Tech Features: Let’s talk PC Gaming – Recommended System Specs

Published February 17, 2016

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Let’s talk PC Gaming Episode 1: Recommended System Specs.

With recent ‘next-gen’ games asking more from your hardware, I thought it a good time to discuss the ‘system specs’ needed to run modern PC games.

It is pretty much a given that developers will release a series of hardware recommendations for running their game(s) and it is often labeled under: Minimum and Recommended, with some newer titles also opting for an Ultra recommendation.

Something to note that there is no set standard for what “Minimum or Recommended” means in terms of gameplay or settings. (For the most part, some devs are savvier than others)

PC focused developers will most likely list 1080/60fps as the Recommended and 1080/30 as the Minimum, but it varies and that is one of the reasons you should never pre-order games. Wait for the technical review to see if the developer is up to the standard you expect from your gaming experience.

The thing is, these are simply that: recommendations. Since PCs are extremely capable of running a wide variety of settings and there is no set standard for what any of the settings actually means in games you can get away with using less than Minimum hardware and still have a perfectly enjoyable gaming experience. You can also exceed the Ultra recommendation, yet you might not be able to 8k/144fps every game released.

If you have been keeping an eye on these things you will have noticed that for the most part only very recent CPUs and GPUs are listed in any of the three columns. So what about that ‘monster’ GPU from two ‘generations back’? Is that now useless?

No. Not at all. And before we go deeper into this, let’s get the other system variables out the way.

Operating system and 32vs64 bit: Until very recently there was little enough difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 to make a large enough impact to your gaming experience, but with Windows 10 now almost a year on the market and bringing with it Directx12 (7 and 8/8.1 ran with Directx11) you will now see some titles demanding that you run Windows 10. For Directx12 access, this is non-negotiable. You will need to upgrade/install Windows 10 to run these games. And what about 32bit vs 64bit? Largely also non-negotiable since the executable and memory usage of the game application written specifically for 64bit will not work on a 32bit Operating System.

Memory: These days almost all games with require at least 4 gigabytes of Memory or more. And since 64bit Operating Systems can address more than 3.5 gigs of Memory you will see that most ‘modern’ games will require 6 or 8 gigs of memory to run smoothly. You can get away with less by fiddling about in .ini files, but it is usually not a great idea for addressing this. Rather slap another module in your rig. Memory speeds are usually not that important (unless you game on integrated graphics chips, but that is a topic for another Episode.)

Hard drive space: Something that you should take to heart. Games are getting bigger and bigger in size and you will need to make sure you have enough free space available to download and install your games. It is also worth noting that with Steam Pre-loaded games you will need DOUBLE the recommended space, since the game will download to an encrypted temporary directory and then unpack to the chosen installation directory. As a rule I never pre-load directly onto my SSDs. I tend to select an large 7200rpm HDD for downloads and then I move the games that will benefit from faster disc access to one of my ‘gaming’ SSDs. SSDs are not required for gaming, but it does speed up load times and in some very large open world games it might even give you an fps boost.

Okay, with the ‘non-negotiable’ variables out the way let us get down to the CPUs and GPUs.

CPUs : As noted above, developers (or publishers) will often just list a fairly modern CPU range from Intel or AMD with a speed rating next to them. (I5 6600k, 3.5GHz for example).

Does this mean your Haswell, Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge i5 with close to or better base frequency won’t work?

Not at all. Devs/Pubs tend to just throw the newest kid on the block out there for their Min and or Rec specs, since it is just easier than listing and testing every single variable available to the market. Your i5 2500 released in 2011 will be just fine running the game. In some cases an i3 or Pentium chip will be more than capable in running the game at acceptable levels.

If you are unsure, hit the game or Steam forums, or wait until after release to see what the web reports on the processor you might have before planning that CPU upgrade.

i5 vs i7? For gaming there is largely no benefit in having an i7 vs an i5.

GPUs: How can Quantum Break recommend a 980ti, the internet raged, before Remedy updated their game page to include an Ultra table for the 980ti and placing the 970 in the recommended table.

What about my 680 or 670? How will that fare for a game that only list 9series cards?

Relax. As with CPUs this is simply ‘economic (or lazy)’ specifications from developer.

For any game that runs on Directx11 or below you are probably perfectly fine with your 5, 6 or 7 series Nvidia GPU. With Directx12 things are a bit trickier as your GPU will have to support it, but you can hit a search engine to verify that easily.

Even the minimum VRAM is largely ‘negotiable’ on your side. Since it is usually recommended used for textures at 1080p resolution by dropping your resolution in game, you can get away with less than minimum if you wanted to.

We run two gaming systems at home. His and Hers.

His has an i7 4790 and a GTX970. Hers has an i7 2600 and a GTX560ti. Her GPU is well ‘below’ the recommended spec for Rise of the Tomb Raider sporting only 1 gig of VRAM, yet she is 90% through the campaign without any complaints or worries.

We simply dropped her resolution down to 1600×900 (instead of native 1920×1080) and I played with the settings in game to find the 60fps sweet spot for her.

If you are willing to ‘tweak’ a few settings and perhaps compromise on the rendering resolution, you can still enjoy modern AAA games on hardware released in 2011.

Take away: PC hardware and software is very scalable. With a bit of research and tweaking you can play almost any modern game on hardware that was released 5 years ago or more.

Read the recommended and minimum specs for games published by the developer, but do not take it as gospel.

And that concludes the first Episode for what we hope to be a series that will explore and explain the magical world of PC gaming.

If you want us to discuss a particular subject, or if I got something horribly wrong, hit the comments section and engage with us.

This entry is part of 5 in the series Let’s talk PC Gaming << Tech Features: Let’s talk PC Gaming – Performance Anxiety Tech Features: Let’s talk PC Gaming – Essential Software For Your Gaming Rig >>

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Uberutang

Gaming / Tech Author at Geek Node

When I asked my mom where I was from she said they caught a wild ape and shaved it… she weren’t joking.

This primate has an unhealthy obsession with all things tech and pc gaming and when not in front of his Battlestation he can be found roaming the Cape wildlands with his motorcycle.