Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum lists a GTX 1070 or RX 5600 as the graphics card, 16GB of RAM, 80GB of storage, and does not require an SSD. The GTX 1070 is a 2016 mid-range card. By today's standards it sits around the entry-to-mainstream band for 1080p, which means it is the threshold for the game to run, not a guarantee of a comfortable experience. The publisher did not list a CPU at the minimum level, so no processor tier is given there.
The official recommended level calls for an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, an RTX 2070 or RX 6600, 32GB of RAM, the same 80GB of storage, and no SSD requirement. The Ryzen 7 3700X is an eight-core chip from 2019 and, by our comparison, sits in the modern mainstream range. The RTX 2070 and RX 6600 are in the 1080p mainstream band in our comparison, one step above the GTX 1070. The gap between minimum and recommended is mainly about graphics tier, a more capable processor, and doubling RAM to 32GB.
In practice, if your PC only meets the minimum, the game will run, but large battles with many units will be heavier and you will need lower settings. Players who meet the recommended level have more headroom at mainstream settings. Keep in mind that these are requirements, not performance promises; your actual experience depends on the resolution and settings you choose.
The rest of this guide uses the same tier comparisons to help you match a build to your target settings.
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build suits players on a tight budget aiming at 1080p with medium-to-low settings. Here a GTX 1660 Super or RTX 3050 8GB pairs with a Ryzen 3 3100 or Ryzen 5 4500 and 16GB of RAM. Its goal is to meet the minimum with some margin, which works for trying the game or for players who care less about fine detail.
The mainstream build is the sweet spot for most players and our main recommendation. Choose an RX 6600, RTX 3060 8GB, or RTX 2070 as the graphics card, a Ryzen 5 5500 or Ryzen 7 3700X as the processor, and 32GB of RAM. This combination matches the official recommended level directly. At 1080p with mainstream settings it shows the scale of the battlefield and detail well, and it keeps things smooth when many units are on screen.
The high-end build is for players who want higher resolutions, higher settings, or need headroom for multitasking and streaming. Options include an RX 6800 XT, RTX 4070, or RTX 3090, with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D or Core i5-13600K and 32GB of RAM. Its advantage is spare capacity for higher settings or resolutions, though for this game a mainstream build is already enough for most people.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In games of this kind, the settings that usually cost the most are shadows, volumetric lighting and fog, and the density of units and simulation on the map. Raising shadow quality often adds a noticeable load to the graphics card, and medium is usually enough, since the visual gain at higher levels is modest. Volumetric effects and high-quality fog are also expensive, so if your card is near the recommended tier, these are the first things to lower.
View distance and detail level affect how far distant terrain and objects are drawn, which matters more on large maps. Unless your system has plenty of headroom, there is no need to max them out. Ray tracing, where offered, adds relatively little visible benefit to this kind of game, so on mainstream hardware it is usually best left off so the processing goes to units and the scene.
Upscaling technologies such as DLSS, FSR, and XeSS work by rendering at a lower internal resolution and then reconstructing the image to your target resolution, which can free up a good amount of performance. Which option is available depends on your graphics card and the game version, so use whichever the settings menu lists. As a general rule, medium-to-high settings combined with upscaling is a good balance between image quality and smoothness.
Laptops and handheld PCs
Laptop graphics cards often share names with desktop parts, but an RTX 4050 Laptop GPU is not the same as a desktop RTX 4050. Laptop versions usually have lower power limits and limited cooling, so they typically perform below their desktop namesakes. When comparing against the official requirements, judge the laptop chip on its own tier rather than assuming desktop performance. Look for a model with good cooling and a performance power mode, and play while plugged in.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally run on low-power hardware, so in general you will need to lower settings and resolution more aggressively and use upscaling or a frame cap to keep play steady. We have no verification data for these devices, so this is general guidance only: start from low to medium settings, then fine-tune while watching battery life and temperature.
Whether you use a laptop or a handheld, make sure the device has good airflow during long battle sessions. Insufficient cooling leads to throttling, which will hurt performance more than most settings changes.
Storage and memory
The official minimum calls for 16GB of RAM and the recommended level for 32GB. Dual-channel configuration gives better memory bandwidth, so install memory in matched pairs rather than a single stick. If your PC has 8GB, going to 16GB is the minimum, and 32GB is the comfortable target for both the system and the game.
For storage, the official listing is 80GB and it does not require an SSD. A hard drive will run the game, but an SSD noticeably shortens loading and the waits between scene changes, which helps both large campaigns and multiplayer startup. If your budget allows, install the game on an SSD.
Also leave some spare room beyond the 80GB figure. Updates and mods tend to take extra space, and running short during an update can cause failures. Clearing out files you no longer need helps keep the system running smoothly.