From Software Significantly Increases Dark Souls III Min/Rec PC Specs

Both CPU and GPU hardware requirements for Dark Souls III are all beefed up considerably ahead of the game’s April 11th release.

Both CPU and GPU hardware requirements for Dark Souls III are all beefed up considerably ahead of the game’s April 11th release.

PC gamers who have pre-purchased the latest chapter in From Software’s Dark Souls franchise, as well as those looking to pick up the game on release, should take heed of an update just revealed by the developers. Both minimum and recommended hardware requirements have been increased dramatically, in same cases by multiple performance bands well above a mere tweak, which may render your system specs obsolete for the game that is due for release on April 11th.

Previous Hardware Requirements (As revealed by PCGamer December 16th 2015)

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit, Windows 8.1 64bit Windows 10 64bit
Processor: AMD® A8 3870 3.6 Ghz or Intel® Core ™ i3 2100 3.1Ghz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 465 / ATI Radeon TM HD 6870
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 50 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound device

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit, Windows 8.1 64bit Windows 10 64bit
Processor: AMD® FX 8150 3.6 GHz or Intel® Core™ i7 2600 3.4 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 750, ATI Radeon™ HD 7850
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 50 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound device

Updated Hardware Requirements

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit, Windows 8.1 64bit, Windows 10 64bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 2500 3.3GHz / AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 750 Ti / ATI Radeon™HD 6870
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound device

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit, Windows 8.1 64bit Windows 10 64bit
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600 3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 970 (no AMD hardware specified)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound device

There are three major changes to digest in this instance:

– CPU minimums has rocketed to a quad-core Intel Core i5-2500 or AMD FX-6300, both substantially higher than the previous i3-2100 or A8 3870. It’s possible that even modern dual-core Intel and AMD CPUs may not be powerful enough to meet From Software’s minimum specs, and this should be of concern to laptop users especially.

– GPU minimums have leaped from a GTX 465 to a GTX 750 Ti. AMD requirements remain the same, but they were already relatively high in comparison.

– GPU recommendations go from a GTX 750 Ti / ATI Radeon™ HD 7850 to just an NVIDIA GTX 970 now. No AMD GPU recommendation is listed.

Additionally the recommended storage space requirement has now dropped to 20GB from 50GB, which may make the game a little more appropriate for installing and running from an SSD (as well as downloading over a metered broadband connection).

Dark Souls III also now bears NVIDIA’s ‘The Way It’s Meant to be Played’ label, perhaps indicating that it incorporates GameWorks middleware for higher visual fidelity and physics simulation. This would certainly explain their solo recommendation of a GTX 970 GPU, but poor Day 1 performance on AMD and older NVIDIA graphics hardware will be a concern. More on that will no-doubt be revealed in the week prior to launch.

This not quite last-minute change once again highlights the pitfalls of pre-ordering videogames on PC, especially a franchise with mixed port quality like Dark Souls. Equally, with luck this revision could mean that PC gamers will be treated to higher quality textures and unlocked frame rates this time around.

SOURCE: DarkSouls.jp