Borderlands 4: Fewer Gags, More Gigs – What These PC Specs REALLY Mean for Your Rig
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Borderlands 4 is demanding a hefty 100GB of SSD space, alongside some surprisingly high (and oddly balanced) PC specs, making me wonder if it's a 'less jokes, more gigabytes' approach for the looter-shooter's fresh start.
Right, so apparently Gearbox and 2K reckon we're all swimming in terabytes of spare SSD space, because Borderlands 4 has just dropped its PC system requirements, and bloody hell, it’s asking for a whopping 100GB. That’s right, a full hundred gigabytes, just two days before launch. You know that feeling when you cast a spell and it works a bit too well, but now your spellbook is suspiciously lighter? That’s kind of the vibe here.
I’ve been tinkering with this story all morning, and frankly, it's wilder than it first appeared. Now, before we dive into the nitty-gritty, a massive shout-out to the chaps over at Rock Paper Shotgun, who originally brought these juicy details to light. Cheers, mate!
Let’s address the elephant in your digital living room first: that colossal 100GB storage requirement. One hundred. A perfectly round, aesthetically pleasing number, I’ll grant you that. I mean, it’s certainly more satisfying than, say, 112GB or some other odd figure that just screams 'we didn’t quite optimise it enough.' Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Did someone in the 'gigabyte dieting' department at Gearbox see they could shave it down to 99GB but thought, 'Nah, 100 just *feels* better'? Honestly, I probably would’ve done the same. It’s the little digital quirks that make life interesting.
But let’s be fair dinkum for a sec. Gargantuan install sizes are, to put it mildly, a bit of an arse-ache. Even the notoriously bloated Call of Duty series has to occasionally rein itself in. A huge chunk of this often comes down to super high-resolution textures that, unless you’ve got a GPU that could power a small moon, you’re probably not even going to experience at their full glory without your framerate committing a rather dramatic seppuku. So, while 100GB is a nice, round number, it also means a good chunk of us might be doing the old digital spring clean, deleting cherished indie gems just to make room for more loot. The irony, eh?
Now, beyond the storage gobbler, the rest of the specs are generally on the higher side, without quite tipping into 'you need a NASA supercomputer' territory. Take the minimum GPU, for instance: an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 or an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, both with 8GB minimum. For the CPU, you’re looking at an Intel Core i7-9700 or an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, requiring a minimum of 8 cores. And 16GB of RAM? That’s becoming the new baseline, isn’t it? It tells us that Borderlands 4 isn't messing about; it wants to look good and run smoothly, but it’s definitely going to push some older rigs. For recommended, we’re talking RTX 3080/RX 6800 XT and 32GB RAM. Beefy, but expected for modern AAA.
Here’s where things get a bit… magical, in a slightly confused way. In the recommended GPU tier, nestled right alongside the RTX 3080 and the RX 6800 XT, we find the Intel Arc B580. Now, don’t get me wrong, Arc cards are doing some interesting things, especially on the budget front. But to put a B580 – a card generally considered a solid mid-ranger – in the same bracket as two bonafide high-end older cards like the 3080 and 6800 XT? That’s like saying your trusty, enchanted broomstick can keep up with a dragon. Either the B580 is punching *way* above its weight in Borderlands 4, or those Nvidia and AMD cards are going to perform significantly better. My gut says the latter, suggesting a 'better than recommended' experience on the green and red team. Curious, very curious indeed.
Oh, and for those of you rocking the latest and greatest, DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation is supported. If you've got an RTX 50 series card, you're set for full pelt. RTX 40 owners will still get that sweet DLSS 3-style 2x frame generation goodness. So, at least they’re looking to give us some performance boosts, which is always a welcome sight in a game that’s likely to throw a bajillion particle effects our way.
Now, a quick personal aside. I’m generally in the 'wait and see how it is' camp on Fourderlands. I trudged through Borderlands 3 with mates, had some laughs, but collectively we decided it wasn’t quite worth the full journey. This new one is being touted as a bit of a reset, with lead writer Taylor Clark even claiming it won't have *as many jokes*. Which, let's be honest, is a pretty weird thing to make a selling point of, isn't it? 'Come for the guns, stay because we’ve toned down the forced humour!' It's at once potentially an improvement (sometimes less is more, eh?) and also just… odd. It's like a wizard promising fewer exploding chickens in their next spell. You're left wondering if that's a good thing, or if it just means less fun chaos.
So, what does this all mean for us, the actual players? Well, if you’re planning to dive into the new planet and its billions of randomly generated firearms when B4 drops on September 12th, you might want to start clearing out your SSD now. And perhaps mentally prepare for a slightly less jokey, but hopefully more refined, loot-shooting experience. Here’s hoping Gearbox has learned a few new enchantments for this one, eh?
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
Tags: Borderlands 4, PC Gaming, Hardware, System Requirements, Gaming News
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun