Timberborn PC Hardware Guide
Official requirements explained
The official minimum for Timberborn asks for a 4-core 1.7 GHz or better CPU, a GeForce GTX 950 or Radeon R9 380 class graphics card, 8 GB of RAM and 3 GB of storage. In today's terms these GPUs are older entry-level parts, and the CPU line is a generic description rather than a specific chip. Treat the minimum as the level at which the game is expected to start and run, not as a target for smooth play.
The recommended tier asks for a 4-core 2.9 GHz or better CPU, a GeForce RTX 2070 or Radeon RX 5700 class card, 16 GB of RAM and 5 GB of storage. By our tier estimate the recommended GPU sits in the mainstream 1080p band, while the recommended CPU is only listed as a generic 2.9 GHz quad core. The practical gap between the two levels is mostly in the graphics card and memory: a machine that meets the recommended tier has more room to keep higher settings and larger colonies running comfortably.
The publisher lists no SSD requirement at either level, so a hard drive will work. Loading will simply be slower. Because the CPU entries are generic, checking whether your specific processor is comparable to the 2.9 GHz quad-core baseline is more useful than matching a model name.
The recognised references for the minimum GPU are the GTX 950 and R9 380, and for the recommended GPU the RTX 2070 and RX 5700. No recommended CPU model is listed.
Recommended builds for three budgets
The entry build pairs a GTX 1650, GTX 1660, RTX 3050 6GB, RX 6500 XT or Arc A380 with a Ryzen 3 3100 or Ryzen 5 4500 and 16 GB of RAM. It suits players on a tight budget who mainly play at 1080p. It clears the official minimum comfortably and gets close to the recommended tier, though large maps may need some settings turned down.
The mainstream build uses an RX 5700, RTX 2060 12GB, RTX 3060 8GB or RX 6600, with a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i5-10400 and 16 GB of RAM. This is the best-value option for most people. It reliably reaches the recommended tier and leaves room to run medium-high settings at 1080p while keeping an upgrade path open.
The high-end build uses an RTX 4070, RX 6800 XT, RTX 3080 10GB or RX 7700 XT, with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D or Core i9-14900K and 32 GB of RAM. This is well above the recommended tier and makes sense if you want higher resolutions or richer visuals, or you stream and record while you play. For this game the extra money mostly buys visual headroom rather than the ability to play at all.
Graphics settings with the biggest impact
In city-building and simulation games like this one, the settings that usually cost the most are shadows, volumetric lighting and fog, view distance, and the density of objects and simulated agents. Shadow quality is often the easiest place to save performance, and dropping it from high to medium usually changes the picture less than people expect. Volumetric effects look good but are expensive, so keep them only if your card has headroom.
Ray tracing is rarely essential in a game like this. Unless your graphics card has plenty of spare capacity, it is usually worth switching off so the budget goes to shadows and scale. If slowdowns mostly happen when the camera pulls back or the map is large, lowering view distance and object density will help more than tweaking textures. Texture quality mainly affects video memory, so reduce it first if your card has little VRAM.
Upscaling technologies such as DLSS, FSR and XeSS render at a lower internal resolution and reconstruct a sharper image, which can make the game run more smoothly. Enable the one your card supports, then adjust to taste. Upscaling is most valuable when the system is under heavy load and matters less on a machine that already runs the game easily.
Laptops and handheld PCs
A laptop GPU with the same name as a desktop card is usually slower, because power limits (TGP) and cooling in a laptop are much tighter. When buying a laptop, check the GPU's power setting and the cooling design rather than trusting the model name alone. Compare any laptop against the official tiers using its real power budget, not the desktop figure.
Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck or ROG Ally run integrated or low-power graphics, so they are best played at lower settings and resolutions. We have no Steam Deck verification data for this game, so the general advice is to start at low or medium settings, use the built-in scaling or upscaling options, and watch battery life and temperatures. For longer sessions, plug in and choose a suitable power profile.
When gaming on a laptop, keep it plugged in and use a performance power mode, since on battery the system usually limits clocks. Keep vents clear and clean the cooling system periodically to avoid thermal throttling.
Storage and memory
For memory, the official minimum is 8 GB and the recommended is 16 GB. For a comfortable experience we suggest at least 16 GB, installed as matched modules so the system runs in dual-channel mode, which raises memory bandwidth. If RAM runs short, the system leans on the page file and stutters become more likely.
For storage, the official minimum is 3 GB and the recommended is 5 GB. The game itself is not large, but leave extra room for updates and save files, and avoid filling the drive close to capacity. No SSD is required, but an SSD noticeably shortens load times and saves, which matters most for big colonies. A mechanical hard drive will still run the game, just with longer waits.
In short, start from 16 GB of RAM in dual-channel, use an SSD if you can, and keep plenty of free space on the drive.