Even though they look great, these games need a very powerful GPU to run. The graphics in these PC games are the best we’ve seen so far.
When the newest and best computer parts come out, so do the games that make the most of them. And because major hardware companies are always racing to make the best parts at the best price, it’s easy to see why the game industry has been steadily moving toward new technology.
The goal of these games is to see how far PCs can draw and show at high frame rates. People who want to improve their computer should look at the system needs for these games with the most demanding graphics.
Total War: Warhammer 3
Chaos’s troops are let loose on the world of humans in the third book in the Total War: Warhammer series. There are big battles with hundreds of units on screen where huge forces fight each other. It’s not as hard to make this much destruction as you might think, but Warhammer 3 is where a powerful PC can really show what it can do.
To keep up 60 FPS at 1080p, you’ll need a Ryzen 5 Series CPU and a GTX 1660 Ti or something similar. Though not too hard, Warhammer 3 can slow down a lot when you increase the resolution, quality of the textures, or size of your armies in the game. An Nvidia RTX 30 or 40 series GPU is the best way to take out the blood god at a sharp 4K resolution and 60 FPS or more.
Diablo 4
Don’t believe what the system specs say. It might look like Diablo 4 isn’t too hard for current PCs to run, but when you start to scale the quality and size of the textures, it starts to use a lot more power. It’s important to have super graphics for a clear image experience in Sanctuary, where you’ll be fighting world bosses and hordes of demons from an isometric view.
Good news: Diablo 4 has a lot of graphics choices and works with DLSS and frame creation tools. Even though the system needs don’t seem very high, Diablo 4 is by far the most visually demanding ARPG when the levels are turned all the way up.
Halo Infinite
Even down to the beautiful art style, the newest game in the Halo series is a true remake of the series. For the PC version of Halo Infinite to run at suggested settings, you need an RTX 2070 and an Intel i7-9700k. These are both pretty high specs for a PC game.
With these specs, most PCs should be able to play Infinite’s multiplayer mode at 1080p 60 FPS. But if you want to play the single-player or high-end Forge maps at higher resolutions or frame rates, you’ll need an Xbox Series X or a very high-end PC.
Control
One of the most GPU-heavy games that came out in the eighth generation of consoles is Control. Ray tracking is the best thing about this game, at least in terms of how it looks. The environments and particle effects look absolutely stunning when RTX is turned on, but this comes at a very high cost, both in terms of money and time.
RTS can only be used with a GPU that is at least RTX 2060. The GPU required is well worth it when you consider how well RTX works here. DLSS is also available on the RTX line of cards, which greatly improves speed with almost no loss in graphics quality.
You can also play Control without an RTX card, which means that you only need a GTX 1660 to play at 60 frames per second. Modern PCs can handle rasterization without too much trouble, but turning on ray tracing will slow most builds down a lot.
Starfield
Bethesda’s newest IP is also the most highly advanced game the company has made so far. Starfield uses the new Creation Engine 2 to bring Bethesda’s open worlds into the current age. It has better physics and picture quality than any other BGS game.
That improvement in graphics is also mirrored in Starfield’s system specs, which call for an RTX 2080 and a Ryzen 5 3600. It looks like this is aimed at a 1080p screen, so if you want to play at 1440p or higher, you’ll need an even better GPU. Because some of Starfield’s worlds have big towns, you’ll also need to get a better CPU.
The Ascent
A shared top-down shooter with great particle effects and lighting, The Ascent is one of the best cyberpunk art style games out there. You’ll need a powerful PC to get the most out of this game, no matter how good it looks.
For 1080p at 60 frames per second, the suggested specs are a GTX 1070 and a Ryzen 5 2600. You can expect some frame drops during busy battles in this game, but the stuttering problems that were there at start seem to be fixed now. For better images, frame rates, or to use The Ascent’s beautiful ray tracing, you’ll need an RTX 20 or 30 series card or an AMD equivalent. For people who have already played The Ascent, the Cyber Heist DLC makes you want to go back to the game’s detailed cyberpunk world.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
The most recent part of Lara Croft’s story is more beautiful and varied than any other. It wasn’t easy to get the previous game to work with certain computers, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider follows suit.
With anything less than a GTX 1060 graphics card and a chip like an i7 4770K, you won’t be able to enjoy this game, even at average frame rates. It works pretty well at higher resolutions, but if you want to raid tombs in 1440p or 4K, you’ll still need an Nvidia 20 or 30 series RTX card. There’s a reason why Shadow of the Tomb Raider is often compared to other games.
Forza Horizon 5
One of the most beautiful games to come out in 2021 is Forza Horizon 5. This game has great weather effects, realistic car models, and beautiful lighting that makes it feel like you’re really in the race. It also makes for a pretty hard PC game.
A GTX 1070 is suggested as the best GPU for Horizon 5, which is a big step up from the GTX 970 that was suggested for Horizon 4. And that’s only for 1080p at 60 frames per second. The news source Digital Foundry said that you’ll need at least an RTX 2080ti or an RTX 3070 to play Horizon 5 in 4K. A better CPU is also recommended if you want to keep a steady 60 FPS during the game’s faster races.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered & Miles Morales
On PC, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and its follow-up, Miles Morales, come to life with new graphics and settings. This is the best version of Insomniac Games’ superhero works because it has DLSS, upscaling choices, ray tracing, and ultrawide support.
This Spider-Man game is, in fact, Sony’s best port of a PlayStation game so far. As you might expect, swinging across New York will be hard on your PC if you set the levels to high. To play the game at stable frame rates, you need a GTX 1060 and an Intel i5-4670. If you want to play in 4K, you’ll need an Nvidia 30 or 40 series GPU. This game is one of the few PC games that uses Nvidia’s DLSS 3.0 frame-generating technology, which is helpful if you’re sensitive to frame drops.
Dying Light 2
It has never looked so good to jump off of roofs and drop-kick zombies. Dying Light 2 looks great from beginning to end, but the specs you need to play it are horrible. At 1080p and 60 FPS, you should have an RTX 2060 to play this game. However, don’t expect to be able to play it on high or super settings with a 2060.
Even though Dying Light 2 looks great, it is one of the most demanding PC games you can buy. Digital Foundry’s review of Dying Light 2’s PC performance shows that to get this game to run well on a 2060, you will need to play it with a mix of medium and high settings. You will need top-of-the-line gear to play this game at 1440p and high settings.
Final Fantasy XV
People with PCs couldn’t play Final Fantasy XV for the first time until 2018. The PC version of FF15 has great scalability, but the high level of visual accuracy comes at the cost of speed. Aside from newer games like Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3, FFXV is one of the most demanding RPGs for graphics when the levels are turned all the way up.
Even though it’s old, Final Fantasy XV needs a huge PC to run at high frame rates. In that case, the numbers are meant for 30 FPS, not 60.For higher frame rates, your GPU and CPU will need to be a step ahead. The 4090 is the only GPU that can run this game at 120 FPS in 4K. That’s not true of many last-gen games.
Baldur’s Gate 3
The masterpiece by Larian Studio has changed the RPG genre for good, and the graphics are now what you’d expect from an isometric RPG. Fantastic lighting and background work, as you’d expect from a triple-A game, bring Baldur’s Gate 3’s stunning art direction to life. It stays true to the D&D source material perfectly.
Because of its overhead camera and turn-based gameplay, BG3 might look like an easy game to run. But that’s not at all the case. Larian says that for a smooth 1080p experience, you should get a 2060 Super and an R5 3600. Before you go into Baldur’s Gate, this is still true, but to get high update rates there. You’ll need a card like a 2080 or 30 series.
The Last Of Us Part I
PC users had a rough start with The Last of Us Part 1. The great story by Naughty Dog was ruined by a PC port that was full of bugs, memory leaks, and a huge need for VRAM. The good news is that most of those problems were fixed after it came out.
TLOU is still hard to run on most computers, even after changes that make it work better. If you want to play Doodle Cricket at 1080p quality and 60 frames per second, you’ll need an RTX 2070 Super and a Ryzen 5 3600X. You can hit higher FPS goals on mid-range systems with DLSS and FSR 2 without having to make big changes to the picture quality.
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Resident Evil 4 Remake is a great remake of a famous game that will never go out of style. Capcom has changed RE4’s graphics to make the experience much more realistic without changing the game’s original mood and tone. But, as with all remakes, these better graphics come with more machine needs.
Capcom says that to play RE4 at 1080p 60 FPS, you need a GTX 1070 and a Ryzen 5 3600. But in some parts, the frame rate can drop below this, so a better GPU is suggested. This is especially important if you want to use high-resolution images. Since some scenes can set aside up to 8GB of VRAM. An RTX 3070 or higher is suggested so that you don’t crash when you use the highest settings.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
When Star Wars Jedi: Survivor came out, it had one of the worst PC ports of 2023. Many people couldn’t play the game because the shader assembly stutters all the time and the GPU wasn’t being used well. Since then, Respawn has put out several patches after the game’s release to fix these performance problems.
To run this game at 1080p, you should have an RTX 2070 and a Ryzen 5 5600X. You can also get DLSS and FSR for this game, which will greatly improve performance. Owners of the 40 series can also use DLSS 3.0 frame generation to get even better performance.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2‘s PC port is very demanding, even compared to newer open world games. Even though it runs well on consoles. On suggested gear, stuttering and drops in FPS are typical. Lowering your settings can help fix this, though.
It’s also not funny that the standards are what they are. For Nvidia users, a GTX 1060 or higher is a must-have for a great experience. To get those kinds of results, AMD users will need to pick a Ryzen 5 1500X or higher. You should be able to play the most visually stunning Rockstar game to date without any problems if you meet those conditions. Also, people with RTX 30 series cards should play this game at 1440p to really stress out their GPU.
Metro Exodus
The game Metro Exodus features real-time ray tracing and makes the most of Nvidia’s RTX graphics card line. If players want to play the game on lower settings, they might run into problems. Because the game only lets you make a few changes to make it run better on lower-end platforms.
PC Gamer’s tests show that on the lowest settings, any GPU less than a GTX 1070 gets less than 60 FPS on average. For everything to work at its best, you’ll need an RTX card like the 2060 or higher. It’s not the fastest FPS on the market. But Metro has stunning graphics and a great story that make it worth buying if you have a powerful PC.
Ark: Survival Ascended
The graphics quality in Unreal Engine 5 games keeps getting better, and Ark: Survival Ascended is the best example of this. This version of Ark: Survival Evolved in UE5 uses the Lumen and Nanite tools of UE5 to make a much better-looking game than the original.
This is similar to the game itself—you’ll need a few upgrades before you can tame a T. rex. An RTX 3080 GPU and a Ryzen 5 3600X are suggested by the specs. You might think that those specs would be perfect for 1440p. But the way they work in games is very different. A top-of-the-line PC and a little luck are all you’ll need to play Ark at high graphics and frame rates.
Cyberpunk 2077
In order to discover Cyberpunk’s Night City, you will need a PC with a lot of power. To play this game on the lowest settings, you need at least a GTX 1060 and 12GB of RAM. You’ll need a rig that can handle ray tracing if you want to show off the beauty of Cyberpunk’s world. The suggested specs can handle low RT, but for a more obvious lighting boost. You should get an RTX 3080 Ti or higher.
Cyberpunk will sometimes have trouble keeping a steady frame rate even with those specs. And if you want to play Cyberpunk with path tracing turned all the way up. You’ll need a PC that is literally a powerhouse. Only the RTX 4090 and a top-of-the-line CPU can regularly run Cyberpunk at these levels. Some people say that Update 2.0 makes it harder to run. But there have never been more speed choices for you. Computers today make it easier to play Cyberpunk than ever with DLSS, frame creation, and many settings.
Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake 2 needs the most powerful PCs we’ve seen since Cyberpunk 2077. At the very least, you need an RTX 2060 and an Intel i5-7600K, which are listed under “recommended specs” for most games. You’ll need an RTX 3070 and a Ryzen 7 3700X to play this game at 60 frames per second. For ray tracing and 4K resolution, you’ll need at least an RTX 4080, and that’s with DLSS set to speed (1080p internal resolution).
It’s not until you play Alan Wake 2 that these ridiculous requirements make sense. Digital Foundy said that Alan Wake 2 uses different types of software ray tracing to make its shadows and atmospheric occlusion look much better. This makes the game look great even on the lowest settings. But Alan Wake 2 looks almost too real when you turn on path tracing, which only the RTX 4080 and 4090 cards can handle.