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Battlefield Hardline Benchmarked

1, 2, Police. Hardline is a breath of fresh air for the Battlefield series: the single-player experience is radically different from that of the predecessors. Our focus will be on the hardware requirements of the new first-person shooter.
Battlefield Hardline Logo

For the original German article, see here.

Game Engine

Unlike Battlefield 4Hardline was not developed by DICE. Visceral Games, the studio which delivered the Dead Space series, developed the majority of the new FPS. Although the series has changed developers, Hardline employs the same engine which made its predecessors a success: Frostbite 3.

In comparison to other ego shooters, the game is very detailed: characters, levels, etc. The effects are wonderful as well: whether it be water, particles, reflections or lighting. In fact, Hardline is a step ahead of the competition in almost every category. The only games which have a chance of standing their ground are Ryse: Son of Rome and Crysis 3.

Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline

Fans of the Frostbite 3 engine love its destroyable environment. Skirmishes will often result in broken windows and walls, which make firefights quite intense. This feature sets the Battlefield series apart from the rest of the commonplace games belonging to the action genre.

The Battlefield series has long been applauded for its jaw-dropping sounds and the latest installment carries on this proud tradition. The amazing sound system of Hardline promises to fully immerse the gamer in a way that few other competitors can. The cinematic cutscenes and explosive gameplay are brought to life by the realistic soundscape.  Sadly, the campaign of Hardline cannot match the standards set by the engine and sound system. At first, the story is quite interesting and the game has a lot of potential, but as we progress through the virtual world, we feel like the story becomes "worn out." All-in-all, the single-player campaign is neither a full-blown success nor a failure.

Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline

The graphics should satisfy most gamers. At first glance, the video options are almost identical to Battlefield 4. The left side offers controls for the resolution, the brightness, the field of view and special features, which are not to be found in most ego shooters (for example, a colorblind mode). The right side offers options to regulate around 10 graphics settings, which includes: Ambient Occlusion (SSAO, HBAO), Anti-aliasing (MSAA), textures, etc. Thanks to the 4 presets "Low," "Medium," "High" and "Ultra," the gamer can quickly find suitable game settings.

Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline

Annoying: according to the menu, most settings require a restart. This would not be quite so bad if the game would load faster on HDDs. Furthermore, the cutscenes are limited to 30 fps and cannot be skipped (harder to find suitable benchmark sequences).

The main flaw would be the lacking Fraps support. Here are the steps required to make the recording software work: open Notepad, type in "RenderDevice.PresentAsync 0" (without quotes) and save the file as "user.cfg" in the main directory of Hardline (file type: All Files, not .txt). After these tweaks, Fraps should run fine.

Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline

Benchmark

As previously mentioned, it was quite hard to find a suitable benchmark sequence which would be easy to run for our technical writers (when they check how well the game runs during their notebook reviews) and would deliver consistent results (multiplayer is not an option). In the end, we decided to use the start of the sixth campaign mission: "Out of Business." After a long cutscene, the player is sent to inspect a car dealership. Our benchmark runs a total of 30 seconds and leads up to the entrance of the building. To ensure consistent results, we followed the path of our companion (see video).

Results

Considering the great visuals of the game, the hardware requirements are quite reasonable. If you have an entry-level device, with a graphics card ranging from the HD Graphics 4600 up to GeForce GT 740M, then you can run the game at low details and a resolution of 1024x768 pixels. New all-rounder notebooks boasting graphics cards like the GeForce GT 750M and above will be able to run the game at the preset "Medium" and 1366x768 pixels.

For the FHD resolution of 1920x1,080 pixels and the "High" preset we recommend at least a GeForce GTX 850M/765M. It would be easier to run at these settings with a GTX 860M. Ultra details and 4x AA will require a high-end GPU such as the GeForce GTX 870M/GTX 780M or higher. The benchmark sequence runs at above 35 fps with these top-notch GPUs.

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

Hardline is not very demanding on the CPU - at least in the campaign. In multiplayer, the CPU is required more. Overall, we find Frostbite 3 to be very well optimized. Other engines (Assassin's Creed Unity?) are far more demanding.

Note: owners of AMD GPUs can enjoy the Mantle API. We only use DirectX 11 to record the performance with Fraps.

Battlefield Hardline
    1920x1080 Ultra Graphics Quality (DX11) AA:4x MS     1920x1080 High Graphics Quality (DX11)     1366x768 Medium Graphics Quality (DX11)     1024x768 Low Graphics Quality (DX11)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, 3770K
Desktop-PC
92.9 (84min) fps ∼53%
129.7 (118min) fps ∼66%
167.4 (156min) fps ∼83%
182.5 (168min) fps ∼91%
AMD Radeon R9 290X, 4790K
Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X OC
84 (74min) fps ∼48%
122 (112min) fps ∼62%
179 (149min) fps ∼89%
176 (147min) fps ∼88%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
67 (60min) fps ∼38%
103.9 (96min) fps ∼53%
161.1 (148min) fps ∼80%
175 (159min) fps ∼87%
AMD Radeon R9 280X, 3770K
Desktop-PC
62 (55min) fps ∼35%
94.4 (84min) fps ∼48%
126.9 (107min) fps ∼63%
149.5 (119min) fps ∼74%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
51.4 (45min) fps ∼29%
83.4 (77min) fps ∼43%
146.2 (134min) fps ∼73%
169.8 (150min) fps ∼84%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
45.9 (41min) fps ∼26%
73 (67min) fps ∼37%
144.1 (134min) fps ∼72%
173 (154min) fps ∼86%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
41.9 (38min) fps ∼24%
65.8 (60min) fps ∼34%
130.2 (122min) fps ∼65%
168.3 (157min) fps ∼84%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
36.4 (33min) fps ∼21%
59.3 (54min) fps ∼30%
124.7 (117min) fps ∼62%
163.2 (150min) fps ∼81%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
27.2 (24min) fps ∼15%
43.4 (39min) fps ∼22%
90.3 (84min) fps ∼45%
123.2 (114min) fps ∼61%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
26.5 (23min) fps ∼15%
44.5 (40min) fps ∼23%
96 (88min) fps ∼48%
133.1 (125min) fps ∼66%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M, 4340M
Schenker M504
20.8 (15min) fps ∼12%
34.8 (31min) fps ∼18%
82.9 (75min) fps ∼41%
114.7 (106min) fps ∼57%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
20.7 (18min) fps ∼12%
34.2 (31min) fps ∼18%
72.4 (68min) fps ∼36%
100.6 (92min) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ
Schenker M503
11.9 (10min) fps ∼7%
19.6 (17min) fps ∼10%
42.3 (38min) fps ∼21%
60.6 (55min) fps ∼30%
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 4750HQ
SCHENKER S413
8.6 (6min) fps ∼5%
17 (13min) fps ∼9%
38.7 (29min) fps ∼19%
54 (39min) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M, 2637M
Acer Aspire M3-581TG
8.3 (3min) fps ∼5%
15.1 (12min) fps ∼8%
32.7 (29min) fps ∼16%
45 (35min) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M, 4200M
HP Envy 15-j011sg
7.9 (6min) fps ∼4%
14.1 (11min) fps ∼7%
32.2 (29min) fps ∼16%
45 (41min) fps ∼22%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M, 4200M
MSI CX61-i572M
9.7 (0min) fps ∼5%
22 (0min) fps ∼11%
31.3 (0min) fps ∼16%
AMD Radeon HD 8650G, A10-5750M
Pumori Test Platform (A10-5750M)
5.1 (3min) fps ∼3%
9 (7min) fps ∼5%
21.1 (18min) fps ∼10%
30 (25min) fps ∼15%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M, 3720QM
Asus N56VM
5.5 (4min) fps ∼3%
8.9 (7min) fps ∼5%
18.5 (15min) fps ∼9%
29 (23min) fps ∼14%
Intel HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
5.3 (3min) fps ∼3%
9.2 (7min) fps ∼5%
22.1 (18min) fps ∼11%
32.1 (27min) fps ∼16%
Intel Iris Graphics 5100, 4258U
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch 2013-10
5.9 (4min) fps ∼3%
9.2 (7min) fps ∼5%
23.6 (20min) fps ∼12%
31.9 (28min) fps ∼16%

Test Systems

Four of our test systems are from Schenker Technologies (mysn.de):

  • W504 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 860M, GTX 870M, GTX 880M, GTX 970M, GTX 980M, Radeon R9 M290X)
  • W503 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 765M, GTX 770M, GTX 780M)
  • M504 (Core i5-4340M, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 850M)
  • M503 (Core i7-4702MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 750M)

These notebooks run Windows 7 (64-bit).

Three test systems were provided by Nvidia:

Intel adds one more:

  • Schenker S413 (Core i7-4750HQ, 8 GB DDR3, Iris Pro Graphics 5200)

The desktop PCs use CPUs/APUs from Intel and AMD, SSDs from Micron, Intel and Samsung, motherboards from Intel and Asus and graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD.

GPU drivers: Nvidia 347.88, AMD 14.12, Intel 15.36.18.64.4156

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield Hardline
 Battlefield Hardline (2015)
low
1024x768
Low Graphics Quality (DX11)
med.
1366x768
Medium Graphics Quality (DX11)
high
1920x1080
High Graphics Quality (DX11)
ultra
1920x1080
Ultra Graphics Quality (DX11)
4x MSAA
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile
90
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop)
198.4
197.9
195.4
176.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile
79
46.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
116
AMD Radeon R9 Nano
105
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
182.5
167.4
129.7
92.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop)
174.25n2
171.15n2
153.2n2
98.95n2
AMD Radeon R9 390X
169.5
162.8
128.2
92.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI
163.1
155
122.8n2
99.5n2
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop)
115
86
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
176
171.1
129.1
78.4
AMD Radeon R9 290X
176
179
122
84
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M SLI
105.2
71.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
170.7n2
161.5n2
101.4n4
68.8n4
AMD Radeon R9 280X
149.5
126.9
94.4
62
AMD Radeon R9 380
183.4
181.9
92.6
61.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
163.1
157.2
95.8
58.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
169.8n3
143n3
83.5n5
53.4n5
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
173
152
85
54
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield Hardline
low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon R9 M295X
110.3
94.3
58.4
38.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
91.8
89.7
79.8
52.6
AMD Radeon R7 370
104.9
104.2
68.2
42.54
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M
173
144.1
73
45.9
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
92
91.2
77
47.3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M
168.3
130.2
65.8
41.9
NVIDIA Quadro K5100M
184.5
145.5
58.9
37.7
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
130n3
119n3
61.9n3
39.1n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
163.2
124.7
59.3
36.4
AMD Radeon R9 M390
161
138
56
36.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
144.3n9
108.65n10
50.6n11
31.9n10
NVIDIA GeForce MX150
79.3
78.1
43.6
28.5
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M
123.2
90.3
43.4
27.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
133.1
96
44.5
26.5
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
109.6n3
111.7n3
36.55n4
22.9n3
AMD Radeon R9 M385X
60.5
39.7
25.8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M
116.65n2
84.35n2
35.85n2
21n2
AMD Radeon R9 M280X
41.3
36.5
30.8
19.8
NVIDIA GeForce 945M
117.8
89.8
32.3
20.4
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M
100.6
72.4
34.2
20.7
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield Hardline
low med. high ultra
NVIDIA Quadro K3100M
115.9
83.4
33.6
21.9
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
103.2
67.3
27.6
18.5
NVIDIA GeForce 845M
50.7
32.2
14
9.3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
60.6
42.3
19.6
11.9
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
64.6
56.5
NVIDIA Quadro M520
81.1
74.2
30.4
19.6
NVIDIA Quadro K1100M
63.6
43.9
17.3
11
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
58
51.9
21.4
14
NVIDIA GeForce 940M
59.3n5
46.3n6
17.75n6
10.55n4
NVIDIA GeForce 930MX
83.1
57.4
19.4
11.8
AMD Radeon R9 M375
59.3
43.5
17.7
AMD Radeon R7 M370
72.4
52.5
19.4
12.8
NVIDIA GeForce 840M
71.7
50.2
18
10.7
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
50.9n2
36.4n2
16n2
8.6n2
AMD Radeon R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop)
54
37.1
15
9.5
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
45
32.2
14.1
7.9
NVIDIA GeForce 930M
58.75n2
43n2
16.9n2
AMD Radeon 530
63
45.1
16.3
NVIDIA GeForce 830M
58.55n2
41.3n2
15.9n2
9.45n2
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX
65.1
44.6
15.6
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield Hardline
low med. high ultra
Intel Iris Graphics 540
59
50
19.5
10.4
AMD Radeon R7 M260X
48.5
34.2
12.1
7.8
AMD Radeon R7 M270
47.35n2
34.25n2
14.65n2
9.3n2
AMD Radeon R7 M265
53.3
42
17.3
10.8
AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)
37.7
32.1
12.9
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
45
32.7
15.1
8.3
AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo)
37.15n2
26.7n2
8.45n2
6
AMD Radeon R7 (Kaveri)
31.9
20.6
10.3
7
AMD Radeon R8 M365DX
26.6
19.9
11.6
8.8
AMD Radeon R7 M360
33.6
29.9
12.5
7.4
NVIDIA GeForce 920M
42.2n3
30n3
12.7n3
7.3n3
AMD Radeon R8 M445DX
37.7
29.3
14
8.3
AMD Radeon R7 M260
49.3
34.7
11.6
AMD Radeon R7 M340
39.6
31.7
13
7.9
AMD Radeon R6 M340DX
47.6
33
10.1
6.4
Intel HD Graphics 530
46.65n2
32.1n2
12.85n2
7.1
AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)
22.8
12.8
Intel UHD Graphics 620
41.1
34
12
7.2
Intel HD Graphics 620
43.4
31.1
11.6
AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)
34.5
22.4
8.2
5.5
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield Hardline
low med. high ultra
Intel HD Graphics 5600
37.8
26.8
10.8
6
AMD Radeon HD 8650G
30
21.1
9
5.1
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M
29
18.5
8.9
5.5
AMD Radeon R5 M335
47.6
33.2
10.2
6.3
AMD Radeon R5 M330
37.5
26.4
9
AMD Radeon R5 M430
45.8
31.4
AMD Radeon R5 M255
51.2
45.6
13.3
8.1
NVIDIA GeForce 910M
7.9
7.6
6.1
5.9
Intel HD Graphics 520
42n5
27.9n5
10.1n5
5.4n3
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
42.5n2
26.5n2
9.4n2
5.5
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M
31.3
22
9.7
AMD Radeon R5 M240
45.1
32.8
Intel HD Graphics 6000
35.3
26.9
9.1
Intel Iris Graphics 5100
31.9
23.6
9.2
5.9
Intel HD Graphics 4600
30.95n2
21.7n2
9.55n2
5.3
Intel HD Graphics 5500
24.8n4
19.7n3
8.1n3
3.9n2
Intel HD Graphics 615
19.7
15.5
Intel HD Graphics 5000
20.8
15.1
7
4.3
Intel HD Graphics 515
24n2
19.3n2
7.55n2
4.1
Intel HD Graphics 610
23.3
18.4
PosModel< PrevNext >Battlefield Hardline
low med. high ultra
Intel HD Graphics 4400
29.3
20.7
Intel HD Graphics 510
31.5
22.2
Intel UHD Graphics 605
10.9
9.5
4
Intel HD Graphics 505
7.3
6.9
Intel HD Graphics 5300
15.3
11
5
3.1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
21.2
AMD Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge)
15.1
12
AMD Radeon R5 (Beema/Carrizo-L)
24.3
17.3
AMD Radeon R4 (Beema)
21.6
14.6
AMD Radeon R2 (Stoney Ridge)
6.7
4.9
Intel HD Graphics (Broadwell)
23.9
16.4
AMD Radeon HD 8350G
18.7
11.8
AMD Radeon HD 8330
15.3
9.1
Intel HD Graphics (Braswell)
13.2
8.7
AMD Radeon HD 7420G
9.5
8.6
Intel HD Graphics (Haswell)
15.9
11.2
AMD Radeon R2 (Mullins/Beema/Carrizo-L)
22.4
15.6
Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)
7.3
5.1
(-) * 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, 2015-03-24 (Update: 2021-05-18)