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You may need a GPU upgrade to play Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate at 1080p

Brad Bourque
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Image used with permission by copyright holder
Fans of the Assassin’s Creed series have been waiting with bated breath to bring the newest game in the series, Syndicate, home to their gaming PCs. But even with the release just a couple of weeks away, the minimum and recommended specs for proper enjoyment on a gaming computer are just now seeing the light of day. Now, the demands of modern games are really starting to show themselves. That’s why Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate’s systems requirements may irk some PC gamers, as the listed requirements contain some surprises that may lead users to upgrade, or forget about playing in 1080p.

Most notably, in order to run Syndicate at 1080p, gamers will need a graphics card with at least 3GB of VRAM. The major issue there is that 1080p is the most common screen resolution for gaming monitors, according to Steam’s hardware survey, at 35 percent of the total systems surveyed. Unfortunately, the overlap with systems that 3GB of VRAM or more isn’t a strong one. Only about 22 percent of rigs have that much memory or more, which is really going to get in the way of users enjoying the game.

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The minimum specs aren’t particularly demanding. The processor needs to be an Intel Core i5-2400S or better. That’s a quad-core chip with a Base Clock of 2.5GHz and a Turbo Boost of 3.3GHz, so any chip stronger than that one, or the AMD FX 6350, a 3.9GHz chip, should work. It also requires 6GB of system memory, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 270 for the GPU.

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The recommended specs are a bit tougher to hit. The DirectX and operating system requirements are the same, but systems will need 8GB of RAM, and an Intel Core i7-3770 or AMD FX-8350 for the processor. That Intel chip is a quad-core with Hyper-Threading, a base clock of 3.4GHz, and a Turbo Boost of 3.9GHz. The graphics cards options for recommended are a bit more versatile in terms of choice, but have a serious limiting factor. The recommended cards are the Nvidia GeForce GTX 760, GTX 970, or AMD’s R9 280X, which are all cards with 3 or 4GB of VRAM.

Step system requirements are nothing new for cutting-edge titles, but the fact this game is a console port is certain to give PC gamers pause. The last Assassin’s Creed game, Unity, seemed poorly optimized, requiring hardware far more powerful than the visuals would suggest. Let’s hope Syndicate isn’t repeating that mistake.

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Brad Bourque
Brad Bourque
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad Bourque is a native Portlander, devout nerd, and craft beer enthusiast. He studied creative writing at Willamette…
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