Here's everything you need to know about running Darktide on your PC.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide launches on November 30, but if you preorder the game you can jump in as early as November 17. With just one day left before that early access starting gun goes off, developer Fatshark has unveiled the full system requirements, along with an impressively detailed blog post breaking down how the various settings—and there are many—will impact overall performance.
First things first, the hardware. Fortunately, Darktide isn’t too demanding at the low end—any basic gaming PC should be able to handle it—while those with heavy iron will be able to take advantage of all the latest and greatest eye-candy tech.
(Image credit: Fatshark)
Warhammer 40K: Darktide system requirements
Recommended system requirements (1080p, medium settings, 60 fps)
CPU: Intel i7-9700K (3.7GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (4.2GHz)GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XTRAM: 16GBStorage: 50GB SSD
Minimum (1080p, low settings, 30-45 fps)
CPU: Intel i5-6600 (3.3GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (3.4GHz)GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 570RAM: 8GBStorage: 50GB HDD
Ray tracing low (1080p, medium settings, 40-50 fps)
CPU: Intel i7-11700K (3.7GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (4.2GHz)GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060RAM: 16GBStorage: 50GB SSDRay Tracing Settings: Global illumination off, reflections low
Ray tracing medium (1080p/1440p, high settings, 60-70 fps)
CPU: Intel i7-11700K (3.7GHz) or AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (3.8GHz)GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080RAM: 16GBStorage: 50GB SSDRay Tracing Settings: Global illumination high, reflections low
Ray tracing high (4K, high settings, 100 fps)
CPU: Intel i7-12700K (3.6GHz) or AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (3.8GHz)GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080RAM: 16GBStorage: 50GB SSDRay Tracing Settings: Global illumination high, reflections high
Tips for maximizing performance in Darktide
The specs above give everyone a pretty simple breakdown of what they can expect from their systems, but for those who want to go deep—I mean, deep—into what it all means, Fatshark co-founder and chief technical officer Rikard Blomberg did just that in a blog post on how players can maximize the Darktide’s performance.
It’s pretty dense as these things go, explaining (very basically, obviously) the roles of the CPU and GPU, lighting technology, “parallelization,” and what a game has to do in order to render a frame in 16.7 milliseconds or less—the time required to achieve a 60 fps framerate. But after all that, there’s information on what each individual graphical setting does, and how it will impact Darktide’s CPU and GPU usage.
A few standout tips:
If you’re CPU constrained, turn down Max Ragdolls and Scatter DensityIf GPU constrained, turn down Max Weapon Impact Decals and Max Blood DecalsDLSS / FSR options are the easiest way to increase GPU performanceUse Nvidia Reflex to lower latency
The Warhammer 40,000: Darktide beta begins at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on November 17—for the start times in other regions, have a look at our complete Darktide preorder beta release time post. Be aware that while the full release is only a couple weeks away, Fatshark does appear to be treating this as a proper final best test, and some aspects of the game may be incomplete or absent.
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