Elden Ring PC Requirements Explained
FromSoftware has a history of making games that aren’t too technically demanding for PC gamers, so Elden Ring’s PC specs might come as a shock.
With Ring of Elden Scheduled to release on February 25, FromSoftware has finally announced the recommended and minimum system requirements for those looking to experience the game on PC. Given that the game will be released on the previous generation of consoles, many expected the minimum threshold to be quite accommodating for those running on budget rigs. Unfortunately, it looks like a number of specs fall far short of those required for previous games from the developer, and there isn’t a huge gap between the minimum and recommended requirements.
For gamers looking to dial in game settings, the 4K resolution, anti-aliasing options, and anisotropic filtering will take up huge chunks of memory and GPU power available here. Confirmation of specifications for Ring of Elden will unfortunately prevent many people from playing at a reasonable frame rate on PC and will leave maximum graphics settings to a select few.
Elden Ring CPU Requirements
FromSoftware said either Intel’s six-core i5-8400, Coffee Lake series of processors, or AMD’s Ryzen 3 3300X will suffice as a minimum requirement. These mid-range CPUs go way beyond the i3-2100 needed to run Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and are among the highest of any PC game last year. Beyond that, the recommended requirements call for a processor with significant output, either the i7-8700k or the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X. Both pack six cores and at least 3.80 GHz of clock speed, occupying the upper echelons of mid-tier gaming processors.
Elden Ring GPU Requirements
The GPU requirements for gaming do very little to compensate for the processing power required by the CPU. Starting with the minimum specs, potential gamers will need either the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 3GB of VRAM or an AMD Radeon RX 580 with 4GB of VRAM. These are, again, mid-level graphics cards and far beyond anything FromSoftware games have demanded in the past.
The recommended specs go much further, asking for significantly more VRAM across the board. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 are appropriate here, both equipped with 8GB of video memory. That’s well beyond what’s generally considered the bare minimum for running a game. For example, the GTX 1060 (admittedly with more VRAM) is enough to run Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on high settings at 30fps and beyond.
Elden Ring RAM and Storage Requirements
The biggest gap between what is needed and what gamers expect is in RAM requirements. Although 8 GB of RAM seems to have become the industry standard as a minimum for relatively demanding games, the 12 GB that Ring of Elden needs places him in an incredibly exclusive club beyond even games like Control and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Sweet relief from this barrage of difficult news only comes in the form of Ring of Eldenrelatively low storage requirements. Sticking to 60GB in a world full of titles requiring 70GB or more should be the least of gamers’ worries.
Overall, many of the specs above will come as a disappointing shock in light of the developer’s history of making its games playable for almost anyone. It’s unclear if this is due to poor optimization, if FromSoftware is playing on the bright side, or if the requirements of Ring of Eldenis an open world. As the main story alone is expected to take 30 hours, those who play both PC and console may be purchasing the game for a platform that is guaranteed to run the game properly.
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