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The release of the long anticipated latest Fallout game is finally upon us and to celebrate we’re diving in to exactly what PC hardware you’ll need in your next custom gaming PC to dive in.

If you’ve found this article you probably already know what Fallout 76 so lets get straight down to business.

The Hardware Requirements

Gaming PCs are fueled by three main components. The CPU, the RAM and the GPU (aka video card). In general, if the CPU and RAM isn’t a bottleneck, its the GPU which is the most important for delivering a smooth frame rate with all the fancy graphics setting cranked up.

The games publisher Bethesda have published their official minimum and recommended hardware specifications online. While these are usually geared very low to capture the widest possible audience, it’s a good indication of the CPU/GPU balance and RAM requirement.

Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6 GHz/AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5 GHz
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970 4GB/AMD R9 290X 4GB
Memory: 8GB RAM

Recommended hardware requirements – Bethesda 

You will probably notice pretty quickly that the listed hardware is older generation models. This might be a little confusing but with a bit of common sense it’s pretty easy to translate in to the current-gen equivalents.

Processor: Intel Core i5 8600 4.3GHz
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB
Memory: 8GB RAM (DDR4)

The same hardware requirements translated to modern equivalents.

Making sense of the Requirements

While some games rely heavier on the GPU than the CPU, others are weighed in the opposite direction. Fallout 76 being a large scale open world RPG, is evidently more CPU depended than most games.

Bare in mind also that the ‘recommended’ hardware requirements are just a guide issued by the publisher stating that if you meet these requirements you should get a ‘good’ experience playing the game. It doesn’t guarantee a frame rate over 60 at any particular graphics settings although a reasonable gamer may assume it’s at least 60fps @ medium pre-sets.

If you want higher frame rates, to turn up all the graphics to ultra or to run at 4K, you’ll have to make the necessary adjustments (mostly to GPU) to keep up.

“Recommended” Requirements

If you want to take Bethesda’s word for it and don’t mind not playing at the highest settings we’ve put together the following configuration for you to take a look at.

Note : All our gaming PCs are 100% customisable so feel free to jump in and select a different chassis , add additional hard drive capacity or a WiFi adapter if needed! Our built in error detection will catch any potential conflicts. As long as the CPU, RAM and GPU stay the same, you can expect the same level of performance.

• Case: Corsair Carbide Spec-04 Tempered Glass Red Mid Tower
  
• Motherboard: Intel B360 Gaming Edition mATX Motherboard
  
• CPU: Intel i5 8600 6-Core 4.3GHz
  
• CPU Cooler: Stock CPU Cooler
  
• RAM: 8GB DDR4 Core
  
• Primary Storage Device: 250G SATA3 SSD – 420MB/s
  
• Second Storage Device: 1TB Hard Drive – 150MB/s
  
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB OC
  
• Power Supply: 550w 80 Plus Gold [$10 OFF]
  
• Operating System: Windows 10 64bit Home Edition USB
  

Click here to checkout this configuration on our store page where you can further customize it or order it online!

“Ultra @1080P” Requirements

As previously mentioned, all our gaming PCs are customisable and we have a ton of options to choose from. Perhaps you prefer a different case? Want to add a WiFi adapter? Maybe need some extra storage space? Just hit that ‘customise’ button on the page linked below.

Case: Corsair Carbide Spec-04 Tempered Glass Red Mid Tower
Motherboard: Intel B360 Gaming Edition mATX Motherboard
CPU: Intel i5 8600K 6-Core 4.3GHz
CPU Cooler: 120mm Tower Air Cooler
RAM:16GB DDR4 Black
Primary Storage Device: 500G NVMe M.2 SSD – 1500MB/s
Second Storage Device: 2TB Hard Drive – 150MB/s
Graphics Card: Nvidia RTX 2070 8GB OC
Power Supply: 550w 80 Plus Gold [$10 OFF]
Operating System: Windows 10 64bit Home Edition USB

Click here to checkout this configuration on our store page where you can further customize it or order it online!

“ULTRA @4K/UHD” Requirements

Note for this one we’ve deviated from the more ‘cost-effective’ basic chassis listed for the configurations used above, this time opting to go for the limited edition Nuka Cola NZXT H700. Lets face it, if your building a gaming PC just to play Fallout 76 on ultra settings at 4K, why wouldn’t you splurge a little and get the awesome looking limited edition chassis to match? 

Case: NZXT H700 Nuka Cola Limited Edition
Motherboard: Intel B360 Gaming Edition mATX Motherboard
CPU: Intel i7 8700 6-Core 4.6GHz
CPU Cooler: 120mm Tower Air Cooler
RAM: 16GB DDR4 Black
Primary Storage Device: 500G NVMe M.2 SSD – 1500MB/s
Second Storage Device: 2TB Hard Drive – 150MB/s
Graphics Card: Nvidia RTX 2080 8GB OC
Power Supply: 750w 80 Plus Gold
Operating System: Windows 10 64bit Home Edition USB

Click here to checkout this configuration on our storage page where you can further customize it or order it online!

The take away,

Hopefully now you’ve got a good idea of what modern day latest gen hardware you need to play the game at the performance level your aiming for. Remember it all comes down to GPU, CPU and RAM (in that order!).

If you still have questions or just need some help deciding on which of the other components you need please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can find our contact page here or if you’re local, drop in to our store (Keysborough, VIC) Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm for a chat!