01/19/2023 at 1:21 p.m. by Thilo Bayer – There are exciting technical innovations for the PC release of Returnal. The controversial recommendation for 32 GiB RAM was overturned. In addition, there are many details on the technology used, including ray tracing, DLSS and more.
System requirements are a hot topic at the moment. Returnal, Forspoken and, to some extent, Hogwarts Legacy have caused a lot of discussion with their comparatively high RAM requirements. Now Returnal buckles.
Returnal’s new system requirements
The former PS5 exclusive game Returnal (buy now €69.99) will be released soon for the PC, specifically on February 15th, as Sony has announced. So far, Sony recommended that you need 32 GiB of RAM. Surprisingly, the system requirements that have now been published are moving away from this. 32 GB are only required for the Epic and Raytracing graphics modes, including 16 GiB. It remains a matter of speculation whether Sony will react to the current discussion or not.
Technically, Returnal offers more than on the PS5. By collaborating with Climax Studios, the existing raytraced shadows were supplemented with raytraced reflections. Sony promises more contrast between a dark environment and, for example, neon-colored balls. The upscalers DLSS (version unknown) and FSR 2 are also supported; Nvidia NIS is also highlighted as an alternative. 21:9 and 32:9 are also supported. Audio mentions Dolby Atmos and “custom” ray-traced audio, along with Dualsense support (of course).
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You need this hardware
In addition, the system requirements for Returnal published in December have been significantly refined once again. Sony now differentiates between five scenarios: Minimum, Medium, Recommended, Epic and Raytracing. With a Geforce GTX 1060 6 GiB / RX 580, a Core i5-6400 / Ryzen 5 1500X and 16 GiB RAM, 720p with 30 fps in low graphics should be possible. You get 1080p with 60 fps and medium graphics with a Geforce GTX 1070 / RX 5600 XT and a Core i5-8400 / Ryzen 5 2600. For 1080p with 60 fps and high graphics you need a Geforce RTX 2070 Super / Radeon RX 6700 XT and a Core i7-8700 / Ryzen 7 2700X.
SPECSMINIMUMMEDIUMRECOMMENDEDEPICRAY TRACINGPerformance720P @ 60FPS1080P @ 60FPS1080P @ 60FPS4K @ 60FPS4K @ 60FPSGrafikdetailsLowMediumHighEpicEpicGPUGeforce GTX 1060 (6 GB)Geforce GTX 1070 (8 GB)Geforce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB)Geforce RTX 3080 (10 GB)Geforce RTX 3080 Ti (12 GB) Radeon RX 580 (8 GB)Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB)Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB)Radeon RX 6800 XT (16 GB)Radeon RX 6950 XT (16 GB)CPUCore i5-6400Core i5-8400Core i7-8700Core i7-9700KCore i9-11900K Ryzen 5 1500XRyzen 5 2600Ryzen 7 2700XRyzen 7 3700XRyzen 9 5900XRAM16 GiB DDR416 GiB DDR416 GiB DDR432 GiB DDR432 GiB DDR4WindowsWindows 10 64 BitWindows 10 64 BitWindows 10 64 BitWindows 10 64 BitWindows 10 64 BitSpeicher60 GB HDD60 GB SSD60 GB SSD60 GB SSD60 GB SSD (SSD Recommended)
With Epic graphics under Ultra HD at 60 fps it then needs 32 GiB RAM, a Geforce RTX 3080 10 GiB / Radeon RX 6800 XT and a Core i7-9700K / Ryzen 7 3700X. If you also want to activate ray tracing in this scenario, you then need a Geforce RTX 3080 Ti / Radeon RX 6950 XT and a Core i9-11900K / Ryzen 9 5900X. DLSS / FSR is then recommended here. A current PC features trailer in the article also shows what the graphics in Returnal look like on the PC.
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