Home Gaming PC too old to run The Witcher 3? No problem.

PC too old to run The Witcher 3? No problem.

1 min read
128

Tw3-2000

The Witcher 3 is a demanding game. It eats up decent PCs for breakfast, even if it was subject to a visual downgrade or two. It means that many gamers – the sort who can’t afford the latest and greatest in gaming hardware or just haven’t kept up with the tech (but are gamers deep in their hearts anyway) are unable to play one of the year’s best games. Now they can.

Well, sort of. What they can do is play the game on settings below the game’s built-in minimum spec, making it look like a game straight out of last decade. Using a bevy of external programs to dial the graphical settings even lower than ought to be possible, LowSpecGamer (via Kotaku) has managed to get The Witcher 3 running on a weak laptop, at a playable 25 frames per second. Pity it looks like it’s several generations behind The Witcher 2, which would have played fine on this spec. Let’s take a look at the spec:

CPU: Dual-core 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7-2637M
RAM: 8 GB DDR3
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

I don’t want to be one of those people, but an i7 and 8Gb of RAM doesn’t seem that low spec to me. Yes, the GT 540M is a bit on the weak side, but was capable of playing The Witcher 2 at a decent frame rate. Still, the Witcher 3 looking like ass is still better than no Witcher 3 – so if you’re struggling to get the game to run properly on your system, this might be worth looking in to.

And of course, cue the elitists saying that now, it looks just like it does on console. Go on, get it out of your systems.

Last Updated: June 22, 2015

128 Comments

  1. Mossel

    June 22, 2015 at 10:33

    I also had this problem, then I upgraded to a GTX970 and all is in balance again. Except my bank balance. That’s way off.
    EDIT: Also, that’s totally a console screenshot! *Runs!

    Reply

    • CypherGate

      June 22, 2015 at 10:38

      I feel you on the bank balance bit lol just mine is before I can even look at a GTX970 lol

      Reply

    • Viking Of Science

      June 22, 2015 at 10:44

      I got a 970 in the new rig… Max spec (- hairworx) 60FPS… so glorious!

      Reply

      • Cuan Lohrentz

        June 22, 2015 at 11:00

        Really…my GTX970 with Hairworks on and max spec does not run at close to consistently at 60FPS on my 4790k at 1080p…What did you do to manage this?

        Reply

        • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

          June 22, 2015 at 11:04

          Having an identical rig, I realised that doing DSR instead of anti-aliasing is a really, I mean REALLY bad idea…

          As for Hairworks, it makes quite the difference when switching it off, then it pushes between 50 and 60 FPS, where with it I saw a few drops to about 30…

          Reply

        • Aries

          June 22, 2015 at 11:11

          Mine too, drops alot to around 50 sometimes 45, but mostly above 55

          Reply

        • Ranting Raptor

          June 22, 2015 at 11:16

          I think the important bit to notice is that he said – hairworx. So without it, the game should run flatout 60FPS on a 970 I think?

          Reply

          • Cuan Lohrentz

            June 22, 2015 at 11:19

            My apologies … the “-” threw me. So without hairworks. Mostly 60 FPS with most things on Ultra fo sure 😀

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:20

            I envy you folks who can run ultra. Ultra on mine gives around 35fps only 🙁

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:32

            I have no idea what FPS mine runs at. I just play at the level that feels right to me.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:43

            So without Hairworks so that the eyebrows look a bit more clumpy and thick?

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:43

            Hmmmmphhhhhhh!

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:43

            Hmmmmphhhhhhh!

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:43

            So without Hairworks so that the eyebrows look a bit more clumpy and thick?

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:23

            Hairworks is such rubbish anyway. Looks hilarious.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:24

            TressFX and Hairworks both need a lot of work to look a bit more natural. Both have this over the top Loreal advert feel to it

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:25

            Haha. Exactly. It’s like the hair has barely any weight.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:27

            *no weight

            Fixed

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:28

            True.
            Those thunderstorms sure do create a lot of static.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:30

            The problem I think is with the way the physics engine handles hair. Each hair strand is lightweight yes. However what I don’t think the engines take in to consideration is cumulative weight due to hair lying on top of eachother, slightly knotted etc. All that adds up. If they just made hair “Heavier” as such (according to how much hair is present) a lot of the comical “Medusa having a bad hairday” stuff would go away

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:33

            Yes. Very true. Personally I think it looks better without hairworks. It actually has weight to it then.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:27

            *no weight

            Fixed

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:25

            Haha. Exactly. It’s like the hair has barely any weight.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:24

            TressFX and Hairworks both need a lot of work to look a bit more natural. Both have this over the top Loreal advert feel to it

          • Viking Of Science

            June 22, 2015 at 11:39

            exactly. 🙂

        • Mossel

          June 22, 2015 at 13:22

          Mine is also on max settings without hairworks and I think foliage distance is reduced. I get 60+fps constantly, even in massive open environments. I also have and i7 3770k.

          Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        June 22, 2015 at 11:00

        Shaved everything, FPS went up by 5 O_o

        Reply

      • Viking Of Science

        June 22, 2015 at 11:39

        (to solve confusion) (-hairworks = WITHOUT hairworx)

        Reply

  2. Trevor Matrix

    June 22, 2015 at 10:41

    Problem solved: Buy a Console. Never need an upgrade again.

    Reply

    • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

      June 22, 2015 at 10:50

      Except every few years when you need to buy a new mid-range PC *cough* I mean console. 😉

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        June 22, 2015 at 10:51

        Five to seven years is plenty. My biggest problem is the price of new games, or more accurately, the Rands performance against proper currencies.

        Reply

        • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

          June 22, 2015 at 10:53

          R700 – R800 per game is a little steep if you ask me. But then y’all can always do the trade in so that cuts some of the cost down. No one is ever going to buy my Steam backlog (but then again – I probably wouldn’t want them to. MY PRECIOUS!)

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 10:57

            Luckily we have specials as well, there’s a new one every week. You can pay up to half that price for games but still a lot when compared to Steam

        • RustedFaith

          June 22, 2015 at 11:56

          PC upgrades is every 5 years 🙂 Its funny how ppl use the excuse to get a console cause they dont want to upgrade, but then the console gamers buy sub par hardware for a premium price every 5/7 years.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 12:18

            How much is a graphics card every five years? Not to even talk about the rest of the PC parts

          • RustedFaith

            June 22, 2015 at 12:22

            R2300 660ti still going strong. I5-2500k R1800 – 16gb ddr3 R800 – Mobo R800

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 12:40

            Seems like a lot of hassle, Aint nobody got time for that

          • RustedFaith

            June 22, 2015 at 12:45

            lol 🙂

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 12:59

            A full system change every 5 years is roughly R6K – R7k for non-enthusiast level guys.

            (That’s not including peripherals naturally as that doesn’t need to change unless it breaks)

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 13:03

            A decent Keyboard and mouse can be expensive…

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 13:20

            Can be. But unlike consoles, a new PC doesn’t invalidate the keyboard or mouse. So you don’t need to replace unless they are broken. Also you don’t need to spend R2000+ on a mouse or KB. It’s silly unless you are going for seriousness. That’s enthusiast levels again that are not needed.

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 13:46

            But I love the Razor brand. The WASD is completely gone from my keyboard. Only a blue light shines through. you can still kinda make out the letters.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 15:19

            I’ve had the same basic media keyboard for years. Like 7 years + now and still none of the letters have faded 0_0

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 16:19

            I um, oily hands…yes that

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 22, 2015 at 10:55

      “never”
      “upgrade”
      “solved”

      Reply

  3. Blood Emperor Trevor

    June 22, 2015 at 10:44

    Every time I see an article like this it reminds me I’m playing on medium with min spec, and I think it looks fantastic. They did a seriously good job with this game. I’ll start a 2nd play through after I upgrade, then I expect my eyeballs to melt. I already just stop in places to check out the scenery.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 22, 2015 at 10:56

      Same here.
      For now my pc runs it beautifully and most of the tech in it is nearing 3 years old.

      Reply

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        June 22, 2015 at 11:03

        Try 4.5, then try imaging an EA or Ubi PC game running smoothly on that.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 22, 2015 at 11:04

          Eish.
          It’s hard to try and imagine running an EA or Ubi game at all.

          Reply

    • RinceTheElfRoot

      June 22, 2015 at 11:39

      I thought the police had instructed you to stop doing that?

      Reply

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        June 22, 2015 at 12:45

        I thought it was more of a suggestion? :/

        Reply

  4. SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

    June 22, 2015 at 10:51

    I cannot describe how much I’m in awe with this title. CD Projekt Red just did everything right. And then they did everything else and did that better. Not even finished with the story yet and I’m almost 100 hours in.

    Madness? No. This. Is. POLAND.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      June 22, 2015 at 10:52

      Yeah, really getting into the groove of this game atm. Once you start you cant stop.

      Reply

      • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

        June 22, 2015 at 10:54

        Look up at clock. 4pm. Look up at clock again. 4am. BUT I’M STILL HUNTING MONSTERS! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SLEEPY TIME?!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 22, 2015 at 10:58

          I thought my bladder was working incorrectly only to see five hours since I last checked had passed O_o

          Reply

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:02

            I think my bladder is more of a hindrance when it comes to saving Ciri (read bedding Yennifer) than the monsters are. 😛

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:03

            LOL, I’ve only bedded Keira. But then she pissed me off.

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:04

            *SPOILER ALERT*

            Did you (SPOILER) her when she upset you? I have come to regret it. Until the Isles she is the best Alchemy vendor in the game. 🙁

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:07

            I sure did. That will teach her to not (SPOILER)

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:08

            I couldn’t believe her though! I mean I’m not sure she deserved (SPOILER). But daaaaaamn girl. Why you gotta play me like that? Why does NO ONE in this game fear the White Wolf? Don’t you fools KNOW who I am? >.<

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:09

            Exactly! Plus she’s scared of (SPOILER) What did she think was gonna (SPOILER)

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:11

            EXACTLY! Stupid woman.

            *Disclaimer: Keira is not stupid because she IS a woman. She is just stupid. And also happens to be a woman. Please don’t crucify me. I support women’s rights too! You can be JUST as stupid as we are!

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:13

            Well Geralt could have (SPOILER) her instead of (SPOLIER) her and take the (SPOILER) and used igni? Bu who knows

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:16

            I tried igni though on everything in the (SPOILER). I went back to see if I could stop her from (SPOILER). But it seems pre-determined that you have to make some sort of choice.

            A pity. But what she planned to do with (SPOILER) was monstrous.

            Hey. I’m so happy other people did the same thing I did. I worried about my decision with Keira for HOURS after (SPOILER).

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:17

            XD

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:21

            You know. If you’re at least semi-sentient I think you could totally work out what the (SPOILER) is by now. 😛

            SORRY EVERYONE!

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:05

            I went full Geralt yesterday, Yennifer, Sophia & someone’s whose name I can’t remember. So ja, full Geralt.

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:06

            You mean you went full no-memory Geralt. My new Geralt is a ONE WOMAN kind of man now. Oh and that one prostitute. Also that other sorceress. And.. uh.. yeah forget I said anything.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:06

            I have a friend named Gerard. I’ve called him Geralt on five occasions already. I’ve known him for years.

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 22, 2015 at 10:58

          I’m just glad my wife enjoys games too, otherwise she really would’ve felt deserted. 🙂

          Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 22, 2015 at 11:13

          I’ve done that so many times now. Start playing & then a few minutes later “hmmm I’m feeling hungry, wonder if it’s lunch tiHOLY FUCKBALLS IT’S 5PM!”

          Reply

  5. Klipkop1980

    June 22, 2015 at 10:53

    I have an i3 pal, make it run on that and I’ll be your slave for life. Or get a console, it will run anything you want to play on it. Master race se dinges man, it’s not a fair fight if you can’t upgrade your console. Sorry…having a rough day.

    Reply

  6. Captain JJ Browmehn

    June 22, 2015 at 10:54

    Witcher 3 doesn’t demand much from your cpu. It eats your gpu though, so regardless of that being an i7, it’s impressive.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      June 22, 2015 at 10:59

      So you’d better not run Chrome in the background else your RAM is gone as well.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 22, 2015 at 11:03

        Haha. Dude. That is so damn true.

        Reply

  7. Trevor Matrix

    June 22, 2015 at 10:58

    On the subject of Witcher goodies. Guys! I saw Geralt in Croatia! (Refresh)

    Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      June 22, 2015 at 11:00

      AhaaaH!!! I was honestly expecting plated armour and the works!

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 22, 2015 at 11:13

        It’s a stealth mission….

        Reply

        • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

          June 22, 2015 at 11:16

          Geralt of Rivia, in urban camo…

          Reply

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:18

            huehuehuehuehue

  8. Ranting Raptor

    June 22, 2015 at 11:06

    Still looks better than it does on consoles

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      June 22, 2015 at 11:08

      Is it because it’s running on a I7? You’re so biased 😛

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 22, 2015 at 11:08

        I will have you know I own an i7

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 22, 2015 at 11:10

          Of course you do. ;P

          Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 22, 2015 at 11:10

          With Windows 7?

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:10

            He’s probably also the only person with 7Gigs of RAM.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:12

            14*

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:16

            Damn.
            Though I’m sure if you ask Nvidia they’d tell you that 7Gig is actually 12Gig.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:17

            After editing you will notice 14… I forgot about the one 2GB module

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:18

            Potato potato 😉

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:18

            so no math of 14/2 is 7 or anything? wow… I practically handed it to you

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 22, 2015 at 11:20

            It’s a similar problem to the Half Life 3 Equation of Everything. Unfortunately the universal truth is you’re tied to the number 7 and there is nothing (and no one) who can change this. At some point pointing it out further just becomes unnecessary. 😀

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:21

            looooooooooooooool

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:22

            I do maths every day at work. I don’t like to bring that nonsense to Lagz too ;P

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:22

            I do maths every day at work. I don’t like to bring that nonsense to Lagz too ;P

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:11

            And probably 2 970s in SLI so he can have 7gb VRAM. 😉

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:11

            XD

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:12

            560Ti SLI

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:12

            8.1

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:14

            8-1= ???
            Okay I’ll stop for a whole week.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:14

            which is 7 days right?

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:15

            That was actually unintentional but yes.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:15

            Yeah, I totally believe you 😉

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:16

            LOL seriously, it was a coincidence.

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:18

            uh huh

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:26

            Sigh, no convincing you is there?

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:26

            Nnnnnnope

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 22, 2015 at 11:26

            Nnnnnnope

          • Hammersteyn

            June 22, 2015 at 11:26

            Sigh, no convincing you is there?

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 22, 2015 at 11:08

      Not surprised you’re an elitist. It’s 7 letters.

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 22, 2015 at 11:09

        *groans*

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 22, 2015 at 11:11

          lol

          Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 22, 2015 at 11:09

      Huehuehueuhe

      Reply

  9. Trevor Matrix

    June 22, 2015 at 11:17

    Yeah. That i7 cost is what put me off upgrading my PC. Sweet Lords above!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 22, 2015 at 11:21

      You’re more than fine with an i5
      It’s all about having a decent gfx card these days. Games are coded so differently. A guy with a slightly better gpu than a guy with an i7 above an i5 will have a much better running game.

      Reply

      • Trevor Matrix

        June 22, 2015 at 11:22

        I went for the PS4 instead. Now to only get used to the controls. I always end up threatening to punch villagers in the face when I want to talk to them… 🙁

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 22, 2015 at 11:26

          Haha.

          Reply

        • Mossel

          June 22, 2015 at 13:27

          The controls are one thing (I actually play Witcher 3 on pc with a xbox controller), but the price of games…yikes!

          Reply

      • Trevor Matrix

        June 22, 2015 at 11:22

        I went for the PS4 instead. Now to only get used to the controls. I always end up threatening to punch villagers in the face when I want to talk to them… 🙁

        Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 22, 2015 at 11:23

        also the i5 can OC higher than the i7. Even just simple OC’ing with the stock cooler will net you the same spec as an i7 minus HyperThreading which does absolutely JACK SQUAT in games performance wise

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 22, 2015 at 11:23

          What you said 🙂

          Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 22, 2015 at 11:23

        also the i5 can OC higher than the i7. Even just simple OC’ing with the stock cooler will net you the same spec as an i7 minus HyperThreading which does absolutely JACK SQUAT in games performance wise

        Reply

  10. Xcalibersa

    June 22, 2015 at 13:03

    Reminds me of the mod for oblivion. So it would work on DX8 cards or something.

    Reply

  11. chimera_85

    June 22, 2015 at 14:09

    I have a GTX 960 2GB, i5 4460 Quad core 3.2Ghz and 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz RAM. Can I at least play this on medium-high?

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 22, 2015 at 15:23

      You should get medium easily, I get that with the bare minimum spec.

      Reply

      • chimera_85

        June 22, 2015 at 16:38

        Would hope so haha. But my specs is better than a PS4 (I have one too) and the dev said its compared to “high” on PS4????

        Reply

  12. oVg Battle of Kaer Morhen

    June 22, 2015 at 14:45

    The dude is talking shit. He is playing the XBone version.

    RUNS…

    Reply

  13. Esme

    June 22, 2015 at 18:46

    I7 2600K *GB Ram , Radeon Saphire 6780 1gb overclocked and can run 1080p on it.

    Way beneath the specs.

    Reply

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