Alan Wake 2: GPU requirements and performance
A technical showcase and one of the few games where path tracing is a headline feature rather than an afterthought. Even the publisher's minimum specification assumes a card with hardware ray tracing support.
What actually limits performance here
The part that generic system requirements never tell you.
- The minimum specification requires a mesh-shader-capable GPU, which rules out several older cards entirely.
- Path tracing is the heaviest mode in this database and depends on upscaling and frame generation to be playable.
- Standard rasterised mode is still demanding but far more approachable on mid-range hardware.
- DLSS, FSR and XeSS are all supported.
Published system requirements
The publisher's own figures. They describe a baseline, not the hardware needed for high settings at a high frame rate.
| Tier | Graphics card | Processor | Memory | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 6600 | Intel Core i5-7600K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600 | 16 GB | 1080p, 30 FPS, Low preset with upscaling |
| Recommended | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | Intel Core i5-11600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | 16 GB | 1080p, 60 FPS, Medium preset with upscaling |
Technologies supported
Which vendor features this title implements, which decides how much your graphics card's feature set is worth here.
Ray tracing
SupportedIncludes a full path tracing mode, which is dramatically more expensive than standard ray tracing.
DLSS
SupportedNVIDIA cards can render at a lower internal resolution and reconstruct the image.
FSR
SupportedAMD's upscaler is available, and works on other vendors' hardware in its earlier versions.
XeSS
SupportedIntel's upscaler is available, with dedicated hardware acceleration on Arc cards.
Frame generation
SupportedAvailable on hardware that supports it. It raises the displayed frame rate without improving responsiveness.
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Estimated
Which graphics card do you need for Alan Wake 2?
The least expensive in-production cards whose estimated frame rate in this title is centred at or above 60 FPS, at High settings with no upscaling. The range shown for each card is the model's uncertainty band, so the lower bound can fall under 60.
Modelled from the estimated performance index and this title’s demand classification. Not a measured benchmark. How the model works.
1080p
Around 60 FPS, High settings, no upscaling
- Arc B580
$249 MSRP · estimated 50-70 FPS
- RX 9060 XT 8GB
$299 MSRP · estimated 60-90 FPS
- RTX 5060
$299 MSRP · estimated 55-80 FPS
1440p
Around 60 FPS, High settings, no upscaling
- RX 9070
$549 MSRP · estimated 65-95 FPS
- RTX 5070
$549 MSRP · estimated 65-90 FPS
- RX 9070 XT
$599 MSRP · estimated 75-110 FPS
Measured
Verified benchmark data
Frame-rate figures transcribed from named third-party measurements.
No verified benchmark data for this game yet
CompareYourGPU only publishes frame-rate figures it can attribute to a named, linkable measurement. None have been transcribed for Alan Wake 2 yet, so nothing is shown here rather than numbers that would look authoritative without being verifiable.
Alan Wake 2: common questions
What are the recommended system requirements for Alan Wake 2?
Does Alan Wake 2 support ray tracing?
Does Alan Wake 2 support DLSS, FSR or XeSS?
How demanding is Alan Wake 2?
Sources
- Remedy EntertainmentPublisher-stated system requirements and feature support
Last reviewed . Demand classifications are CompareYourGPU’s editorial judgement, not measurements.