The NBA 2K26 system requirements have increased, but not by much

The NBA 2K26 system requirements are more demanding than last year's game, which is surprising to see given that no major changes to the game engine have been announced. One confirmed change, however, comes to the game file size, which is thankfully getting smaller.

While you still won't need the best graphics card from our helpful buying guide to run NBA 2K26, it can only help if your specs sit comfortably above the system requirements.

Here are the NBA 2K26 system requirements:

The NBA 2K26 minimum requirements are noteworthy as they're slightly increased when compared to last year's game. Given that there are no big engine changes announced so far, it is surprising to see this increase, but it's far from extreme and still on par with where most modern 3D games start out in terms of PC demands.

You'll now need an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT, or Intel Arc A580 graphics card, paired with an Intel Core i3 9100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 CPU. The RAM requirement is still quite low at just 8GB, but if you want a relatively cheap way to improve your game performance, upgrading to 16GB or 32GB of the best gaming RAM from our buying guide is the best way to go. Just make sure whichever upgrade you go for is compatible with your current gaming PC.

As for the NBA 2K26 recommended specs, these are unchanged from NBA 2K25, with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070, AMD Radeon RX 5700, or Intel Arc A770 graphics card required. On the CPU front, you'll need an Intel Core i5 10600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, while the RAM demands double to 16GB.

Finally, the NBA 2K26 download size is a big win for gamers short on storage space, as the demands are down from 150GB to just 100GB. Yes, it's still a fairly large file, but it's a vast improvement over recent years.

You'll also need an SSD to store the game on, which is a requirement that has been in place for some time. Failure to download the game onto an SSD will result in long loading times and, based on previous years, in-game performance could be erratic.

Another hidden spec for NBA 2K26 is the use of a controller, so be sure to check out our best PC controller guide if you want to know which ones we recommend. You can also explore our best gaming headset guide if you want to experience what is sure to be another iconic NBA 2K soundtrack in all its glory.

Take our NBA 2K26 system requirement PC benchmark test to answer the question… Can I run NBA 2K26?

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