Chasing The System Requirements For Video Games

Over the weekend I went out and picked up a new gaming computer. My old desktop, purchased when the Oculus Rift was new, isn't good enough to run the video games I play at recommended levels anymore. The final straw was the upgraded requirements needed to run the Dawntrail expansion for FFXIV. But I already didn't meet the requirements to play EVE Online and a lot of the other games I heard about this year. I think I am set for a few years.

Looking at the crucial statistics, my computer looks like this:

• Operating System: Windows 11
• Processor: Intel Core i9-13900KF
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
• RAM: 32 GB

I should add I have 1.8 TB of space available on my SSD hard drive.

From memory, my old gaming computer was:

• Operating System: Windows 10 (not upgradable due to hardware)
• Processor: Intel Core i5
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (possibly RTX 2060)
• RAM: 8 GB

My old computer had a 120 GB SSD hard drive with another 800 GB HHD space.

I needed the upgrade if only for Windows 11, but the hardware was getting old.

I then decided to find out if I had finally purchased a computer that could run Star Citizen. For the first time in 11 years, the answer was yes. The Star Citizen requirements page was not complete, so I visited a site that game me the following output:

My computer vs Star Citizen

The system requirements page also showed a need for 83 GB SSD space.

Honestly, I'm not sure about the RAM since the Star Citizen page states 16+ GB and CIG doesn't even recommend a video card. Also, by the time the game reaches beta, my video card would probably not qualify as recommended.

Now, on to EVE Online. The system requirements page lists the following recommended system configuration:

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• CPU: Intel i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.6 GHz or greater
• RAM: 16 GB or higher
• Video: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 580 or better with at least 4 GB VRAM

The system requirements page lists a need for 23 GB of free hard drive space.

I flew a Jaguar around a little last night and I liked what I saw. Much better than my old computer.

And finally, Final Fantasy XIV. Upgrading the graphics meant an upgrade of the requirements for Dawntrail.

• Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit, Windows 11 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-9700
• Video card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060, AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT
• RAM: 16 GB

The game will also require 140 GB of free hard drive space. I think SSD is recommended.

I guess Yoshi-P really did get tired of all the complaints about FFXIV's graphics.

So I now have a gaming computer that can play most of the video games coming out over the next few years. More importantly, I can play EVE and FFXIV at the recommended settings.