Sea of Thieves System Requirements

Can I Run Sea of Thieves?

To answer the question of whether you can run developer Rare’s latest effort, Sea of Thieves, you’ll first need to determine the specifications of your gaming PC. Of chief concern are the CPU, GPU, and RAM count. 

With your PC specifications in hand, you can now compare them to the minimum and recommended system requirements for Sea of Thieves we’ve conveniently listed below. From there, you can figure out if you need to consider an upgrade or if you’re all set to go.

To make the whole process significantly more straightforward for our readers, we’re developing a bespoke tool than will scan PCs automatically for their specifications. It’s currently still under wraps as we work to get it just right, but we’ll be sure to make a big song and dance of it when it’s ready to go live.

Sea of Thieves Game Details

• Release Date: March 20th, 2018 (PC, Xbox One)
• System Requirements: Medium
• Genre: Action-adventure
• Developer: Rare
• Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Developed by Rare, Sea of Thieves is a first-person action-adventure with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer where players can live out their pirating dreams by sailing the seas, scouring maps for hidden treasure, engage in frenetic open-sea combat, and encounter all manner of mythical creatures in the process. 

Players can play either in co-op in crews of up to four players or go solo in player vs. player. In a departure from loot-based multiplayer games, each and every player has the same weapons and ships, meaning skill decides the victor rather than simply having the best equipment.

Players can take part in quests and voyages to earn gold and up their reputation in order to unlock cosmetic items. Alongside, there are numerous islands to explore, AI enemies to battle, and activities such as fishing and hunting as players vie to become pirating legends.

As of writing, Sea of Thieves currently has two modes. The first, adventure mode, offers a more traditional take on the game where players set off from one of the many outposts doting the seas and embark on an epic narrative quest. The second is arena mode, where players can partake in structured PvP either solo or as a crew in a delimited area over the course of a 20-minute battle.

Sea of Thieves Minimum System  Requirements

• CPU: Intel Q9450 @ 2.6 GHz | AMD Phenom II X6 @ 3.3 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB RAM
• HDD: 60 GB available space
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 | NVIDIA GTX 1030 | AMD Radeon 7750 | AMD Radeon R7 450
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10 Anniversary version 1607
• DirectX: DirectX 11
• Screen Resolution: 720p
• Network: Broadband Internet connection

Sea of Thieves Recommended System Requirements

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 @ 3.5 GHz | AMD FX-8150 @ 3.6 GHz
• RAM: 8 GB RAM
• HDD: 60 GB available space
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 | NVIDIA GeForce 1060 | AMD Radeon R9 380x | AMD Radeon RX 470
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10 Anniversary version 1607
• DirectX: DirectX 11
• Screen Resolution: 1080p
• Network: Broadband Internet connection

Optimal Hardware Suggestions

With the minimum specifications, which realistically aren’t that demanding by any stretch of the imagination, you can comfortably expect to run Sea of Thieves at 720p with the settings on low and produce a stable 30 FPS. It’s not ideal gaming, but it will get the game running. You can even manage a stable 30 at 540p using an Intel Iris Pro 6200 or 540 with an integrated GPU, but the experience is so watered down, we’d advise against it.

Jumping to the recommended requirements, these will allow 60 FPS at 1080p using medium settings, or possibly a combination of high and low tweaks depending on what matters to you in terms of graphical fidelity. It’s quite a jump up from the minimum specifications, but the Core i5 and GTX 1060 won’t break the bank either with many modern setups rocketing way past them in terms of performance and price point.

If your specifications fall slightly below those of the recommended specifications, don’t worry as Sea of Thieves can manage a decent 30 FPS at 1080p on medium settings using a GTX 1050Ti or Radeon RX 460 alongside an Intel Core i3 or AMD FX-6300.

What Gaming PC Do We Recommend?

If you really want to push the boat out and witness Sea of Thieves in all its visual beauty with silky smoother frame rates to match, we’d recommend an Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti or AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 as well as 16 GB of RAM. With these, you can hit 60 FPS at 4K with settings on ultra.

If we reign it in a little, here’s what we deem the ideal build for Sea of Thieves. With this one, you can easily hit above 60 FPS at 1080p or 30 FPS at 4K using ultra settings.

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 | AMD FX-8150
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 | AMD Radeon RX Vega 56

Our $700 build fits the bill with a little power to spare for more demanding games and offers a strong foundation for a versatile PC rig.