Yesterday morning, Firaxis Games announced the Minimum, Recommended, and Ultra PC requirements forCivilization VII, the next in their timeless series of turn-based strategy games.
As an aside, Firaxis also mentioned thatCiv VIIwould be coming to Mac OS X, Linux, and even SteamOS—likely meaning a natively playableSteam Deckport down the line since that device is only 720p/800p.
Civilizationis known for being a PC series first, so no bloated (or lacking) console base specifications should be holding back the experience here— though there is some surprise that the demands for an “Ultra” class experience at 4K, 60 FPS, and High Settings demand a 32 GB allocation of RAM. This number is quite the increase ofCiv VI’s Recommend 8 GB RAM allocation.
The minimum system requirements forCivilization VIIare pretty reasonable. For all tiers of performance and resolution, users should have at least 20 GB of space free on a Solid State Drive for the best experience.
Attention, PC players! Check out the full list of PC system requirements for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII. pic.twitter.com/BZIZ6RL8iiOctober 3, 2024
For a playable experience targeting 1080p, Low settings, and 30 FPS, Firaxis recommends entry-level CPUs from Intel 10th Gen and AMD Ryzen’s first generation— very old processors at this point that most PC gamers have likely long upgraded past. The graphics requirements ofGTX 1050,RX 460, andArc A380are similarly reasonable. The old game’s recommended RAM spec— 8 GB— is now the new minimum spec, probably the most significant bump for anyone already using 8 GB or less.
The new Recommended requirements targeting Medium settings at 1080p and 60 FPS do up the ante a little, though. Users are expected to have a 10th Gen Core i5 or aRyzen 5 3600X-class processor and at least anRTX 2060,Arc A750, orRX 6600-class graphics card, which are considerably more expensive. The RAM requirement has also doubled while targeting the exact 1080p resolution as the minimum requirement, from raising detail to medium settings and targeting 60 FPS.
While large-scale RTS and city/society building games can get pretty intense with simulated aspects tied to the CPU and memory bandwidth, it still seems a bit surprising for many users reacting in shock about how high the requirements forCivilization VIat 4K 60 FPS have become. However, these are perfectly in line with— if not considerably more reasonable than— system requirements for several more realistic-looking, action-oriented titles on PC.
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At least in terms of CPU and GPU, a 14th-generation Intel Core i7 orRyzen 9 5950X-class CPU and the demands of anRTX 4070orRX 7800 XTmake sense considering the 4K, 60 FPS, and High settings target. 32 GB of RAM is still pretty severe foranymodern game, though, and hints that the simulation aspects in play (or perhaps other gameplay elements like draw distance, zoom distance, or both) are particularly intensive on the CPU and RAM of each player’s PC.
Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.
