Borderlands 4’s PC system requirements have landed and they mark a clear shift toward a modern‑PC baseline: expect an 8‑core minimum CPU, 16 GB of RAM as the lowest supported memory, and a 100 GB SSD install, with recommended builds pushing to 32 GB RAM and RTX 3080 / RX 6800 XT‑class GPUs for a comfortable experience. This set of requirements — reported and summarized across developer storefront and support pages and echoed by the press — signals that Gearbox is targeting current‑generation hardware as the norm rather than the exception, while also leaning on vendor upscalers (notably NVIDIA’s DLSS 4) to make higher frame rates achievable on fewer native GPU cycles.
Put bluntly: if your rig is older than about three years or you’re still on 6‑core CPUs and GTX‑class cards, you’ll want to check whether you need a targeted upgrade or whether you’ll rely heavily on upscaling and lowered settings to get a playable experience. The remainder of this piece verifies the published numbers, explains what they mean in real terms for Windows PC users, and provides upgrade and tuning advice for different kinds of players.
For Windows PC players: if you’re on a 3+ year‑old GPU or a 6‑core CPU and value a guaranteed experience, budget for targeted upgrades — SSD first, then CPU/GPU as needed. If you own an RTX 30‑series or better, vendor upscalers give you meaningful headroom and can delay the need for a GPU upgrade while still offering good visual quality. Finally, be prepared for launch‑window driver updates and game patches; these often resolve early volatility and can materially improve both stability and framerate.
Borderlands 4 represents a step toward a more demanding but more scalable PC experience: the surface requirements are higher, but modern driver and upscaling tech give players practical options to reach their desired balance of fidelity and performance. Plan for extra storage and RAM, stay current with drivers, and expect a handful of early patches — do that, and the vault‑hunting fun should be well within reach of most contemporary Windows gaming rigs.
Source: Turtle Beach https://www.turtlebeach.com/blog/borderlands-4-system-requirements-minimum-recommended-and-more/
Background / Overview
Borderlands is a franchise built on large, colourful worlds and a relentless stream of assets — weapons, enemies, environments and particle effects — and Borderlands 4 continues that lineage with more ambitious streaming and visual systems. The developer's public PC requirements present two clear tiers: Minimum (the lowest supported hardware envelope) and Recommended (what Gearbox suggests for a smooth, visually rich experience). Those tiers were published on storefront and support pages and have been reproduced by multiple hardware press outlets during pre‑launch coverage.Put bluntly: if your rig is older than about three years or you’re still on 6‑core CPUs and GTX‑class cards, you’ll want to check whether you need a targeted upgrade or whether you’ll rely heavily on upscaling and lowered settings to get a playable experience. The remainder of this piece verifies the published numbers, explains what they mean in real terms for Windows PC users, and provides upgrade and tuning advice for different kinds of players.
Official system requirements: the numbers (verified summary)
Below is a concise, verified presentation of the published Borderlands 4 PC system requirements as shown in official storefront/support documentation and corroborated by pre‑launch press coverage.Minimum (verified)
- OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11 (64‑bit).
- Processor: Intel Core i7‑9700 or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (eight physical cores cited).
- Memory: 16 GB RAM.
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (≈8 GB VRAM).
- Storage: 100 GB available space — SSD required.
Recommended (verified)
- OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11 (64‑bit).
- Processor: Intel Core i7‑12700 or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X.
- Memory: 32 GB RAM.
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (12+ GB VRAM recommended).
- Storage: 100 GB available space — SSD required.
What the numbers actually mean for Windows PC players
The raw spec list is useful, but it doesn’t answer the practical questions players typically ask: “Will my PC run it?” “What settings will I get at 1080p?” and “Do I really need a 32 GB RAM kit?” Below are the core technical interpretations.CPU: why Gearbox lists eight cores at minimum
The minimum CPUs cited (Intel Core i7‑9700 and Ryzen 7 2700X) are eight‑core parts, not just high‑clocked quad cores. That choice indicates the engine and runtime systems rely on parallelized streaming, AI, physics, and background tasks that benefit from higher thread counts. In practice, that means many common 6‑core chips that remain popular in midrange desktops may fall below the developer’s baseline for a supported experience. If your system has fewer than eight physical cores, expect suboptimal behaviour, stutters, or a requirement to lower fidelity and background app usage.GPU and VRAM: midrange minimum, high‑end recommended
The minimum GPUs (RTX 2070 / RX 5700 XT) place the baseline near the high midrange of the last GPU generation. VRAM matters: Gearbox’s published numbers imply ~8 GB VRAM minimum and 12+ GB VRAM for recommended. That affects texture pools, resolution targets and whether raytraced effects (when available) are practical. Cards with less VRAM will need lower texture settings and resolution scaling to avoid hitching and texture pop‑in.Memory (RAM): 16 GB minimum, 32 GB recommended
Sixteen gigabytes is the new floor for many contemporary AAA games; Borderlands 4 lists 16 GB at minimum but recommends 32 GB for the smoother, higher‑fidelity experience. That recommendation likely reflects large world asset streaming, higher texture budgets, and the reality that many players run overlays, browsers and capture software concurrently. If you plan to stream or run background capture/streaming while playing, 32 GB reduces paging and potential stutters.Storage: 100 GB and SSD required
A 100 GB install with SSD required is a non‑negotiable part of the spec. SSDs aren’t just for faster install times — high throughput and low seek latency reduce hitching caused by streaming assets during gameplay. Allow extra headroom beyond the headline 100 GB for day‑one patches, DLC and Windows swap files; a practical target is reserving 140–160 GB on the drive you’ll install the game to.Operating system and DirectX
Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64‑bit) are listed; DirectX 12 is the expected runtime for modern GPU features. Keep Windows updated and ensure GPU drivers are current — vendor drivers often include game‑specific optimizations at or near launch that materially change performance.Upscaling and frame generation: the performance equalizer
Borderlands 4 ships with support for modern upscalers and frame‑generation tech; NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi‑Frame Generation is explicitly supported, and vendor upscalers are a core part of the performance story. These tools allow players to render at a lower internal resolution and upscale to the display resolution, dramatically lowering GPU load while keeping visual quality acceptable. For RTX‑capable owners, DLSS 4 multi‑frame generation can significantly increase perceived throughput — reducing the need for a top‑tier GPU if you accept some fidelity/latency trade‑offs.Practical play expectations by class of PC
Below are realistic targets based on the published requirements and common industry testing patterns.1) Entry / older rigs (pre‑2019 GPUs, 4–6 core CPUs)
- Likely outcome: Playable at low settings, lower resolution (1080p or dynamic 720–900p upscaled) with notable compromises. You may hit CPU core limitations or VRAM constraints on heavy scenes.
- What to do: Lower texture sizes, disable high‑cost effects, use upscaling when available, close background apps. If a playable experience matters more than visuals, these machines remain viable but not ideal.
2) Typical midrange rigs (RTX 2060–RTX 3060 / Ryzen 5 3600–5600)
- Likely outcome: Good 1080p/60 experiences with upscaling or medium/high settings; 1440p may require balanced presets and vendor upscales.
- What to do: Use Quality/Balanced upscaling, match texture pools to VRAM, and prioritize GPU driver updates at launch. Consider increasing RAM to 32 GB if you multitask.
3) High‑end rigs (RTX 3080 / RX 6800 XT and equivalents)
- Likely outcome: Native 1440p/60 or comfortable 4K with upscaling and high settings; raytracing modes may be available depending on performance targets and driver maturity.
- What to do: Aim for 32 GB RAM to minimize stutters; use upscalers to boost frame rates while retaining visuals; tune ray tracing settings if present.
Upgrade guidance: where to spend your budget
If you’re planning an incremental upgrade rather than a full rebuild, prioritize in this order:- SSD (NVMe preferred) — mandatory. Storage performance reduces hitching and load times.
- CPU (to hit 8+ cores where necessary) — for systems currently at 4–6 cores, upgrading to an 8‑core CPU will unlock the minimum supported experience.
- GPU (match VRAM to resolution) — for native 1440p or 4K, 12+ GB VRAM is recommended.
- RAM — move to 32 GB if you multitask or want headroom for high textures and capture.
Day‑one tuning: settings checklist and common pitfalls
To get the best experience at launch, follow this checklist:- Install on an NVMe/SSD with adequate free headroom (reserve an extra 40–60 GB beyond the advertised 100 GB).
- Update GPU drivers — look for launch‑day drivers that specifically call out Borderlands 4 optimizations.
- Match texture settings to your VRAM: 8–10 GB cards should avoid the highest native texture pools at 1440p/4K.
- Test vendor upscalers (DLSS 4, FSR, XeSS): try Balanced or Quality presets first; multi‑frame generation can boost frame rates but may introduce smoothing artifacts.
- Close heavy background applications (web browsers with many tabs, recording suites) if running at minimum specs.
Developer choices and trade‑offs: strengths and risks
Notable strengths
- Modern baseline: By targeting multi‑core CPUs and SSD installs, Gearbox reduces unpredictable hitching and exploits parallelized systems for smoother streaming and larger world fidelity. This enables richer worlds and higher detail without enormous native resolution costs.
- Upscaling support: First‑class DLSS 4 and other vendor upscalers provide a realistic path to high framerates without flagship silicon, widening the audience that can enjoy high visual fidelity.
- Clear recommended envelope: Publishing both minimum and recommended specs (including practical GPU models) helps buyers make informed upgrade choices.
Potential risks and downsides
- Higher entry floor excludes older midrange rigs: Requiring eight‑core CPUs as a minimum will exclude a notable fraction of midrange systems still popular among Steam users; that could create friction for a nontrivial share of the audience. This is an explicit consequence of the published CPU baseline.
- Large SSD footprint and patch churn: A 100 GB install is significant and, combined with day‑one patches and DLC, demands capacity planning. Players on smaller SSDs will need to juggle installs.
- Driver and early patch volatility: New upscaling and frame‑generation tech often arrives ahead of mature driver/game interaction. Expect driver updates and fast post‑launch patches to stabilize performance; early adopters may see regressions or issues during the first weeks.
- Unverifiable or changeable claims: As with any pre/post‑launch technical specification, some details can change between announcement and wider rollout (install size, minor RAM recommendations, or named GPU SKU guidance). Treat the published numbers as current guidance but remain open to updates from the developer and hardware vendors. Where there is ambiguity, plan extra headroom.
Build recommendations: sample component lists
These example builds focus on Windows PC players targeting common resolution/refresh points and are intentionally conservative on cost estimates (prioritize component class, not exact SKU pricing).Budget play (1080p / 30–60 FPS, upscaling)
- CPU: 8‑thread to 8‑core midrange (if possible); minimum aim is an 8‑core CPU to meet developer baseline.
- GPU: GTX 16/RTX 20 series equivalent (or modern entry‑level 30/40 series); use upscaling.
- RAM: 16 GB dual‑channel.
- Storage: NVMe SSD, 250 GB+.
- Notes: Prioritize SSD and 8 cores; accept upscaling for framerate.
Mainstream / midrange (1080p/1440p, 60+ FPS)
- CPU: Intel Core i5/Ryzen 5 6–8 core or better; prefer 8 cores for headroom.
- GPU: RTX 3060 Ti → RTX 3070 class or AMD equivalents; 8–12 GB VRAM preferred.
- RAM: 16–32 GB depending on multitasking.
- Storage: NVMe SSD, 500 GB+.
- Notes: Good balance of cost and quality; upscaling optional for 1440p.
Enthusiast (1440p/4K, high settings)
- CPU: Intel Core i7/i9 or Ryzen 7/9 (8+ cores; higher single‑thread and cache help).
- GPU: RTX 3080 / RX 6800 XT or better; aim for 12+ GB VRAM at 4K.
- RAM: 32 GB dual‑channel.
- Storage: NVMe SSD, 1 TB recommended.
- Notes: Use DLSS/FSR for high framerates; enable raytracing carefully if you need higher native fidelity.
Troubleshooting: common issues and fixes
- Stutters/hitches on midrange GPUs: check texture settings vs VRAM; lower texture pool or use upscaler.
- Crashes or poor performance after launch: update GPU drivers, verify game files, check for OS updates and install the latest runtime libraries. Expect vendor driver hotfixes in the launch window.
- High background memory usage: close browsers, capture software, and game overlays; if issues persist, increase system RAM to 32 GB.
Final analysis and verdict
Borderlands 4’s published PC requirements reflect a pragmatic, if ambitious, approach: Gearbox is raising the functional baseline to a modern PC standard (8‑core CPUs, SSD installs and larger RAM footprints) while betting on vendor upscalers like DLSS 4 to keep the game accessible across a broad range of GPUs. That strategy unlocks higher fidelity and smoother streaming in the long run, but it also raises the visible entry floor for older midrange systems and places heavier demands on storage and memory compared with earlier entries.For Windows PC players: if you’re on a 3+ year‑old GPU or a 6‑core CPU and value a guaranteed experience, budget for targeted upgrades — SSD first, then CPU/GPU as needed. If you own an RTX 30‑series or better, vendor upscalers give you meaningful headroom and can delay the need for a GPU upgrade while still offering good visual quality. Finally, be prepared for launch‑window driver updates and game patches; these often resolve early volatility and can materially improve both stability and framerate.
Borderlands 4 represents a step toward a more demanding but more scalable PC experience: the surface requirements are higher, but modern driver and upscaling tech give players practical options to reach their desired balance of fidelity and performance. Plan for extra storage and RAM, stay current with drivers, and expect a handful of early patches — do that, and the vault‑hunting fun should be well within reach of most contemporary Windows gaming rigs.
Source: Turtle Beach https://www.turtlebeach.com/blog/borderlands-4-system-requirements-minimum-recommended-and-more/
