Starfield System Requirements: How Powerful Does Your PC Need to Be?

Gamers waited with anticipation for Starfield to arrive this year, and it’s safe to say the game has been a success. Bethesda’s epic space saga is still pulling in new fans, although many wonder about Starfield system requirements. While it’s not the type of game you can run on a potato PC, there are ways to get around that hurdle if your computer doesn’t meet the minimum requirements.

Starfield Minimum System Requirements

If you don’t have a solid gaming rig, there’s good news and bad news with the Starfield system requirements. The bad news is that it’s not a game you can play on laptops or mini PCs unless they are designed with gaming in mind. On the flip side, Bethesda’s new game has requirements on par with Cyberpunk 2077, so it’s definitely playable on some low-powered systems if you’re willing to make sacrifices.

While not a requirement, Bethesda recommends installing Starfield on a solid-state drive. The minimum is set at 125GB of free space, but you’ll want to aim beyond that if you’re already tight on space. A speedy, traditional hard drive will suffice, but it’s a much smoother ride on an SSD. From firsthand experience, given the size of a standard install, I can tell you it’s something to consider beforehand.

You don’t need to have Windows 11 running on your PC, but your computer must run Windows 10 21H1 or higher. You’ll also need at least 16GB of RAM and an Intel Core i7-6800K or higher processor. The AMD equivalent is the Ryzen 5 2600X, a popular mid-range chip. As for the GPU, Bethesda recommends the AMD Radeon RX 5700 or the GeForce 1070 Ti.

Starfield Recommended System Requirements

Bethesda’s minimum requirements allow you to get through the game, but you’ll want to kick things up a notch to experience the game in all its glory. There’s no significant difference with some specs, but there is one big change from the minimum to recommended requirements from Bethesda.

The most drastic impact on gamers is the graphics card. Instead of a 1071 Ti, the company recommends an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 or the Radeon RX 6800 XT. That’s a considerable jump, although the storage, memory, and operating system requirements stay the same. The only other change is the processor, which is listed as the Intel i5-10600K or Ryzen 5 3600X for the baseline.

How to Play Starfield on the Cloud

If your PC doesn’t have enough power to meet the minimum Starfield system requirements, you can play through the cloud. It’s one of the more popular options for players with low-powered PCs, although one service stands out among the rest.

The best way to play Starfield from the cloud is with Game Pass. The game has broken records on the platform and looks fantastic on a variety of devices. You can stream Starfield to a smartphone or tablet with a controller synced up, or you can fire up Game Pass on a PC. You’ll want the Ultimate Version of Game Pass for Starfield, however, which is priced at $16.99 per month.

The next best option for Starfield streamers is GeForce Now. While you have to purchase Starfield outright to use it on their service, the platform will vastly improve your PC’s performance. That’s because you can “rent” out a system with an RTX 4080 GPU with the ultimate plan, complete with Ray tracing.

You can also try out their basic tier for free using one-hour sessions. Starfield is also available to stream through Boosteroid, airgpu, and Shadow PC. How well they can handle Starfield depends on the package. With Shadow, the $29.99 Boost plan will get you 30 frames per second at FHD.

Upgrading to the Power plan doubles the frame rate and adds an RTX 3070 Ti to the mix. Boosteroid and airgpu are also options for Starfield, although they are not as highly recommended as our top options.

The Wrap-up

Starfield looks amazing, and while you need a powerful PC to handle it, the Starfield system requirements aren’t earth-shattering by any stretch. If your PC could handle Cyberpunk, you’ll have no issue with Starfield. For everyone else, Xbox Game Pass is the best alternative if you have a solid internet connection.