Chained Together PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum for Chained Together lists an Intel Core i5-6600 at about 3.1 GHz or an AMD Ryzen 5 1600X at about 3.5 GHz, or equivalent. In our tiering that sits in the older entry-to-mainstream band. The minimum GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which is an older entry-level card. The minimum needs 8 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage, and the publisher does not require an SSD.
The recommended level moves up to an Intel Core i5-10400 at about 3.1 GHz or an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X at about 3.1 GHz, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or equivalent. The recommended CPU sits in the older mainstream band, and the recommended GPU is roughly in line with an RTX 4050 laptop card, a 1080p-class mainstream part. Recommended RAM is 16 GB, and storage stays at 8 GB. In practice the biggest gap between the two levels is the graphics card. A card that only meets the minimum will run the game but leaves little room for higher settings, while a card at the recommended level gives you more headroom.
The official list does not specify an SSD, so a hard drive should be workable on paper. The storage requirement itself is small by today's standards, so the main practical difference of an SSD is shorter loading times. Anything the publisher did not list, such as specific requirements for higher resolutions, is not specified and we do not guess at it.
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build suits anyone on an older system or a tight budget. It uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB or an RTX 3050, paired with a Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i3-10100F, and 16 GB of RAM. It runs above the official minimum, but reaching the recommended level will require a stronger graphics card.
The mainstream build is the choice most players will find best value. The GPU can be an RTX 3060 8GB, a Radeon RX 6600, or an RTX 2060 Super, with a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i5-10400 and 16 GB of RAM. It lines up with the official recommended level and leaves some margin, which makes it a good fit for long, stable sessions without overspending.
The high-end build is for players who want the most headroom or who play on a high refresh-rate display. Candidates include an RTX 4070 or Radeon RX 6800 XT, with a Ryzen 7 5700X, Ryzen 5 7600, or Core i5-14400F. We suggest 32 GB of RAM so multitasking and future content updates have room. This build exceeds the official recommendation, but for this game the extra capacity is comfort rather than necessity.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
Chained Together is a platforming adventure with fairly modest visual demands. In games like this the settings that usually cost the most are shadow quality, volumetric lighting and fog, and reflections. If the game offers view distance or scene detail options, raising them tends to be noticeable on weaker hardware as well. As a general rule, put shadows and volumetric effects at medium first, since they usually offer the best balance between look and cost.
Anti-aliasing and post-processing are a matter of taste. If edges look jagged, a moderate anti-aliasing setting is a sensible fix that does not need to cost much else. Ray tracing, where offered, usually adds limited visual benefit to a game like this, so it is best left for a card that has spare capacity.
Upscaling technologies such as DLSS, FSR and XeSS work by rendering at a lower internal resolution and reconstructing a sharper image. On a card that is struggling, enabling upscaling is generally the most effective way to smooth things out, with a small trade-off in fine detail and possible ghosting. How well it works depends on your GPU and whether the game supports it, and we do not make specific performance claims.
Laptops and handheld PCs
Laptop GPUs often share names with desktop cards but perform differently. Laptops have lower power limits and less room for cooling, so a laptop RTX 3060 will usually trail its desktop namesake. When comparing a laptop against the official recommended level, check the card's power limit (TGP) and the cooling design rather than just the model name. Running on mains power with the performance power mode selected usually gives more consistent results.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally are portable x86 or APU devices. They are considerably less powerful than a desktop but can run at low power. For a game like this, handheld players will typically need to lower the resolution and visual settings and use the in-game frame cap to manage heat and battery. We have no verification data for this game on handhelds, so this is general guidance only.
Storage and memory
The official minimum for RAM is 8 GB and the recommended amount is 16 GB. An 8 GB system can run the game, but once you open a browser or other programs, the system starts leaning on virtual memory and stutters become more likely. 16 GB is the more comfortable baseline today. Dual-channel memory, with two sticks in the correct slots, provides better bandwidth, which helps the overall performance of most CPUs, so confirm it is enabled when you install RAM.
For storage, the official requirement is 8 GB, which is small by modern drive sizes. The game does not require an SSD, but an SSD noticeably shortens loading times, and that is more apparent in a game that streams content in segments. If you have the space and the budget, an SSD is the most direct improvement.
It is also wise to keep some free space on the drive for updates and save data. The download size of updates and the save-file footprint are not specified in our data, so the safe approach is to leave generous room rather than filling the drive close to capacity.