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Watch Dogs Benchmarked

Hardware giant. The outburst of the community was big when Ubisoft announced the official system requirements for Watch Dogs. The open-world title not only requires a potent graphics chip but also a very fast processor. We have tested several notebooks and desktops with various settings.
Watch Dogs Logo

For the original German article, see here.

Graphics

It is currently greatly debated if the graphics quality touches the first presentation videos of the publisher. For a 2014 game Watch Dogs looks good without a doubt, but it is no real graphics stunner. On the one hand the third person title excels with neat reflections and superb light and shadow effects at night and during rain, on the other hand the light in the daytime is not very convincing. Outdoors, the environment seems somewhat too bright and too little graded.

Nonetheless, Watch Dogs is able to create a coherent atmosphere, partly due to the high amount of vegetation and people. The characters appear realistic thanks to the credible animations and good character models. Another advantage of the Disrupt engine, which was specifically built for Watch Dogs, turns out to be the excellent display of water, which is definitely first-grade.

Furthermore, the game offers quite sharp textures - when using high or ultra-high graphics settings. Another fact that deserves praise is that objects only rarely pop up and "jump into the picture" when driving. In addition to that, Havok's eponymous physics software guarantees harmonious physical behavior. We were particularly impressed by the simulation of fabric (clothes etc.).

Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs

But it is not all roses. After only a few minutes into the game it becomes apparent that Ubisoft somewhat neglected the PC version. Besides the bad drivability (the control of vehicles feels vague via mouse and keyboard) there are also the many performance drops. Watch Dogs likes to crash despite brand new (beta) drivers from time to time.

Ubisoft ought to have foreseen that its online platform Uplay, which is necessary for the installation of the game, would not be able to handle the run of customers and thus will work inadequately after release (login not possible, error messages regarding the cloud data, etc.).

Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs

Start issues aside: The graphics menu is, for a PC game, decent by all means. The display tab allows changing the resolution, the screen mode, the anti-aliasing and other standard options. The graphics quality tab offers four presets (overall quality) and eight individual options ranging from A for ambient occlusion to W for water.

Since Watch Dogs is part of Nvidia's TWIMTBP program it not only offers FXAA, SMAA and MSAA but also TXAA for anti-aliasing. All settings can be changed during the game apart from the texture quality (3 GB VRAM should suffice for ultra settings).

Low settings
Low settings
Medium settings
Medium settings
High settings
High settings
Ultra settings
Ultra settings

Benchmark

We tested the performance of the Triple A title with the help of a car race. As soon as the protagonist, Aiden, has fled the stadium and escaped the police after the prolog, there is a so-called fixer contract (= side mission) close to his hideout.

As can be seen in our video we raced from the first to the sixth checkpoint and recorded the average frame rate. The entire sequence is about 40 seconds long and is exemplary for the hardware demand. Due to the high speed of the game and the mentioned performance drops, we expected a benchmark result of at least 35 fps. Otherwise there would be annoying stutters once in a while.

Low settings
Low settings
Medium settings
Medium settings
High settings
High settings
Ultra settings
Ultra settings

Although the graphics card is the limiting factor for most systems, the processor is also of significance. At low or medium settings the performance follows the CPU (at least in high-end notebooks and/or devices based on AMD). Speaking of AMD: The graphics chips of the Nvidia competitor come off reproducibly worse at moderate settings (see R9 280X and HD 8970M). The minimum fps is also lower according to our experience.

Results

The hardware demand of Watch Dogs is quite high when adding up all benchmark scores. Entry-level GPUs, as known from inexpensive office notebooks, do not meet the requirements. Intel's popular processor chip HD Graphics 4600 struggles heavily even with 1024x768 pixels and low settings. It did not go any higher than 24 fps in the benchmark (Iris Pro 5200: ~33fps). A multimedia GPU like the GeForce GT 740M (~40 fps @1024x768, low settings) is at least necessary to play Watch Dogs fluently. For medium details and 1366x768 pixels we recommend a GeForce GT 750M or higher.

Those who want to play the game with high settings, 1920x1080 pixels and 2x MSAA anti-aliasing require a super-strong high-end model like the Radeon HD 8970M, the GeForce GTX 780M or the GeForce GTX 870M. The frame rate increases by almost 35% without anti-aliasing (+30% FXAA vs. 2x MSAA), allowing a GeForce GTX  770M or a GTX 860M to be used. There is currently no single-chip notebook able to display the game at maximum settings: 1920x1080 pixels and 4x MSAA without stuttering. Only the GeForce GTX 880M scratches 35 fps.

Watch Dogs
    1920x1080 Ultra Overall Quality, Ultra Textures AA:4x MS     1920x1080 High Overall Quality, High Textures AA:2x MS     1366x768 Medium Overall Quality, Medium Textures     1024x768 Low Overall Quality, Medium Textures
Radeon R9 280X, 3770K
Desktop-PC
34.6 (25min) fps ∼46%
46.4 (32min) fps ∼55%
60.6 (47min) fps ∼52%
73.6 (58min) fps ∼57%
GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
32.9 (28min) fps ∼44%
44.4 (39min) fps ∼52%
74.3 (59min) fps ∼64%
88.1 (71min) fps ∼68%
GeForce GTX 660 Ti, 3770K
Desktop-PC
31.7 (26min) fps ∼43%
43.4 (38min) fps ∼51%
76 (61min) fps ∼65%
87.3 (70min) fps ∼68%
GeForce GTX 780M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
30.4 (25min) fps ∼41%
40.9 (35min) fps ∼48%
72.1 (57min) fps ∼62%
83 (67min) fps ∼64%
GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
26.8 (22min) fps ∼36%
37.4 (33min) fps ∼44%
73.8 (60min) fps ∼63%
85.7 (65min) fps ∼66%
Radeon HD 8970M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
26.3 (21min) fps ∼35%
35 (28min) fps ∼41%
53.5 (39min) fps ∼46%
65.4 (50min) fps ∼51%
GeForce GTX 770M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
19.8 (14min) fps ∼27%
27.7 (23min) fps ∼33%
66.1 (58min) fps ∼56%
80.7 (64min) fps ∼63%
GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
18.9 (14min) fps ∼25%
27 (24min) fps ∼32%
68.6 (58min) fps ∼59%
81.7 (66min) fps ∼63%
GeForce GTX 765M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
21.1 (19min) fps ∼25%
56.9 (51min) fps ∼49%
81.3 (67min) fps ∼63%
GeForce GTX 850M, 4340M
Schenker M504
20.7 (18min) fps ∼24%
51.8 (41min) fps ∼44%
60.4 (47min) fps ∼47%
GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ
Schenker M503
12.2 (10min) fps ∼14%
35.2 (30min) fps ∼30%
57.2 (51min) fps ∼44%
GeForce GT 740M, 4200M
HP Envy 15-j011sg
8.1 (6min) fps ∼10%
25 (21min) fps ∼21%
40.1 (33min) fps ∼31%
Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop), A10-7850K, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU
A10-7850K Asus A88-XM-PLUS
8.1 (5min) fps ∼10%
25.8 (22min) fps ∼22%
36.6 (28min) fps ∼28%
GeForce GT 720M, 4200M, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPVX-22JC3T0
MSI CX61-i572M
6.2 (0min) fps ∼7%
19.7 (0min) fps ∼17%
33.5 (0min) fps ∼26%
Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 4750HQ, Intel SSD 525 Series SSDMCEAC180B3
SCHENKER S413
6.1 (4min) fps ∼7%
21.9 (18min) fps ∼19%
33.1 (24min) fps ∼26%
Radeon HD 8650G, A10-5750M, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU
Pumori Test Platform (A10-5750M)
15.8 (10min) fps ∼14%
22.1 (16min) fps ∼17%
HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
3.6 (2min) fps ∼4%
14.1 (12min) fps ∼12%
24.4 (22min) fps ∼19%

Processor Performance Benchmarks

We paired an Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 desktop graphics card with four different CPUs to evaluate the impact of differently powerful processors. Not even at minimum settings does the slow A4-5300 with a Piledriver module (2 integer, 1 FP core) reach smooth frame rates.

Furthermore, we concluded from the results of the octa-core FX-8650 (4 Piledriver modules) that the additional cores are used in comparison to the Kaveri quad-core. The Intel architecture, however, suits Watch Dogs best, as can be seen from the results of the older Sandy Bridge top model.

Benchmarks of a GeForce GTX 680 with different desktop CPUs.
Benchmarks of a GeForce GTX 680 with different desktop CPUs.

Test Systems

Four of our test devices are courtesy of Schenker Technologies (mysn.de):

  • W504 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 860M, GTX 870M, GTX 880M)
  • W503 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 765M, GTX 770M, GTX 780M, Radeon HD 8970M)
  • M504 (Core i5-4340M, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 850M)
  • M503 (Core i7-4702MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 750M)

The 64-bit edition of Windows 7 is installed on each of these notebooks. Thanks to Micron for the 480 GB Crucial M500.

Another test device is courtesy of Nvidia:

  • HP Envy 15-j011sg (Core i5-4200M, 12 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 740M)

GPU drivers used: Nvidia 337.88, AMD 14.6 Beta, Intel 15.33.18.64.3496

Furthermore, we used benchmarks of other notebooks with possibly different drivers.

Overview

Show Restrictions
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 Watch Dogs (2014)
low
1024x768
Low Overall Quality, Medium Textures
med.
1366x768
Medium Overall Quality, Medium Textures
high
1920x1080
High Overall Quality, High Textures
2x MSAA
ultra
1920x1080
Ultra Overall Quality, Ultra Textures
4x MSAA
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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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low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon 760M
AMD Radeon 680M
AMD Radeon HD 6775G2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
99.2n4
84.85n4
61n4
46.35n4
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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low med. high ultra
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
35.5
22.6
7.4
4.1
Intel HD Graphics 2500
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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low med. high ultra
PowerVR SGX543MP3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M SLI
PowerVR SGX535
NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA Titan RTX
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low med. high ultra
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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low med. high ultra
AMD FirePro W4190M
AMD Radeon 540X
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
49.7n3
42.2n3
19.4n3
10.5n3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M
AMD Radeon Pro 460
AMD Radeon HD 6540G2
AMD Radeon HD 6545G2
AMD Radeon HD 6870M
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AMD Radeon HD 6530M
AMD Radeon HD 7640G
AMD Radeon HD 6950M
AMD Radeon HD 7640G + HD 7610M Dual Graphics
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PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon HD 6550M
NVIDIA T600 Laptop GPU
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX
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low med. high ultra
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q
NVIDIA Quadro P4200
AMD Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 6520G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 6550D
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AMD Radeon Pro 555
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GT
AMD Radeon Pro 5600M
AMD Radeon Pro 560X
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20
AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100
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low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M
AMD Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire
AMD Radeon HD 6990M
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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low med. high ultra
NVIDIA GeForce GT 430
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G
NVIDIA GeForce 830M
18.8
14.9
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
89.7
76.4
52.8
34.4
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low med. high ultra
NVIDIA GeForce GT 625M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
40.1
25
8.1
NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M
35.5
21.9
6.2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop)
106
94.3
78.5
69.3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M
NVIDIA Quadro P5000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M
33.5
19.7
6.2
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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low med. high ultra
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 Max-Q
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PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PowerVR GXA6850
PowerVR GX6450
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PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PowerVR GM9446
PowerVR GE8322 / IMG8322
PowerVR SGX544
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low med. high ultra
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low med. high ultra
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low med. high ultra
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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low med. high ultra
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
AMD FirePro M3900
AMD FirePro M4100
AMD Radeon 530
AMD FirePro M2000
AMD Radeon HD 6770M
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low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon HD 6790
AMD FirePro M6000
AMD Radeon Pro W6800
NVIDIA RTX A4500 Laptop GPU
AMD FirePro M5100
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low med. high ultra
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI
103.6
89.4
63.9
45.5
AMD Radeon HD 6645G2
AMD Radeon HD 6760G2
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
ATI Radeon HD 5850
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop)
118.55n2
102.7n2
81.95n2
62n2
NVIDIA Quadro P3000 Max-Q
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
94.9
82.3
47.5n4
38.45n4
AMD Radeon HD 6870
AMD FirePro W7170M
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low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon HD 6430M
AMD Radeon HD 6380G
AMD Radeon R6 (Kaveri)
17.5
AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)
AMD Radeon HD 7310
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
83.7n3
73.9n3
36.9n3
19.3n3
AMD Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon R5 M335
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PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
PosModel< PrevNext >Watch Dogs
low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon PRO W6600M
AMD Radeon R5 M430
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 150M
AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
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low med. high ultra
PowerVR SGX545
AMD Radeon HD 8970M
65.4
53.5
35
26.3
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, 2014-06- 1 (Update: 2021-05-18)