The system requirements are going up, but you probably won’t have to buy a completely new computer to experience adventures in space
Star Citizen, the seemingly never-ending sci-fi project from Cloud Imperium Games, has been playable in alpha since 2013 and has been in constant development ever since.
Now the developer studio has released new system requirements, but we can give you a heads up: very few of you will have to buy new hardware because of this.
Star Citizen: Minimum requirements
As with the previous system requirements Cloud Imperium Games doesn’t give much information on the exact hardware you’ll need. Instead, there are rough specifications:
- Operating system: Windows 10
- CPU: Four-core processor. Intel: i7 or newer. AMD: Bulldozer or newer
- GPU: Direct X 11.1 compatible, with at least 4 GB VRAM
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage space: 100+ GB (SSD not necessarily required, but strongly recommended)
What hardware do I need exactly? The information in the official table can be somewhat cryptic, which is why we are giving you a few concrete examples here.
CPU: The oldest CPUs that fit the developer’s requirements are Intel’s Core i7-3770K (2012) and AMD’s FX-4100 (2011). As you can see, you don’t need the latest hardware to meet the requirements
GPU: In the case of the graphics card, you need somewhat newer hardware. You must have at least an Nvidia GeForce 1060 (2016) or AMD RX 5700 (2019) in your computer
Other requirements: Apart from that, the minimum requirements are quite manageable, even if 16 gigabytes of RAM seem almost high with otherwise low requirements.
Star Citizen: Recommended hardware
If you want to enjoy Star Citizen in its full splendor, you need slightly more powerful hardware, but even here the requirements are still limited:
- Operating system: Windows 10 / Windows 11
- CPU: Four/eight-core processor. Intel: i7 or newer. AMD: Ryzen 5 or newer
- GPU: Direct X 12 compatible, with at least 8 GB VRAM
- RAM: 32 GB DDR4
- Storage space: 100+ GB SSD
What hardware do I need exactly? Cloud Imperium Games also makes rather vague specifications for the recommended hardware, but we have a few examples for you.
CPU: The first i7 processor with eight cores was the Core i7-5960X and should be sufficient according to the official specifications – newer ones are always possible, of course.
If you prefer to use AMD hardware, you should be fine with any Ryzen 5 processor.
GPU: The specifications seem a little strange here, because according to the approximate specification “DirectX 12-compatible graphics card with 8 GB VRAM”, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 fits into the picture here.
However, this GPU is only one level better and belongs to the same generation as the recommendation from the minimum requirements, i.e. the GTX 1060. From our point of view, this seems somewhat unusual and suggests that slightly more powerful hardware is meant here.
This is also the opinion of our colleague Alex Köpf, who says he visits Star Citizen from time to time when he has been given new, more powerful hardware to test. In his opinion, you need significantly faster hardware for Star Citizen if you want to play it with a good look and smooth frame rates. This is especially true for cities
Other requirements: Even with the recommended hardware, the RAM size of 32 GB (DDR4) is quite high compared to the rest of the hardware.
In addition: If you are looking for the best gaming experience, you should save the game on an SSD.
Overall, the requirements are relatively clear compared to the last specifications and have not increased significantly. Only the RAM requirements seem to have doubled.
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