Batman™: Arkham Knight PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum for Batman: Arkham Knight is an Intel Core i5-750 at 2.67 GHz or an AMD Phenom II X4 965 at 3.4 GHz, plus an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870, both with at least 2 GB of video memory. The minimum also lists 6 GB of system memory and 45 GB of storage. By our tier estimates, that places the minimum at the very old entry level: the CPU roughly matches a Core 2 Quad Q6600 and the GPU a Radeon HD 7850 class card.
The recommended spec is an Intel Core i7-3770 at 3.4 GHz or an AMD FX-8350 at 4.0 GHz, a GeForce GTX 760 or Radeon HD 7950 with 3 GB of video memory, 8 GB of RAM and 55 GB of storage. The recommended GPU sits around the Radeon HD 7950 level, which is an older entry tier. The recommended CPU is closer to a Core i3-4130 in single-thread terms, though the i7-3770 has more cores. The publisher does not require an SSD, so treat it as a comfort upgrade rather than a requirement.
In practice, the gap between minimum and recommended comes down to video memory, CPU core performance and an extra 2 GB of RAM. If your hardware meets the recommended spec, the game should run well at the settings the publisher had in mind. Going above that requires hardware well beyond the recommended tier.
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build pairs a GeForce GTX 1650 Super with a Ryzen 5 3500X and 16 GB of RAM. Both parts clear the official recommended tier by a comfortable margin, so this suits a player on a tight budget who wants 1080p at low to medium settings. The 16 GB of RAM leaves room for background apps and keeps the game from competing for memory.
The mainstream build uses a GeForce RTX 3050 8GB with a Core i5-10400 and 16 GB of RAM. This is the best value for most players. The 8 GB of video memory gives higher texture settings more headroom, and the CPU handles the scene and character work without trouble. If you plan to keep the PC for several years, this tier will age better.
The high build combines a GeForce RTX 4060 with a Ryzen 5 5600X and 32 GB of RAM. It suits players who want higher settings or resolution and do not want to upgrade for a long time. The extra memory helps with multitasking or streaming, but for this game alone 16 GB is already enough.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In open-world action games like this, the settings that usually cost the most are shadow quality, volumetric lighting and fog, draw distance and detail, and the density of crowds and simulation. Shadows and volumetrics are expensive to compute, so lowering them often recovers a lot of performance with little visible loss. View distance affects how many objects must be drawn at once and loads both the GPU and CPU.
Ray tracing, if offered, is one of the heaviest options. On an entry or mainstream card it is usually best left off so the GPU can focus on core rendering and stability. If the game looks good without it, there is little reason to give up performance for the extra effects.
Upscaling technologies such as NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR and Intel XeSS render the scene at a lower internal resolution and reconstruct it to your display resolution. This generally gives a solid performance boost with a modest image quality cost. On supported hardware, the quality or balanced presets are usually a good trade-off. How much you gain depends on your system and settings, so compare a few options in the game yourself.
Laptops and handheld PCs
Laptop GPUs often share a name with desktop parts but deliver noticeably less performance. Power limits (usually shown as TGP) and cooling design matter as much as the model name. When buying a laptop for this game, look for a newer model with a higher power limit and good thermals, and keep it plugged in while playing.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally can run Windows or SteamOS games, but their performance depends on the built-in processor and graphics unit. Expect to use lower settings and upscaling, and possibly a performance-focused profile or a reduced resolution. We do not have verification data for handhelds, so the best general advice is to check the game's support on your platform first and then choose settings based on the image quality you are willing to accept.
Storage and memory
The official minimum is 6 GB of RAM and the recommended is 8 GB. Once you count the operating system and background apps, we suggest at least 16 GB so the system does not swap heavily during play. Make sure the memory is installed in a dual-channel configuration, using the correct slots on the motherboard, to get the full bandwidth.
For storage, the official minimum is 45 GB and the recommended is 55 GB. These figures cover the base install, but updates and caches will add more, so leave extra free space. An SSD is not required, but it noticeably cuts loading times and makes moving through the world smoother. A hard drive will still run the game, just with longer loads.