April's looking worryingly quiet for games but at least we've got an absolute monster like Far Cry 5 to see us through. Ubisoft's shooter is set in a massive, open-world Montana that's absolutely dripping with atmosphere. Squeezing out performance is going to be key, particularly for those aiming for the elusive 60 frames per second.

Here we benchmark each individual graphics setting for its performance hit, as well as recommending how important it is for you to enable it.

Far Cry 5 System Requirements

For the benchmark results below we used an MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G, an Intel Core i7-5820K processor, and 16GB DDR4 memory. Far Cry 5 was tested at 1080p screen resolution for the purposes of this benchmark, with the average frame rate taken using the in-game benchmark tool.

Far Cry 5 Graphics Options Performance Breakdown

The further right the bar goes, the more demanding the graphics option is.

Far Cry 5 Graphics Settings

Far Cry 5 isn't exactly exploding with graphics options, but there is still a fair amount to mess around with. From our benchmarks, we found there that Ultra usually ran about 30% or so faster than Low, so there's not a huge amount in it, but there are a number of key graphics settings you can lower in Far Cry 5 without sacrificing much graphical fidelity.

Texture Filtering

Texture Filtering adjusts the quality of textures when viewed at an angle. It's a subtle effect so not absolutely vital, but it's also one of the lowest performance impact options.

Performance Impact - 1/5

Priority - 2/5

Shadows

Far Cry 5 is a game absolutely loaded with shadows, but they don't necessarily look excellent. Your top priority here should be setting Shadows to at least 'Normal' in order to prevent them looking blocky. From here upwards it's a case of diminishing returns.

Performance Impact - 3/5

Priority - 3/5

Geometry and Vegetation

This setting affects both the density and the draw distance of geometry and vegetation in Far Cry 5. Turn this setting up and there is much more grass, a greater number of trees, etc.

Performance Impact - 3/5

Priority - 3/5

Environment

This graphics setting actually seems to primarily affect Far Cry 5's lighting quality. Is with Shadows, it's fairly you critical you set this to at least 'Normal' in order to benefit from reflections.

Performance Impact - 3/5

Priority - 2/5

Water

Far Cry 5 has water, and lots of it. The environment setting above actually has the largest impact on how good the water looks externally, but the comparatively low frame rate hit means it's easy to benefit from the additional detail that 'High' brings.

Performance Impact - 2/5

Priority - 4/5

Terrain

Probably one of the weaker graphics settings in Far Cry 5, Terrain impacts the graphical detail of general terrain features. Without side by side comparisons it's actually difficult to tell, but the higher the resolution you're playing at, the more important this setting becomes.

Performance Impact - 1/5

Priority - 1/5

Volumetric Fog

Everyone loves a bit of Volumetric Fog. This setting provides the voluminous sun beams that pour through the gaps in trees. In truth though, this setting actually looks great on Low, so if you're trying to squeeze a few more frames out this is a worth sacrifice.

Performance Impact - 2/5

Priority - 2/5

Anti-Aliasing

We all know what AA is by now. Far Cry 5 offers three options: Off, SMAA, and TAA. SMAA is aimed at tackling sharp diagonal lines, while TAA merges frames for a slightly blurred look. This one comes down to taste, but both are preferable to 'Off'.

Performance Impact - 3/5

Priority - 3/5

Motion Blur

As always, this is a graphics setting that comes down to personal choice. Motion Blur adds quite a heavy blur effect for fast moving objects. It's good for papering over performance cracks and some would suggest it's cinematic, but turning it off will provide you with a cleaner image.

Performance Impact - 2/5

Priority - 0/5

Far Cry 5 PC Performance Report