Borderlands 4 PC Specs: Minimum Requirements

Borderlands fans who like to crank every slider to “ultra” might want to sit down before hitting preorder. Gearbox and studio chief Randy Pitchford are spelling it out in plain English: if your rig isn’t powerful enough, Borderlands 4 simply won’t run well. Hardware Demands That Bite The official minimum specs read like the wish list of a high-end build from just a couple of years ago. Gearbox calls for an 8-core CPU, a GeForce RTX 2070 or Radeon RX 5700 XT, and a 100 GB install size. That’s only the baseline. To hit the studio’s “recommended” targets—4K textures, high-end ray-tracing, and stable 60 fps—you’ll want a current-gen GPU such as an RTX 4070 or Radeon 7800 XT, plenty of fast storage, and serious cooling. Pitchford didn’t mince words during a preview Q&A: “We love our PC audience, but we’re not dialing back the tech to chase weaker hardware. This game is a monster by design.” Why the Jump? Borderlands 4 runs on an upgraded Unreal Engine 5 pipeline, complete with hardware-accelerated global illumination, volumetric destruction, and fully simulated co-op physics. Those new systems mean more than eye candy—they affect gameplay, from environmental hazards to the chaotic multi-player firefights that define the series. Developers say a Day 1 patch will smooth out some performance spikes, but they stress that the patch is not a magic bullet. If your graphics card or CPU falls short, you’re looking at low settings and possible frame-rate stutter even after launch. What It Means for Vault Hunters For dedicated PC players, this is a wake-up call to check specs now. SSD storage is practically mandatory to avoid the texture streaming issues that plagued early Borderlands 3 builds. And with cross-play planned from day one, under-powered rigs could become a liability in four-player co-op sessions. The message from Gearbox is blunt but fair: upgrade or prepare for compromises. Borderlands has always been about excess—loot fountains, ridiculous gun physics, wild particle effects. Borderlands 4 looks ready to push that ethos further, but only the well-equipped need apply. Get your shopping list ready, Vault Hunter. Your next legendary drop might have “RTX” in the name.