System Requirements

[adv_22]

Hi there,

I am going to buy a new PC for my son. I was in discussion with several advisors regarding the best ratio price vs. performance, but nobody could tell me an exact answer since the recommended system requirements on the subnautica's steam site are a bit obsolete. Is it really true that the following recommended system requirements (copied from the mentioned site) would be enough? They seem not to be up-to-date, or am I wrong?

RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows Vista SP2 or newer, 64-bit
Processor: Intel Haswell 4 cores / 4 threads @ 3.2Ghz or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 550 ti or equivalent
Storage: 6 GB available space
Additional Notes: Subnautica is an Early Access game, and recommended specifications may change during development.

Here my questions to particular topics:
OS: Would Windows 10, 64-bit also work?
Processor: Is Haswell 4/4 3.2GHz really enough or the right one (it is quite old)? Is Intel more recommended than AMD?
Graphics: What nVIDIA graphics card would you suggest since the recommended one is not available anymore? Or is AMD not as good as nVIDIA? I heard that due to the water reflection nVIDIA's GPUs are better in calculating this.

Thank you very much for your answers in advance.

[Obraxis]

Hi there.

I decent new system for Subnautica, and other modern games without breaking the bank would be:

i5 7XXX or Ryzen 5 based System, with 8 or 16GB RAM and a GeForce 1050Ti/Radeon 560/570 or above. An SSD as the Boot drive (256GB-512GB) and a regular mechanical HDD (say 2TB) would be great for playing all modern games at high settings @ 1080p HD resolution. Windows 10 as well obviously.

You can go higher if you want spec-wise, but that above is a very good 1080p gaming system.

Here is a quick PCPartsPicker list I did for a Ryzen5 system. Not knowing your budget, I went for under $1000. Bear in mind, this does not include the price of Windows 10.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8v8ngL $812

[--<[ Blei ]>--]

In case the PC is mainly about playing Subnautica, you will have to spend plenty of hundret bucks for a good graphic card.

The recommended "GTX550 ti" is a joke. It might have been good enough at the beginning, but the game advanced so much, that even my GTX1080 (a 600euro graphic card just for example) isn't able to run the game smooth all the time.

In case money doesn't count, take a Titan X or other similar card with more than 10GB of VRAM (don't confuse it with normal RAM)

[Obraxis]

Originally posted by --< Blei >--:

I
The recommended "GTX550 ti" is a joke. It might have been good enough at the beginning, but the game advanced so much, that even my GTX1080 (a 600euro graphic card just for example) isn't able to run the game smooth all the time.

This is incorrect. If you open up a GPU activity monitor, you can see your GPU is hardly being used by the game. The FPS issues and stuttering are caused by I/O issues we're working on optimizing right now (ie: speed of access to in-game assets and terrain data).

[Demolition414]

So my i5-7400 GTX 1050ti 8gb should run the game just fine when the game release on v1.0, im getting a very high FPS right now ( 60 to 100 FPS ) but hopefully it will be more stable at release.

[adv_22]

Originally posted by Obraxis:

Hi there.

I decent new system for Subnautica, and other modern games without breaking the bank would be:

i5 7XXX or Ryzen 5 based System, with 8 or 16GB RAM and a GeForce 1050Ti/Radeon 560/570 or above. An SSD as the Boot drive (256GB-512GB) and a regular mechanical HDD (say 2TB) would be great for playing all modern games at high settings @ 1080p HD resolution. Windows 10 as well obviously.

You can go higher if you want spec-wise, but that above is a very good 1080p gaming system.

Here is a quick PCPartsPicker list I did for a Ryzen5 system. Not knowing your budget, I went for under $1000. Bear in mind, this does not include the price of Windows 10.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8v8ngL $812

Hi Obraxis,

Thank you very much for your quick answer. I really appreciate it. I have just one more little additional question: Is it your preference for CPU/GPU to take Intel/nVidia than AMD/AMD or is the game code somehow more optimized/tested/developed for Intel/nVidia?

Thanks again for the answer in advance.

[Obraxis]

Originally posted by pipo:

Hi Obraxis,

Thank you very much for your quick answer. I really appreciate it. I have just one more little additional question: Is it your preference for CPU/GPU to take Intel/nVidia than AMD/AMD or is the game code somehow more optimized/tested/developed for Intel/nVidia?

Thanks again for the answer in advance.

You're welcome.

We've not optimized for any CPU or GPU in particular. If you go Intel i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen 5, you will have a very good system for gaming. As for GPU, Nvidia GPUs are a bit cheaper than AMD ones right now due to demand from Bitcoin/Ethereum miners. Choose the fastest you can afford for your budget.

[Hehehe]

So Obraxis, you are saying once the optimization is done I can play Subnautica with highest settings at 60 FPS without a single frame drop with my GTX 1070? You are saying my FPS won't drop to 10 even when sand shark gets out of the sand? I'm waiting for the optimization patches and release date to see what you have done with Unity. I'll also check the Xbox One build to see what's going on there because right now as you know it's terrible. I know this sounds pathetic but waiting for Subnautica to come out and see how people (who have their own engine) created a world with Unity is the only thing I'm looking forward to in my life.

pipo, I highly recommend GTX 1070 for 1080p 60 FPS highest settings. Because most survival games you want to play will have some sort of housing mechanic to it and probably all of them in early access and/or unoptimized.

[xarter19]

so i know i have a crappy gpu but could a gtx 570 run subnautica?

[--<[ Blei ]>--]

Originally posted by Blacktrick:

so i know i have a crappy gpu but could a gtx 570 run subnautica?

when reading the requirement at the very top, then you will notice, that it will be enough to run the game (570>550ti)

[Demolition414]

Originally posted by --< Blei >--:

Originally posted by Blacktrick:

so i know i have a crappy gpu but could a gtx 570 run subnautica?

when reading the requirement at the very top, then you will notice, that it will be enough to run the game (570>550ti)

that will be the requiremnets that over 3 years old, and need a HUGE update

[--<[ Blei ]>--]

Originally posted by Davidleblanc20:

Originally posted by --< Blei >--:

when reading the requirement at the very top, then you will notice, that it will be enough to run the game (570>550ti)

that will be the requiremnets that over 3 years old, and need a HUGE update

true...the devs added alot of stuff, but the optimization also improved alot.
i say, it should be enough for at least low settings

[Drake]

Subnautica has performance issues for long game sessions.
You can read more about it in the multiple discussions referring to it.

Any PC meeting the requirements, try to finish the game ASAP before the game becomes unplayable. The better your PC, the more you can delay/less likely to encounter these issues.
Or wait for the "coming?" update fixing these issues.

For the hardware suggestions any new average PC will be able to get you to start playing, just take note of the game engine issues which are largely discussed in other topics.