Minimum hardware

While CIG does emphasize being able to play the game on low end gaming systems, it is also clear that one unique advantage CIG wields, is that the game will effortlessly scale up as hardware improves. There is no 8 year console upgrade cycle.

UPDATE: CIG has release new hardware requirements! Their Gen12 implementation for DirectX uses the 11_1 Feature Level which is not supported on older hardware and operating systems.

• Graphics Cards of the NVIDIA 700 series or less are no longer supported.
• Windows 7 is not supported.
• Official Announcement
• Minimum System Specs

General Guideline

To build a gaming pc use the following steps:

1. Decide which size monitor(s) you want and what resolution you want to play at.
2. Find a GPU that will drive your monitor(s) at that resolution.
3. Find a CPU that will drive that GPU without bottlenecking.
4. Find a motherboard with sufficient VRM to power your CPU.
5. Find a high-quality power supply that can drive all of the above (650 watt – 1300 watt).
6. Add in all the other goodies like SSD, 32Gb memory, HDD, etc.

Will your current pc cut it? A few things to consider.

CPU

• Star Citizen is optimized for 8 cores, if you have but 4 physical cores verify you can run 8 logical cores.
• 8 physical p-cores are highly recommended.
• Verify that your motherboard VRM will supply enough current to allow your CPU to run full speed (CPU packages larger than 65 watts).
• Verify that your CPU cooler can keep up, Intel’s Burn Test will let ya know.
• Verify your memory is on your motherboard’s QVL.

GPU

• 6Gb GPUs are really a minimum requirement (CIG says 3Gb) and are a good upgrade to consider if you have an older CPU/GPU. Verify that your CPU can drive your GPU without bottlenecking. The GTX 1600 series works here for older CPUs.
• 8Gb+ GPUs are ideal if you have the CPU power to drive them. Be sure to verify your CPU/GPU combo will not bottleneck.
• Bottleneck Calculator
• Prices have finally dropped!

Memory

• CIG’s recommendation of 16Gb is solid absent any memory leaks. SC runs in about 12GB, not much room for running anything else.
• 24-32Gb highly recommended.
• And no, SC does not auto-magically scale it’s memory usage up for configurations greater than 32Gb.

Storage

SSD is REQUIRED! No current HDD technology can keep up. CIG recommended the Intel Optane drive as best suited for their game.

• 256Gb SSD is large enough to install the release and test versions of the game. You can get by with 128Gb if you do not want to participate in the test universe.
• It is highly recommended that your OS be installed on SSD.

Power Supply

Often times overlooked. For a low end system you should budget a high quality 650 watt power supply. If you plan to go full monty with a high end RTX3000+ series GPU (or high end AMD) you should plan on a high quality 1300 watt power supply. I’ve seen some 850 watt power supplies fall flat when asked to deliver more than 450 watts.

Controllers

All that is required is a mouse and keyboard. I suspect that most will want to add at least one joystick to the mix or go full HOTAS/HOSAS.

• Thrustmaster makes a good low cost joysticks, throttles, and pedals.
• Virpil and MFG make high end joysticks, throttles, and pedals.
• There are numerous other controllers recommended, but they are mostly plastic and use potentiometers like Thrustmaster and VKB.

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