NBA 2K21 is coming soon to PC. For many, the franchise is still stung by the controversy over gambling last game, but there will likely be many gamers who are eager to play the new game. I mean if you want to feed that gambling addiction with slot machines in your basketball game, sure. OK, salt aside, let’s look at what PC gamers really care about. The NBA 2K21 PC System Requirements have been released.
The NBA 2K21 PC port will feature pretty spiffy graphics, but it has clearly been optimized to run on lower-end hardware as well. The game features both minimum and recommended specs, and it seems like any modern machine can run this pretty easily.
NBA 2K21 minimum specifications
- Operating system – Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (all in 64-bit)
- Processor – Intel Core i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz or AMD FX-4100 @ 3.60 GHz or higher
- Memory – 4 GB RAM
- Graphics – Nvidia GeForce GT 450 1GB or ATI Radeon HD 7770 1GB or better
- DirectX – Version 11
- Storage – 80 GB
- Sound card – DirectX 9.0 compatible
- Dual-analog gamepad – Recommended
An FX-era AMD CPU is pretty easy to come by, although it would probably be better to run this game with something like an FX-8350 if that’s an option for you. If you do have a choice though, go for a newer CPU. The Intel Core i3-530 is 10 years old, so get something better if you want this game to run any better than 30 FPS on 720p, with basic graphics.
For GPUs, pretty much anything released in the last 6 years or so should be fine to run the game at a very basic level.
It’s also pretty interesting that both sets of specs recommend using a controller of some kind over mouse-and-keyboard. The game is clearly tuned for analog sticks.
NBA 2K21 recommended PC settings
- Operating system – Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (all in 64-bit)
- Processor – Intel Core i5-4430 @ 3 GHz or AMD FX-8370 @ 3.4 GHz or higher
- Memory – 8 GB RAM
- Graphics – Nvidia GeForce GT 770 2GB or ATI Radeon R9 270 2GB or better
- DirectX – Version 11
- Storage – 80 GB
- Sound card – DirectX 9.0 compatible
- Dual-analog gamepad – Recommended
If you’re stepping up to 1080p gaming or better visual quality, you’re going to need to step up your game. A decent FX-era CPU is a must for this, but anything more recent will be fine too. Intel CPUs from the last five years or so should be perfect for this, as long as they’re Quad-Core variants. GPUs are a similar case. Any modern mid-range card should be fine for the NBA 2K21 PC port.