Game:

Forza Horizon 3 (2016)

Duration: 26:54

6,789 views

41

READ THIS, for context of what is going on in the video. I don't just give average frames per second. I actually show you how games really play, and I often offer explanations of what you can expect from them.

When the game launched, I could barely make an i5 play this game, at 60fps, even when using a GTX 1080. After the latest patch (Oct 14th), I can "mostly" play the game, at 60fps, with an i5 and a GTX 960 (4GB).

It will not play at a constant 60fps, throughout a play session, but it can do 60fps "most of the time." There are some parts of the map that stay at a solid 60fps, while driving around, and there are other parts that have the frame rate fluctuating. (most of the map seems to do 60fps, while Surfer's Paradise has a lot of frame rate fluctuating)

When it comes to races, there is a lot of frame rate fluctuating there too. It's not the outright stuttering and hitching that was seen, at the launch of the game, so in my opinion, it's manageable, but this is a game that seems to play better, when using beefier hardware. (namely an i7, but using a stronger graphics card helps too)

At the start of this video, I show me doing the usual fixes. I change the game's Priority level, and I disable the 0 core. The game actually played worse, when I disabled the 0 core, so I turned that back on. I even overclocked the card, early in the video. (at the start of the video, the GTX 960 is at about 1380Mhz, which is what it boosts up to, out of the box) (with the small overclock, it goes up to about 1430Mhz)

If you want to play the game at 30fps, that is an option, and from the limited testing I've done, with this hardware, the game has kept 30fps, even in Surfer's Paradise. Admittedly, I've not done hours and hours of 30fps testing to see if the game ever has hiccups, but I have tried it multiple times, for 5-10 minute stretches, and the game kept the 30fps. I, personally, do not enjoy the game at 30fps, but some people might prefer that over fluctuating frame rates. For me... I'd rather have the fluctuating frame rates, but that is a personal preference.

I wouldn't necessarily "recommend" this game, for i5 and GTX 960 users, but it has seemed "doable," since the patch, whereas, before, it was kind of a train fire. (even with a GTX 1060, my i5 system did not play well, prior to the patch)

A note to 2GB GTX 960 users: Sadly, I suspect the 2GB card would fare worse than this. The game used about 3.8GB of VRAM, during this play through.

Second note: The game did crash, at the end. I'm not sure if that's indicative of the game's quality, after the patch, or if it's because I overclocked the graphics card. (I usually don't overclock this card, when testing... I just did it, here, to give the game a fighting chance of keeping 60fps more of the time)

i5 4690K (4.2Ghz)
16GB RAM
EVGA GTX 960 SC 4GB (factory overclocked to 1380Mhz at the start of the video, and then manually overclocked to 1430Mhz)
SSD
Windows 10

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