Building the Best PC for Fallout 4

Game Guide

Last updated : November 17, 2023

The post-apocalyptic future is bigger and prettier than ever. In Fallout 4, you play as a vault dweller, a survivor of the nuclear apocalypse. You have emerged from your vault 200 years after nuclear war left the world in devastation, and you set out on a quest to kill mutants, build laser guns, and collect Nuka Cola bottlecaps.

This guide takes a close look at Fallout 4's graphical settings and the impact they have on the game. We'll also give you a good idea of the kind of PC hardware you'll need to run Fallout 4 to your own personal satisfaction. If you just want to know what to buy without all the in-depth analysis, you can skip to the recommendations section.

If you already have a PC but want to know what settings to use for best performance, check out the Fallout 4 settings guide section.

Fallout 4 is built on an updated version of Bethesda’s Creation engine, which debuted in 2011 powering the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Taking advantage of the engine’s significantly upgraded features (including physics-based shading and ambient occlusion shadowing), Fallout 4 definitely looks better than Skyrim, but the visual quality still doesn't match some of the nicest looking titles of its release year, 2015 (let alone what's available now).

Despite that, the game is still quite tough on hardware. You will need a pretty beefy gaming PC to play Fallout 4 on its highest settings, though a moderately powerful machine should do fine on lower settings and resolution.

Let us take a look at what Logical Increments tier you should build to play Fallout 4.

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A Note About Frame Rate (FPS)
Fallout 4 Performance Charts
Higher Resolution for Better Gaming
Fallout 4 Official Hardware Requirements and Specifications
Fallout 4 Graphical Settings Guide
Logical Increments Tiers and How They Fare
Fallout 4 Video
Conclusion
About Us
Sources

A Note About Frame Rate (FPS)

Frames per second (FPS) measures the number of images your computer can produce every second. Higher frame rates mean that your screen will show more images per second, which means that you will see a smoother animation. Lower frame rates cause a game to appear to stutter, which is generally not enjoyable for the player.

For the purposes of our PC build guides, we recommend computers that will achieve 60 FPS in your game of choice. Some gamers are satisfied with frame rates as low as 30, but that depends largely on the gamer and the game.

For more information and animations explaining frame rate, please check out our Frame Rate page.

Fallout 4 Performance Charts

We recommend PC builds in "tiers," with each tier containing the most powerful, most reliable, and least expensive combination of parts for that price. We don't list the individual parts in this guide because they change frequently based on local prices and new releases. You can see the latest individual part choices for each tier at the main guide page, which is updated regularly. Open it in a new tab to compare: Logical Increments PC Parts Guide. You can also see a comparison between GPUs in our Graphics Card Comparison page.

These benchmarks assume that all of the graphical settings in the game are set to their highest or turned on. You can get even better performance out of your PC if you adjust some of the graphical settings, but we explain that in more detail below.

Standard Fallout 4:

Tier	1600x900	1920x1080	2560x1440	3840x2160
Destitute ($250)	Borderline	Unplayable	Unplayable	Unplayable
Poor ($400)	Playable	Borderline	Unplayable	Unplayable
Minimum ($450)	Smooth	Playable	Borderline	Unplayable
Entry ($500)	Very Smooth	Smooth	Playable	Unplayable
Modest ($600)	Very Smooth	Smooth	Playable	Unplayable
Fair ($750)	Very Smooth	Very Smooth	Smooth	Unplayable
Good ($850)	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Smooth	Borderline
Very Good ($950)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Playable
Great ($1100)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Playable
Superb ($1200)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Smooth
Excellent ($1300)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth
Outstanding ($1500)	Buttery Smooth	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth
Exceptional ($1900)	Buttery Smooth	Buttery Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth
Enthusiast ($2500)	Buttery Smooth	Buttery Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth
Extremist ($3500)	Competitive	Buttery Smooth	Buttery Smooth	Silky Smooth
Monstrous ($4000)	Competitive	Buttery Smooth	Buttery Smooth	Silky Smooth

Explanation
Below 20 FPS	Unplayable	Jerky animation, "lag" and "stutter".
20-30 FPS	Borderline	Ok for some, too "laggy" for others. AKA "Cinematic".
30-45 FPS	Playable	Acceptable to most people. Not very good though!
45-60 FPS	Smooth	Fluid animation, no "lag".
60-90 FPS	Very Smooth	Very smooth is very smooth to almost everyone.
90-144 FPS	Silky Smooth	Criminally smooth. For hardcore and professional players.
144-200 FPS	Buttery Smooth	The smoothest of smooth. When you need a constant framerate on a 144 Hz monitor.
200-400 FPS	Competitive	Usually provides a frame rendered within the past 0.003 second on a 144 Hz monitor, each refresh.

*Please note that some of the Fallout 4 benchmarks for dual-card setups (such as those in the Extremist and Monstrous tiers) are extrapolated. SLI and Crossfire drivers have only recently been released for Fallout 4, and we have not seen a reliable source produce benchmarks for them.

Fallout 4 High Resolution Texture Pack:

The Fallout 4 High Resolution Texture Pack improves the game's visuals, but also significantly impacts performance.

Tier	1600x900	1920x1080	2560x1440	3840x2160
Destitute ($250)	Unplayable	Unplayable	Unplayable	Unplayable
Poor ($400)	Unplayable	Unplayable	Unplayable	Unplayable
Minimum ($450)	Borderline	Unplayable	Unplayable	Unplayable
Entry ($500)	Borderline	Borderline	Unplayable	Unplayable
Modest ($600)	Borderline	Borderline	Unplayable	Unplayable
Fair ($750)	Playable	Playable	Unplayable	Unplayable
Good ($850)	Playable	Playable	Unplayable	Unplayable
Very Good ($950)	Very Smooth	Very Smooth	Playable	Borderline
Great ($1100)	Very Smooth	Very Smooth	Playable	Borderline
Superb ($1200)	Very Smooth	Very Smooth	Very Smooth	Borderline
Excellent ($1300)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Smooth
Outstanding ($1500)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Smooth
Exceptional ($1900)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth	Smooth
Enthusiast ($2500)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth
Extremist ($3500)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth
Monstrous ($4000)	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Silky Smooth	Very Smooth

Explanation
Below 20 FPS	Unplayable	Jerky animation, "lag" and "stutter".
20-30 FPS	Borderline	Ok for some, too "laggy" for others. AKA "Cinematic".
30-45 FPS	Playable	Acceptable to most people. Not very good though!
45-60 FPS	Smooth	Fluid animation, no "lag".
60-90 FPS	Very Smooth	Very smooth is very smooth to almost everyone.
Above 90 FPS	Silky Smooth	Criminally smooth. For hardcore and professional players.

Higher Resolution for Better Gaming

A comparison of several common resolutions.

Resolution refers to the number of pixels on a screen. High resolution means more pixels and generally more space and detail, while low resolution means fewer pixels, and often less space. If you are using a typical (not high-end) laptop or an old screen, you likely have a low resolution. When comparing screens with a similar aspect ratio, it is always better to get a higher resolution screen. Higher resolution will always looks better, as you have more real estate and a sharper picture. The image below shows the difference in real estate between common resolutions.

For more information on resolutions, check our Screen Resolution page.

Fallout 4 Official Hardware Requirements and Specifications

Before discussing how various PC components influence your performance with Fallout 4, let’s take a look at the game’s Minimum and Recommended system requirements, according to Bethesda:

Official Minimum System Requirements:

Processor (Intel): Intel Core i5-2300 2.8 GHz
Processor (AMD): AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 30 GB free HDD space
Graphics Card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti 2GB
Graphics Card (AMD): AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB

Official Recommended System Specifications:

Processor (Intel): Intel Core i7-4790 3.6 GHz
Processor (AMD): AMD FX-9590 4.7 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 30 GB free HDD space
Graphics Card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB
Graphics Card (AMD): AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB

Now let’s take a look at how each component influences the game’s performance on your PC.

GPU

As with most games, your graphics card will have the greatest impact on performance in Fallout 4. And while the game doesn’t quite look as aesthetically spectacular as some of the prettiest games of its release year (2015), the fact that it’s an open-world game means that the draw distance is quite long (i.e. the game renders objects that are far away from the player), which requires significant graphical power in its own right.

According to GamersNexus, Fallout 4 uses a little under 3 GB of video RAM at 1080p with Ultra settings, but even many 2 GB graphics cards can handle the game at around 50+ frames per second (FPS) on 1080p Ultra. Thankfully, Fallout 4 is still very playable in the 45+ FPS range, which we consider “smooth.”

Fallout 4 CPU Requirements

Your CPU will play a role in how well Fallout 4 performs, but not nearly as much as your GPU. Benchmarks from Tom’s Hardware suggest that Intel Core i3 CPUs are enough to handle the game without major hits to performance.

If you want to run Fallout 4 on high settings without breaking the bank, make sure you get a sufficiently powerful graphics card, but feel free to save a little money on the CPU. As long as it’s powerful enough, you won’t notice a huge performance difference between a budget CPU and a higher-end one when it comes to playing many games, including Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 RAM Requirements

Bethesda’s minimum and recommended specifications both call for 8 GB of RAM, which is reasonable. If you really wanted to push it, you could get away with playing the game on 4 GB of RAM, but that’s as low as you would want to go.

Fallout 4 Graphical Settings Guide

Fallout 4 has 20 graphical settings to tweak, and some of those settings have a greater impact on FPS than others. If you’re experiencing unsatisfactory framerates while playing the game, there are a few settings you can lower that may significantly improve your gameplay experience without sacrificing too much visual quality.

In particular, there are three settings that have an enormous impact on FPS, according to NVIDIA*: God Rays, Shadow Distance, and Shadow Quality. Let’s discuss each of those first.

^{*NVIDIA's excellent Fallout 4 guide was taken down for some reason. This is the cached version.}

God Rays: These are part of NVIDIA’s volumetric lighting technology, and they do enhance the look of the game’s environment significantly, making Fallout 4 generally look more epic. But epicness comes at a big performance cost. Switching them to Low from Off will cost you a small ~6% in performance. But turning God Rays from Off all the way up to Ultra can result in a huge ~40% hit to performance. The visual differences between God Rays on Low and Ultra are negligible, so if you’re looking for a way to easily get a performance boost, consider lowering your God Rays settings first.

Drag the cursor to compare having God Rays on Low and on Ultra.

Shadow Quality: This affects the level of detail in the shadows. On lower settings, shadows look more pixelated and jagged. On high settings, they look smooth and more realistic. You’ll see a ~20% hit to performance between the lowest and highest settings.

Below, we show two comparisons for shadow settings. The first is between Low and Medium, and the second compares Medium and Ultra. You will notice immediately that Low shadow quality is much worse than Medium, but the differences between Medium, High, and Ultra are much less pronounced. If you need to improve performance, Medium quality shadows are a good compromise.

Drag the cursor to compare having Shadow Quality on Low and on Medium.

Drag the cursor to compare having Shadow Quality on Medium and on Ultra.

Shadow Distance: This affects the amount of shadow detail on objects in the distance, making the environment generally look more realistic on higher settings. You’ll see a ~15% performance difference between the lowest and highest settings with shadow distance.

Drag the cursor to compare having Shadow Distance on Medium and on High.

In summary, for best performance:

Set God Rays to Low.
Set Shadow Quality to Medium.
Set Shadow Distance to Medium or High.

Tweaking these three settings will produce the greatest bang-for-your-buck in terms of improving performance without hurting the game too much visually. If you tweak those and still aren’t satisfied with your framerate, continue lowering other settings down to High or Medium.

One other thing: If you’re noticing framerate drops particularly in grassy areas, lower the Grass Fade setting.

Logical Increments Tiers and How They Fare

To determine how your PC will perform Fallout 4, you’ll need to consider three things:

The resolution you want to play at (usually your screen’s native resolution)
How much graphical detail you want
How smoothly you want the gameplay to run

For our purposes, we aim for a very smooth 60+ FPS with the graphical settings turned all the way up. If you’re willing to lower any graphical settings, or you’re happy with framerates lower than 60 FPS, you can get by with an even lower-tier PC. You can see a comparison between GPUs in our Graphics Card Comparison page.

Below, we list the the tiers on our parts list that would achieve that 60 FPS baseline with Fallout 4 at a range of progressively more demanding screen resolutions.

1600x900

The Entry tier, featuring the RX 550 and the i3-12100F, will get you very smooth performance in Fallout 4 at 1600x900.

1920x1080 (1080p)

The Fair tier, featuring the Arc A580 and the i3-12100F, will get very smooth performance at 1080p.

2560x1440 (1440p)

The Very Good tier, featuring the RX 6650 XT and the i5-13400F, will get very smooth performance at 1440p.

3840x2160 (4K)

You’ll likely want our Excellent tier PC, with the RX 7800 XT and the R5 7600X, to maintain very smooth framerates at 4K.

Note: As we mentioned in the CPU section of this article, you can reasonably build a PC with these higher-end GPUs and a weaker CPU. However, for each tier, we recommend a strong CPU that maintains a good overall balance with the strong GPU.

Fallout 4 Video

If you want more specific build advice on hardware suitable to play Fallout 4 on a variety of settings, we have a video for that!

Conclusion

Once again: With Fallout 4, you want to make sure your GPU packs a punch. You can, however, skimp a little on the CPU, if you need to save money anywhere. However, our PC build recommendations aim to strike a balance of power between the GPU and CPU—not because you need a powerful CPU for gaming, but because you ideally want a balanced PC that can handle anything you might need it to do.

We hope this guide has helped you determine the hardware you’ll need to play Fallout 4 to your satisfaction, and what settings to use to help strike a balance between good visuals and good performance. If you want to do any more research on PC hardware, visit our homepage.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below, or email us at contact@logicalincrements.com.

About Us

James has played Fallout 1, 2, and 3 extensively. He’ll be available again once Fallout 4 is completed.

The Falcon played a little of Fallout 3 and New Vegas. He intends to finish Fallout 4, if he can find the time.

Logical Increments helps more than 2 million PC builders each year with hardware recommendations for any budget.