Helldivers 2 is a demanding co-op third-person shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios that requires mid-to-high-end hardware, with an unusually steep minimum GPU of the GTX 1080 Ti or RX 5700 XT just to hit 1080p/30fps on low settings. The game mandates an SSD, DirectX 12, and 8 GB of VRAM at minimum, putting older budget cards well out of contention. If you’re rocking a GTX 1060 or RX 580, you’ll need an upgrade before diving into the bug war.
Helldivers 2 PC System Requirements — All Tiers
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended | High (1080p/60fps) | Ultra 2K | Ultra 4K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 10 | Windows 10 | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | Intel Core i7-9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | Intel Core i9-10900K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | Intel Core i9-12900K or AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | Intel Core i9-13900K or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| VRAM | 8 GB | 8 GB | 10 GB | 12 GB | 16 GB |
| Storage | 100 GB SSD | 100 GB SSD | 100 GB NVMe SSD | 100 GB NVMe SSD | 100 GB NVMe SSD |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 | DirectX 12 | DirectX 12 | DirectX 12 | DirectX 12 |
| Target | 1080p / 30fps / Low | 1080p / 60fps / Medium | 1080p / 60fps / High | 1440p / 60fps / Ultra | 4K / 60fps / Ultra |
Can I Run Helldivers 2? Quick Compatibility Reference
| Your GPU | Can You Run It? | Real-World Performance |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 4090 | Yes, easily | Absolute overkill for Helldivers 2. Expect 120+ fps at 4K Ultra with headroom to spare. DLSS Quality or Balanced will push frames even higher with no visible quality loss. |
| RTX 3080 | Yes | Handles 1440p Ultra at 60+ fps comfortably and can push 4K at high-medium settings. A strong card for Helldivers 2 with room for future patches and settings bumps. |
| RTX 2070 | Yes | Meets and slightly exceeds the minimum spec, delivering 1080p/60fps on medium settings. A solid, playable experience — expect some dips in large-scale firefights. |
| RTX 2060 | Borderline | Sits just below the official minimum GPU in raw performance. Expect 1080p/30-45fps on low settings. The game is playable but not comfortable — upgrading to an RTX 2070 or better is advised. |
| GTX 1660 Super | Minimum | Noticeably below the official minimum. You’ll need to drop to the lowest settings and still struggle to maintain a stable 30fps at 1080p. Not recommended for a good experience. |
| GTX 1060 6GB | Minimum | Well below minimum specs. Even on the lowest settings, expect sub-25fps at 1080p. The game may launch but the experience will be consistently poor and borderline unplayable in chaotic missions. |
| GTX 950 or older | No | Cannot run Helldivers 2. These GPUs lack the required DirectX 12 feature level support and raw compute power. A GPU upgrade is required before attempting to play. |
Is Helldivers 2 Well Optimized? The Engine Reality
Helldivers 2 runs on Arrowhead Game Studios’ proprietary engine, which renders expansive planetary surfaces with dynamic weather, volumetric fog, large-scale destruction, and dense particle systems for explosions and fire. That visual workload — combined with a lack of aggressive LOD culling at closer ranges — makes it noticeably more GPU-hungry than its cooperative-shooter peers, and it explains why the minimum bar sits as high as a GTX 1080 Ti at 1080p/low settings.
CPU demand in Helldivers 2 is significant and scales hard with player count: each Helldiver joining a session adds AI patrols, projectile simulation, and physics objects, meaning a solo run is far lighter than a full four-player squad against a Bug Breach. The game favors cores with strong single-thread performance for its game-logic thread, so older high-core-count CPUs like the Ryzen 7 1800X can bottleneck the GPU well before it is fully loaded — a mid-generation Ryzen 5 or Core i5 with high clock speeds will outperform them.
16 GB of RAM is the practical minimum for a smooth session; the game’s own recommended spec calls for 16 GB and the engine’s asset streaming behavior regularly pushes working-set memory above 12 GB during busy missions with lots of active enemies and environmental destruction. Users on 8 GB systems will see Windows paging to the SSD under load, which compounds stuttering issues — if you are on 8 GB, closing all background applications is mandatory, not optional.
Settings to Tweak for More Frames Without Losing Visibility
Helldivers 2’s volumetric atmospheric effects and dense explosion particle systems are the single largest frame-time cost on mid-range hardware, routinely accounting for 10–20 % of GPU time. Dropping particle quality from High to Medium and volumetric fog to Low typically recovers 8–15 fps at 1080p on a GTX 1080 Ti class card with minimal visual difference during the chaos of live combat.
Shadow resolution and draw distance are disproportionately expensive in Helldivers 2 because the open planetary maps have large numbers of shadow-casting light sources including dynamic explosions and fires. Reducing Shadow Quality from Ultra or High to Medium cuts GPU memory pressure and rasterization cost, typically yielding 5–10 fps, with the trade-off being slightly softer ground shadows that are nearly invisible during active firefights.
Helldivers 2 supports NVIDIA DLSS 2, AMD FSR 2, and Intel XeSS; the Quality preset at 1080p renders at roughly 720p internally and then upscales, which removes significant GPU load without making the image look noticeably softer at typical monitor distances. On an RTX 2080, DLSS Quality at 1440p can push frame rates from the high 50s to a stable 70–80 fps, making it the highest-value single toggle for recommended-tier hardware.
At High or Ultra texture settings Helldivers 2 can consume 8 GB of VRAM or more, which causes cards with 8 GB or less — including the GTX 1080 Ti and RX 5700 XT — to stall while streaming textures from system RAM over the PCIe bus, producing the characteristic micro-stutters players report on otherwise capable GPUs. Dropping textures from High to Medium reduces VRAM usage by roughly 1.5–2 GB and eliminates those stalls with only a modest reduction in surface detail visible at normal play distances.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run Helldivers 2 on a GTX 1060?
Technically the GTX 1060 6GB can launch Helldivers 2, but performance will be very poor. The official minimum GPU is the GTX 1080 Ti or RX 5700 XT — both significantly faster than the GTX 1060. At best, expect sub-25fps on the lowest settings at 1080p. A GPU upgrade is strongly recommended before playing.
How much RAM do I need for Helldivers 2?
Helldivers 2 requires a minimum of 8 GB RAM, but 16 GB is strongly recommended. With only 8 GB, you may experience stuttering and hitching, particularly when multiple players trigger large explosions or enemy spawns simultaneously. 16 GB provides a noticeably smoother and more stable experience across all settings.
Does Helldivers 2 support DLSS or FSR?
Yes, Helldivers 2 supports both NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR upscaling technologies. If your GPU is close to the minimum requirements, enabling DLSS (on NVIDIA) or FSR (on AMD or any GPU) can provide a 20-40% fps boost with minimal visual quality loss. Both are accessible from the in-game graphics settings.
Is Helldivers 2 CPU or GPU heavy?
Helldivers 2 is primarily GPU-bound at 1080p and above, but it does stress the CPU during large-scale co-op missions with many enemies and explosions on screen. An 8-core CPU at the i7-9700K or Ryzen 7 3700X level is recommended. Older quad-core processors can become a bottleneck even when paired with a powerful GPU.
What is the minimum GPU for Helldivers 2?
The official minimum GPU for Helldivers 2 is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, both requiring 8 GB of VRAM. These are tuned for 1080p/30fps at low settings. Cards below this level, such as the GTX 1060, GTX 1070, or RX 580, will not provide an acceptable experience and are not officially supported.
Can I run Helldivers 2 on a laptop?
Yes, if your gaming laptop has a dedicated GPU equivalent to an RTX 2070 Mobile or better. Laptop GPUs typically run 15-25% slower than their desktop equivalents, so you need to account for that gap. An RTX 3070 laptop GPU or RX 6800M should deliver solid 1080p/60fps performance on medium settings. Always check your laptop’s cooling, as sustained load in long missions can cause thermal throttling.
Does Helldivers 2 require an SSD?
Yes, an SSD is an official system requirement for Helldivers 2 — the game is not supported on traditional spinning hard drives. Running it on an HDD will result in very long load times and potential mid-mission stuttering as assets stream in. A standard SATA SSD is sufficient; an NVMe drive improves load times further but is not required.
What DirectX version does Helldivers 2 use?
Helldivers 2 requires DirectX 12. Most GPUs from the GTX 900 series onward include DirectX 12 support, but older cards from the GTX 700 series and below do not meet the required feature levels. If your GPU only supports DirectX 11, you will not be able to run the game.
