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Game Settings

Crysis has four basic preset quality settings: low, medium, high, and very high. The first three settings are available in Windows XP, but you'll need Windows Vista to access the very high quality setting. If you're willing to fiddle with a few files, it's not too difficult to get those settings working in Windows XP. But you probably wouldn't want to play the game with very high quality settings, as it's far too demanding for today's video cards, so it's not a huge lockout.

When it comes to individual settings, pay close attention to the shader, object, and shadow quality settings. The shader quality setting does wonders for Crysis' graphics, but every notch up slashes frame rate performance. You'll want to keep shaders as high as possible to have the game looking its best, but be prepared to lower it to keep frame rates playable. The object quality setting determines the quality and quantity of everything in the game--plant matter, bullet decals, corpses, and rocks. You can dial this setting back to reclaim some performance without a noticeable decrease in image quality, but don't reduce settings too far unless you want to transform the jungles into barren plains. Shadows take their usual toll on performance. Go ahead and set shadows to medium to achieve an acceptable balance between shadows and frame rates. Crysis doesn't really have "low quality shadows," as setting them to low simply disables them.

The Nvidia 169.04 drivers have a minor graphical downgrade that slightly increases performance in the 32-bit version of the game. We renamed the Crysis executables to disable the downgrade in our video card comparisons, but we did not rerun the settings tests with the file edits due to time constraints and the fact that we're not comparing different cards in these settings tests.

Settings Tests

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Resolution Tests - High Quality

1024x768
48
1280x1024
38
1600x1200
29
1920x1440
21
2048x1536
19

Preset Quality, 1600x1200

Low Quality
96
Medium Quality
49
High Quality
27
Very High Quality
15

Shader Quality, 1600x1200

Low Quality
96
Medium Quality
90
High Quality
63
Very High Quality
54

Object Quality, 1600x1200

Low Quality
96
Medium Quality
72
High Quality
63
Very High Quality
57

Shadow Quality, 1600x1200

Low Quality
96
Medium Quality
86
High Quality
81
Very High Quality
75

System Setup: Intel Core 2 X6800, Intel 975XBX2 2GB Corsair XMS Memory (1GBx2), 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows Vista. Graphics Card: GeForce 8800 GTX, Nvidia ForceWare 169.04.

1172 Comments

  • metalhead_of_au

    Posted Dec 27, 2008 4:33 pm PT

    I have a laptop with: AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-82 (2.2GHz)
    4GB DDR2 Ram
    ATI Radeon HD 3450 Graphics with 512Mb

    Will I be able to play crysis at all/at decent settings?

  • core_DEVOUR

    Posted Dec 27, 2008 5:53 am PT

    I have a laptop with Intel GMA X500MHD
    2.0ghz core 2 duo
    2gb ram
    can i run crysis at the lowest settings?

  • Draker696

    Posted Nov 30, 2008 9:23 am PT

    44Bubbleboy44:

    "How will i do with this rig, Amd Athlon x2 64 5000+ 2.6ghz
    2 gb ddr2 radeon 4850 oc'ed
    gonna play at 1280x1024 on vista"

    You'll be fine. You can play it at very high settings at that resolution at 30fps.

    Just make sure you use DX9 while playing... some video cards have framerate loss when using DX10.

    Some settings don't change the visual quality all that much, but still they slow down the game abit. the water quality should be placed at medium settings, because there's no difference at all from the medium to very high settings.
    Texture quality? From those screenshots, it changes almost nothing... best to place it at medium/low if you got a lowend/mediocre pc like me with a mediocre GPU. Shadow quality... Medium settings again.
    Preset quality settings... High/medium settings.
    Object quality settings. Low quality for sure. No difference at all and it will most likely reduce framerate if you max it up(even if it just reduces like... 1-4 frames.. it's still worth it considering how this game runs at 30fps in most pc's).
    Shader Quality looks alot better in very high, but medium and high don't look much worse... just... different.

  • cc23574

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 11:54 pm PT

    i am a bit of a newbie when it comes to PC gaming but whatr does 1600x1200and etc. mean?

  • 44Bubbleboy44

    Posted Nov 18, 2008 4:22 pm PT

    How will i do with this rig, Amd Athlon x2 64 5000+ 2.6ghz
    2 gb ddr2 radeon 4850 oc'ed
    gonna play at 1280x1024 on vista

  • patsy-cline

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 10:20 am PT

    gunitman12345, whats the memory in your system? cause its probably a mixture of your memory and processor if the memory is lower than 2GB and gtcheto, the problem there is probably the crossfire configuration is a bit crap, sometimes it can be worse to have two cards and really bad to have quad SLI. Its like that with crossfire and SLI systems, best SLI configuration is the 9600GT's or 9800GT's s, another thing that could be the prob is your Power Supply, how many watts are powering it?

  • gunitman12345

    Posted Nov 9, 2008 8:10 am PT

    I get terrible framerates in dx10 with 9800gt and amd 4000+ 2.1ghz dual core. Is the processor the problem?

  • Fatgoat1994

    Posted Nov 8, 2008 11:13 am PT

    I figured far cry 2 was going to be harder on my pc than crysis. I was wrong.

  • NnethKe

    Posted Oct 26, 2008 8:20 am PT

    It run great on mine: Core 2 Duo 2.4, 2GB RAM, nVidia 8600GT 1GB.Samsung 22" WideScreen.

  • ATFNeOpHyTe

    Posted Oct 8, 2008 10:54 am PT

    i dont know about warhead (dont have it yet), but crysis is one heck of a game (graphic mostly) i run it just fine( everything on high AA disabled this is where my pc will run with a bit of lag now and then), my graphic card is most likely the bottle neck of my pc.
    specs: core 2 quad q6700 @2,67 oc'ed to 2,85
    4 gb ocz reaperX ram.
    nvidea 9600 GT xxx(factory oc'ed) 512 mb.
    i want to buy the gtx 280, but ill be waiting for an year or so, just to have the price dropped, i dont really mind having a bit lower graphics now (they are still very good).
    my monitor is a samsung 2032mw which gives 1600x1050 which is more then enough.

  • DarthLinux

    Posted Oct 7, 2008 2:48 pm PT

    Crysis:Warhead is supposed to be able to cater to lower end pc's and yet also introduce some new graphical features.
    The requirements are quite high but you can always go with medium settings like me.

  • gtcheto

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 9:59 pm PT

    Its said, I have a pretty high end system and still can't run Warhead even in "Gamer" settings.

    Phenom 9850 Quad. X4 2.51 GHZ
    8GB Corsair 6400 Ram
    Crossfire Visontek 3870's (2) all running on Vista 64bit Home Prem.

  • Chronikas

    Posted Oct 1, 2008 10:48 am PT

    On my old rig ...(don't laugh)A 2yr Old Dell XPS with a Pentium D Dual-Core 3.2ghz and (upgraded to) 4gb OCZ pc6200 RAM, with an 8800gtx running XP...this game was AWESOME.
    But alas, I finally built my first custom computer:
    Q9550 2.8ghz with a light OC up to 3.0ghz EVGA 790i Mobo
    4 gb mushkin RAM at 1600mhz (soon to be 8gb)
    GTX 280 (soon to be dual GTX 280's)
    This game is MINDBLOWING. So I would have to say that its all relative, if your pc runs it at a quality that is acceptable to you...having the nicer parts is really just "bonus." Besides, who cares if its the prettiest thing ever? I had way more fun playing Bioshock than I every did playing Crysis...and I'm the biggest graphics whore there is.

  • 54796

    Posted Sep 26, 2008 11:31 am PT

    isolation, that's exactly what I have, and while it won't look like the photos in this feature, it'll be decent, playable and very enjoyable (Medium specs across the board, decent resolution)

  • is0lati0n

    Posted Sep 25, 2008 4:08 am PT

    Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.40GHz
    XFX GeForce 8800GT Alpha Dog XXX Edition
    2 GB RAM

    Yay or Nay?

  • Skyriderlink

    Posted Sep 23, 2008 10:57 pm PT

    Why does everyone want to say I have GTX 280 can I run Crysis at High setting even when they know they run at very high setting.There are many people believe me many people who are running Crysis with 8600GT and happy with that.I have a 3850 and run with mixed settings of medium and very high setting and I get around 25 to 30 FPS and I am very happy with that.I know you all are proud of your systems and you should but please don't make many of us look bad really.

  • snake15545

    Posted Sep 21, 2008 2:08 pm PT

    @sMeAgOl_VaDeR, lol, HELL NO. wow, what a silly question.

  • snake15545

    Posted Sep 21, 2008 2:01 pm PT

    @supergamer911, it wont run at all, i used to have that card,and it literally raped my computer, plus stick with nvidia, runs better with mostly all games. ( check for the nvidia sign on the back of game boxes)

  • SuperGamer911

    Posted Sep 21, 2008 10:32 am PT

    My video card is a ATI Radeon Express 200. Can i run Crysis with this?

  • snake15545

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 9:38 am PT

    @kagemonsta, it will work dude, i promise you that. im running an ati radeon hd 3650, and its at medium high settings. so you will have a fun time playing it man. enjoy

  • Kagemonsta

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 6:33 am PT

    OK:
    AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+
    1.87 GB RAM GEForce 9800.
    Will It work or rape my comp??

  • Elann2008

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 9:01 am PT

    In some areas, only the foliage and lighting is improved, but surfaces like the ground or rocks look very similar or identical in different quality settings..

  • homersimpsons

    Posted Sep 11, 2008 2:33 pm PT

    can anyone tell me if i bought an Nvidia 9600GT, what settings do you think it would run well on, i have 2gigs and Daul Core 4200+ atm.

    and a ATi 2600XT ICEQ,
    reason why i want to upgrade my GFX

  • TheJamin

    Posted Sep 10, 2008 1:29 pm PT

    "86000 Posted Jul 21, 2008 1:46 pm GMT my specs

    e8400
    850w coolermaster psu
    6400 xms 4bg corsair
    4870 sapphire
    gigabyte x48 ds4 mobo
    vista 64bit, dx10
    i swear i laugh at anyone going at this game with anyhting less than ati 4800 series or nvidia g200 series and rejoicing and showing off that they can just barely play it, i mean yes you can play at medium settings but the experience is just so different when settings are maxed out. i say max out crysis or play something else like call of duty"

    Um no? lol mate Q9550 - swapped it for my e8400
    4GB of Corsair DDR2 pc8500 twinx
    P5K Premium Black Pearl Edition
    Still on my 8800GTX clocked to Ultra speeds.

    And i get the same frame rate as you, if not higher at 1680x1050!

    surely you should know that ATI does not scale well on crysis.

    I love ATI as a company, and at the moment they are destroying Nvidia with the 4800 range, but its down to crysis being badly optimised! crytec are promising a better optimised engine for "crysis warhead" im holding off on my video card upgrade until i actually need to upgrade

  • ninty57

    Posted Sep 7, 2008 9:30 am PT

    I have an intel core 2 quad q6600 @2.4ghz, 2gb corsair xms2 ddr2 800mhz ram, asus p5n e sli mobo, xfx nvidia geforce 8800 gs 384mb, 500gb 7200rpm samsung hard drive, silent knight 600watt psu on windows xp 32-bit and i can run crysis on high with the resolution at 1152x864 and i get on average 37fps.

  • ninty57

    Posted Sep 7, 2008 9:30 am PT

    I have an intel core 2 quad q6600 @2.4ghz, 2gb corsair xms2 ddr2 800mhz ram, asus p5n e sli mobo, xfx nvidia geforce 8800 gs 384mb, 500gb 7200rpm samsung hard drive, silent knight 600watt psu on windows xp 32-bit and i can run crysis on high with the resolution at 1152x864 and i get on average 37fps.

  • MadworlDsurfer

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 3:34 pm PT

    this game was designed to run on the 8800gtx with the best performance and it runs at max settings on my area-51 m15x

  • Robtrex_3000 posted Aug 13, 2008 9:34 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Robtrex_3000

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 9:34 pm PT (hide)

    Good thing I have a quad-core 2.5g 6 gigs of ram and a 9800 booyah

  • Shalafein

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 12:26 pm PT

    i want Crysis so bad, but sadly my computer would blow up! but thanks to this i might be able to get a computer that can play it!

  • papadopoulos02

    Posted Aug 9, 2008 3:44 am PT

    i am thinking to buy INTEL CORE 2 DUO E8400 3.00 GHZ
    and a 9800GTX 512mb with 2gb ram i hope its worth the money

  • Smecheu

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 2:44 pm PT

    a bit high request's but I think it's worth

  • eldasto

    Posted Jul 29, 2008 8:52 pm PT

    somebody helP!! i got an hdx, settings:..

    Nvidia GTS 8800M
    Core Duo 2.5
    4 GB ram
    HDD at 5400 rpm

    question is.. would I be able to play with high settings??
    thankss in advancee

  • FaceKicker

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 11:25 pm PT

    I've got a dualcore based on ACPI-x86:

    NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT video card
    Windows Vista**Home Premium (6.0, build 600 1)
    BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
    Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 6400+(2 CPUs), ~3.2 GHz
    Memory: 3326MB RAM
    Video card memory: 2419MB
    650W Power Supply

  • PortalDude

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 9:23 am PT

    i have a dell dimension 4700 with an ati radeon card (dont know what model) and a single-core pentium 4 processer and i can run it at mostly high, with as good a framerate as it would be with the lowest settings
    if my 6 year old computer can run it that good, then i dont see why some peoples are running so bad

  • 86000

    Posted Jul 21, 2008 5:46 am PT

    my specs

    e8400
    850w coolermaster psu
    6400 xms 4bg corsair
    4870 sapphire
    gigabyte x48 ds4 mobo
    vista 64bit, dx10

    i play full very high settings at 1280 X 960 res and get 25-31 fps
    i'm gonna overclock ram and cpu when i get the chance so i can fkn own this game

    i swear i laugh at anyone going at this game with anyhting less than ati 4800 series or nvidia g200 series and rejoicing and showing off that they can just barely play it, i mean yes you can play at medium settings but the experience is just so different when settings are maxed out. i say max out crysis or play something else like call of duty

  • 13ozzy

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 1:42 am PT

    I have a ATI HD 2600 Pro, and in order to play with "OK" frame rate i have to go 1280x1024. (on medium). But i put physics on very high, im a Half Life fan

  • brian_13un

    Posted Jul 10, 2008 10:34 pm PT

    wow informative

  • jeremey9905

    Posted Jul 5, 2008 9:53 am PT

    THANK GOD I GOT A NEW COMPUTER, NOW I CAN PLAY THIS GAME. probably medium quality. at 800x600 res.

  • henrynarits

    Posted Jul 5, 2008 7:17 am PT

    8600 Gt (256 mb ) works well with very hich graphic and no lag, at least i cant remember any

  • Frank1010

    Posted Jul 3, 2008 7:33 am PT

    Nekem a 9600GT OC2-n fullon kirán ment.

  • Dechorus

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 5:30 am PT

    the not so good framerates? yeah, basically when i look at a lot of crap.

    but when isn't there lots of crap? lol. the game is a giant sandbox with so much stuff in it.

    i want decent framerates > ... my pc seems to earn it, lol.

    I'm also running on Vista 64bit. Incase that is known to really bog down performance?

  • andru183

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 7:49 am PT

    love this game! wish more games would push hard ware like this just to game a variety of these typea games

  • Cryser-Skyper

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 5:17 am PT

    Are those framerates written while looking at the sky in the game or are they written while looking at a place full of detail?

  • Dechorus

    Posted Jun 23, 2008 12:35 am PT

    Hey guys.

    Ok I have an 8800 GT, which should be 512MB, correct? Well, after performing a dxdiag run, it says my video ram is a whopping 2.2gb.

    I don't understand how this works. At system requirments lab, the recommended video card is the 8800GTS 640MB. But again, it says mine is better, and the bar is maxed out.

    Besides, my actual performance on Crysis isn't amazing or anything. I still seem to have less than smooth frame rate on medium with not that amazing resolution.

    What's up with that? o.O

    Oh yeah and i got 4gigs of ram and a quad core amd, so the CPU part seems to be sufficient enough.

  • CY4N1D3_625

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 8:21 pm PT

    _ramtin1001 you could run crysis with those specs. I might suggest changing you're RAM timings. I don't know how much cooling you got in your system, but that might help. Mine are at 4-4-4-15, but my motherboard did it for me and I OC'd my q6600 to 3.2GHz. I get 43 FPS with those settings and a GX2 on high..to me it's not high enough.

  • ramtin1001

    Posted Jun 15, 2008 11:11 am PT

    never mind i used crysis demo to try it myself. with everything on medium its ......."ok" with around 20-25 fps most of the times and with shader quality on high its jus not playable even if run it on dx9.... guess im out of luck... (

  • ramtin1001

    Posted Jun 13, 2008 2:10 pm PT

    hey everyone i jus wanted to know if i can run it with shader quality on high and everything else on medium....
    this is my system:
    inter core 2 duo 2.2GHz
    3 GB RAM
    Radeon HD 2600 xt
    thnx.....

  • loli_17_florian

    Posted Jun 13, 2008 8:34 am PT

    Hey guys, what do you think, with what settings can i run crysis? My specs:
    cpu: p4 3.0 Ghz 1mb cache
    gpu: ati 2600xt 256mb agp 8x
    ram: 2GB (4x512 ddr 400Mhz)
    Thanks in advance