0.1, 96.4P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
189.6 (114.9min, 116.2P0.1, 117.5P1) fps ∼100%
165.8 (67.9min, 94.8P0.1, 104.2P1) fps ∼100%
152.8 (93.2min, 94.2P0.1, 102.3P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Neo 16 E23
157.6 (85.1min, 102.5P0.1, 104.3P1) fps ∼83%
135.6 (84.4min, 86.6P0.1, 93.1P1) fps ∼82%
125.3 (68.8min, 77.2P0.1, 84.8P1) fps ∼82%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23
130.4 (66.3min, 78.9P0.1, 86P1) fps ∼69%
101.9 (45.7min, 56.1P0.1, 68.6P1) fps ∼61%
93.5 (37min, 63.1P0.1, 64.8P1) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Pro 15 E23
111.2 (66.5min, 71.4P0.1, 73.6P1) fps ∼59%
77.4 (54.8min, 57.2P0.1, 63.8P1) fps ∼47%
52.4 (33.5min, 35.4P0.1, 38.8P1) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23
96.2 (61.8min, 64P0.1, 71.1P1) fps ∼51%
57 (17min, 21.4P0.1, 25.3P1) fps ∼34%
17 (7.06min, 7.56P0.1, 8.95P1) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H
Medion Erazer Scout E20
76.2 (34.4min, 37.8P0.1, 43.1P1) fps ∼40%
52.2 (32min, 32.4P0.1, 34.2P1) fps ∼31%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R7 7735HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
77.8 (62min, 63.1P0.1, 66.1P1) fps ∼41%
25.5 (13.5min, 13.7P0.1, 15.9P1) fps ∼15%
14.9 (8.48min, 8.55P0.1, 10.6P1) fps ∼10%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

At QHD, you'll need at least 12 GB of VRAM to maintain smooth performance with the Very Ultra preset active. The RTX 4080 Laptop is capable of surpassing 60 FPS on average. However, when full path tracing is enabled, performance drops considerably. Even with DLSS Quality and Frame Generation enabled, the RTX 4080 Laptop struggles, failing to maintain smooth gameplay. To consistently achieve over 60 FPS at this resolution and on high enough settings, the RTX 4090 Laptop is required.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
    2560x1440 Very Ultra Preset     2560x1440 Very Ultra Preset + Full Path Tracing + Quality DLSS + Frame Generation
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, i9-14900K
Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC
130.1 (75.7min, 77.6P0.1, 80.1P1) fps ∼100%
109.3 (71.1min, 86.7P0.1, 93.3P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
126.5 (81.4min, 87.2P0.1, 98.2P1) fps ∼97%
87.7 (70.9min, 73.4P0.1, 76.9P1) fps ∼80%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Neo 16 E23
94.7 (73.9min, 75.3P0.1, 82P1) fps ∼73%
71.2 (32.1min, 43.1P0.1, 58.6P1) fps ∼65%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23
72 (49.6min, 52.5P0.1, 54.7P1) fps ∼55%
8.86 (5.73min, 5.75P0.1, 5.86P1) fps ∼8%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R7 7735HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
9.19 (5.91min, 6.26P0.1, 7.18P1) fps ∼7%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

At 4K, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle becomes a serious resource hog. In our testing at 3,840 x 2,160 with the Very Ultra preset active, the game was only playable with a laptop RTX 4080 or laptop RTX 4090. With path tracing, DLSS Quality, and Frame Generation enabled, no currently available laptop could maintain smooth gameplay. Only Nvidia's desktop flagship, the RTX 4090, managed to deliver a playable experience at these settings.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
    3840x2160 Very Ultra Preset     3840x2160 Very Ultra Preset + Full Path Tracing + Quality DLSS + Frame Generation
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, i9-14900K
Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC
97.3 (59.5min, 59.7P0.1, 62.5P1) fps ∼100%
73.3 (60.6min, 60.8P0.1, 62.6P1) fps ∼100%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K
Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F
79.5 (58.8min, 60.8P0.1, 69.4P1) fps ∼82%
17.3 (7.92min, 7.95P0.1, 8.04P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX
XMG Neo 16 E23
58.3 (50.7min, 51.1P0.1, 52.8P1) fps ∼60%
14.2 (6.64min, 6.66P0.1, 6.79P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23
44 (38.2min, 38.4P0.1, 39.4P1) fps ∼45%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R7 7735HS
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16
4.91 (4.1min, 4.11P0.1, 4.14P1) fps ∼5%

Test systems

System; Notebookcheck review link Price
Laptop XMG Neo 16 E23
Intel Core i9-13900HX
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
from 2.329 Euro
Laptop Razer Blade 16 (2023)
Intel Core i9-13950HX
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
from 3.599 Euro
Laptop XMG Pro 15 E23
Intel Core i9-13900HX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
from 1.849 Euro
Laptop Razer Blade 14 (2023)
AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
from 2.499 Euro
Laptop Medion Erazer Scout E20
Intel Core i7-13700H
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
from 1.699 Euro
Laptop Asus TUF Gaming A16
AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS
AMD Radeon RX 7600S
from 1.399 Euro
Laptop Asus Zenbook S 14 UX5406
Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
Intel Arc Graphics 140V
from 1.699 Euro
Laptop Philips Evnia 4K Gaming Monitor 329M1RV
from 589 Euro

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024)
low
1920x1080
Low Preset
high
1920x1080
High Preset
ultra
1920x1080
Very Ultra Preset
QHD
2560x1440
Very Ultra Preset
4K
3840x2160
Very Ultra Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
205.2n2
177.55n2
125.95n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
182.4
160.6
185.05n4
154.8n4
105.7n4
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
167.8n3
140.3n3
92.8n3
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
253
182.1
160.25n2
127.15n2
76.75n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
189.6
165.8
124.3n2
106.7n2
72.05n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
157.6
135.6
125.3
94.7
58.3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
139.3
124.4
114.5n2
92.45n2
60.1n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
130.4
101.9
93.5
72
44
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
135.6
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
104.35n2
66.2n2
45.9n2
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
112.7
72.3
65
49.1
18.9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
94.3
69.4
63.1
49.3
29.9
Intel Arc B580
54
51.7
47.4
34.7
20.3
Intel Arc A770
68
54.5
49.4
37.9
22.2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
108.35n2
67.95n2
54.3n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
96.2
57
17
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
97.1
68.3
61.2
45.8
26.5
AMD Radeon RX 7600S
77.8
25.5
14.9
9.19
4.91
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
76.2
52.2
PosModel< PrevNext >Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
low high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon 740M
9.89
Intel Graphics 4-Core iGPU (Arc)
7.09
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Indiana Jones and the Great Circle performance review: VRAM requirements overwhelm many (laptop) GPUs
Florian Glaser, 2025-01-14 (Update: 2025-01-14)