Mortal Kombat 11 PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum for Mortal Kombat 11 lists an Intel Core i5-750 at 2.66 GHz, an AMD Phenom II X4 965, or a Ryzen 3 1200 for the CPU. For the graphics card it lists a GeForce GTX 670 or GTX 1050, or a Radeon HD 7950 or R9 270. On our tier scale, the minimum CPU sits roughly at the level of a Core 2 Quad Q6600, which is very old entry-level silicon, and the minimum GPU sits near the GTX 750 Ti in the entry band. The minimum asks for 8 GB of RAM. The publisher does not list a storage size and does not state that an SSD is required.
The recommended tier asks for an Intel Core i5-2300 at 2.8 GHz, an AMD FX-6300, or a Ryzen 5 1400 for the CPU, and a GeForce GTX 780 or GTX 1060 6GB, or a Radeon R9 290 or RX 570, for the GPU. On our scale the recommended CPU lands around the Core i3-3220 level, and the recommended GPU is close to the Intel Arc A380 band. RAM is again 8 GB. The biggest gap between the two tiers is the graphics card, so if you want to hit the recommended tier comfortably, a GPU upgrade will usually matter more than a CPU swap.
Keep in mind that these tiers describe what the publisher considers a workable baseline, not a guaranteed frame rate. Resolution, graphics settings and background software all change the actual experience. The publisher does not specify storage requirements beyond that..
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build suits players who want to get in cheaply and accept lower resolution or low-to-medium settings. It pairs a budget GPU such as the GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 6500 XT with a four-core CPU like the Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i3-10100F. Plan on 16 GB of RAM, because 8 GB gets tight once Windows and background apps are running alongside the game.
The mainstream build is aimed at 1080p play close to the recommended tier with some headroom. Good choices include the GTX 1660 Super, RTX 3050 or Radeon RX 5600 XT, paired with a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i5-10400, and 16 GB of RAM. This is the balanced option for most players.
The high-end build suits people who want higher resolution, higher settings, or a high-refresh monitor. Consider an RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 4060 or Radeon RX 7600 with a Ryzen 5 5600 or Core i5-12400. Start at 16 GB of RAM, and go to 32 GB if you stream, record or multitask heavily.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In a close-quarters fighting game like this one, the settings that usually cost the most are shadow quality, volumetric lighting and smoke, environmental detail and high-resolution textures in busy arenas. Shadows and volumetric effects are the heaviest, so drop those one or two notches first if you need more headroom. Texture quality mostly draws on video memory, so as long as your card has enough VRAM, raising textures usually costs little performance while improving how the game looks.
Post-processing and anti-aliasing are worth a look too. If the image looks soft, try adjusting post-processing strength before switching everything off. Motion blur and depth-of-field options can sometimes make the action harder to read in a fighter, so tune them to your taste.
Upscaling technologies such as NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR and Intel XeSS work in general terms by rendering at a lower internal resolution and reconstructing the image to your target resolution. They can improve frame stability for a modest loss in sharpness. If your card supports one of them and the game offers it, try the quality mode first. We do not publish measured figures, so judge the results on your own screen.
Laptops and handheld PCs
A laptop GPU and a desktop card with the same name are not the same. Laptop versions are limited by power budgets and cooling, so they usually perform below their desktop namesakes. When buying a laptop, check the GPU's power limit (TGP) and the cooling design rather than trusting the model name alone. To run near the recommended tier, pick a machine with a discrete GPU and solid cooling, keep it plugged in and use the high-performance power mode.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally run the game on mobile PC hardware. They have to balance performance against power draw, so you will typically need lower resolution and settings, and upscaling such as FSR helps. We do not have Steam Deck verification data for this game, so we cannot give a Deck rating. Compare the official requirements with the device's specs and start with low settings.
Storage and memory
For memory, both official tiers list 8 GB, but on current systems we would plan for 16 GB. Dual-channel operation gives better memory bandwidth, so install RAM in matched pairs in the slots recommended by your motherboard manual. If you multitask or stream, 32 GB gives comfortable room.
For storage, the publisher does not list a specific drive size and does not explicitly require an SSD. In general, an SSD greatly shortens load times, which matters in games that load frequently. A mechanical hard drive will still run the game, just with longer waits.
Whatever drive you use, leave free space for updates and cache files. A nearly full drive can cause failed patches or slower performance. Keeping roughly a tenth of the drive free is a sensible rule.