Can I Run Alien Swarm?
Valve released Alien Swarm in 2010. It is an action game, self published by the studio. The game supports a single player campaign and cooperative play. Entry is free, which makes the disk requirement the only real barrier. Critics scored it 77 on Metacritic. With only 294 reviews on Steam, there is little community data on how it behaves across hardware. Progress follows the account through Steam Cloud rather than sitting on one disk. It is a Windows title, so the requirements below are the Windows ones. There are 66 achievements to chase. It is old enough that no current GPU generation existed when it shipped, so modern hardware tends to be far past what it can use.
Can your PC run it? →System requirements
Minimum requirements
| CPU | Pentium 4 3.0GHz |
|---|---|
| GPU | DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Storage | 3 GB |
| OS | Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP |
Recommended requirements
| CPU | Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz |
|---|---|
| GPU | DirectX 9 compatible video card with Shader model 3.0. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Storage | 3 GB |
| OS | Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP |
Verified from Steam · 9 Jul 2026 source
Scores are deterministic, computed by fixed rules and benchmark tables, not written by an AI. How we score. Maintained by Farhad Ali. Spotted a wrong specification? Tell us.
Setting and environment
The game is set in a science fiction setting. Play is structured around combat arenas. The publisher supplies 10 storefront screenshots of these environments. It is played from a top down view.
Why Alien Swarm is demanding
Alien Swarm takes about 3 GB of disk space. At 1 GB, system memory is undemanding.
This reading comes from the published requirements and our own benchmark tables, not from the store listing.
Can you run Alien Swarm?
Alien Swarm targets a mainstream modern PC: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better and 1 GB of RAM for the minimum, stepping up to DirectX 9 compatible video card with Shader model 3.0. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better for the recommended experience. No single part dominates the requirements, so a balanced mid-range build clears it.
Bottleneck: CPU
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Frequently asked questions
Can my PC run Alien Swarm?
Upload your DxDiag file to Idxdiag's free checker and get a component by component compatibility verdict for Alien Swarm in seconds. No install required.
What are the minimum system requirements for Alien Swarm?
The minimum requirements are CPU: Pentium 4 3.0GHz; GPU: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better; 1 GB RAM; OS: Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP.
How much storage does Alien Swarm need?
Alien Swarm needs about 3 GB of available storage.
What is the bottleneck for Alien Swarm?
On a typical modern PC (Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 3060, 16 GB RAM), the tightest component for Alien Swarm is the CPU.