Bungie Releases Destiny 2 PC System Requirements & Launch Schedule

Something that’s been on the back of my mind ever since the console version of Destiny 2 launched has been when Bungie would begin talking about the PC version. I was surprised the other day when I received an email trying to hype it up – but it didn’t come from Bungie. Instead, it came from Blizzard, which is going to be handling the networking aspect of the game, something that should prove helpful to those already playing other Blizzard titles.

In its latest This Week At Bungie blog post, the company has finally begun giving us some information we’ve been anxious for, including specific launch times, and also system requirements. The first one is answered with the graphic below. On October 24, servers will go live at 10AM PDT (1PM EDT, 6PM BST).

When the PC beta launched, I threw eleven GPUs at it, and ultimately found that you don’t need a high-end card to get great framerates, although your target GPU may change depending on the resolution you’re seeking out. Here’s my summary of performance from the beta:

• AMD Radeon RX 550: Good for 1080p.
• AMD Radeon RX 560: Good for 1080p.
• AMD Radeon RX 570: Excellent for 1080p.
• AMD Radeon RX 580: Good for 1440p.
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56: Good for 3440×1440; Excellent for 1440p.
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 64: Great for 3440×1440; Poor for 4K.
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050: Good for 1080p.
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti: Great for 1080p.
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060: Good for 1440p; Excellent for 1080p.
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070: Great for 3440×1440; Poor for 4K.
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080: Great for 3440×1440; Good for 4K.
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti: Excellent for 3440×1440; Great for 4K.
• NVIDIA TITAN Xp: Excellent for 3440×1440; Great for 4K.

In case I haven’t emphasized it enough, these results are from the beta, which means that performance could be changed up once the final build drops.

Based on my testing, I said that a GTX 1050 Ti will be ideal for 1080p, with Bungie calling the no-Ti variant a minimum (Radeon HD 7850 on the AMD side). Bungie recommends at least a GTX 1060, which I found to be suitable for 1440p/60 (note: this would be with the power-hungry DoF option not at max). I am not sure how developers choose these system specs (what resolution? what target framerate?), and at this point, I’m not entirely sure how much your CPU choice will matter. Questions like these are going to be answered in a matter of time – at this point, the PC launch is only eleven days away.