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Civilization VI & VII · System Requirements

System Requirements: Civ VI vs. Civ VII

Sourced directly from Firaxis's own support site — both games are lighter on hardware than you might expect for a modern strategy title, though Civ VII's Ultra tier asks for a genuinely high-end machine.

Civilization VII — Windows

Minimum — 1080p/30 FPS, Low
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel i5-4690 / i3-10100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050 / AMD RX 460 / Intel Arc A380
  • Storage: 20 GB
Recommended — 1080p/60 FPS, High
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
  • RAM: 16 GB
  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD RX 6600 / Intel Arc A750
  • Storage: 20 GB
Ultra — 4K/60 FPS, High
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel i7-14700F or AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
  • RAM: 32 GB
  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070 / AMD RX 7800 XT
  • Storage: 20 GB

Civilization VII — Mac & Linux

Mac — Minimum
  • OS: macOS Sequoia
  • Chip: M1 (8-core)
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Storage: 25 GB
Mac — Recommended
  • OS: macOS Sequoia
  • Chip: M2 Pro (10-core)
  • RAM: 16 GB
  • Storage: 25 GB
Linux — Minimum
  • OS: Ubuntu 22.04
  • CPU: Intel i5-4690 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
  • RAM: 8 GB · GPU: GTX 1060 / RX 580
  • Storage: 25 GB
Linux — Recommended
  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
  • RAM: 16 GB · GPU: RTX 2070 / RX 6700
  • Storage: 25 GB

Civilization VI — Windows

Current as of the Gathering Storm update (2019) — these have not changed materially since, matching Civ 6's mature, stable status.

Minimum
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel Core i3 2.5GHz or AMD Phenom II 2.6GHz
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • GPU: 1GB, AMD 5570 or NVIDIA 450
  • Storage: 12 GB
Recommended
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
  • CPU: 4th-gen Intel Core i5 2.5GHz or AMD FX8350 4.0GHz
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • GPU: 2GB, AMD 7970 or NVIDIA 770
  • Storage: 16 GB

Note directly from Firaxis: Intel HD 5500 and earlier integrated graphics do not meet Civ VI's minimum requirements.

What Actually Stands Out

  • Civ VII's minimum spec is genuinely modest for a 2025-era release — a GTX 1050 is nearly a decade old at this point, and the CPU asks are similarly light.
  • Civ VII dropped support for integrated graphics at the low end, unlike Civ VI, which could historically limp along on integrated Intel graphics (aside from the oldest generations).
  • Civ VII's Ultra tier is a real jump — 32 GB of RAM and an RTX 4070 for 4K/60fps is a notably higher bar than the Minimum/Recommended tiers, more in line with demanding modern titles than earlier Civ games.
  • Storage requirements are similar across both games at their respective base install sizes, though Civ VII's total footprint grows as you add DLC Collections.

Curious how it runs on handhelds?

See how both games perform on Steam Deck, Switch, and other platforms.

Platform Performance Comparison