The official specs for Monster Hunter Wilds on PC have it running at a very yucky 720p upscaled and 30fps on older GPUs
Yeah, it's gonna be fugly on that GTX 1660...
We've already reported on the February 28, 2025 release date for Monster Hunter Wilds. Now we can reveal exactly what kind of hardware you're going to need to play the game on PC. Long story short, it's gonna be a bit fugly on older GPUs.
Capcom has pitched the Nvidia GTX 1660 Super and AMD RX 5600 XT as the minimum GPU specs. In return, you can expect 720p upscaled to 1080p at the "lowest" graphics settings. Oh, and just 30fps. Yuck.
Of course, those GPUs weren't exactly high-end models at launch. Roughly five years hence you probably have to be somewhat realistic about what you can expect from them from a brand new game due out in early 2025. But, yeah, the march of time doesn't do any favours to old graphics cards.
Capcom could, of course, have gone for newer GPUs for the minimum recommended category and then gone for slightly more appealing settings. But older GPUs and yuckier graphics settings is in some ways more inclusive. It's a bit of a balancing act.
Stepping up to "Recommend settings", now we're talking RTX 2070 Super, RTX 4060 or RX 6700 XT GPUs. That nets you 1080p native at "medium" and 60fps. Sounds OK until you spot that it also includes running frame gen. So, it'll look smooth enough. But the latency probably won't be all that zippy.
Again, Capcom could have upped the GPU requirement and dropped the Frame Gen requirement. But then you'd be into pretty pricey GPU territory at the "Recommended" tier.
Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
It's all a bit of a reminder why I, personally, have been pushing people in the direction of an RTX 4070 for a while if they can possibly afford it. Even now a 4070 goes for over $500. And that's a horrible amount of money, way more than I think PC gamers should have to pay for a reasonable GPU. But it's the level at which you can avoid equally horrible trade offs when it comes to graphics settings on the latest games.
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You can check out all the details here, and also familiarise yourself with pricing in your region (it ain't cheap). And then, while your aging GPU waits to take a beating in February, why not peruse out the latest Monster Hunter Wilds trailer. It features Wilds' second region, the Scarlet Forest.
Apparently, dynamic weather will be a significant element in the game, with everything from sandstorms to tropical storms to contend with. Sounds like it might, just might, be worth a GPU upgrade.
Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.