Can I Run Middle-earth: Shadow of War?
Monolith Productions released Middle-earth: Shadow of War in 2017. It is an action adventure game, published by WB Games. The game supports a single player campaign. An age check at 17 sits in front of the store page. Progress follows the account through Steam Cloud rather than sitting on one disk. There are 72 achievements to chase. At 9 years old it targets an older hardware baseline than most buyers now own. Steam lists support for 13 languages. It is a Windows title, so the requirements below are the Windows ones. With more than 87 thousand player reviews on Steam, its behaviour on real hardware is well documented. Full controller support is present, so nothing needs configuring before a pad works.
Can your PC run it? →System requirements
Minimum requirements
| CPU | AMD FX-4350, 4.2 GHz / Intel Core i5-2300, 2.80 GHz |
|---|---|
| GPU | AMD HD 7870, 2 GB / NVIDIA GTX 660, 2 GB |
| VRAM | 2 GB |
| RAM | 6 GB |
| Storage | 70 GB |
| OS | Windows 7 SP1 with Platform Update |
| DirectX | 11 |
Recommended requirements
| CPU | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz / Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz |
|---|---|
| GPU | AMD RX 480, 4 GB or RX580, 4GB / NVIDIA GTX 970, 4GB or GTX1060, 6GB |
| VRAM | 4 GB |
| RAM | 12 GB |
| Storage | 70 GB |
| OS | Windows 10 Creators Update |
| DirectX | 11 |
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
Middle-earth: Shadow of War places its action in a fantasy world, and the player works through one continuous open world. There are 6 official screenshots to judge the look from. The view is from a third person view. Open environments are the harder case for a PC, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War has to keep far more of its world resident and streaming than a level based game needs.
Why Middle-earth: Shadow of War is demanding
Very little is asked of the GPU by Middle-earth: Shadow of War. AMD RX 480 scores low against the RTX 3060, putting Middle-earth: Shadow of War within reach of laptop and integrated graphics. Middle-earth: Shadow of War needs only 4 GB of video memory. Middle-earth: Shadow of War needs only 12 GB of RAM. Disk footprint is light, near 70 GB.
This reading comes from the published requirements and our own benchmark tables, not from the store listing.
Can you run Middle-earth: Shadow of War?
Middle-earth: Shadow of War targets a mainstream modern PC: AMD HD 7870, 2 GB / NVIDIA GTX 660, 2 GB and 6 GB of RAM for the minimum, stepping up to AMD RX 480, 4 GB or RX580, 4GB / NVIDIA GTX 970, 4GB or GTX1060, 6GB for the recommended experience. No single part dominates the requirements, so a balanced mid-range build clears it.
Bottleneck: GPU
Large install. Middle-earth: Shadow of War needs about 70 GB of free storage.
Projected by resolution
| Resolution | Projection | Headroom |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | Comfortable | 1.98x |
| 1440p | Borderline | 1.11x |
| 4K | Below the bar | 0.49x |
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 great |
| GTX 1060 Laptop | Runs great |
| GTX 1650 4 GB | Runs well |
| GTX 1650 Laptop | Runs well |
| RTX 2060 6 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 2060 Laptop | Runs great |
| 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 Middle-earth: Shadow of War'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.
Similar games you can run
Cyberpunk 2077
Grand Theft Auto V
Red Dead Redemption 2
Baldur's Gate 3
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
DOOM EternalFrequently asked questions
Can my PC run Middle-earth: Shadow of War?
Upload your DxDiag file to Idxdiag's free checker and get a component by component compatibility verdict for Middle-earth: Shadow of War in seconds. No install required.
What are the minimum system requirements for Middle-earth: Shadow of War?
The minimum requirements are CPU: AMD FX-4350, 4.2 GHz / Intel Core i5-2300, 2.80 GHz; GPU: AMD HD 7870, 2 GB / NVIDIA GTX 660, 2 GB; 6 GB RAM; OS: Windows 7 SP1 with Platform Update.
How much storage does Middle-earth: Shadow of War need?
Middle-earth: Shadow of War needs about 70 GB of available storage.
Can an RTX 3060 run Middle-earth: Shadow of War?
The RTX 3060 runs Middle-earth: Shadow of War comfortably, clearing the title's GPU requirement with room to spare.
What is the bottleneck for Middle-earth: Shadow of War?
On a typical modern PC (Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 3060, 16 GB RAM), the tightest component for Middle-earth: Shadow of War is the GPU.