Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG set in Night City, and one of the most graphically demanding open-world games available — it’s a common benchmark title for new GPU releases. Its dense, vertical city environments, along with optional ray tracing and path tracing modes, make it a genuinely useful stress test for a gaming PC.
The recommended specs below get you a smooth experience without the heaviest ray tracing options enabled; turning those on pushes requirements considerably higher.
System Requirements
Requirement
Minimum
Recommended
CPU
Intel Core i7-6700 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600
Intel Core i7-12700 / AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
GPU
NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 580 8GB
NVIDIA RTX 2060 SUPER / AMD RX 5700 XT
RAM
12 GB
16 GB
Storage
70 GB
70 GB
OS
Windows 10 64-bit
Windows 10 64-bit
Source:
the publisher's own officially listed system requirements (view source). Actual performance still depends on drivers, background load and in-game settings.
Want to know roughly what frame rate your own CPU and graphics card get in Cyberpunk 2077, not just whether you clear the minimum?
Or check every game in our list at once with Can I Run It?, or the balance of your CPU and graphics card with the Bottleneck Calculator.
Why These Specs Matter
Large open-world RPGs combine dense scenery with real-time lighting, physics and NPC simulation, so both the CPU (world logic) and the GPU (render detail) matter — a mismatched pairing usually shows up as stutter when entering a busy area, not just a lower average framerate.
The jump from 12GB to 16GB of RAM between the minimum and recommended spec is where Cyberpunk 2077 stops paging textures and level data from disk mid-play — below 16GB, that shows up as short stutters and pop-in rather than a flat drop in average framerate. At roughly 70GB, plan storage for Cyberpunk 2077 the same way you would for any modern title: an NVMe SSD keeps load times and texture streaming noticeably smoother than a hard drive at the same free-space total.
How Cyberpunk 2077 Compares
At 16GB, Cyberpunk 2077 asks for as much recommended RAM as any of the other 15 games we cover. 9 others ask for the same amount. Its 70GB install ranks #9 of 16 by size, so 8 of the games we cover need more free space.
Games with the closest published requirements (recommended RAM, install size and minimum RAM):
The Bottleneck Calculator treats Cyberpunk 2077 as one of the typical AAA games. Here is which part would set the frame rate on 6 pairings from budget to high-end at high settings; each pairing links to its full page.
What the parts in the table above do: CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 12GB of RAM enough to run Cyberpunk 2077?
12GB is the publisher's stated minimum, meaning Cyberpunk 2077 will start and run, but 16GB (the recommended figure) avoids the stuttering that comes from paging assets off your storage drive mid-session. Use our RAM calculator to check your exact total against everything else you run alongside it.
Should I prioritize my CPU or my GPU for Cyberpunk 2077?
For Cyberpunk 2077 specifically, the CPU tends to be the more common limiting part in practice, not just the GPU — check your exact pairing with our PC Bottleneck Calculator before assuming a GPU upgrade alone will fix low or inconsistent framerates.
How much free storage should I actually set aside for Cyberpunk 2077?
Plan for at least 70GB free, not exactly 70GB — day-one patches, DLC and shader/texture caches routinely add several more gigabytes after install. Our Storage Calculator can help you plan an upgrade if you are close to full.
What graphics card do I need for Cyberpunk 2077?
The publisher lists NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 580 8GB as the minimum and NVIDIA RTX 2060 SUPER / AMD RX 5700 XT as the recommended graphics card for Cyberpunk 2077. To see how your own card is likely to perform at your resolution, try our FPS Calculator, and check memory needs with the GPU VRAM Calculator.
Which version of Windows does Cyberpunk 2077 need?
The publisher lists Windows 10 64-bit for both the minimum and recommended specs of Cyberpunk 2077.