Wolfenstein: The New Order: The Hardware You Need to Play

By Kevin Parrish
published

Now might be a good time to upgrade a few PC components.

Bethesda's Wolfenstein: The New Order launches on May 20 on the two Xbox consoles, the two PlayStation consoles and Windows 7/Windows 8 on PC. For the latter non-console platforms, the company doesn't provide a number of configurations that spans from minimum to ultimate, but just one list of system requirements.

According to the company, Wolfenstein: The New Order will require the 64-bit version of Windows 7 or Windows 8. On the CPU front, gamers will need an Intel Core i7 or an equivalent AMD chip. The GPU will need to be at least a GeForce 460 or AMD Radeon HD 6850.

The other system requirements include 4 GB of RAM, 50 GB of hard drive space, a high speed Internet connection, and a Steam account for activation (DRM). In fact, the Steam platform is currently taking pre-purchase payments right now, which provides access to the DOOM beta (PC, Xbox One, PS4) and two exclusive Wolfenstein Team Fortress 2 items: the Die Regime-Panzerung and the Der Maschinensoldaten-Helm.

Not playing on the PC? Bethesda reports that PlayStation 4 gamers will need 8 GB of hard drive space at the minimum, and around 47 GB for the total install. PlayStation 3 gamers will also need 8 GB of storage at the very minimum, and 17 GB of space if PS3 owners plan to download the game from the PlayStation Network.

As for the Xbox gamers, those owning the new Xbox One will need 8 GB as the minimum amount of space needed, and around 47 GB for the full install. The company also mentions Kinect support for Voice Commands (English, French, Italian, German and Spanish only). As for the Xbox 360, the game will arrive on four discs, one of which is a mandatory installation disc. Xbox 360 gamers will need at least 8 GB of free space on the hard drive.

Last year, just after E3 2013, Bethesda's VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines said that the upcoming Wolfenstein is more like Naughty Dog's Uncharted series than a mindless shooter. That should be good news for gamers wanting to see something similar on the PC platform.

"When you figure out what Wolfenstein is actually doing here, what it's about and what they're trying to bring to the table, I think there is something there for folks who say, 'yeah, I want to shoot things, but I want some other stuff too,'" he said. "It starts to feel a little like Uncharted, where there's more going on."

During E3 2013, we took Wolfenstein: The New Order for a spin and loved it. You can read our hands-on experience right here.

Kevin Parrish
56 Comments Comment from the forums
  • alchemy69
    "gamers will need an Intel Core i7 or an equivalent AMD chip"

    I find that to be highly unlikely.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    50GB install. Oh, come on. I'm sure, like Titanfall, the majority of that is uncompressed audio and cutscenes. I would happily deal with compressed audio if it means an install smaller than 20GB again. Cripes.
    Reply
  • Vlad Rose
    "gamers will need an Intel Core i7 or an equivalent AMD chip"
    i7 requirement? Yeah, that's kind of nuts if true. So much for all of us that got i5's... lol. And, not to knock AMD too hard, but there isn't an equivalent atm. What are they supposed to do?
    Reply
  • pills161
    "gamers will need an Intel Core i7 or an equivalent AMD chip"

    I find that to be highly unlikely.
    I bet they got their "Recommended" and "minimum" specs all smashed together because you do not pair an i7 with a GeForce 460 on the required ends of things.
    Reply
  • nitrium
    I'd love to know exactly which AMD chips are the equivalent of a Core i7!
    Reply
  • coovargo
    My 8350 scores the same if not better than a stock 4770k. Im not saying this is impressive, as it uses almost triple the power to pull the same workload. Just saying its doable. 220w overclocked 8350 @ 1.52v 4.9ghz stable. Ill end up paying for what i could have had on my electric bill. Watercooling was required.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qvsL8YRUCw&app=desktop
    Reply
  • skit75
    As for the core i7 requirement... I wonder if that is just veiled language for saying the game makes better use of virtual cores which is really the only big difference between the i5 and i7. Reading this article makes it sound like a heavily CPU dependent game, especially with the crappy GPU requirement.
    Reply
  • soldier44
    Finally a game that will test my system and have steep requirements. Having an i7 should be standard these days.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    13218377 said:
    Finally a game that will test my system and have steep requirements. Having an i7 should be standard these days.

    Yeah, for people that like to rebuild their PC every 6 months, and spend stupid money on expensive parts.

    I like the Wolfenstein series. My second favorite behide Quake.
    But if it comes down to needing a new CPU for this particular release? A new CPU that is not that much advanced over my current i5-3570k? Not likely.
    Reply
  • skit75
    13218377 said:
    Finally a game that will test my system and have steep requirements. Having an i7 should be standard these days.

    Enthusiast gamers maybe..... Realistically, everyone does not need an i7. In the 5 years that I have had mine, I can't honestly say it has been worth the upfront cost.

    I mostly game but do some hobby-ist video & sound editing. I do find some comfort in knowing my bottleneck won't come from the core of my system in a 5 year span. She is a little long in the tooth now(i7-920) but my OC is still holding (I'm actually at 3.2GHz for the summer months, not 3.8GHz). I'm now on my 3rd GPU with this rig(GTX 260>GTX 560Ti>GTX 770 SC)
    Reply