Computers wept openly when Crytek unleashed Crysis on the world. The game made the most powerful computers sputter and hiccup when trying to run the game at high image quality levels. Fortunately, Far Cry 2, based on Ubisoft Montreal's Dunia engine, is nowhere near as taxing. Aside from leaving behind the pleasant beaches of the Pacific for the savannahs of Africa, Far Cry 2 also includes a new DirectX 10 engine. Like other Cry games, Far Cry 2 has huge draw distances, lush forests, incredibly detailed shadows, and spectacular fire/heat effects. Running the game with maximum settings requires a modern computer, but you don't need a hulking beast of a machine to run the game well.
Far Cry 2 comes with a built-in test that has three different performance runs. You can find the test in the game folder's /bin directory. We found the short test to be the most consistent. To be on the safe side, we averaged the results of five runs for our final frame rate score.
Settings
A visually complex game such as Far Cry 2 has its fair share of quality settings that can slow down performance. We found two or three settings that you should adjust if you're looking for a little frame rate boost.
Video Cards
Like just about any other first-person shooter, Far Cry 2 loves a good GPU. We tested almost 20 video cards, ranging from the premium Radeon 4870X2 down to the aging GeForce 6800.
CPU
Far Cry 2 really likes processors. We dug into our pile of CPUs and pulled out Intel Core 2s, AMD Phenoms, and Pentium 4s to see how the game scales with CPU power.
Memory
Far Cry 2 requires 1GB of RAM to run in Windows XP and 2GB in Windows Vista, and our testing confirmed the requirements. Going below the required hardware will severely hamper performance.
Systems
Far Cry 2's minimum requirements consist of an anemic 3.2GHz Pentium 4, 1GB of RAM, and at least a GeForce 6800-class video card. We built a system matching the minimum specs in our test lab, but the actual Far Cry 2 test consistently crashed on the machine. However, in between crashes, the game ran just fine after we lowered all of the settings and reduced the resolution to the lowest setting. We built Ubisoft's recommended system with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz CPU, a GeForce 8600 GTS, and 2GB of RAM with Windows Vista 32-bit for the operating system. It wasn't the quickest machine, but it ran the game well at moderate resolutions and quality settings. Our high-end system packed with a 3.2GHz quad core and a Radeon 4870X2 was able to run Far Cry 2 at high resolution with the best image quality settings.
System Performance
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
System Setup:
High-End System: Intel Core2 QX9650, eVGA 780i, 2GB Corsair XMS Memory (1GBx2), 750GB Seagate 7200.11 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows Vista 32-bit SP1. Graphics Card: Radeon 4870X2, beta Catalyst HotFix 70517.
Recommended System: Intel Core2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz, eVGA 680i, 2GB Corsair XMS Memory (1GBx2), 750GB Seagate 7200.11 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows Vista 32-bit SP1. Graphics Card: GeForce 8600 GTS, beta Nvidia ForceWare 180.42.
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