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Ubisoft unveil the PC specs for Assassin's Creed

News

By: Nick Evanson Jan 22, 2008

Ubisoft unveil the PC specs for Assassin's Creed

All credit goes to Sionyboy for heading this info our way - top man! Anyway, Ubisoft have "released" the hardware requirements for the forthcoming PC version of Assassin's Creed... not in any big press release though. No, they decide to hide them away in their Help & Support section.

Anyway, here are the gory details:

In order to play this game properly, your PC MUST meet or exceed these minimum requirements:

Supported OS: Windows XP / Vista (only)

Processor: Dual core processor 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or better recommended)

RAM: 2 GB (3 GB recommended)

Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 10.0–compliant video card or DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (512 MB video card recommended) (see supported list)*

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 or 10.0 compliant sound card (5.1 sound card recommended)

DirectX Version: DirectX 10.0 libraries (included on disc)

DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive

Hard Drive Space: 12 GB

Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller (Xbox 360 Controller for Windows recommended)

*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:
ATI RADEON X1300-1950 / HD 2000 / 3000 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6600-6800 / 7 / 8 / 9 series

Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game.

NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.

( Source)

Ouchouchouchouch - they're pretty high! 3GB of RAM recommended? Geez, just how much "optimisation" has this PC version had? That's ludicrous! Don't worry about the bit where it says "DirectX 10 libraries" required - that's clearly a typo, as Windows XP will require DirectX 9.0c!

If you want to see how well your PC steps up to the mark with these requirements (and Ubisoft are clearly stating that they are minimum requirements), then click here to run the Game-o-Meter - it's totally free to run, no personal information is stored and you'll have an accurate answer in seconds.

Update

Since this news article was first published, Ubisoft have subsequently updated the requirements (to something more valid, it would seem). The Game-o-Meter for Assassin's Creed now operates using these new specifications, of which you can read more about here.

Comments

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valtterieranen	2008-01-22 #1
Perhaps the memory recommendation means that the game is actually very well optimized. It might be that instead of adamantly relying on spooling the terrain on-the-fly, causing hitches to gameplay, it will precache as much of the map as can fit in the memory. Or not. Remains to be seen.

Jarnis	2008-01-22 #2
I think that's the only possible explanation - it does run with 512MB on the Xbox 360. The 3GB recommendation is most likely due to Vista - the OS there eats up so much RAM. I'd expect it to run fine on XP with 2GB...

Mikael

2008-01-22 #3

Quote:

Originally Posted by valtterieranen

Perhaps the memory recommendation means that the game is actually very well optimized. It might be that instead of adamantly relying on spooling the terrain on-the-fly, causing hitches to gameplay, it will precache as much of the map as can fit in the memory.

Or not. Remains to be seen.

Good point. With RAM as cheap as it is, devs might as well use it. Since the game runs on a few hundred MB in the consoles, there's little reason for the PC version to need that much more unless they completely removed streaming and such.

antti

2008-01-22 #4

Quote:

Originally Posted by valtterieranen

Or not. Remains to be seen.

I think not - remember the 2GB minimum requirement. On a high-end setup the game may be optimized to use massive amounts of RAM, but the low-end is left out in the cold.

Mikael

2008-01-22 #5

Quote:

Originally Posted by antti

I think not - remember the 2GB minimum requirement. On a high-end setup the game may be optimized to use massive amounts of RAM, but the low-end is left out in the cold.

Considering that 2GB of RAM costs the same as an internal DVD burner these days, I'd say that this is a great time for games to start using more RAM. 2GB is so cheap now that I can hardly see anyone being left out in the cold due to high memory demands.

Neeyik

2008-01-22 #6

Unfortunately an awful lot of gamers just don't have anywhere near the same level of hardware expertise as yourself, Mikael - many dare not think about adding more RAM (because they won't know how), and I'm sure plenty will have their RAM slots already full. They may well think twice about spending £75 just to play Assassin's Creed.

The same applies to the "dual core processor" part of the requirements - I'm sure we all know that a decent single core will probably be fine, but again, lots of gamers won't know understand this, and will dismiss the game purely because they have a single core CPU.

up_the_ante

2008-01-22 #7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikael

Yes it's a good opportunity to start using more RAM but have pity for gamers like me still on DDR with all my slots full on 2GB. If I want 4GB I would basically have to throw what I have away and pay 150% more for 4GB than DDR2 costs

Unregistered	2008-01-22 #8
UM! wow!!!?!??!?! this is way higher then even crysis's minimum system spec's looks like I wont be getting this game till I get a new computer. Hell I can play crysis on normal GFX and it runs smooth I imagine this is just going to lag like crap.

Unregistered	2008-01-22 #9
HOORAY! now i have an excuse to get a better comp! lawl

ASTRODEMONIAC

2008-01-22 #10

Quote:

NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.

Translation: Starforce???

Unregistered	2008-01-22 #11
I understand the need to push the envelope with visuals, physics etc, however the steep minimum requirements severely limit the game's marketability to those with the money to spend on high end hardware.

Unregistered

2008-01-22 #12

Okay. I am unsure how this game is requiring 3 GB of RAM. Don't the consoles have less RAM than this? I think the PS3 and XBOX 360 have 512 MB of RAM, right? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Also I probably won't be buying this game anyways because of.. well...

"NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives."

... this usually means that the copy-protection will **** up something in my OS, and that I CANNOT have.

Unregistered	2008-01-22 #13
Unfortunately, my pc still works fine for just about everything else. The cost of buying a new computer to play this game (forget about installing a mishmash of components into an 'old' computer) would allow me to purchase an xbox and a 32" flatscreen tv. And i bet that the game will just work. no fuss, no patching. No endless tinkering with specs to optimize. Tell me i'm wrong.

Unregistered

2008-01-22 #14

The recommended specs aren't that bad, and it helps that DDR2 ram is so ridiculously cheap right now: 2 gigs for less than a meal at a restaurant, and 4 gigs if you're on a date! (haha fat chance losers!). Most computers nowadays are running multiple cores -- single cores are being phased out by the chip manufacturers.

Don't see what the fuss is. My machine is two years old and will be able to play this just fine. Remember a PC does other things than play games (wow!) so an upgrade is an upgrade for everything in a lot of cases. More RAM is always nice and a faster processor is cool, doesn't hurt to have a nice video card so vista looks all transparent and glassy and such.

You guys complain too much. This is coming down to people having machines from 5 years ago that belong in museums or people who made an uninformed purchase. The information is all out there for you to educate yourself, folks.. there's no excuse other than idiocy and lethargy for failing so bad.

Dibrom	2008-01-22 #15
Does YG have art premade and ready to go for titles when they are released or did you guys just bang up the 'Check if your PC can handle Assassin's Creed' graphic today? I like it better then the others you've had