'Starfield' System Requirements Demand an SSD and 125GB of Storage

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"Starfield" nearly gives "Jedi: Survivor" a run for its money -- or rather, your money.

Starfield
(Image credit: Steam - Starfield)

System requirements have come out for Bethesda's highly anticipated "Starfield" AAA RPG video game, and its storage requirements are some of the most demanding we have seen to date, even surpassing STAR WARS "Jedi: Survivor" in some aspects. The storage requirements demand at least 125GB of free space and the addition of a solid-state drive at a very minimum.

The jump from a best hard drive (HDDs) to SSDs as the minimum requirement is actually very rare, and is something we haven't seen from any major release in 2023 so far. Games such as Jedi: Survivor, Redfall, and Resident Evil 4, have not required SSD storage as the bare minimum, only recommending them for the most optimal experience.

This makes "Starfield's" requirements quite unique, and shows us that this game will probably be especially demanding on the memory side of computer hardware, particularly when it comes to streaming assets in and out of storage. Starfield is Bethesda's first new IP in 25 years and is one of the studio's most expansive games to date, featuring a whopping 1000 planets to explore. The game is a space-themed open-world RPG that will allow you to do almost anything you want, with various side quests and missions housed on different planets, cities, ships, and more.

The good news is that this SSD requirement shouldn't affect a lot of gamers, with the 125GB file size arguably being more demanding than the actual SSD requirement. Thanks to the continued development of solid-sate storage over the past decade, SSDs are generally far faster than hard drives, and the cost per gigabyte, while still generally higher than for hard drives, is generally much lower than it was even a year ago.

In fact, now could not be a better time for a storage upgrade if you need more space for "Starfield," as well future games which will likely have similar requirements. Some of the Best SSDs , like the 1TB Samsung 990 Pro, 1TB Crucial P3, and 1TB WD Black SN850X are well under $100 now, with decent 2TB options under $160 as well. Even some roomy 4TB options, like TeamGroup's MP34, have dipped below $200. As always, you can check our best SSD deals page to find a sweet price on a speedy solid-state storage upgrade.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

39 Comments Comment from the forums
  • And that's "without" counting any game patches/updates, 125GB as min.

    Still can't beat COD MW's storage requirements, which can eat up to 200-300 GB of space counting all the updates and patches/DLCs installed.

    "Ark: Survival Evolved" leads the chart when it comes to storage space though IMO. 250+GB required as a minimum. Given how minimalistic ARK can seem at times, this might come to be somewhat of a surprise.

    But the game has come a long way since its release, having gone through the kind of quality-of-life tweaks one would expect from a title of its size. There are also a variety of expansion DLCs that only add to the initial file size, making it much bigger than most players would initially think.
    Reply
  • These days AAA games take a whole lot of space, and more importantly they are horriblly optimized at the same time (poor PC ports). Even after the huge and steep system requirements, they fail to deliver a playable performance even on high-end PCs.

    That's why I have stopped playing AAA games these days. Some games in particular really ramp up the file size to the point where it's ridiculous.
    Sure, with the evolution of tech in the gaming world, games' graphics and quality of life/QOL features have skyrocketed substantially compared to a decade ago. And, with improved technology comes bigger file sizes to be able to fit everything into the game, but at what cost ?
    Just to play a stuttering mess or a poorly optimized game on the PC ?
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    The burning question...
    is this because this game will use dx12 directstorage (like all the time and not just to load in) or this just bethesda being bethesda?
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    TerryLaze said:
    The burning question...
    is this because this game will use dx12 directstorage (like all the time and not just to load in) or this just bethesda being bethesda?

    I hope it's using the direct storage API. It's supposed to be a large expansive world. I hate loading between areas.
    Reply
  • sherhi
    Metal Messiah. said:
    These days AAA games take a whole lot of space, and more importantly they are horriblly optimized at the same time (poor PC ports). Even after the huge and steep system requirements, they fail to deliver a playable performance even on high-end PCs.

    That's why I have stopped playing AAA games these days. Some games in particular really ramp up the file size to the point where it's ridiculous.
    Sure, with the evolution of tech in the gaming world, games' graphics and quality of life/QOL features have skyrocketed substantially compared to a decade ago. And, with improved technology comes bigger file sizes to be able to fit everything into the game, but at what cost ?
    Just to play a stuttering mess or a poorly optimized game on the PC ?
    That's true when they are released and maybe for next year or two after that. If you can delay gratification (which is an adult characteristic hence why many legally adult people can't do that and often drive the market with poor spending behaviour) you can actually enjoy those games 1-2 years after release, patched many times, maybe even with some community mods and patches (games like Skyrim are incredible), heavily discounted and even older system can run them easier. Plus even though I have been heavy gamer for past 25 years I am still years behind most recent releases, it's impossible to consume gaming content, there is too much of it. I am not even going to install this on my Series X, I still haven't finished AC Odyssey and Hotwheels, then lawn mowing simulator caught my eye (I'm getting old)...by the time I finish my list it's Christmas and Starfield will most likely even have performance mode for 60fps or something.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    TerryLaze said:
    The burning question...
    is this because this game will use dx12 directstorage (like all the time and not just to load in) or this just bethesda being bethesda?
    Directstorage can support HDDs now. You might not have noticed because directstorage support is so poor that you can't even look up a list of software planning to someday use it.
    Reply
  • mamasan2000
    Metal Messiah. said:
    These days AAA games take a whole lot of space, and more importantly they are horriblly optimized at the same time (poor PC ports). Even after the huge and steep system requirements, they fail to deliver a playable performance even on high-end PCs.

    That's why I have stopped playing AAA games these days. Some games in particular really ramp up the file size to the point where it's ridiculous.
    Sure, with the evolution of tech in the gaming world, games' graphics and quality of life/QOL features have skyrocketed substantially compared to a decade ago. And, with improved technology comes bigger file sizes to be able to fit everything into the game, but at what cost ?
    Just to play a stuttering mess or a poorly optimized game on the PC ?
    https://news.softpedia.com/news/Titanfall-Needs-50GB-of-Space-on-PC-Due-to-Uncompressed-Audio-Files-431586.shtmlThen you might have many different audio languages in your game and you add the textures too. Data keeps getting bigger, no surprises there. People want 2k, 4k+ resolution textures. This is the price we pay.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    Disagree on now being the best time to buy a SSD, or anything electronic. Next month is Prime Day.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    TerryLaze said:
    The burning question...
    is this because this game will use dx12 directstorage (like all the time and not just to load in) or this just bethesda being bethesda?
    Probably. Keep in mind that this game was tailored around the Series X/S consoles and the assets used incorporate up to 4K resolution. By today's standards, 125GB is average for an XBOX Series X/S game.

    Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 requires even more than 125GB. I'm curious what the disk requirements will be for MSFS 2024?
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Disagree on now being the best time to buy a SSD, or anything electronic. Next month is Prime Day.
    Or, just forget about Prime Day and grab a datacenter SSD on ebay. Intel P5520 (Solidigm D7-P5520) has up to 16 TB of capacity and way better tail latencies than any consumer drive.
    https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=P5520
    Yeah, it's "only" PCIe 4.0, but it performs where it counts. The main downsides are higher idle power, and you have to deal with getting a cable adapter and putting in a 2.5" slot with some airflow.
    Reply