What are the Horizon Forbidden West system requirements? Like many PS5 ports, Horizon Forbidden West is easy to run on older hardware but demands some serious pixel-pushing power if you want to enjoy smooth 4K gameplay.
To get Horizon Forbidden West performing at its most demanding settings and at 4K resolution, you will need one of the best graphics cards available. Luckily, to get the game moving on older gaming laptops and PCs, the barrier to entry is far lower.
Here are the Horizon Forbidden West system requirements:
| Minimum | Recommended | |
| OS | Windows 10 or later | Windows 10 or later |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 AMD Radeon RX 5500XT |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 AMD Radeon RX 5700 |
| CPU | Intel Core i3 8100 AMD Ryzen 3 1300X |
Intel Core i5 8600 AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| RAM | 16GB | 16GB |
| Storage | 150GB SSD | 150GB SSD |
| VRAM | At least 4GB | At least 8GB |
Take the Horizon Forbidden West system requirements PC benchmark test to answer the question… Can I run Horizon Forbidden West?
The Horizon Forbidden West minimum settings are listed as returning 30fps @ 720p using the ‘Very Low’ presets. You’ll need an Intel Core i3 8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X alongside an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 5500XT.
While production of Nvidia GTX graphics cards has stopped, we still expect to see them feature in many minimum requirements over the next few years.
You’ll also need 16GB of RAM even at this level, which is becoming a more common demand for triple-A games. Thankfully, upgrading to some of the best gaming RAM is one of the cheapest and easiest upgrades to can make for your gaming PC.
You’ll need to jump up a few generations to meet the Horizon Forbidden West recommended specs, as these demand an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPU paired with an Intel Core i5 8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. This is the hardware you’ll need to run the game at 1080p with 60fps.
Here are the Horizon Forbidden West high and ultra system requirements:
| High | Ultra | |
| OS | Windows 10 or later | Windows 10 or later |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 9700 AMD Ryzen 7 3700X |
Intel Core i7 11700 AMD Ryzen 7 5700X |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 AMD Radeon RX 6800 |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT |
| VRAM | At least 8GB | At least 16GB |
| Storage | 150GB SSD | 150GB SSD |
| RAM | 16GB | 16GB |
The Horizon Forbidden West high settings are a fair jump up from the previous requirements, only asking for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon 6800. On the CPU front, you’ll need an Intel Core i7 9700 or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X.
Finally, the Horizon Forbidden West ultra settings are where you’re targeting 4K gameplay at 60fps. You’ll need an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900XT alongside an Intel Core i7 11700 or AMD Ryzen 7 5700X.
If you’re still worrying about the performance of Horizon Forbidden West on your gaming PC, Nixxes is taking its port expertise and bringing all three major upscalers to the game at launch. Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS will all be available to help lower-end machines achieve playable frame rates, while frame generation is there for anyone looking to squeeze more frames out on the high-end.
It’s no surprise to see the Horizon Forbidden West download size also top the 100GB mark, but 150GB is genuinely quite high. You’ll also need one of the best SSDs for gaming to get the best out of the game, as is specified in all tiers of the system requirements.
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