Minimum vs recommended requirements: what they actually mean

The single most useful thing to understand about PC requirements is that there is no industry standard behind them. Two games listing "GTX 1060" as a minimum can mean very different things.

What "minimum" usually means

Minimum requirements describe the configuration on which the game was tested to run. Historically that meant something like 1080p at 30 fps on the lowest preset — but publishers are inconsistent about stating it.

Some are explicit. Black Myth: Wukong states its minimum targets 1080p at 60 fps on Low with upscaling enabled, which is a much more useful statement than a bare specification. Monster Hunter: World states 1080p at 30 fps.

Where a publisher states the target, we show it on the game page. Where they do not, we say so rather than guessing.

What "recommended" usually means

Recommended requirements usually describe 1080p at 60 fps on a high preset. Usually. Some publishers describe 1440p. Some are describing a target that was optimistic even at launch.

This is why our checker treats "meets recommended" as a good sign rather than a promise, and why every result carries a confidence rating.

What neither tier tells you

A specification sheet cannot account for:

• Resolution and refresh rate. A machine that meets recommended for 1080p60 will not deliver 1440p144.
• Ray tracing. Almost always an optional extra with its own, much higher, effective requirement.
• Upscaling. DLSS, FSR and XeSS change the picture significantly, and some modern specifications now assume them.
• Patches. Requirements are set at launch. Cyberpunk 2077 raised its baseline substantially after the 2.0 update.
• Thermals and power. A laptop with the same part numbers as a desktop will perform differently, sometimes by a wide margin.
• Background processes. A browser, a chat client and a game launcher all take memory.

How to read a specification sheet well

1. Check the CPU generation, not the tier. "Intel i7" is meaningless without a generation. An i7-2600K is slower than a modern i3.
2. Check the VRAM figure separately from the GPU model. A 4 GB variant of a listed card is not the same card.
3. Check whether an SSD is specified. This has moved from a nicety to a hard requirement in several recent titles.
4. Check the target, if stated. A minimum aimed at 30 fps and one aimed at 60 fps are not comparable.

How we handle all this

Our compatibility engine compares your hardware against both tiers, reports each component separately, and states a confidence level. Where a publisher has not stated something, we show "Not stated" rather than filling the gap. Incomplete data is more useful than confident guesses.