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Assassin's Creed III Benchmarked

A new era. In November, Ubisoft releases two candidates for the game of the year at once. Alongside the open-world shooter Far Cry 3, the action-adventure game Assassin's Creed III seeks to lure the affection of the PC community. This article is primarily devoted to the technology involved and the hardware requirements for the Assassin fable.
Assassin's Creed III

Even if Brotherhood and Revelations were considered more or less add-ons, with Assassin's Creed III Ubisoft is already releasing the fifth part in the popular action series. Although the fascination with assassination and climbing has somewhat abated and lost its charm (keyword hay-cart), this fresh offshoot makes an excellent impression.

Description

Like its forerunners, Assassin's Creed III is split across various time levels. In the present we control Desmond Miles, a cheeky spring chicken, who in part I -- spoiler alert -- is carried off by the mysterious Abstergo organization and hidden under the cover of the obscure "Animus" machine, in order to relive the experiences of his ancestors (here the templar-against-assassin fight dominates).

Abstergo's goal is to obtain the so-called Piece of Eden: a secret artifact that gives the possessor enormous power. At the end of part I, with the help of Lucy, an employee of Abstergo, Desmond escapes.  Assassin's Creed II revolves around the characters' flight. After the runaways have found an adequate hiding place, with his own Animus apparatus, Desmond is sent back into the "past".

Assassin's Creed III is one of the top games of 2012.
Assassin's Creed III is one of the top games of 2012.
In the present we are Desmond once again.
In the present we are Desmond once again.
Ubisoft sends us through world history.
Ubisoft sends us through world history.

With which we're already back to the topic at hand -- as the Abstergo story "only" establishes the narrative and cross-game framework. We spend the majority of our time with the Animus i.e. memory passages. While in Assassin's Creed I you slip into Altaïr's skin and fight your way through the trials and tribulations of the Crusades, in the second part you're on your way as the Renaissance-Italian Ezio.

After the release of the two supplemental chapters, Brotherhood and Revelations, of course fans were excited for the third offshoot's scenario. The French Revolution, our personal favorite, unfortunately wasn't their pick. Instead, Ubisoft Montreal went for the North-American continent and picked the famous American Revolutionary War. To be honest, we were a little skeptical when we heard the announcement -- and even more so when we considered the screenshots. Snowy white forests and brown colonies in the style of the Wild West don't guarantee much variety. The final product quickly taught us a lesson.

Without previous knowledge of the game things are a little hard.
Without previous knowledge of the game things are a little hard.
Shortly into the game we go to the opera.
Shortly into the game we go to the opera.
This is where the first assassination attempt takes place.
This is where the first assassination attempt takes place.
The developers again prove their excellent craftsmanship.
The developers again prove their excellent craftsmanship.
In terms of the technical AC3 performs well.
In terms of the technical AC3 performs well.
The engine has no problem with large crowds of people.
The engine has no problem with large crowds of people.

After the linear but quite well-staged introductory chapter (we go to the opera and take a boat ride) the gamer lands in an architecturally and stylistically well-executed Boston. Ubisoft does an excellent job of creating a believable open-world full of atmosphere. You discover charming details everywhere, for instance roaming animals (mice, dogs, pigs, etc.).

Highest praise in that regard goes to the density of people. Dozens of folks are going about their daily routines, whether in the marketplace or the harbor. They converse among themselves, go fishing, paint the walls of houses, advertise goods, carry barrels, saw wood, etc. etc. etc. Aside from a few KI and Clipping bugs, the illusion creates a "real" environment.

The game provides the tried-and-true delights of the series. Despite the new scenario, the typical "Assassin's Creed feeling" develops quickly. We jump, sprint and exercise our acrobatic moves through narrow spaces between buildings with ease. Great: Ubisoft tightened some of its loose bolts in regards to the controls (though they still take some getting used to). The former artistic quirks are now a touch more fluid and exact.

You can be the commander for some of the naval battles.
You can be the commander for some of the naval battles.
On the first ship we learn the fight controls.
On the first ship we learn the fight controls.
The captain fears there will be a mutiny.
The captain fears there will be a mutiny.
The action epic includes lots of mini-games.
The action epic includes lots of mini-games.
The characters' faces are quite detailed.
The characters' faces are quite detailed.
The developers do a great job with the costumes as well.
The developers do a great job with the costumes as well.

Technologically improvements are equally noticeable. Along with the quantity of characters, the quality of textures and effects (water, lighting, etc.) has also been enhanced. The main characters in particular score big with lots of details; though you shouldn't expect too great a quantum leap. In a league with The Witcher 2  Assassin's Creed III can't make it up too far; but most gamers will be satisfied with the visual effects. The graphics are good enough to plunge you into an imaginary world.

Also excellent: the music and the English speakers are delightfully high-quality. The "console" menus and the somewhat insufficient enemy intelligence aren't so phenomenal. In general the level of difficulty is most suited to beginners. As soon as you've internalized the fight mechanics and the counter-attack methods, AC3 tends towards being too simple. This drawback was true of its predecessors too.

Otherwise the action game hardly has any issues. Ubisoft created a motivating, atmospheric and distinct specimen of this genre. A little tip for the Assassin's Creed newbies: in order to understand some of the story elements, it would help to read up about the saga in advance.

The Canadian producers captivate with fantastic architecture.
The Canadian producers captivate with fantastic architecture.
The player meets all kinds of historical figures.
The player meets all kinds of historical figures.
Watch stations aren't always our enemies.
Watch stations aren't always our enemies.
Tons of animals are wandering about in this world.
Tons of animals are wandering about in this world.
We get new gear from merchants.
We get new gear from merchants.
For longer distances a horse avails itself.
For longer distances a horse avails itself.

Benchmark

The benchmark sequence we selected is quite demanding, once again. The arrival in Boston formally presents itself for speed measurements. The second chapter begins with a sweeping tracking shot, displaying an expansive harbor basin with several ships. The picture zooms in on the playable characters, who are received on the pier by Charles Lee. A close-up presents the detailed countenances of the two figures.

After a short conversation, we are led through the animated harbor-area in the direction of our accommodation. Along the wooden bridges hordes of ground staff bustle about, which truly works the hardware to its full capacity. We follow Charles Lee until a woman to the right trips with her crate, and oranges roll all over the ground.

The complete sequence lasts about 60 seconds. To determine the average display refresh rate we used the Fraps tool, as usual. In order to play comfortably it should be 25 fps at minimum in the benchmark.

Settings

The graphics menu doesn't exactly have a lot of adjustable screws at the ready. Resolution, texture sharpness, environment quality, shadow details and anti-aliasing: those are the only options. Changes are generally only noticeable based on the conditions of your current place in the game. Looking at screenshots, in some cases it's difficult to see any difference at all.  Even when using the "Normal" level the action-cracker looks little more than acceptable. With all the controls on stop the display becomes not only calmer (better anti-aliasing) but also somewhat crisper and more vivid. The shadow edges improve as well. High-quality TXAA is only available to certain Nvidia GPUs.

Tip: for the benchmarks we manually deactivate the vertical synchronization. In Windows' Owner folder, under Documents/Assassin's Creed III there is an .ini file named "Assassin3" (created after the start of the first game), which can be easily opened in an editor. Near the top we replace VSync=1 with VSync=0.

Normal
Normal
High
High
Very High
Very High

A look at the results reveals that currently AMD graphics cards are still at a distinct disadvantage. For example the Radeon HD 7970M: the high-end GPU still sometimes has to admit defeat in the face of the competing mid-class GeForce GT 650M. But at our Ultra setting (1920x1080, Very High) it still reaches the GTX 675M level.

We trust that AMD will be working on some improvements in the coming weeks and months.  Our drivers were certainly the most current on the market (see below).  Older versions should be categorically avoided -- especially as an AMD user (with the Catalyst 12.4 we had terrible graphics errors).

Normal
Normal
High
High
Very High
Very High

Results

Assassin's Creed III only makes moderate demands on the hardware. For 1366x768 pixels and high settings even a mid-class GPU like the GeForce GT 630M (about 30 fps) is satisfactory.  Very high detail and 1920x1080 pixels are distinctly more demanding. Without a potent high-end graphics card this action game quickly becomes a mass of jolts. Nothing less than a GeForce GTX 675M can shoulder the above settings with 25 fps.

The poor AMD performance also concerns the desktop models. As such, the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked behind the actually weaker GeForce GTX 660 Ti. In general, the CPU is often the limiting factor at low resolutions and settings -- at least with luxury graphics cards. As we are already speaking of processors: with the Intel chips HD Graphics 3000 and HD Graphics 4000 (both under 20 fps) gamers aren't going to be at all pleased. Cheaper or older entry-level models can barely handle the game, or can't handle it at all, period.

Benchmark table: Assassin's Creed III

Verdict

Assassin's Creed III is an absolutely obligatory buy for action-adventure fans. Ubisoft worked very hard on the conceptual design and development of the fable-universe. The game plays with comfortable fluidity and entertains at a high level. Audio-visually the developers did a great job as well. The same goes for the interesting story.

The environments turn out to be diverse.
The environments turn out to be diverse.
The English speakers are outstanding.
The English speakers are outstanding.
Among other things you carry out escort orders.
Among other things you carry out escort orders.

Test Systems

Many thanks to Schenker Notebooks, who kindly provided us with the three following laptops (mysn.de):

  • XMG P502 (Core i7-3610QM, GeForce GTX 660M, GTX 670M, GTX 675M(X), GTX 680M & Radeon HD 7970M, 8 GB RAM)
  • XMG A502 (Core i5-3360M, GeForce GT 650M & HD Graphics 4000, 8 GB RAM)
  • Xesia M501 (Core i7-2630QM, GeForce GT 630M & HD Graphics 3000, 8 GB RAM) 

The GPU driver versions used for the listed laptops were: Nvidia 310.61 Beta, AMD 12.11 Beta 8 & Intel 9.17.10.2875.

from left to right: Schenker XMG A502, Xesia M501 & XMG P502
from left to right: Schenker XMG A502, Xesia M501 & XMG P502

Overview

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Qualcomm Adreno 304
AMD Radeon Pro 560
Qualcomm Adreno 302
AMD Radeon HD 6850M
AMD Radeon HD 6830M
AMD Radeon HD 6310
AMD Radeon HD 6320
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AMD Radeon 760M
AMD Radeon 680M
AMD Radeon HD 6775G2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
NVIDIA RTX A5500 Laptop GPU
AMD Radeon Pro 455
AMD Radeon Pro 555X
AMD Radeon HD 6650M
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
AMD Radeon Pro 5300M
AMD Radeon HD 6680G2
AMD Radeon HD 6690G2
AMD Radeon HD 6480G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 6250
AMD FirePro W5130M
AMD Radeon HD 7430M
AMD Radeon HD 7350M
AMD Radeon HD 7370M
AMD Radeon HD 7340
AMD Radeon HD 7290
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Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 SLI (Laptop)
Intel UHD Graphics 64EUs (Alder Lake 12th Gen)
NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS
Nvidia RTX 1000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
Intel UHD Graphics 630
NVIDIA GeForce 920M
Intel HD Graphics 2500
13.8
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX
NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT SLI
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6250
NVIDIA RTX 3500 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA RTX 3000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA Quadro T2000 Max-Q
NVIDIA Quadro T1000 (Laptop)
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M SLI
PowerVR SGX535
NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA Titan RTX
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AMD Radeon HD 6730M
Qualcomm Adreno 225
AMD Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
AMD Radeon HD 6480G
AMD Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
AMD Radeon 780M
AMD Radeon 630
AMD Radeon 625
AMD FirePro M8900
AMD FirePro W5170M
AMD Radeon 520
AMD Radeon HD 6630M
AMD Radeon HD 7500G
AMD Radeon HD 6450M
AMD Radeon HD 6290
AMD Radeon 740M
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AMD Radeon 540X
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
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AMD Radeon HD 6870M
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NVIDIA Quadro P4200
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AMD Radeon HD 6520G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
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AMD Radeon Pro 555
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GT
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AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20
AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100
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AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M
AMD Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire
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AMD Radeon HD 6970M
AMD Radeon HD 6970
AMD Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire
ATI Radeon HD 5570
AMD Radeon HD 7660G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon X800
ATI Radeon IGP 340M
ATI Mobility Radeon X700
ATI Radeon IGP 320M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M
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NVIDIA GeForce GT 430
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G
NVIDIA GeForce 830M
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 320M
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation
NVIDIA GeForce 825M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 415M
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
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NVIDIA GeForce GT 625M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M
51.9
44.9
12.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
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38.15n2
10.82n2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M
36.61n2
34.29n2
11.73n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M
37.9
31.2
8
NVIDIA Quadro P5000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M
27.7
24.9
NVIDIA Quadro P3200
AMD Radeon HD 6720G2
AMD Radeon HD 6515G2
AMD Radeon HD 6510G2
PowerVR GE8300
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 (Laptop)
Qualcomm Adreno 205
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q
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AMD Radeon R5 M420
AMD Radeon HD 6520G
AMD Radeon HD 6470M
AMD Radeon HD 6750M
AMD Radeon HD 6490M
AMD Radeon 660M
AMD FirePro W4170M
AMD FirePro W2100
AMD Radeon HD 6370M
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AMD Radeon HD 6350M
AMD Radeon HD 6330M
AMD Radeon 620
AMD Radeon 610
AMD Radeon 610M
AMD FirePro W4100
AMD FirePro M5950
AMD FirePro M4000
AMD FirePro M6100
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AMD FirePro M3900
AMD FirePro M4100
AMD Radeon 530
AMD FirePro M2000
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AMD Radeon HD 6790
AMD FirePro M6000
AMD Radeon Pro W6800
NVIDIA RTX A4500 Laptop GPU
AMD FirePro M5100
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI
AMD Radeon HD 6645G2
AMD Radeon HD 6760G2
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
ATI Radeon HD 5850
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop)
NVIDIA Quadro P3000 Max-Q
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
AMD Radeon HD 6870
AMD FirePro W7170M
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AMD Radeon HD 6430M
AMD Radeon HD 6380G
AMD Radeon R6 (Kaveri)
AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)
AMD Radeon HD 7310
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
AMD Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon R5 M335
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AMD Radeon PRO W6600M
AMD Radeon R5 M430
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 150M
AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
44.6
43.1
32.5
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PowerVR SGX545
AMD Radeon HD 8970M
43
27.9n2
20.25n2
AMD Radeon HD 6640G2
AMD Radeon Pro 450
AMD Radeon HD 6620G
Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.
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Florian Glaser, 2012-11-29 (Update: 2021-05-18)