Can I run Starfield?
Cities such as New Atlantis are the worst case here, and they lean on single-thread processor performance far more than the space flight between them does.
Official requirements call for an SSD; a mechanical drive fails in practice even when every other component passes.
Check your PC against Starfield
Standing by
Pick a graphics card and a processor. The verdict appears here, with the exact part that limits it.
What Starfield asks for
Thresholds are positions on our 1-100 index, not vendor part numbers, so any card or processor can be compared against them. The minimum and recommended rows follow the requirements the publisher published; the mapping onto the index is ours.
| Requirement | minimum | recommended | high | ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU index | 9 | 18 | 26 | 45 |
| CPU index | 35 | 45 | 65 | 85 |
| Video memory | 6 GB | 8 GB | 12 GB | 16 GB |
| System memory | 16 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| Storage | 125 GB | 125 GB | 125 GB | 125 GB |
Every card we track against Starfield
42 of the 47 cards in our catalogue (89%) clear the minimum tier of Starfield on their own. For 9 of them the next tier is blocked by video memory rather than by core speed, which is a limit no settings slider can work around. This column judges the graphics card alone - the processor beside it can still pull the verdict down.
| Card | Index | VRAM | Reaches | Then limited by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 5090 | 100 | 32 GB | ultra | nothing |
| GeForce RTX 4090 | 63 | 24 GB | ultra | nothing |
| GeForce RTX 5080 | 61 | 16 GB | ultra | nothing |
| Radeon RX 9070 XT | 50 | 16 GB | ultra | nothing |
| GeForce RTX 5070 Ti | 48 | 16 GB | ultra | nothing |
| Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 47 | 24 GB | ultra | nothing |
| GeForce RTX 4080 Super | 45 | 16 GB | ultra | nothing |
| Radeon RX 9070 | 43 | 16 GB | high | core speed |
| Radeon RX 7900 XT | 39 | 20 GB | high | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super | 38 | 16 GB | high | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 5070 | 36 | 12 GB | high | video memory |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | 35 | 24 GB | high | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Super | 32 | 12 GB | high | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 3080 10GB | 30 | 10 GB | recommended | video memory |
| Radeon RX 6950 XT | 29 | 16 GB | high | core speed |
| Radeon RX 7800 XT | 28 | 16 GB | high | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 4070 | 26 | 12 GB | high | core speed |
| Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB | 26 | 16 GB | high | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | 25 | 16 GB | recommended | core speed |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT | 25 | 16 GB | recommended | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | 24 | 11 GB | recommended | video memory |
| Radeon RX 7700 XT | 23 | 12 GB | recommended | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 3070 | 22 | 8 GB | recommended | video memory |
| GeForce RTX 5060 | 22 | 8 GB | recommended | video memory |
| Arc B580 | 21 | 12 GB | recommended | core speed |
| Arc A770 16GB | 20 | 16 GB | recommended | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB | 20 | 8 GB | recommended | video memory |
| Arc A750 | 18 | 8 GB | recommended | video memory |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | 18 | 8 GB | recommended | video memory |
| Radeon RX 6700 XT | 17 | 12 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 4060 | 16 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| Radeon RX 7600 | 16 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | 15 | 11 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 2070 | 14 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | 14 | 12 GB | minimum | core speed |
| Radeon RX 5700 XT | 14 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 2060 6GB | 12 | 6 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce GTX 1080 | 11 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| Radeon RX 6600 | 10 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce GTX 1070 | 9 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Super | 9 | 6 GB | minimum | core speed |
| GeForce RTX 3050 8GB | 9 | 8 GB | minimum | core speed |
| Radeon RX 580 8GB | 7 | 8 GB | below minimum | core speed |
| GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | 6 | 6 GB | below minimum | core speed |
| Radeon RX 570 4GB | 6 | 4 GB | below minimum | video memory |
| GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | 2 | 4 GB | below minimum | core speed |
| GeForce GTX 1650 4GB | 2 | 4 GB | below minimum | core speed |
Questions
- What are the minimum requirements for Starfield?
- On our scale Starfield needs a graphics card at index 9 with 6 GB of video memory, a processor at index 35, 16 GB of system memory and 125 GB of storage. These map the publisher-published requirements onto our index.
- Is Starfield more demanding on the graphics card or the processor?
- Cities such as New Atlantis are the worst case here, and they lean on single-thread processor performance far more than the space flight between them does.
- How reliable are these numbers?
- The index positions are estimates until a human checks them against a published benchmark, and any verdict built on one is labelled estimated. The methodology page explains the scale and lists what has been verified so far.