Star Wars: Battlefront is one of the most awaited games this 2015. Battlefront is set to release this November 17, 2015 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and on Origin for PC. Currently, the game is priced at $69.99 and $89.99 for Standard and Digital Deluxe respectively which can be picked up at the Origin Store. Pre-Odering the game will give you 1 week early access in the Battle of Jakku DLC which will provide a connection in the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. The DLC will be free for all players starting December 8, 2015.
Battlefront beta started last October 8 2015 and since then the beta has been running smoothly. Battlefront is based on EA’s Frosbite 3 Engine which is also used to power Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline, Dragon Age: Inquisition and the upcoming NFS Reboot. If you have these games you probably know how will your system perform.
EA Just released the system requirements for battlefront and here are the Minimum and Recommended specs as follows:
Minimum PC System Requirements
- OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or later
- Processor: Intel i3 6300T or equivalent
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Hard Drive: At least 40 GB of free space
- Graphics card (NVIDIA): GeForce GTX 660 2GB
- Graphics card (AMD): Radeon HD 7850 2GB
- DirectX: 11.0 Compatible video card or equivalent
- Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection
Recommended PC System Requirements
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later
- Processor: Intel i5 6600 or equivalent
- Memory: 16GB RAM
- Hard Drive: At least 40 GB of free space
- Graphics card (NVIDIA): GeForce GTX 970 4GB
- Graphics card (AMD): Radeon R9 290 4GB
- DirectX: 11.0 Compatible video card or equivalent
- Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection
While the System Requirements look very demanding, we decided to benchmark the game using GPUs that are priced below $250 namely the R9 370, R9 380, GTX 950 and the GTX 960.
Our Benchmark Setup
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64Bit
Processor: Intel i5 4690k 3.5Ghz
Memory: Gskill Ripjaws 8GB 1600Mhz
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 120GB
AMD – Catalyst 15.7.1 Drivers
Sapphire R9 370 4GB
Sapphire R9 380 4GB
NVIDIA – GeForce 358.50 Drivers
Zotac GTX 950 2GB
MSI GTX 960 100th ME 2GB
HOW WE TESTED THE GAME
We ran the game at Ultra Preset on a 1920x1080p resolution. Our framerate is captured by Fraps during 1 full game of Walker Assault. We only tested the cards at 1080p resolution because 1080p gaming is what these cards are intended for. No overclocks nor tweaks were performed.
In the sub $200 range, the GTX 950 was able to dominate the R9 370 by 11% in the average. The GTX 950 had a higher framerate overall. Both GPUs are cable of running Battlefront at Ultra Settings. Moving over to the big bros the R9 380 outperformed our GTX 960 by 14%. Again, both cards were able to run the game at buttersmooth framerate. Comparing both teams you can see that going for their bigger brothers is a better option overall. A 10FPS increase in the minimum framerate of the 960 compared to the 950 and 16Frames for the R9 380 compared to the 370.
Please bear in mind that the game is still on beta and we might see some improvement later down the road. Since Battlefront is an AMD title, users might gain some edge over NVIDIA when Radeon cards uses their Mantle API. If you want to play the game at 120/144FPS you are better off with a GTX 970 and an R9 290 for you rapid refresh rate monitors.
