Just Cause 4 Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks
Technology
Avalanche Studios has developed Just Cause 4 using an updated version of its Apex game engine, the same engine that the company used to create its three-year-old predecessor. Just Cause 4 scores highly in our opinion for its long draw distances, its explosion effects and its physics system that provide entertaining chain reactions of destructible elements, but the textures leave a lot to be desired.
We have a mixed impression with the game’s controls too. While the characters and gadgets like the grappling hook, parachute and wing-suit are easy to use, the menus are designed awfully for use with a keyboard and mouse. Cycling through menus is so unintuitive that it almost feels like the developers have never used a keyboard or mouse before.
The best example of this is in the graphics menu, through which we could only cycle with the WASD buttons or the direction arrows. Additionally, the scrolling animation starts to behave weirdly depending on where the mouse pointer is on the page. Moreover, we could not confirm any changes by pressing enter, which is baffling.
The poor menu design is even more frustrating considering the volume of settings. We counted 16, including those for adjusting the resolution, V-Sync, anisotropic filtering and image mode. The game also supports either FXAA or temporal SMAA anti-aliasing. Impressively, all settings can be changed without needing to restart the game.
Unfortunately, the Apex engine that underpins Just Cause 4 needs further development. We noticed numerous graphical errors during our tests with the game particularly struggling with shadows. Moreover, we experienced several crashes, connection problems and scaling errors. A restart often fixed the latter issue though.
Just Cause 4 also takes a while to load even when booting from an NVMe SSD. Additionally, the game takes up over 50 GB of storage at the time of writing. Please note, this may change with future patches and updates.
Benchmarks
Unfortunately, the lack of in-game checkpoints limited our choice of benchmark sequences, as restarting from a checkpoint often meant repeating large parts of a level. Ultimately, we chose to run our benchmark from the start of the game as it is the only part of the game that we consistently replicate across different systems. Starting our sequence from the beginning of the game is not a worst-case scenario, but please bear in mind that the game will stress systems harder than it does during our benchmark.
We would recommend playing Just Cause 4 at a minimum of 40 FPS for a smooth experience. Our benchmark sequence lasts for around 30 seconds as demonstrated by the video below. We measured minimum and average frame rates using FRAPS for reference.
Results
HD (1280x720)
Just Cause 4 is GPU-heavy like many action games, so its performance depends mostly on the GPU that is being used. The importance of other components like the CPU is secondary. Integrated solutions like the Intel HD Graphics 630 can only average unplayable frame rates at 1280x720 on low graphics. However, older mobile dedicated GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M can handle the game comfortably at lowest settings.
Just Cause 4 | |
1280x720 Low / Off AF:1x | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal, TR 1950X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8550U | |
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M | |
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U | |
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ |
FHD (1920x1080)
We would recommend using at least a GeForce GTX 1050 (Laptop) or a high-end GTX 9xxM series GPU if you want to play the game in 1080p on medium graphics. You will need at least a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Laptop) to play the game smoothly at medium graphics and a GeForce GTX 980M for playing Just Cause 4 in 1080p at maximum graphics.
Just Cause 4 | |
1920x1080 Medium / Off AF:4x 1920x1080 High / On AA:FX AF:8x 1920x1080 Very High / On AA:SM AF:16x | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal, TR 1950X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8550U | |
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ | |
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ |
QHD (2560x1440) & UHD (3840x2160)
The game starts to get demanding at QHD or UHD resolutions. You will need at least a GeForce GTX 1060 or a GeForce GTX 980 to play the game comfortably in QHD at maximum graphics. Likewise, even the GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop) struggles to play the game at maximum details in UHD.
Just Cause 4 | |
2560x1440 Very High / On AA:SM AF:16x 3840x2160 Very High / On AA:SM AF:16x | |
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal, TR 1950X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ |
Please note:
We could only provide a few benchmark results at the time of writing because of game activation limits. We will be updating the article in the coming days and weeks with more GPU benchmark results. Please bear with us though as gaming tests are often time-consuming.
Overview
Test Systems
Device | Graphics Card | Processor | RAM | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Desktop-PC I | MSI GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) MSI GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (4 GB GDDR5) |
Intel Core i9-9900K | 4 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Desktop-PC II | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11 GB GDDR5X) Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti (6 GB GDDR5) XFX Radeon R9 Fury (4 GB HBM) Sapphire Radeon R9 290X (4 GB GDDR5) Sapphire Radeon R9 280X (3 GB GDDR5) MSI Radeon R7 370 (2 GB GDDR5) |
Intel Core i7-7740X | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Alienware 17 R4 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8 GB GDDR5X) | Intel Core i7-7820HK | 1 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Acer Triton 700 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8 GB GDDR5X) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 2x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Asus G752VS | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6820HK | 2 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GT62VR | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6820HK | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GE72 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Asus GL753VD | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GL62 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Asus G752VY | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (4 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 16 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GS60 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (3 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GE72 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GL72 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI PE60 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 4 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI PL62 | NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2 GB GDDR5) | Intel Core i7-7700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI CX72 | NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2 GB DDR3) | Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 2 x 8 GB DDR4 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI GP62 | NVIDIA GeForce 940M (2 GB DDR3) | Intel Core i7-5700HQ | 1 x 8 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64-bit |
MSI CX61 | NVIDIA GeForce 920M (2 GB DDR3) | Intel Celeron 2970M | 1 x 8 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64-bit |
Asus N551ZU | AMD Radeon R9 M280X (4 GB GDDR5) | AMD FX-7600P | 2 x 4 GB DDR3 | Windows 10 64-bit |
4K Monitor | NVIDIA driver | AMD driver |
---|---|---|
2 x ASUS PB287Q, Philips 328P6VJEB | ForceWare 416.94 | Adrenalin 18.11.1 |