FarCry 4 Performance On G751JY (GTX 980M) Gaming Laptop

The GTX 980M is Nvidia's most powerful mobile graphics processor to date, and coupled with Intel's 4th Generation Core i7 quad-core processor makes an unbeatable combination in the G751JY. Performance results in FarCry 4 show that the settings can easily be turned up to their maximum details in 'Ultra' or even 'Nvidia' level with some tweaks.

From our earlier G771JM/G551JM performance tests, here's a bit of background about FarCry 4:

As far as open-world shooter-romps go, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better than the FarCry series. FarCry 4 now takes fans to the fictional Himalayan country called Kyrat, where you return from the United States to promptly get wrapped up in a civil war between the rebellious local resistance, called the Golden Path, and tyrannical militia-leader, Pagan Min.

Those who played the previous FarCry will instantly recognize some familiar tropes in the collection of fauna and flora that’ll make you an expert in botany and ‘arts & crafts’, whilst the generous array of weapons, secondary attacks, skills and upgrades plucks the strings of RPG as much as FPS. Where FarCry 2 and 3 had you jumping in cars, boats and quads, FarCry 4 has you strapping on a wing-suit to glide over valleys, or hopping on an elephant to go rampaging. Bring it on!

With Nvidia’s help, the Dunia 2 engine has been updated with the latest DirectX 11 effects – including Volumetric Fog, TXAA, HBAO+, Soft Shaders and Tree and Fur enhancements. There’s even an “Nvidia” graphics setting over-and-above the Ultra for those with the most serious gaming PCs; it truly is a PC-gamers game.

G751JY Tested Spec:

• Intel Core i7 4860HQ processor
• 32GB 1600MHz DDR3 (4x8GB)
• Nvidia GTX 980M graphics card (Maxwell: 1536 cores)
• 256GB PCIe SSD option + 1TB HDD
• Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display
• Nvidia GeForce driver: 344.75 WHQL
• Windows 8.1 Pro

FarCry4 Performance: Best Playable Settings for G751JY (GTX 980M)

At Full HD resolution the best playable settings (the highest attainable image quality (IQ) mixed with playable FPS) were Ultra/HBAO+/MSAA4. By default Ultra enables SSBC Ambient Occlusion, but bumping it to HBAO+ is certainly worth it for the mid-50's average and mid-40's min FPS. Anti-aliasing at 2x (including TXAA/MSAA) doesn't have much visible effect, so 4x is a minimum for clear difference and you'll suffer a noticeable performance hit. If you can live without, turn it off, and while it's generally unnoticeable in the foliage, it's the villages and vehicles where large, straight edges are more obvious. We recommend trying to disable motion blur and turning down Shadows and PostFX a notch to save a few FPS too.

With the highest possible settings enabled ('Nvidia') the performance is below a 30FPS minimum and only hits mid-35's average, and we'd want more, so disabling AA can boost that 10FPS. Generally though we'd opt for Ultra over 'Nvidia' with MSAA 4x, which still generates a smoother overall gameplay from a higher average and max and has the benefit of AA.

If you want to boost minimums to nearer 60FPS then Ultra/SSBC/No AA is recommended, or, High-Ultra mix/HABO+/No AA.

Comparative Screenshots

Left: 'Nvidia'+TXAA4, Right: Ultra+HBAO+MSAA4

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Left: Ultra+SMAA, Right: Ultra+NoAA

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Left: Ultra+TXAA2, Right Ultra+MSAA2

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To illustrate the point about effective anti-aliasing, if you look at the blue barrel in the top two photos its curves are smoothed, although the effect is less obvious on the chain-link fence and on the gun and foliage it's certainly not obvious. SMAA and even TXAA/MSAA at 2x has a much less noticeable effect. You can clearly see some aliased edges on the barrel, really making 4x the minimum effective setting.