Homeworld 3: PC requirements for Ultra settings, ray tracing, and more

Homeworld 3 ships ice
(Image credit: Gearbox Publishing)

The time is drawing near to again command fleets across space.

Gearbox Software and Blackbird Interactive shared the Windows PC requirements for their upcoming strategy title Homeworld 3. There's a wide range of supported hardware, with higher-end options that require more recent tech, as well as lower-end settings more reasonable for weaker hardware. 

Notably, Homeworld 3 supports ray tracing on the appropriate graphics cards, as well as supporting HDR and DLSS 3. Homeworld 3 also supports Intel Arc graphics cards, which are becoming more popular but have suffered from spotty driver support in some games. You can find the different tiers detailed below: 

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: Minimum specs

According to the blog post, this hardware should run Homeworld 3 at 1080p at the "Low" preset options for all settings. This is likely the preset you'll run the game at if you don't have one of the best graphics cards of the last few years.

  • GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD R9 480 or Intel Arc A380
  • CPU: Intel i5-8600K or AMD Ryzen 3600X
  • RAM: 12GB 
  • VRAM: 6GB 
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: Recommended specs

The recommended tier bumps up the graphics card and RAM requirements, and should allow players to go through Homeworld 3 at 1080p with settings at Medium.

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070 or AMD RX 5700 or Intel Arc A580
  • CPU: Intel i7-11700K or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
  • RAM: 16GB 
  • VRAM: 8GB
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: High specs

Meeting the High specs should allow players to go through Homeworld 3 with the High preset settings while opting for a resolution of 1440p. 

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super or AMD RX 6600XT or Intel Arc A770
  • CPU: Intel i7-12700K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
  • RAM: 16GB
  • VRAM: 8GB
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: Ultra specs

Meeting the Ultra requirements finally means being able to run the game at 4K resolution. Naturally, you'll also be able to use the Ultra settings options. 

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3080 or AMD RX 6900XT
  • CPU: Intel i7-13700K or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
  • RAM: 16GB
  • VRAM: 12GB
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: Ray tracing low specs

At the low end of the ray tracing tiers, players should be able to set ray tracing to low while playing at 1080p.

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 or AMD RX 6650XT
  • CPU: Intel i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 5500
  • RAM: 16GB
  • VRAM: 8GB
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: Ray tracing high specs

The middle tier of ray tracing specs should cover anyone playing at 1440p with ray tracing set to High. 

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3080 or AMD RX 6900XT
  • CPU: Intel i7-12700K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
  • RAM: 16GB
  • VRAM: 12GB
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Homeworld 3 PC requirements: Ray tracing ultra specs

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4080 or AMD RX 7900XTX
  • CPU: Intel i7-14900K or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
  • RAM: 16GB
  • VRAM: 16GB
  • STORAGE: 40GB HDD
  • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Into the void

Homeworld 3 finally has a release date. (Image credit: Gearbox Publishing)

Naturally, there's a lot of variety and your setup may not neatly match one or the other of these tiers. You can turn settings down to free up room for turning others up, and playing at a lower resolution than 4K will give you more technical bandwidth.

After multiple delays, Homeworld 3 is set to launch on March 8, 2024, with early access kicking off on March 5 for anyone that preorders the Fleet Command or Collector's Edition of the game. 

Homeworld 3's story is set a hundred years after Homeworld 2, but from my interview with some of the Homeworld 3 writing team, players can expect the events of past games to be carefully examined in this long-awaited sequel. 

Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.