Civilization 7's system requirements are here and they look downright breezy, plus you'll only need 20 GB of storage space

A screenshot from the gameplay reveal trailer of Civ 7, showing a volcano going all 'splodey — (Image credit: Sid Meir's Civilization)

If you're running an older machine, system requirements can be a cause of dread. Will you finally have to update that ageing GPU? Is that several-generations-behind CPU finally past its sell-by-date? Well, if you're planning on picking up Civilization 7 when it releases next February 11, you probably don't have to worry—it looks about as easygoing as modern major releases come.

For a start, the minimum requirements list an Intel Core i3 10100 or an AMD Ryzen 3 1200 for 1080p Low, alongside a GTX 1050, RX 460, or Intel Arc A380 and 8 GB of RAM. That'll only get you 30 fps, mind, but in a game like Civ 7, I'd argue that's all you really need for a decent experience.

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Civilization 7 system requirements
Row 0 - Cell 0	Minimum	Recommended	Ultra
Graphics preset	Low	Medium	High
Resolution	1080p	1080p	4K
FPS	30 fps	60 fps	60 fps
CPU	Intel Core i3 10100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200	Intel Core i5 10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600	Intel Core i7 14700F / AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
GPU	Nvidia GTX 1050 / AMD RX 460 / Intel Arc A380	Nvidia RTX 2060 / AMD RX 6000 / Intel Arc A750	Nvidia RTX 4070 / AMD RX 7800 XT
Memory	8 GB RAM	16 GB RAM	32 GB RAM
Storage	20 GB	20 GB	20 GB
Operating System	Windows 10 / 11 64-bit	Windows 10 / 11 64-bit	Windows 10 / 11 64-bit

The CPU requirements make a massive jump at 4K, however, leaping up to the Core i7 14700F and the Ryzen 9 5950X. Those are some genuinely powerful CPUs, although if I was a betting man I'd say that, looking at the rest of the specs, I reckon anything decent from the past couple of CPU generations should do you just fine. It could simply be for turn-time optimisation, as the processor needs to beaver away in a Civ game working out the AI turns.

The other headline news is the storage requirement, which is a mercifully low 20 GB. I've got low-graphics indie games on my machine taking up more storage space than that, so well done to the devs for keeping things on the lean and mean side.

It's actually 3 GB lower than the normal version of Civilisation 6, although as some of my more cynical colleagues have pointed out, that could be because a lot of content is being kept back as DLC. Me, I'd never suggest such a thing. Never.

Overall then, it looks like Civilization 7 is aiming to run well on as many machines as possible come release—which means many of us should be free to start up our new late-night obsession without a care in our minds come February. Civ 5 and 6 did a magnificent job of swallowing my life upon their respective releases, and by the looks of what our Tyler has seen so far in his hands-on preview, it seems more of the same might be coming my way.

Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't—and he hasn't stopped since. Now working as a hardware writer for PC Gamer, Andy spends his time jumping around the world attending product launches and trade shows, all the while reviewing every bit of PC gaming hardware he can get his hands on. You name it, if it's interesting hardware he'll write words about it, with opinions and everything.