Minimum & Recommended Requirements for Escape from Tarkov

Escape from Tarkov is an immersive FPS built in the Unity engine that pushes high-end components to their limits regarding detail, intensity, and memory requirements. While one of the most popular arena scavenging PVP/PVE games, the requirements to play become lower as the game continues optimizing for most low-end systems over the last decade.

Here are the minimum/recommended requirements:

Minimum Requirements: 

CPU: AMD Athlon or Phenom CPU capable of 2.6 GHz or Intel i3 or Core Duo at 2.4 GHz

GPU: 2GB of VRAM capable of Dx11 (GTX 700 series)

RAM: 8GB 

STORAGE: 12GB

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7/8/10/11 Home or Professional

Recommended System Requirements:   

CPU: Intel i5 9600K @ 4.6Ghz/ Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.2Ghz

GPU: GTX 1650 4GB of VRAM

RAM: 16GB @ 3600Mhz

STORAGE: 15GB of Spare Storage

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7/8/10/11 Home or Professional

Let's break down what Escape From Tarkov and the Unity Engine demands:

CPU:

The Unity Engine and the relationship between the CPU and RAM have always had a complicated one. In the grand scheme of things, having a decent CPU to keep your millisecond response time low keeps any stutters brief as far as Tarkov is concerned.

There are two primary routes for possible CPUs. Having at least four cores is a good starting point but can be done for less at the risk of being less playable. Intel and their new efficiency cores vs. performance cores have brought on a new level of performance never before seen in Unity based games and programs.  

While Intel is the first choice for Unity, AMD Ryzen CPUs should not be discredited in their ability to perform. Unity is a highly complex engine with multiple subsystems contributing to players' experience, especially in a game like Escape From Tarkov. 

Two main factors contribute to the performance of a Unity game, display resolution and LOD (Level of Detail), which depend on the CPU and GPU configuration.  

GPU:

In a visually striking game like Tarkov, it's the GPUs role to distinguish what is and isn't in the game world in varying detail. Escape from Tarkov has a wide range of intensive graphics settings that systems can play on as little as 1GB of VRAM (Though this is not recommended)

I recommend at least 2GB-4GB of VRAM for a playable experience between 30-50FPS. Funny enough, for a game including scavenging, one of the recoverable items from raid is a 2GB GTX 750 Ti from NVIDIA and ASUS, which is perfectly suited to run the game! Shoutout to Dawid Does Tech Stuff for his investigation on this topic.

Images Source: Dawid Does Tech Stuff  

RAM:

Tarkov follows most requirements from other games for RAM, with 16GB being the recommendation. Having 32GB or 64GB could be considered a luxury; however, it is by no means a requirement to play the game.

The most critical factors of RAM concerning the CPU and GPU performance are the CAS latency and bandwidth availability. Apex uses CL 16 3600Mhz DDR4 RAM kits as the standard for most PCs shipped. 3600Mhz DDR4 RAM gives a wide range of motherboards the bandwidth needed to relieve hitches on the CPUs side of performance, especially with background processes like streaming. 

How Demanding Is Escape From Tarkov?

Escape from Tarkov has pushed the bounds of what is possible in the current Unity engine version. Impressive visual systems like foliage, dynamic lighting, and the ability for high-quality textures can push the boundaries of most modern components requiring an in-depth graphical settings for the best experience. 

Here is an exemplary configuration for a baseline setting for those looking to have a decent game experience on a midrange PC.

Recommended Settings:  

• Screen Resolution: Native 
• Aspect Ratio: Native 
• Window: Fullscreen
• Vsync: Disabled
• Texture Quality: Medium
• Shadows Quality: Low
• Object LOD Quality: 2.5
• Sharpness: 1.3
• Z-Blur: Disabled
• Antialiasing: TAA
• Resampling: 1x off
• Overall Visibility: 2,000
• Shadow Visibility: 75
• HBAO: Off
• SSR: Off
• Anisotropic Filtering: Per Texture
• Lobby FPS Limit: 60
• Game FPS Limit: Monitor Max Refresh Rate
• Chromatic Aberrations: Disabled
• Noise: Disabled
• Grass Shadows: Disabled

Conclusion For System Requirements For Escape From Tarkov

Whether gaming on minimum, recommended, or even max settings, Tarkov is a demanding game with a setting for everyone. Hardware from the mid 2010s can run the game efficiently or any dedicated GPU and CPU combination.

At Apex, we have preconfigured systems between the minimum and recommended settings within a competitive price point. For those looking for the best PC to get into Tarkov, look into our Apex Silver, Apex Platinium, or any of our mainline prebuilt gaming PCs. Whatever your system needs for Tarkov, we hope to fulfill them at Apex!

Written by William Wilson

Photo Credits: Pavan Bhakta & Battlestate Games