Despite being released over four years ago on PC, Red Dead Redemption 2 can still bring a modern PC to its knees due to its impressive graphics. Whether you’re picking up Red Dead 2 for the first time in 2024 or planning to revisit it, you must know what PC specs are required.
Even in an age of graphical marvels in the game industry, few games can match the dangerous beauty of the Old West in Red Dead Redemption 2. The scenic vistas, detailed towns, and far-reaching plains are still some of the best places to visit in any game, and you need a powerful PC to see those sights in all of their glory.
These are the exact PC requirements to play Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2 PC requirements
There are only two sets of PC requirements for Red Dead 2, the minimum and the recommended. The minimum specifications are not modern, but you won’t be able to play the game smoothly or at a high resolution if you use a machine close to those specs. Instead, I highly suggest trying to stick to the recommended specs at all costs, as this allows you to have a much more enjoyable experience traveling across the Old West.
Here are both the minimum and recommended PC requirement lists for Red Dead 2:
Red Dead 2 Minimum PC specifications
- OS: Windows 10 – April 2018 Update (v1803)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD FX-6300
- Memory: 8GB
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB / AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB
- HDD Space: 150GB
- Sound Card: DirectX-compatible
Red Dead 2 Recommended PC specifications
- OS: Windows 10 – April 2018 Update (v1803)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
- Memory: 12GB
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB
- HDD Space: 150GB
- Sound Card: DirectX-compatible
When looking at the recommended requirements, the one element that might trip you up is the 12GB of RAM. This was a strange caveat back when Red Dead 2 first arrived on PC and it’s still strange now. While you can get away with only running 8 GB of RAM, upgrading to 16 GB will give you the best overall experience.
As for the rest of the hardware, nothing is too modern for 2024. All the recommended CPUs and GPUs are generations old at this point. However, you will still need quite a lot of PC storage—150 GB, at least—and I suggest running Red Dead 2 on an SSD if possible, as a regular hard drive will make your loading times much longer.
