PUBG System Requirements: What You Need to Play on PC
Contents
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS launched on 21 December 2017, developed by PUBG Corporation and published by KRAFTON, Inc. That’s confirmed on the official Steam page for the game, which is also the source for every number below. The same page lists the game as free.
Minimum requirements
This is the floor: the game technically launches, but nothing here promises a comfortable picture in a real 100-player match.
- Operating system: 64-bit Windows 10.
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4430 or AMD FX-6300.
- Memory: 8 GB RAM.
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB or AMD Radeon R7 370 2GB.
- DirectX: version 11.
- Storage: 40 GB.
The minimum profile is built for launching the game and handling the basics — movement, shooting, interacting with the UI. Steam doesn’t publish what frame rate this actually delivers: the page describes hardware compatibility, not fps.
Recommended requirements
The recommended profile targets a steadier picture when there’s more on screen at once — buildings, players, Blue Zone effects.
- Processor: Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600.
- Memory: 16 GB RAM.
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB.
- Storage: 50 GB.
The 10 GB gap between the minimum and recommended disk space on the Steam page isn’t explained separately — only the numbers themselves are given, without a stated reason.
Why the two tiers differ
In practice, the minimum hardware set is a floor for compatibility, while the recommended set is the developer’s reference point for a typical target configuration at the time the requirements were published on Steam. The graphics settings you can actually use to manage performance near the minimum — shadows, draw distance, resolution — are covered separately in our piece on FPS settings.
If the game runs unstably after installing even on recommended-tier hardware, the first step isn’t a hardware upgrade — it’s checking file integrity and drivers, which is also covered in that same piece.
What isn’t officially stated
The Steam listing gives concrete hardware numbers, but deliberately leaves other things out:
- No fps target. For neither tier does Steam state how many frames per second the profile actually delivers.
- No SSD requirement. Storage isn’t listed as a separate requirement type — only the amount of space in gigabytes.
- No console requirements on this page. This is the PC listing; requirements for PlayStation and Xbox aren’t published there, since console compatibility is determined by the device model itself.
- No separate laptop profile. Mobile variants of the same chips (a mobile GTX 1060, for instance) aren’t mentioned — the requirements are written around desktop parts.
What this means in practice
The minimum profile means “the game will launch”; the recommended one means “the game will run decently on medium settings.” For stable high fps in dense fights on maps like Erangel or Miramar (covered in more detail in our breakdown of every PUBG map), it’s worth aiming for hardware above the recommended list, since the official requirements are a compatibility floor, not a guarantee of a comfortable experience in every scenario.
Frequently asked questions
Will PUBG run on a laptop with a GTX 960?
The GTX 960 2GB is officially listed as the minimum GPU on the Steam page, so the game will technically launch. That doesn't mean a comfortable frame rate at high settings — minimum requirements guarantee only that the game starts and runs, not a stable 60 fps.
How much disk space does PUBG need?
40 GB under the minimum requirements on Steam, 50 GB under the recommended ones. The gap comes from the recommended profile being built around an SSD and the full set of high-quality textures.
Do I need a specific AMD card, or is it NVIDIA-only?
Steam lists both options: minimum GTX 960 2GB or Radeon R7 370 2GB, recommended GTX 1060 3GB or Radeon RX 580 4GB. PUBG is officially not tied to a single GPU vendor.
Is 8 GB of RAM enough?
8 GB is the official minimum according to Steam, and the game will launch with it. The recommended amount is 16 GB, and in practice that's what leaves headroom for Windows background processes and the Steam client running alongside the game.
Is there a lightweight version of PUBG for weaker PCs, with separate settings?
The Steam page doesn't describe a separate "lite" client. There's only one set of requirements — minimum and recommended — and performance tuning beyond that happens through the game's own graphics options.