Mortal Kombat 1 PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum requirements for Mortal Kombat 1 list an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100 / Ryzen 5 2600 for the processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660, AMD Radeon RX 590 or Intel Arc A750 for the graphics card, 8 GB of RAM and 140 GB of storage. An SSD is not required. In our tier comparison, the minimum GPU sits roughly at the GTX 980 level, a 1080p-class entry point, and the minimum CPU is comparable to an older mainstream chip such as the Core i5-6600K.
The recommended requirements list an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, plus an Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 Ti, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or Intel Arc A770. The recommended GPU lands roughly at the RTX 2060 Super mainstream level. The gap from minimum to recommended is mostly about graphics and processing power; the RAM and storage figures stay at 8 GB and 140 GB in both tiers, so the publisher did not list a higher memory requirement for the recommended setup.
In practice, the minimum tier means the game will launch and run at basic settings, while the recommended tier is what the publisher considers a comfortable baseline. If your hardware falls between the two, the game will usually run, but you will have to lower settings more carefully.
The official pages do not state a target resolution or frame rate, so you cannot read exact performance from the list alone. The most useful way to judge your system is by its relative tier against these two levels.
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build pairs a GTX 1660 Super or RTX 3050 with a Ryzen 5 3500X or Core i5-10400F. It suits players who want to get in at lower cost and are happy with moderate settings. The graphics card sits in the same class as the official minimum GPU, and the CPU has enough headroom for the game's logic. Pair it with 16 GB of RAM so background apps do not push the system into swapping.
The mainstream build centers on an RTX 2060 Super, Radeon RX 5700 XT, RTX 3060 12GB or Intel Arc B570, with a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i5-10400. This is the closest match to the official recommended tier and offers the best balance for most people. Swap the GPU for another card in the same price band if you prefer a particular brand. Again, 16 GB of RAM is the sensible choice.
The high-end build uses an RTX 4070, RX 7800 XT or RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, with a Ryzen 7 5800X, Ryzen 5 7600 or Core i5-14400. This is well above the recommended tier, so it suits players who want higher settings, extra headroom, or a high-refresh monitor. Since the rest of the system is strong, 32 GB of RAM makes sense for multitasking and for other games.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In fighting games like this one, the settings that usually cost the most are shadow quality, volumetric lighting and particle effects, depth of field and reflections, and the density of crowd and background detail. Most of these affect atmosphere more than the clarity of the fighters themselves, so they are the first to lower when hardware is tight. Keep character model quality, material detail and anti-aliasing where possible, since those keep the fight readable.
Ray tracing and global illumination features are typically among the most demanding options. On a mainstream card, it is usually best to turn these off or dial them down first and keep the core image stable. If you have a higher-end GPU, enable them selectively and see whether the extra detail is worth the cost to you.
Upscaling is worth using in general. Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR and Intel XeSS render at a lower internal resolution and rebuild the image at your display resolution, which can free up a lot of performance. Quality modes generally keep more fine detail, while performance modes reduce the load further. How much detail you lose depends on your screen and what you are looking at, so compare the modes yourself and choose what looks right to you.
Laptops and handheld PCs
Laptop GPUs often share names with desktop cards, such as an RTX 3060 Laptop GPU and a desktop RTX 3060. They are not equivalent. Laptop versions are limited by power budgets and cooling, so their real performance is usually below the desktop card with the same name. When judging whether a laptop meets the requirements, check the actual laptop GPU and its power and cooling design rather than just the name.
Sustained gaming also depends on thermals. Use the manufacturer's performance profile, keep the laptop plugged in, make sure air can flow freely, and consider a cooling pad if the machine throttles.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally are also limited in power and cooling. The publisher does not list handheld compatibility, and we have no verification data for handheld devices, so we cannot rate how the game runs on them. In general, handheld players should start with a lower resolution, enable upscaling, and choose modest graphics presets.
Storage and memory
The official memory figure is 8 GB, but once the operating system and background apps take their share, 16 GB is the more comfortable target. Dual-channel memory gives more bandwidth, so if your motherboard supports it, make sure the sticks sit in the correct slots to enable dual-channel mode.
The game itself needs 140 GB of storage. Leave extra room for patches, updates and shader caches. An SSD is not required by the official requirements, but it noticeably shortens load times and menu transitions, which matters in a game with frequent loading between fights and screens. A hard drive will still run the game, just with longer waits.
For placement, install the game on your system drive or a fast dedicated SSD, and clear out unused files regularly to keep free space available.