With Halo Infinite launching on December 8, it’s finally time to find out if your PC is ready for the game. The system requirements for the PC version of Halo Infinite have hit Steam. While a wide range of PCs will be able to play the game, the recommended specs may be a bit steep for anyone who hasn’t been able to upgrade their GPU lately.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 RS3 x64 | Windows 10 19H2 x64 |
| Processor | AMD FX-8370 or Intel Core i5-4440 | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or Intel Core i7-9700K |
| Memory | 8GB RAM | 16GB RAM |
| Graphics | AMD RX 570 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 |
| DirectX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| Storage | 50GB available | 50GB available |
343 Industries and Xbox Game Studios haven’t suggested what level of performance players should expect with the minimum or recommended specifications. We’d like to think the minimum recs are for 1080p, but it’s possible they’re for 720p.
When we reached out to Xbox, were informed that “the minimum and recommended specs may be adjusted slightly prior to launch, with 343 wanting to give players enough guidance to make an informed pre-purchase / pre-install decision given pre-orders just went live this week.” The Xbox spokesperson said that “We’ll have more to share on specific performance expectations closer to launch.”
On the CPU side, the big differences are in the level of CPU and GPU. Minimum CPU recommendations are a 4-core Intel CPU or 8-core AMD FX (which performed about as well as the old Intel 4-core). For the GPU, the RX 570 and GTX 1050 Ti are pretty tame GPUs, both with 4GB VRAM, while the RX 5700 XT and RTX 2070 are much faster — our GPU benchmarks hierarchy pegs them at around 2.25X (RX 5700 XT vs. RX 570) to 3.5X (5700 XT vs GTX 1050 Ti) the potential performance. The minimum GPUs would have cost around $150 when there wasn’t a global component shortage, while the recommended GPUs would potentially go for around $350, though GPU prices on both are about twice what they once were.
On consoles, Halo Infinite will launch on the Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X. The PC specs more or less work along those lines. The original Xbox One, launched in 2013, had an 8-core AMD Jaguar CPU at 1.75 GHz and a 1.31-teraflop GPU that’s roughly comparable to the GTX 1050 Ti. The Xbox Series X has an 8-core processor at 3.8 GHz and a 12 teraflop GPU. The specs aren’t too surprising, since the game is running on those consoles, as well as the Xbox Series S and and Xbox One X.
The good news is that anything you built or bought in the last several years should be able to play Halo Infinite somehow. Those recommended specs are pretty hefty, however, so if you’re the type of person who never upgraded from a GTX 900-series or R9 series GPU, you’re likely not going to play with all of the bells and whistles turned on. Right now, as parts are being scalped and prices are high during a shortage, upgrading for this game would be mighty expensive. It’s likely no easier to find an Xbox Series X or Series S right now, for the exact same reasons (that includes the limited edition Halo Infinite-themed Xbox Series X for the series’ 20th anniversary).
Halo Infinite will launch on December 8 for Windows PCs, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One, including on Xbox Game Pass.
Updated August 27, 5:33 p.m. ET with comment from Xbox that more specific performance guidelines will be made public closer to the launch of Halo Infinite.
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