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Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Benchmarked

A paradise for pirates. Ubisoft offers a new scenario for the holiday season with Assassin's Creed IV. We analyzed the performance and show you what GPU you need to raise the black flag.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

For the original German article, see here.

Graphics

Assassin's Creed IV is a very good title in regard to the graphics. Compared to other action titles Black Flag has a very high texture quality and both the water and light effects fulfill the expectations of a title from 2013. We are especially impressed by the high level of detail, which has been noticeably raised for Black Flag. The in-house AnvilNext engine, which - in a different form - was also used for Assassin's Creed III, creates a rich flora on the screen. The first level takes place on an idyllic island and is a tutorial at the same time. It reminds us of the current Tomb Raider in terms of graphics and level of detail. 

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

But there is also criticism with Black Flag. Some objects just pop up without a soft transition. It is rather absurd when other characters just appear out of nothing and suddenly disappear again. Ubisoft should put some work into this and the somewhat awkward (facial) animations. Some more pixels here and there would have been nice as well.

We want to praise the clear layout of the graphics settings that are always accessible; you can even change all the settings without a restart. There are numerous technical features like volumetric fog, ambient occlusion (SSAO or HBAO+) and the so-called god rays. While you can just activate or deactivate some options, you can choose between (Very) Low up to (Very) High when it comes to the quality settings. The developer deserves credit for the high number of anti-aliasing modes. Besides the less complex post-FX versions SMAA and FXAA you can also use the more demanding MSAA, EQAA (AMD) and CSAA or TXAA (Nvidia) respectively. 

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

One reason for AMD's slight disadvantage compared to its main rival is that Black Flag is a member of Nvidia's TWIMTBP program. We can also see a negative impact on the performance from the Enduro technology with AMD notebooks (compare HD 8970M and GTX 680M, for instance). We did not determine any serious technical issues during the benchmarks; we only encountered graphical issues with Intel GPUs in some settings (probably a problem with the driver).

Low Settings
Low Settings
Medium Settings
Medium Settings
High Settings
High Settings
Ultra Settings
Ultra Settings
Low Settings
Low Settings
Medium Settings
Medium Settings
High Settings
High Settings
Ultra Settings
Ultra Settings

Benchmark

Looking at the hardware requirements we can see that the benchmark is on an average level. There are certainly less demanding and also more complex levels in the game. We use the tool Fraps to record a one minute run through Havana (from the docks to the center of the town and back, see video). An average result of 30 fps or more indicates playable settings.

Results

Black Flag is hardly playable with Intel GPUs like the 4000 or 4600. The frame rate does not reach 25 fps, even with the lowest settings and 1024x768 pixels. The AMD Radeon HD 7660G and slow low-end GPUs like the GeForce GT 630M are basically insufficient for Assassin's Creed IV as well. Normal details and 1366x768 pixels require at least a mainstream GPU like the GeForce GT 640M.

Are high settings and anti-aliasing important to you? Then you should at least have a notebook with a high-end GPU like the GeForce GTX 670MX or GTX 765M. Only the GeForce GTX 780M is currently powerful enough for a combination of 1920x1080 pixels, maximum details, HBAO+ and 4x MSAA (we do not look at dual GPU solutions at this point).

The hardware requirements are quite high, but still reasonable when you consider the visual quality. By the way, more than 60 fps are not displayed, even with deactivated VSync.

Assassin´s Creed IV: Black Flag
    1920x1080 (Very) High / On / HBAO+ (PhysX off) AA:4x MS     1366x768 High / On / SSAO (PhysX Off) AA:2x MS     1366x768 Normal / Off     1024x768 (Very) Low / Off
HD Graphics 4000, 3610QM
Schenker XMG P502
3.6 (0min) fps ∼6%
7.4 (0min) fps ∼12%
17.4 (0min) fps ∼28%
23.6 (0min) fps ∼29%
Radeon HD 7660G, A10-4600M, Samsung SSD 830 Series MZ-7PC0128D/EU
AMD Pumori Platform A10-4600M
4.4 (1min) fps ∼7%
10.7 (8min) fps ∼17%
20.5 (14min) fps ∼33%
25 (16min) fps ∼31%
HD Graphics 4600, 4702MQ
Schenker M503
4.7 (0min) fps ∼8%
8.9 (0min) fps ∼14%
18.4 (0min) fps ∼29%
24.8 (0min) fps ∼31%
GeForce GT 630M, 3720QM
Asus N56VM
5.2 (4min) fps ∼9%
10.6 (8min) fps ∼17%
18.1 (13min) fps ∼29%
23.8 (17min) fps ∼29%
Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 4750HQ, Intel SSD 525 Series SSDMCEAC180B3
SCHENKER S413
7.5 (6min) fps ∼13%
14.8 (12min) fps ∼23%
28.5 (21min) fps ∼45%
35.8 (25min) fps ∼44%
GeForce GT 640M, 2637M, Lite-On LMT-256M3M
Acer Aspire M3-581TG
9.5 (6min) fps ∼16%
18.5 (16min) fps ∼29%
32.1 (26min) fps ∼51%
40.3 (26min) fps ∼50%
GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ
Schenker M503
10.8 (0min) fps ∼18%
23.4 (0min) fps ∼37%
38.1 (0min) fps ∼60%
51.9 (0min) fps ∼64%
GeForce GTX 660M, 3610QM
Schenker XMG P502
13.6 (0min) fps ∼23%
26.4 (0min) fps ∼42%
45.3 (0min) fps ∼72%
57.2 (0min) fps ∼70%
GeForce GTX 670MX, 3610QM
Schenker XMG P502
16.3 (0min) fps ∼27%
31.8 (0min) fps ∼50%
50.2 (0min) fps ∼80%
61 (0min) fps ∼75%
GeForce GTX 765M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
18.4 (0min) fps ∼31%
35.4 (0min) fps ∼56%
58.8 (0min) fps ∼93%
61.7 (0min) fps ∼76%
GeForce GTX 675MX, 3610QM
Schenker XMG P502
21 (0min) fps ∼35%
39.8 (0min) fps ∼63%
59.4 (0min) fps ∼94%
61.4 (0min) fps ∼76%
GeForce GTX 770M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
24.9 (0min) fps ∼42%
44 (0min) fps ∼70%
61.4 (0min) fps ∼97%
61.7 (0min) fps ∼76%
GeForce GTX 680M, 3610QM
Schenker XMG P502
26.2 (0min) fps ∼44%
47.2 (0min) fps ∼75%
60.6 (0min) fps ∼96%
61.5 (0min) fps ∼76%
Radeon HD 7970M, 3610QM
Schenker XMG P502
26.7 (0min) fps ∼45%
40.9 (0min) fps ∼65%
42.4 (0min) fps ∼67%
44.6 (0min) fps ∼55%
Radeon HD 8970M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
27.7 (0min) fps ∼46%
45 (0min) fps ∼71%
46.8 (0min) fps ∼74%
49.7 (0min) fps ∼61%
GeForce GTX 780M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
35.6 (0min) fps ∼59%
58.3 (0min) fps ∼93%
61.6 (0min) fps ∼98%
62 (0min) fps ∼76%
GeForce GTX 660 Ti, 3770K
Desktop-PC
37.3 (0min) fps ∼62%
61.2 (0min) fps ∼97%
61.8 (0min) fps ∼98%
62.1 (0min) fps ∼76%
Radeon R9 280X, 3770K
Desktop-PC
42.8 (0min) fps ∼71%
61.7 (0min) fps ∼98%
61.7 (0min) fps ∼98%
61.7 (0min) fps ∼76%
GeForce GTX 680, 2600K, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000
Desktop GTX 680, Intel Core i7-2600K
43.1 (34min) fps ∼72%
58.9 (44min) fps ∼93%
59.8 (46min) fps ∼95%
61 (48min) fps ∼75%

Verdict

Assassin's Creed IV is perfect for cold winter evenings. Thanks to the good graphics you will quickly feel at home in the virtual Caribbean. You do, however, need powerful hardware; many options cannot be used without a good GPU and you will have to live with many dropped frames. 

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Test Systems

Our three most important test devices are courtesy of Schenker Technologies (mysn.de):

  • W503 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 765M, GTX 770M, GTX 780M, Radeon HD 8970M & HD Graphics 4600)
  • M503 (Core i7-4702MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 750M & HD Graphics 4600)
  • XMG P502 (Core i7-3610QM, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 660M, GTX 670MX, GTX 675MX, GTX 680M, Radeon HD 7970M & HD Graphics 4000)

A further thank you goes to Micron for providing the 480 GB Crucial M500, on which Windows 7 Professional 64-bit is installed.

GPU drivers used: Nvidia 331.82 WHQL, AMD 13.11 Beta 9.2, Intel 10.18.10.3345

From left to right: Schenker M503, XMG P502 & W503
From left to right: Schenker M503, XMG P502 & W503

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Assassin´s Creed IV: Black Flag
 Assassin´s Creed IV: Black Flag (2013)
low
1024x768
(Very) Low / Off
med.
1366x768
Normal / Off
high
1366x768
High / On / SSAO (PhysX Off)
2x MSAA
ultra
1920x1080
(Very) High / On / HBAO+ (PhysX off)
4x MSAA
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI
60
60
AMD Radeon R9 280X
61.7
61.7
61.7
42.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
61
59.8
58.9
43.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M
62
59
57
35
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
62.1
61.8
61.2
37.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M
62
61.6
58.3
35.6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
60
60
55.1
29.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
59.6
58.5
53.5
31.1
AMD Radeon HD 8970M
49.7
46.8
45
27.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
61.5
60.6
47.2
26.2
AMD Radeon HD 7970M
44.6
42.4
40.9
26.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M
61.7
61.4
44
24.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
60.2
59.8
44.5
23.6
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M SLI
53.9
48.7
29.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX
61.4
59.4
39.8
21
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M
73.55n2
47.2n3
33.1n3
18.4n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M
61.7
58.8
35.4
18.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670MX
61
50.2
31.8
16.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M
57.1
50.5
32
16.4
PosModel< PrevNext >Assassin´s Creed IV: Black Flag
low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon HD 8870M
25.3
23.6
19.1
10.7
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M
42
26.9
14.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M
57.2
45.3
26.4
13.6
AMD Radeon R9 M265X
44.5
34
20.4
9.8
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
51.9
38.1
23.4
10.8
NVIDIA GeForce 840M
39.8n3
30.5n3
16.4n3
7.3n2
AMD Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop)
42.6
33.3
18.4
7.7
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
35.8
28.5
14.8
7.5
AMD Radeon R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop)
42.2
34.2
18.3
7.7
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
37.55n2
28.35n2
15n2
6.2
NVIDIA GeForce 830M
39
27.2
15.1
NVIDIA GeForce 825M
37.6
29.2
15.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M
33.3
23.7
13.3
AMD Radeon R7 M265
18.16n2
14.18n2
9.3
4.2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
40.3
32.1
18.5
9.5
AMD Radeon R7 M260
20.6
16.9
12.3
AMD Radeon HD 8670D
39.4
31.5
16.7
6.6
AMD Radeon HD 8570D
34.8
25.4
12.8
AMD Radeon HD 7660D
33.6
24.7
13.8
AMD Radeon HD 8650G
26.8
20.2
10.7
5.1
PosModel< PrevNext >Assassin´s Creed IV: Black Flag
low med. high ultra
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M
23.8
18.1
10.6
5.2
AMD Radeon R5 M255
35.8
29.3
8.7
NVIDIA GeForce 820M
28.2
21.7
11.6
Intel Iris Graphics 5100
24
17.5
8.9
4.4
Intel HD Graphics 4600
24.8
18.4
8.9
4.7
Intel HD Graphics 5500
20.1
14.1
5.1
AMD Radeon HD 7660G
25
20.5
10.7
4.4
AMD Radeon HD 8550G
27.5
22.5
11.3
Intel HD Graphics 4400
21.8n2
15.25n2
12.8
6.4
AMD Radeon HD 7480D
19.4
15.5
Intel HD Graphics 4000
23.6
17.4
7.4
3.6
AMD Radeon R5 (Beema/Carrizo-L)
16.2
12.3
10.1
4.3
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema)
15.2
11.8
5.4
AMD Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema)
14.1
10.8
5.1
Intel HD Graphics 4200
13
9.8
AMD Radeon HD 8450G
20
16.8
AMD Radeon HD 8400
16.5
11.7
AMD Radeon HD 8330
11.9
Intel HD Graphics 3000
9.2
Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)
8.7
5.8
(-) * 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, 2013-11-27 (Update: 2021-05-18)