Can I Run Fallout: New Vegas on My PC / Laptop?

Steam lists Windows XP/Vista/7, a Dual Core 2.0GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, a GeForce 6 series or Radeon X1300 series graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, and 10GB of storage. These are 2010-era numbers. Realistically, your PC exceeds them unless it's more than 15 years old.

No. Steam's store page for this game only ever published a single requirements tier, not the separate minimum and recommended split modern games get. The recommended numbers on this page are our own honest baseline for a stable, stutter-free run today.

The base install is about 10GB. Add all four DLC packs and you're still under 15GB. Mods change that quickly: a modest list with 4K textures can push a folder past 40GB, so plan storage around your mod list rather than the vanilla number.

No, an HDD runs the base game fine since it predates storage-heavy modern titles. An SSD does cut load times noticeably once you've added mods, so it's worth using if you have one, just not required.

It's a free community tool that flags the game's executable as large-address-aware, letting Windows give it up to 4GB of memory instead of the 2GB the 32-bit exe is otherwise capped at. It's close to mandatory now, since without it the game crashes far more often, especially with mods installed or in memory-heavy areas like the Strip.

No. The executable Steam and GOG ship is still 32-bit, even when you're running 64-bit Windows. That 32-bit ceiling is the real reason the game becomes unstable long before your hardware is ever the limiting factor.

NVSE, the New Vegas Script Extender, is a free tool that expands what mods and community patches can do beyond the base game's scripting engine. Most stability mods, including the Unofficial Patch, require it, so most players install it even on an otherwise vanilla playthrough.

No, the base game runs and finishes fine unmodded on modern hardware. The 4GB Patcher, an anti-crash tool, and the Unofficial Patch are optional but strongly recommended, since they fix real bugs Obsidian never patched rather than adding new content.

The Ultimate Edition bundles the base game with all four add-ons (Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road) for less than buying them separately. System requirements and performance are identical either way.

The underlying game files are the same. GOG's copy is DRM-free, which some modders prefer because it avoids a couple of Steam-overlay-related crashes, but performance and requirements don't change between the two storefronts.

No, it's fully single-player and playable offline once installed. Steam and GOG both need a connection to download the game and, on Steam, to verify your license the first time you launch, but you don't need to stay connected to play.

The game caps itself. Its physics and script systems are tied to frame rate and start to break down noticeably above 60. The practical fix if you want higher frame rates is a mod called New Vegas Tick Fix, not a better graphics card.

No trouble at all. The RTX 3050 meets or beats what Fallout: New Vegas recommends, so 1080p high runs well and 1440p is realistic. Comfortably locked at 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p, with room to spare for a game this old.

You are well set. The GTX 1650 exceeds Fallout: New Vegas's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. Locked 60 fps at 1080p high with plenty of headroom left over.

You are well set. The GTX 1060 6GB exceeds Fallout: New Vegas's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. Well above what New Vegas needs. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p.

That is more than enough. The RX 580 clears Fallout: New Vegas's recommended requirement, so aim for high at 1080p or step up to 1440p. Comfortably above the game's practical ceiling: a locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p.

The RTX 4060 is a strong fit for Fallout: New Vegas. It lands at or above the recommended spec, so high 1080p is comfortable and 1440p works. Same practical 60 fps ceiling as the 3060. Only New Vegas Tick Fix unlocks meaningfully higher numbers.

You are well set. The RTX 3060 exceeds Fallout: New Vegas's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. Locked 60 fps at 1080p, 1440p, and native 4K.

The RTX 2060 is a strong fit for Fallout: New Vegas. It lands at or above the recommended spec, so high 1080p is comfortable and 1440p works. Holds 60 fps at 1080p, 1440p, and most of 4K.

Plenty of power here. The GTX 1660 is above Fallout: New Vegas's recommended tier, so high 1080p is smooth and 1440p is a fair target. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p without breaking a sweat.

Yes, comfortably. The GTX 1660 Super sits at or above Fallout: New Vegas's recommended card, so 1080p on high is smooth and 1440p is well within reach. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p.

That is more than enough. The RX 6600 clears Fallout: New Vegas's recommended requirement, so aim for high at 1080p or step up to 1440p. Locked 60 fps at 1080p, 1440p, and most of 4K.

Yes. On the GTX 1660 Ti, Fallout: New Vegas runs at high settings in 1080p and scales up to 1440p without much fuss. Locked 60 fps at 1080p and 1440p without issue.

You are well set. The RTX 3060 Ti exceeds Fallout: New Vegas's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. Locked 60 fps at every common resolution, including 4K.

The RTX 4050 is a strong fit for Fallout: New Vegas. It lands at or above the recommended spec, so high 1080p is comfortable and 1440p works. Comfortably holds 60 fps at 1080p within laptop power limits, which is all New Vegas asks for.

Easily. With the GTX 1050 Ti you are past Fallout: New Vegas's recommended tier, which means high settings at 1080p and a genuine shot at 1440p. Comfortably holds 60 fps at 1080p, even at max settings.

No trouble at all. The RTX 4070 meets or beats what Fallout: New Vegas recommends, so 1080p high runs well and 1440p is realistic. Total overkill for vanilla New Vegas. Locked 60 fps everywhere, with headroom mainly useful for a heavy ENB and texture overhaul.

No version of this game was ever built for Mac, Apple Silicon or otherwise. What works instead is a Windows layer like CrossOver or Parallels running the PC build, or a cloud service such as GeForce Now streaming it to you. The game is light enough that most Apple Silicon MacBooks run it fine through CrossOver.

Yes, comfortably. Any integrated GPU from the last several years, Intel Iris Xe, AMD Radeon 780M, or similar, handles New Vegas at 1080p medium to high settings outdoors, though busy interiors like the Strip's casinos can dip it into the 30s and 40s.

Chromebooks can't execute Windows programs natively, so streaming is the only path in. GeForce Now works fine as long as your Chromebook can run its app or a browser and your connection holds steady.

The console's backward compatibility program covers it. Either an original Xbox 360 disc or the digital copy from the Xbox Store will run, at its original frame rate, since Microsoft never gave this one an FPS Boost patch.

No. The original release was on PS3, and Sony never added New Vegas to PlayStation's backward compatibility list, so there's no way to play it natively on PS4 or PS5. Cloud streaming or picking it up on PC or Xbox instead are your only real options.

No, it was never released on Switch and there are no plans for a port. PC, Xbox 360/One/Series (through backward compatibility), and the original PS3 are the only platforms.

Yes. Valve rates it Playable, not Verified, on Steam Deck, mainly because a couple of settings menus need the touchscreen rather than the controller. Performance is solid: expect a locked 60 fps in most areas with dips into the 40s during larger fights on default settings, and switch to a lower preset for a steadier floor. ROG Ally and Legion Go perform similarly or better given their newer hardware.

Yes, it's playable on GeForce Now if you own it on Steam, which is the easiest way to run it on a Mac, Chromebook, or any underpowered PC without worrying about local hardware at all.

Yes, in almost every case. Since the base game is undemanding, the two things that actually cause problems on a budget laptop are thermal throttling during long sessions and running low on RAM once you've added mods, not raw graphics power.

Yes, easily, on native hardware. Even a mid-range card like an RTX 3060 holds a locked 60 fps at 4K, since the game's assets were built for 2010-era 1080p displays and don't tax modern GPUs at higher resolutions.

Almost anything from the last eight years. A GTX 1060 or RX 580 handles 1440p at high settings without trouble; this is more a resolution question than a hardware question for a game this light.

A GTX 750 Ti-class card or better gets you a locked 60 in the base game. Below that, older or integrated GPUs can still average close to 60 outdoors but drop into the 40s in crowded interiors.

Yes. There's no meaningful jump in demands between the game's presets, since it predates the high/medium/ultra tiers most games use now. A card from the last decade runs everything maxed at 1080p or 1440p without issue.

Yes, and it's well above the official 2GB minimum. 8GB covers a vanilla or lightly modded install with room to spare. Only push toward 16GB if you're running a large mod list.

Yes, and it's overkill for anything short of a very heavy modded build. 16GB handles even most large mod lists comfortably. This only starts to matter with texture-overhaul-heavy setups like Tale of Two Wastelands or a big visual overhaul running alongside dozens of other mods.

Only if you're running an extremely large, texture-heavy mod list on top of a modern OS and background apps. For the base game or a normal mod list, it's unnecessary; 16GB already covers the realistic ceiling.

Yes, for the vanilla game and even most modded installs. VRAM only becomes a real limiter once you install high-resolution texture packs and an ENB together, at which point 6 to 8GB gives you more headroom.

Yes. This is one of the few Steam games where a genuinely budget PC, even a used office desktop, clears the requirements without any tuning.

Yes, comfortably. The game predates modern multi-threaded engines, so a modern i3 or Ryzen 3 has plenty of single-core headroom for New Vegas's scripts and AI, which is what actually stresses the CPU here, not the GPU workload.

Your hardware is almost never the problem. Look first at where you installed it: Program Files blocks the game from writing its config, which trips up plenty of players. A corrupted launcher config, missing Visual C++ redistributables, or an NVSE version that doesn't match your game are the other usual suspects. Reinstalling outside Program Files and verifying files through Steam clears up most launch failures.

Usually the 32-bit memory ceiling, not your hardware. Crashes cluster on the Strip, in loaded save files, and with mods installed, all situations that push the game's process toward its 2GB (or 4GB, once patched) memory limit. Installing the 4GB Patcher, NVSE, and the Unofficial Patch first clears up most crash reports.

Yes, without special settings for most players. A small number see startup crashes tied to newer Windows updates, which the community's anti-crash mods and the 4GB Patcher generally resolve. Running the launcher in Windows 8 compatibility mode is a common extra fix if problems persist.

There's no native Linux build, but Proton, Steam's Windows compatibility layer, handles it well on Steam Deck and other Linux setups. ProtonDB rates it Gold, meaning only minor tweaks stand between you and a smooth run, which tracks with its Playable rating on Deck.

Editing the frame rate values in the game's ini file technically removes the cap, but doing that alone without also fixing the physics timer causes the glitches described above. New Vegas Tick Fix is the mod built to do this properly, decoupling frame rate from the physics and script engine so uncapping doesn't break anything.

Less than it used to, but occasional crashes and the rare endless loading screen still happen, mostly tied to the same 32-bit memory limits that affect PC. Installing the anti-crash and 4GB Patcher mods through a mod manager reduces it further, though it takes more setup effort than on PC.

Proton Experimental or the newest stable Proton generally work best. Older, pinned Proton versions sometimes struggle more with the game's launcher. If you hit a black screen or crash on launch, switching Proton versions in the game's Properties menu is the first thing to try.