Can I Run Civilization V?
Civilization V is a simulation strategy game from Firaxis Games, released in 2025. 2K published it. It offers a single player campaign and competitive multiplayer. Its Metacritic score stands at 79. Completionists have 37 achievements to work through. Workshop content is supported, so the published requirements describe the unmodded game only. As a new title, the figures below were written against parts you can still buy. It is localised into 12 languages according to the store listing. Builds exist for macOS and Linux as well as Windows. Full controller support is present, so nothing needs configuring before a pad works. Its Steam review count passes 43 thousand, a large enough sample that odd hardware behaviour would be known by now.
Can your PC run it? →System requirements
Minimum requirements
| CPU | Intel i5-4690 / Intel i3-10100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200 |
|---|---|
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 1050 / AMD RX 460 / Intel Arc A380 |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 20 GB |
| OS | Win 10 64 Bit |
| DirectX | 12 |
Recommended requirements
| CPU | Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X |
|---|---|
| GPU | NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD RX 6600 / Intel Arc A750 |
| RAM | 16 GB |
| Storage | 20 GB |
| OS | Win 10 64 Bit |
| DirectX | 12 |
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
Players spend their time in a historical setting, moving through a map at national or global scale. The publisher supplies 8 storefront screenshots of these environments.
Why Civilization V is demanding
Civilization V sits in the middle of the demand range, targeting NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD RX 6600 / Intel Arc A750, a tier a mainstream card from the last few generations reaches without difficulty. Civilization V calls for DirectX 12, which rules out otherwise capable hardware that never got the feature level. The distance between minimum and recommended is wide, so Civilization V at the floor and Civilization V at the recommended tier are not the same experience. 16 GB of system memory is expected, the current mainstream figure. Disk footprint is light, near 20 GB. A 64 bit version of Windows is required.
This reading comes from the published requirements and our own benchmark tables, not from the store listing.
Can you run Civilization V?
Civilization V is light on hardware. Its minimum, NVIDIA GTX 1050 / AMD RX 460 / Intel Arc A380, 8 GB RAM, about 20 GB free, sits below what an entry-level PC ships with today, so nearly any modern machine, and many older ones, will run it.
Bottleneck: GPU
Projected by resolution
| Resolution | Projection | Headroom |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | Runs well | 1.21x |
| 1440p | Below the bar | 0.68x |
| 4K | Below the bar | 0.3x |
A projection, not a measurement. We scale the published GPU requirement by pixel count, since 1440p draws 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p and 4K draws 4 times as many, then compare against RTX 3060 / Ryzen 5 build. The publisher did not state a target resolution, so 1080p is assumed as the baseline. We hold no frame rate data, so no FPS figure is claimed. Headroom above 1 means the reference machine has room to spare at that resolution.
Common GPUs
| Graphics card | Verdict |
|---|---|
| GTX 1060 6 GB | Runs well |
| GTX 1060 Laptop | Playable |
| GTX 1650 4 GB | Playable |
| GTX 1650 Laptop | Playable |
| RTX 2060 6 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 2060 Laptop | Runs well |
| RTX 3060 12 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 3060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 4060 8 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 4060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 3070 8 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 3070 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 4070 12 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 4070 Laptop | Runs great |
| RX 6600 8 GB | Runs great |
Each card is compared against Civilization V's published GPU requirement, assuming an otherwise-capable PC. Laptop rows use the real mobile chip's benchmark, a mobile GPU is always slower than its desktop namesake.
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Frequently asked questions
Can my PC run Civilization V?
Upload your DxDiag file to Idxdiag's free checker and get a component by component compatibility verdict for Civilization V in seconds. No install required.
What are the minimum system requirements for Civilization V?
The minimum requirements are CPU: Intel i5-4690 / Intel i3-10100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200; GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050 / AMD RX 460 / Intel Arc A380; 8 GB RAM; OS: Win 10 64 Bit.
How much storage does Civilization V need?
Civilization V needs about 20 GB of available storage.
Can an RTX 3060 run Civilization V?
The RTX 3060 runs Civilization V comfortably, clearing the title's GPU requirement with room to spare.
What is the bottleneck for Civilization V?
On a typical modern PC (Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 3060, 16 GB RAM), the tightest component for Civilization V is the GPU.