The Last of Us Part I System Requirements & PC Benchmark

Can your PC survive the Cordyceps outbreak and guide Joel and Ellie across a devastated America? The Last of Us Part I, developed by Naughty Dog and published by PlayStation PC LLC, was completely remade from the ground up for modern hardware. Featuring dense post-apocalyptic vegetation, photorealistic character facial animation, and realistic bullet physics, the PC version offers uncapped framerates, 21:9 and 32:9 ultrawide support, and NVIDIA DLSS / AMD FSR upscaling. Following comprehensive post-launch patches (v1.1+), the game’s shader compilation and VRAM management have improved drastically. Use our interactive PC system requirements checker above to calculate your expected framerate before embarking on the journey.

The Last of Us Part I Minimum System Requirements (720p/1080p 30 FPS Low)

To run The Last of Us Part I at baseline playable performance (720p or 1080p low settings targeting 30 FPS), PlayStation PC establishes the following minimum hardware configuration:

• Operating System: Windows 10 (64-bit, Version 1909 or newer)
• Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-4770K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• Graphics Card (GPU): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (4GB), GTX 1050 Ti (4GB), or AMD Radeon RX 470 (4GB)
• System Memory (RAM): 16 GB RAM
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 100 GB available space on a Solid State Drive (SSD is strictly mandatory)

The Last of Us Part I Recommended System Requirements (1080p 60 FPS High)

For a fluid 60 FPS experience at 1080p high quality presets across Pittsburgh, Boston, and Salt Lake City, recommended hardware includes:

• Operating System: Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
• Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-8700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• Graphics Card (GPU): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8GB) or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (8GB)
• System Memory (RAM): 16 GB dual-channel high-speed RAM
• Storage: 100 GB available space on an NVMe M.2 SSD

Performance & 4K Ultra Specs (1440p / 4K 60+ FPS)

If you want to experience the lush overgrown ruins in true 1440p or 4K with Ultra textures and uncapped framerates:

• Performance Tier (1440p 60 FPS High): Intel Core i7-9700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, and 16GB RAM.
• Ultra Tier (4K 60 FPS Ultra): Intel Core i5-12600K / AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (16GB+ VRAM), and 32GB RAM.

Best The Last of Us Part I Graphics Settings for High FPS & Stability

Fine-tuning graphics settings in The Last of Us Part I is critical to avoid VRAM exhaustion and micro-stutters. These settings can boost your framerate by 30% to 45%:

• Upscaling (DLSS / FSR 2): Set to “Quality”. Upscaling reconstructs fine foliage geometry cleanly while reducing GPU core temperatures.
• Texture Quality: High (requires 8GB VRAM; set to Medium on 6GB or 4GB GPUs to prevent game crashes).
• Shadow Quality: Medium (High and Ultra shadows impose a massive overhead on GPU memory bandwidth).
• Volumetric Quality: Medium (reduces ray-marched sunbeam overhead during forest and fungal spore sequences).
• Reflection Quality: Medium (screen-space reflections provide realistic puddles with modest resource usage).
• Motion Blur: 0 or Off (improves target tracking when fighting infected Clickers and Runners).
• Dynamic Objects Shadows: Half Resolution (saves CPU draw calls in crowded combat zones).

Hardware Bottlenecks: VRAM Management & CPU Thread Utilization

The Last of Us Part I heavily stresses both VRAM capacity and multi-core CPU performance. Modern 8-core/16-thread CPUs handle the background decompression of world assets with substantially higher stability than older 4-core chips. Furthermore, monitoring in-game VRAM usage through the built-in graphics slider is vital: staying under the orange warning threshold prevents sudden frametime spikes. If you enjoy cinematic PlayStation narrative adventures on PC, also check our hardware benchmarks for God of War Ragnarök system requirements and Horizon Forbidden West.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why does shader building take so long on first boot?
The PC version builds pre-compiled shaders for your specific GPU architecture to prevent hitching during gameplay. Following official game updates, this process completes in roughly 10 to 15 minutes on a modern multi-core CPU. Let it finish 100% before starting a new game.

Can I run The Last of Us Part I on a mechanical hard drive (HDD)?
No, PlayStation PC lists an SSD as mandatory. Installing on an HDD causes severe stuttering, missing world geometry, and endless loading screens.

Is The Last of Us Part I verified on Steam Deck?
Yes, Valve rated it “Verified” following extensive patch optimization. On Steam Deck, using FSR 2 set to Balanced with Low/Medium settings achieves a playable 30 FPS experience.

For official patch notes, PC accessibility features, and community announcements, visit the official The Last of Us Part I Steam Store page. Use our hardware calculator above to test your gaming PC today!