Just Cause 4 Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks

Rampage. Just Cause 4 is a real adventure playground like its predecessors. Read on in our benchmark article to find out which graphics cards are best for creating chaos.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser, ✓ Andrea Grüblinger (translated by Alex Alderson), Published 12/08/2018 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...

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 Titan X Pascal	179 (161^min) fps ∼71%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1080	180 (171^min) fps ∼71%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ Acer Predator Triton 700	157 (145^min) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	156 (145^min) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1070	152 (142^min) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	143 (134^min) fps ∼57%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060	126 (117^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	118 (109^min) fps ∼47%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, i9-9900K Desktop-PC	109 (103^min) fps ∼43%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ Asus G752VY	86.2 (79^min) fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	78 (71^min) fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ MSI GS60 6QE	73.7 (68^min) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	61.4 (55^min) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ MSI GE72 965M Ti	64.4 (59^min) fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ MSI GL72 7QF	49.8 (45^min) fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8550U Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7	39 (35^min) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ MSI GP62 2QD	25 (23^min) fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce 920M, 2970M MSI CX61 2QC 2970M MS-16GD	17.3 (15^min) fps ∼7%
Intel UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7	16.2 (14^min) fps ∼6%
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ MSI PL62	14.6 (13^min) fps ∼6%

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 Titan X Pascal	137.7 (129^min) fps ∼63% 110 (102^min) fps ∼67% 105.7 (97^min) fps ∼66%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	118 (111^min) fps ∼74%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1080	135 (124^min) fps ∼62% 109 (102^min) fps ∼66% 103 (91^min) fps ∼65%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	129 (118^min) fps ∼59% 102 (94^min) fps ∼62% 97 (91^min) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ Acer Predator Triton 700	118 (108^min) fps ∼54% 90 (83^min) fps ∼55% 87.4 (78^min) fps ∼55%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1070	110 (101^min) fps ∼50% 89.2 (83^min) fps ∼54% 86.6 (81^min) fps ∼54%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	101 (94^min) fps ∼46% 81 (74^min) fps ∼49% 79.2 (71^min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060	81.8 (74^min) fps ∼37% 66.1 (60^min) fps ∼40% 62.4 (59^min) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, i9-9900K Desktop-PC	77.1 (71^min) fps ∼35% 66.6 (62^min) fps ∼40% 61.8 (58^min) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	77.8 (71^min) fps ∼36% 60.5 (56^min) fps ∼37% 57.7 (51^min) fps ∼36%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X i7-7740X Asus X299 Prime	62 (57^min) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ Asus G752VY	59.4 (54^min) fps ∼27% 48.2 (44^min) fps ∼29% 46.2 (42^min) fps ∼29%
AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop), i7-7740X XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB, Asus X299 Prime	32 (29^min) fps ∼19% 30.6 (28^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ MSI GS60 6QE	48.3 (44^min) fps ∼22% 38.3 (35^min) fps ∼23% 36 (31^min) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	50.3 (45^min) fps ∼23% 40.1 (37^min) fps ∼24% 35.5 (30^min) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	41 (36^min) fps ∼19% 31.7 (29^min) fps ∼19% 30.4 (28^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M, 6700HQ MSI GE72 965M Ti	39.7 (36^min) fps ∼18% 29.9 (27^min) fps ∼18% 28.6 (26^min) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ MSI GL72 7QF	31.2 (28^min) fps ∼14% 24 (21^min) fps ∼15% 22.2 (20^min) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce MX150, i5-8550U Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro i7	24.1 (21^min) fps ∼11% 18.2 (17^min) fps ∼11%
NVIDIA GeForce 940M, 5700HQ MSI GP62 2QD	15.1 (13^min) fps ∼7%
Intel HD Graphics 630, i7-7700HQ MSI PL62	8.4 (7^min) fps ∼4%

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 Titan X Pascal	48.1 (44^min) fps ∼66%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Desktop), i7-7740X Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition	86 (80^min) fps ∼72% 69 (64^min) fps ∼95%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1080	74.3 (70^min) fps ∼62% 40.5 (36^min) fps ∼55%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, i7-7820HK Alienware 17 R4	68.8 (63^min) fps ∼57% 38.5 (33^min) fps ∼53%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, i7-7700HQ Acer Predator Triton 700	58.3 (54^min) fps ∼49% 32.1 (27^min) fps ∼44%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop), i9-9900K MSI GeForce GTX 1070	58.1 (54^min) fps ∼48% 31.6 (29^min) fps ∼43%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile, 6820HK Asus G752VS	53.2 (48^min) fps ∼44% 30.7 (27^min) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, i9-9900K Desktop-PC	43.9 (40^min) fps ∼37% 23.5 (21^min) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop), i9-9900K NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060	42.8 (40^min) fps ∼36% 22.1 (19^min) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile, 6820HK MSI GT62VR	39.5 (35^min) fps ∼33% 20.7 (17^min) fps ∼28%
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop), i7-7740X i7-7740X Asus X299 Prime	42 (38^min) fps ∼35% 21 (19^min) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 6700HQ Asus G752VY	31.5 (27^min) fps ∼26% 16.9 (15^min) fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 6700HQ MSI GS60 6QE	25.2 (23^min) fps ∼21% 13.2 (10^min) fps ∼18%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile, i7-7700HQ MSI GE72 7RE	24.1 (22^min) fps ∼20% 11.6 (8^min) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile, i7-7700HQ Asus GL753VD	20.4 (17^min) fps ∼17% 10.8 (9^min) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, i7-7700HQ MSI GL72 7QF	14.9 (13^min) fps ∼12% 6.5 (4^min) fps ∼9%

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

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Alex Alderson - Senior Tech Writer - 9924 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2018

Prior to writing and translating for Notebookcheck, I worked for various companies including Apple and Neowin. I have a BA in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds, which I have since converted to a Law Degree. Happy to chat on Twitter or Notebookchat.

contact me via: @aldersonaj

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Just Cause 4 Laptop and Desktop Benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2018-12- 8 (Update: 2018-12- 9)

Legend
5	Stutters – 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.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – 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.