[UPDATED 17 OCTOBER 2022]

The purpose of this thread is to help you determine whether your computer's hardware is capable of running SpaceEngine, or to help you choose hardware that is in case you're shopping for a new computer or components. This thread supersedes an older thread (archived here).

Note: the information listed below applies to hardware requirements for version 0.990.44 and later. Older versions of SE have lower requirements for GPU and VRAM.
 
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GPU and VRAM

By far the most important piece of hardware for determining how well SE will run on your system is your graphics processor (GPU) and its associated dedicated video memory (VRAM). I've made a list below showing all desktop GPUs that should be able to run SE at minimum or recommended levels.

Minimum Requirements:

Nvidia GeForce:

• 600 Series: GTX 660 (3 GB), GTX 670 (4 GB), GTX 680 (4 GB)
• 700 Series: GTX 760 (3 GB or more), GTX 770 (4 GB), GTX 780 (3 GB), GTX 780 Ti
• 900 Series: GTX 960 (3 GB or more), GTX 970, GTX 980
• 10 Series: GTX 1050 (3 GB), GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060 (3 GB)
• 16 Series: GTX 1630, GTX 1650, GTX 1650 Super

 
AMD Radeon:

• 200 Series: R9 285X, R9 290, R9 290X (4 GB), R9 295X2
• 300 Series: R9 380 (4 GB), R9 380X, R9 Fury, R9 Nano, R9 Fury X, Pro Duo
• 400 Series: RX 460 (4 GB), RX 470D, RX 470 (4 GB), RX 480 (4 GB)
• 500 Series: RX 550X (4 GB), RX 560D (4 GB), RX 560 (4 GB), RX 570 (4 GB), RX 580 (4 GB)
• 5000 Series: RX 5300, RX 5300 XT, RX 5500, RX 5500 XT (4 GB)
• 6000 Series: RX 6400, RX 6500 XT

 
Intel Arc:

• Alchemist: A380 (meets hardware requirements, but not yet tested)

 
Recommended Requirements: *highly recommended (will run SE very well)

Nvidia GeForce:

• 700 Series: GTX 780 (6 GB), GTX Titan, GTX Titan Black, GTX Titan Z
• 900 Series: GTX 980 Ti, GTX Titan X
• 10 Series: GTX 1060 (5 GB), GTX 1060 (6 GB), GTX 1070, GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti
• 16 Series: GTX 1660, GTX 1660 Super, GTX 1660 Ti
• 20 Series: RTX 2060 (6 GB), RTX 2060 (12 GB), RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2070, RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2080, RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2080 Ti
• 30 Series: RTX 3050, RTX 3060, RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, RTX 3090 Ti
• 40 Series: RTX 4080, RTX 4090

 
AMD Radeon:

• 200 Series: R9 290X (8 GB)
• 300 Series: R9 390, R9 390X
• 400 Series: RX 470 (8 GB), RX 480 (8 GB)
• 500 Series: RX 570 (8 GB), RX 580 (8 GB), RX 590
• Vega Series: RX Vega 56, RX Vega 64, Radeon VII
• 5000 Series: RX 5500 XT (8 GB), RX 5600, RX 5600 XT, RX 5700, RX 5700 XT
• 6000 Series: RX 6600, RX 6600 XT, RX 6650 XT, RX 6700, RX 6700 XT, RX 6750 XT, RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, RX 6900 XT, RX 6950 XT

 
Intel Arc:

• Alchemist: A750, A770 (meets hardware requirements, but not yet tested)

 
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CPU

Regarding CPUs, SpaceEngine is much more flexible. Most desktop-grade CPUs made within the last 10 years or so will be able to meet at least the minimum requirements for SE, though of course it will benefit from faster hardware.

To see if your CPU meets the minimum requirements, go to the link below and change one of the CPUs to the one you have or are thinking about getting. If the difference is 0% or is some percentage in favor of the one you picked, then it meets SE's minimum requirements.

Minimum requirements tester

To see if your CPU meets the recommended requirements, follow the same procedure for the link below.

Recommended requirements tester
 
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RAM

The requirements for your computer's RAM are even simpler: if it has at least 6 GB of RAM, then it meets minimum requirements. If it has at least 8 GB of RAM, then it meets recommended requirements.
 
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Operating System

Currently, SpaceEngine is only natively compatible with 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. The minimum requirement is for Windows 10, as updated graphics drivers are no longer available for older versions of Windows.

Support for additional operating systems is planned for the future, and users of some Linux operating systems should be able to run SpaceEngine right now using Wine or Proton (on Steam).

(reserved)

Thank you HarbringerDawn! This thread is indeed very useful for me as I am currently sniffing around for a new rig set-up . I hope to run 0990 without the machine undergoing type Ia supernova on me!

Nicely laid out. However, regarding the GPUs I am a bit surprised: The increase in the GPUs and VRAM requirements I think is way too high. I can understand that SE 0.990 has advanced a lot from its predecessors but still a 100% increase is way too high IMHO. To not be able to run the program even on a GTX 4xx series or to barely run it on a GTX 5xx series (especially on a GTX 580 with 3Gigs VRAM - that was a special edition, normal releases had 1.5GBs VRAM) is a bit too demanding.
Other games for example Elite Dangerous, and No Man's sky have lower system requirements and I think this might have a negative impact on the sales on steam. Again that is my opinion and by no means intended to diminish the value of the program.

Nicely laid out. However, regarding the GPUs I am a bit surprised: The increase in the GPUs and VRAM requirements I think is way too high. I can understand that SE 0.990 has advanced a lot from its predecessors but still a 100% increase is way too high IMHO. To not be able to run the program even on a GTX 4xx series or to barely run it on a GTX 5xx series (especially on a GTX 580 with 3Gigs VRAM - that was a special edition, normal releases had 1.5GBs VRAM) is a bit too demanding.
Other games for example Elite Dangerous, and No Man's sky have lower system requirements and I think this might have a negative impact on the sales on steam. Again that is my opinion and by no means intended to diminish the value of the program.

NMS and ED are different programs with different requirements, and aside from the slight difference in listed VRAM floor, the requirements are very similar to NMS (in fact the NMS requirements are higher than SE in every way except the difference in VRAM).

Anyway, as many - if not most - people know, it is often possible to get a program to run if your hardware falls below the listed minimum specs, it's just that it will perform more poorly than most people are willing to tolerate. You could technically get 0.990 to run on a 1024 MB 8800 GT, but that doesn't mean it would be a pleasant experience.

Hello,
What about a 4K resolution ?
For a laptop PC ?
Thank's

Nicely laid out. However, regarding the GPUs I am a bit surprised: The increase in the GPUs and VRAM requirements I think is way too high. I can understand that SE 0.990 has advanced a lot from its predecessors but still a 100% increase is way too high IMHO. To not be able to run the program even on a GTX 4xx series or to barely run it on a GTX 5xx series (especially on a GTX 580 with 3Gigs VRAM - that was a special edition, normal releases had 1.5GBs VRAM) is a bit too demanding.
Other games for example Elite Dangerous, and No Man's sky have lower system requirements and I think this might have a negative impact on the sales on steam. Again that is my opinion and by no means intended to diminish the value of the program.

NMS and ED are different programs with different requirements, and aside from the slight difference in listed VRAM floor, the requirements are very similar to NMS (in fact the NMS requirements are higher than SE in every way except the difference in VRAM).

Anyway, as many - if not most - people know, it is often possible to get a program to run if your hardware falls below the listed minimum specs, it's just that it will perform more poorly than most people are willing to tolerate. You could technically get 0.990 to run on a 1024 MB 8800 GT, but that doesn't mean it would be a pleasant experience.

It actually worked fine for me on a 640 MB 8800 GTS for years until my hard drive crashed.  I even had AA turned on and high settings, I just kept my resolution to 1024x768.  I had a Q6600 quad core CPU and 2 GB of RAM and Win XP on my old system.

What about a 4K resolution ?
For a laptop PC ?

LOL my suggestion is that you don't try to run SE at 4k on a laptop. Almost no laptop in existence has the hardware needed to do that at a reasonable framerate. The few laptops that possibly could do it cost $3000 or more.

It actually worked fine for me on a 640 MB 8800 GTS for years until my hard drive crashed.  I even had AA turned on and high settings, I just kept my resolution to 1024x768.  I had a Q6600 quad core CPU and 2 GB of RAM and Win XP on my old system.

Keep in mind that the list I made in this thread is for what is needed to run 0.990 at 1920x1080. Obviously older versions, or using a very low resolution, will allow you to use much weaker hardware.

I have a Acer laptop using NVIDIA 840M with 2 GB dedicated VRAM. I note that the NVIDIA GPUs mentioned at the beginning does not include any of the 800 series. Does that mean my laptop (with an extra screen) won't run SE?

Tarquin, it will run it, just not well.  0.9.9.0 can run on an Intel 4000, it just isn't recommended and won't be great. 

I note that the NVIDIA GPUs mentioned at the beginning does not include any of the 800 series

As I mentioned in the OP, that list only contains desktop GPUs. The 800 series was exclusive to laptops.

How well SE would run depends on the resolution of the screen you want to use. If it's 1080p or higher, then it will probably not run very well.

If your question is "will the program run at all?", then yes, it will.

What about a 4K resolution ?
For a laptop PC ?

LOL my suggestion is that you don't try to run SE at 4k on a laptop. Almost no laptop in existence has the hardware needed to do that at a reasonable framerate. The few laptops that possibly could do it cost $3000 or more.

It actually worked fine for me on a 640 MB 8800 GTS for years until my hard drive crashed.  I even had AA turned on and high settings, I just kept my resolution to 1024x768.  I had a Q6600 quad core CPU and 2 GB of RAM and Win XP on my old system.

Keep in mind that the list I made in this thread is for what is needed to run 0.990 at 1920x1080. Obviously older versions, or using a very low resolution, will allow you to use much weaker hardware.

Yep, and I'm actually quite excited to run the new version on my new hardware.  The timing couldn't be better Getting my new computer last October actually gave me some time to get used to everything.  Got SNPP8 in February and soon the new version of SE and will run each full screen on different monitors.

Will 0.990 have better configuration requirements?

If you want to run SE, the most suitable configuration is officially recommended, which can have better performance, especially at 1080P resolution.
Exporting 4K or higher resolution textures requires more memory, and more than 4G memory is the best.
There are many problems with the minimum configuration, and long waiting loads are unbearable.

[quote="HarbingerDawn"][quote="Onox"][post]26927[/post] What about a 4K resolution ?
For a laptop PC ?[/quote]
LOL my suggestion is that you don't try to run SE at 4k on a laptop. Almost no laptop in existence has the hardware needed to do that at a reasonable framerate. The few laptops that possibly could do it cost $3000 or more.

[quote="A-L-E-X"][post]26962[/post] It actually worked fine for me on a 640 MB 8800 GTS for years until my hard drive crashed.  I even had AA turned on and high settings, I just kept my resolution to 1024x768.  I had a Q6600 quad core CPU and 2 GB of RAM and Win XP on my old system.[/quote]
Keep in mind that the list I made in this thread is for what is needed to run 0.990 at 1920x1080. Obviously older versions, or using a very low resolution, will allow you to use much weaker hardware.[/quote]

OK, there is a new Nvidia card : Geforce 1660Ti, not in the cards list but powerfull like Geforce 1070...