Maybe you should upgrade your PC

#1

With the new consoles we’re getting increased requirements for PC games. I thought I was future-proofing my rig when I opted to get 4 GB of VRAM. Apparently, that might not be enough anymore.

Shadow of Mordor offers “Ultra” texture optional download, recommends 6GB @ 1080p

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Bethesda warns: you should have 4GB of VRAM to play The Evil Within PC

If you want to play Shinji Mikami’s new horror game The Evil Within on PC, you should have 4GB of VRAM, publisher Bethesda has warned.

Overnight Bethesda published the recommended PC specifications to its BethBlog. They’re listed as recommended - there is no list of minimum requirements for the game - because, according to Bethesda, they are the settings that ensure the gameplay experience “intended by the development team”.

“If you’re trying to play with a rig with settings below these requirements (you should plan to have 4GB of VRAM regardless), we cannot guarantee optimal performance,” Bethesda added.

So, here we go:

Recommended PC System Specifications

  • 64-bit Windows 7 / Windows 8
  • i7 with four plus cores
  • 4GB RAM
  • 50GB of hard drive space
  • GeForce GTX 670 or equivalent with 4GB of VRAM
  • High speed internet connection
  • Steam account and activation

It’s worth noting that the 50GB of space required is for the PC install. When the installation is complete, the game will take up ~41GB of HDD space.

Meanwhile, we have install sizes for the console versions of the game:

  • Xbox One: 40GB HDD Space
  • PlayStation 4: 40GB HDD Space
  • PlayStation 3: 7GB HDD Space
  • Xbox 360: 7GB

It’s also worth nothing that The Evil Within requires a mandatory install to the Xbox 360’s HDD or a USB 2.0 (or higher) flash drive.

The Evil Within, which has just gone gold, launches on 14th October 2014.

#2

…you can just play on High instead of Ultra.

#3

What @John said.

#4

I wonder if we’re reaching a point where the distance between the lowest common denominator and the highest potential a computer can have is so big that we’ll start seeing new market behaviors. That would be kinda cool.

#5

I don’t think that is the case. With a new generation of consoles we are going to a see a push for higher minimum requirements for multiplatform titles. The PC market will adapt and soon the 1-3 GB graphics cards will disappear (for gaming machines).

There aren’t enough users to release high-end PC-exclusives. Even among Steam users the typical specs are low. The most common amount of VRAM is still 1 GB. Instead we will continue to see games closely tracking the specifications of home consoles. At the moment the requirements seem excessively high, and towards the end of the generation they will be viewed as quite low.

#6

4K screenshot of Shadow of Mordor.

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#7

no u