Can I Run Stellaris?
Released in 2016, Stellaris is a simulation strategy game built by Paradox Development Studio. Publishing duties went to Paradox Interactive. It offers a single player campaign and competitive multiplayer. Its Steam review count passes 142 thousand, a large enough sample that odd hardware behaviour would be known by now. It is localised into 10 languages according to the store listing. Completionists have 219 achievements to work through. Steam Workshop support means community content is part of the picture, and a heavy mod load can push the real requirements past anything the publisher lists. Being over ten years old, its ceiling was set by the hardware of a different era. Saves sync through Steam Cloud, so moving between machines does not cost progress. Alongside Windows it also ships for macOS and Linux. Metacritic places it at 78.
Can your PC run it? →System requirements
Minimum requirements
| CPU | Intel® iCore™ i3-530 or AMD® FX-6350 |
|---|---|
| GPU | Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 or AMD® ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 (1GB VRAM), or AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600 |
| VRAM | 1 GB |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Storage | 10 GB |
| OS | Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit |
| DirectX | 9 |
Recommended requirements
| CPU | Intel® iCore™ i5-3570K or AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2400G |
|---|---|
| GPU | Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 560 Ti (1GB VRAM) or AMD® Radeon™ R7 370 (2 GB VRAM) |
| VRAM | 1 GB |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Storage | 10 GB |
| OS | Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit |
| DirectX | 12 |
Verified from Steam · 9 Jul 2026 source
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Setting and environment
Stellaris places its action in space and the vessels that cross it, and the player works through a map at national or global scale. There are 6 official screenshots to judge the look from.
Why Stellaris is demanding
At 4 GB, system memory is undemanding. A 64 bit version of Windows is required. Stellaris needs only 1 GB of video memory. Disk footprint is light, near 10 GB. DirectX 12 is named, so Stellaris expects a graphics driver and card from the modern era rather than merely a fast one.
This reading comes from the published requirements and our own benchmark tables, not from the store listing.
Can you run Stellaris?
Stellaris targets a mainstream modern PC: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 or AMD® ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 (1GB VRAM), or AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600 and 4 GB of RAM for the minimum, stepping up to Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 560 Ti (1GB VRAM) or AMD® Radeon™ R7 370 (2 GB VRAM) 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 Stellaris?
Upload your DxDiag file to Idxdiag's free checker and get a component by component compatibility verdict for Stellaris in seconds. No install required.
What are the minimum system requirements for Stellaris?
The minimum requirements are CPU: Intel® iCore™ i3-530 or AMD® FX-6350; GPU: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 or AMD® ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 (1GB VRAM), or AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600; 4 GB RAM; OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit.
How much storage does Stellaris need?
Stellaris needs about 10 GB of available storage.
What is the bottleneck for Stellaris?
On a typical modern PC (Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 3060, 16 GB RAM), the tightest component for Stellaris is the CPU.