Skull & Bones review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks
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Test systems
We currently carry out our gaming benchmarks with these devices. Clicking on the photos will take you to the respective manufacturer's website. More details on their specifications are listed at the end of the article.
Tech
In our benchmark article, we will be primarily focusing on Skull & Bone's tech, which turned out much better. Although the game won't break any records for being visually stunning (lots of textures could be better, for example), its total look is fine—plus, its hardware requirements aren't all too extreme, as we will be analyzing in detail shortly. Furthermore, the game's tech seems to be quite mature (Ubisoft uses its in-house Anvil Engine). This means we didn't note a single crash or any other larger problems during the course of our test.
As is well-known from most Ubisoft games, Skull & Bones offers an extensive settings menu split into two parts—this is likely due to its sheer mass. Beginning with the Visuals tab, where you can change the picture mode, aspect ratio, resolution, VSync, field of view and the FPS limit. Even more settings can be found within the Graphics menu which houses over 10 options that can be adapted in one fell swoop using presets. From Very High onwards, global ray-tracing lighting is activated, but this doesn't come at the cost of too much performance. Less than ideal, on the other hand, is that automatic upscaling is automatically activated at every level. For our tests, we manually set the options to TAA Native (except for during the DLSS and FSR benchmarks).
In turn, we like that the numerous settings are visualized with the help of comparison images—in addition to text explanations. Ubisoft has also added a practical VRAM display to the options menu. According to this, around 8 GB is required for a mixture of 4K and Ultra settings, which is neither little nor particularly much. A positive: In contrast to Assassin's Creed Mirage, for example, changes are applied without having to restart the game. Meanwhile, the developers could still do with working on the duration of the games' loading times.
Benchmark
A frame rate graph is already displayed during the measurement. Pressing the space bar opens further options, for example the (V)RAM or GPU load. At the end of the measurement, everything is summarized again in a nice overview.
Results
As already mentioned, the game's system requirements aren't all too high. Although even speedy iGPUs such as the Radeon 780M have their hands full when running the game at 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and minimum settings (1,280 x 720 pixels still run smoothly on the AMD model), mid-range contenders such as the Radeon RX 7600S or better manage Full HD and maximum settings.
FHD (1,920 x 1,080)
Skull & Bones | |
1920x1080 Low Preset AA:T 1920x1080 Medium Preset AA:T 1920x1080 High Preset AA:T 1920x1080 Ultra High Preset AA:T | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H | |
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS | |
AMD Radeon 780M, R9 7940HS |
QHD (2,560 x 1,440)
You also don't need a high-end component to run the game on QHD monitors. At 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and using the Ultra preset, a GeForce RTX 4050 manages over 40fps.
Skull & Bones | |
2560x1440 Ultra High Preset AA:T | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H | |
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS |
UHD (3,840 x 2,160)
You only need expensive gaming devices to play the game in 4K—if you don't use upscaling, that is. A combination of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels and the preset Ultra High requires a GeForce RTX 4080 at the least. With DLSS (Quality) activated, an RTX 4060 is enough.
Skull & Bones | |
3840x2160 Ultra High Preset AA:T 3840x2160 Ultra High Preset + Quality DLSS 3840x2160 Ultra High Preset + Quality FSR | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K | |
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS | |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H | |
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS |
Overview
Test system details
Laptop | Graphics card | Processor | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 @150 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6X) | Intel Core i9-13900H | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 @175 W TGP (12 GB GDDR6X) | Intel Core i9-13950HX | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
XMG Pro 15 E23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) | Intel Core i9-13900HX | 2 x 16 GB DDR5 |
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) | AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS | 2 x 8 GB DDR5 |
Medion Erazer Scout E20 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 @100 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6) | Intel Core i7-13700H | 2 x 8 GB DDR5 |
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16 | AMD Radeon RX 7600S (8 GB GDDR6) & AMD Radeon 780M | AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS | 2 x 8 GB DDR5 |
Tower PC | Graphics card | Processor | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
Asus ROG Strix Z790-F | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16 GB GDDR6X) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB GDDR6) |
Intel Core i9-13900K | 2 x 24 GB DDR5 G.Skill |
4K monitor | Operating system | Nvidia driver | AMD driver |
---|---|---|---|
Philips Evnia 42M2N8900 | Windows 11 | ForceWare 551.52 | Adrenalin 24.1.1 |