Can I Run Valorant on My PC / Laptop?

An Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or AMD Phenom 8750 processor, Intel HD 3000/4000 graphics or a GeForce 6800 GT, and 4 GB of RAM, targeting 30 fps at 1080p on low settings.

Riot's own recommended spec is modest too: a Core i3-4150 processor and a GeForce GT 730, still with 4 GB of RAM, aimed at 60 fps. Their separate 144+ fps tier asks for a Core i5-9400F or Ryzen 5 2600X with a GTX 1050 Ti.

4 GB is the official minimum and the game itself does not need much more. In practice, though, Windows plus Discord, a browser, and Vanguard running in the background eat into that fast, so 8 GB is the realistic comfortable amount and 16 GB removes any doubt if you multitask while playing.

No, it is not required. Valorant is a small, light install, so a hard drive works fine. An SSD only helps with faster load times between matches. It will not change your in-game fps.

Around 23 GB to download and about 26 GB once installed, including the Riot Client and the Vanguard anti-cheat component. Leave 40 GB free so a patch never gets stuck partway through.

Yes, DirectX 11 is required. Any graphics card released in roughly the last twelve years supports it, so this is rarely the thing blocking anyone.

No. Vanguard and the Riot Client both need Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit. Windows 7 and 8 are not supported no matter how strong your hardware is.

Yes, both are supported. Windows 11 adds the extra step of needing TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled before Vanguard will let the game launch, which Windows 10 does not enforce.

Riot built it to run in esports cafes and on aging office PCs across regions where high-end hardware is not the norm, so the art style, map geometry, and effects were kept deliberately simple. It is a competitive game first, and competitive players want frame rate over visual detail, so Riot optimized for that instead of chasing graphical fidelity.

Vanguard needs administrator rights to install its kernel-level driver and to keep running that driver at boot. Without those permissions the anti-cheat cannot load, and the game will refuse to start.

Vanguard is Riot's anti-cheat. Unlike anti-cheat that only watches the game process, it runs as a driver at the kernel level and starts when your PC boots, so it can catch cheats that try to load before Valorant does. That is also exactly why it cannot run on Mac, Linux, or through Steam Deck's Proton layer: those systems will not grant a third-party driver that level of access.

Yes, comfortably. The RTX 3050 sits at or above Valorant's recommended card, so 1080p on high is smooth and 1440p is well within reach. About 424 fps at 1080p on low settings.

You are well set. The GTX 1650 exceeds Valorant's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. About 400 fps at 1080p on low to medium settings.

Plenty of power here. The GTX 1060 6GB is above Valorant's recommended tier, so high 1080p is smooth and 1440p is a fair target. Comfortably over 300 fps at 1080p on low, far beyond anything Valorant needs from this card.

Yes, comfortably. The RX 580 sits at or above Valorant's recommended card, so 1080p on high is smooth and 1440p is well within reach. Around 300 fps or more at 1080p on low settings.

You are well set. The RTX 4060 exceeds Valorant's recommended card, so 1080p high is easy and 1440p is realistic. About 510 fps at 1080p, with your CPU as the real limit past this point.

Yes. The RTX 3060 has headroom over Valorant's recommended card, so you can push 1080p high and move to 1440p when you want. Roughly 478 fps at 1080p on low settings.

For sure. The RTX 2060 outpaces Valorant's recommended card, leaving you high 1080p now and 1440p whenever you like. Around 480 fps at 1080p, whether it is the 6 GB or 12 GB version.

The GTX 1660 is a strong fit for Valorant. It lands at or above the recommended spec, so high 1080p is comfortable and 1440p works. About 444 fps at 1080p on low to medium.

Yes. The GTX 1660 Super has headroom over Valorant's recommended card, so you can push 1080p high and move to 1440p when you want. Around 445 fps at 1080p, more than enough for a 240 Hz monitor.

For sure. The RX 6600 outpaces Valorant's recommended card, leaving you high 1080p now and 1440p whenever you like. Roughly 486 fps at 1080p on low settings.

That is more than enough. The GTX 1660 Ti clears Valorant's recommended requirement, so aim for high at 1080p or step up to 1440p.

Comfortably, yes. The RTX 3060 Ti clears Valorant's recommended bar, which puts high 1080p and 1440p both in reach. About 513 fps at 1080p, with the CPU doing most of the limiting from here.

For sure. The RTX 4050 outpaces Valorant's recommended card, leaving you high 1080p now and 1440p whenever you like.

Yes. The GTX 1050 Ti has headroom over Valorant's recommended card, so you can push 1080p high and move to 1440p when you want. Around 360 fps at 1080p on low, well past Riot's own 144+ fps target for this card.

For sure. The RTX 4070 outpaces Valorant's recommended card, leaving you high 1080p now and 1440p whenever you like.

No. Riot has never shipped a native Mac client, and Vanguard's kernel driver cannot run under macOS at all, so this has nothing to do with how powerful your MacBook is. Your only options are Boot Camp on an older Intel Mac (Apple Silicon Macs cannot use Boot Camp), a cloud service, or a Windows PC.

Yes, and this is one of the rare games where that answer holds up. Even an old Intel HD 4000 hits the official 30 fps minimum. A 2020-or-newer chip like Intel Iris Xe or AMD Radeon 780M runs comfortably at 90 fps or more on low settings, which is plenty for casual play.

A standard Chromebook cannot run Windows or Vanguard at all, so cloud streaming through a service like GeForce Now, computing elsewhere and streaming back the video, is the only route.

The Steam Deck cannot, and it has nothing to do with the hardware being too weak. The Deck runs SteamOS by default, and on that Linux setup Vanguard cannot load at all, so Valve lists Valorant as Unsupported. A Windows-based handheld like the ROG Ally or Legion Go can technically run it, since it is real Windows underneath, though it is not really built for a small screen and controller.

No. Vanguard is a Windows kernel driver and will not load under Wine, Proton, or any other compatibility layer. Riot has said Linux's open architecture does not fit how the anti-cheat verifies the system, and there is no announced plan to change that. A native Windows install, whether dual-booted or in a separate partition, is the only way to play on Linux hardware.

Not on Windows 11. Vanguard checks for both at launch and will block the game with an error naming them specifically if either is off. Most PCs from the last several years support both; they are usually just disabled by default. Go into your motherboard's UEFI firmware settings, turn on TPM (called PTT on Intel, fTPM on AMD) and Secure Boot, and the game should launch normally.

Yes, more easily than almost any other modern game. At the official minimum of an Intel HD 4000 and 4 GB of RAM you get 30 fps on low settings, and any dedicated card from the last ten years pushes that well past 100 fps. The real risk on an old, budget PC is Windows 11's TPM and Secure Boot requirement, not the game itself.

Yes, though it takes a fair amount of GPU power to hold a high fps at native 4K in a game this fast-paced. An RTX 3060 or better will run 4K smoothly, but most competitive players choose 1080p anyway to push their frame rate as high as possible instead.

Yes, on essentially any dedicated GPU from the last several generations. Because Valorant is light on the GPU, cards as modest as a GTX 1650 or RX 570 handle 1440p at playable frame rates, and anything from an RTX 2060 up stays well over 100 fps there.

Riot's own 144+ fps tier lists a Core i5-9400F or Ryzen 5 2600X paired with a GTX 1050 Ti, and that is a realistic bar. In practice almost any GPU from the last decade clears 144 fps at 1080p on low settings; a decent quad-core or better CPU is what actually decides whether you hold that number consistently.

Yes, without much trouble. Valorant's settings menu does not go very high compared to other games, and even a mid-range card from the last five years or so runs it at max settings well above 60 fps.

Yes, for casual play. A modern i3 or Ryzen 3 comfortably clears 60 fps and usually well beyond it. If your goal is 144 fps or higher on a high refresh monitor, an older or weaker i3 can start to hold you back, since Valorant leans on CPU performance more than its visuals suggest.

Raw power is rarely the cause in a game this light. Check that TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are on if you are on Windows 11, that Vanguard is actually running (it shows in Task Manager as vgc.exe and vgk.sys), and that your GPU drivers are current. Background overlays like Discord or a recording tool are a far more common culprit here than the graphics card, so close those before you start hunting for a hardware problem.

Very little. 1 GB of graphics memory is enough to meet the official minimum, and even at 1440p or 4K on high settings the game rarely uses more than 2 to 3 GB. VRAM is essentially a non-issue for this title.

No. Both the official minimum and recommended specs call for a 64-bit version of Windows 10 or 11, and Vanguard will not install on a 32-bit system.

Yes. Valorant launched on PS5 in 2024 with its own client and controller-tuned aim assist. It is a separate build from the PC version, and there is no crossplay between PC and console, only shared progression.

Yes, both are supported. As with PS5, it runs as its own version with controller support and no crossplay against PC players.

No. There is no Switch or Switch 2 version of Valorant. It is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S only.

Support varies and has changed over time as Riot's anti-cheat policies evolve, so check GeForce Now's current library before relying on it. Given how little hardware the game actually needs, cloud streaming mostly matters for players on a Chromebook or Mac rather than anyone with a real Windows PC.

No. PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S players are kept in separate pools, and console play is designed around controller aim assist rather than mouse and keyboard. Riot does support cross-progression, so your account and cosmetics carry over if you play on more than one platform.

Yes, easily. It sits well above the recommended tier and will hold 200 fps or more at 1080p on low to medium settings without effort.

Yes, with room to spare. Expect frame rates well above 400 fps at 1080p, at which point your CPU and monitor's refresh rate become the actual limit, not the card.

Yes, obviously, though it is complete overkill for this specific game. Around 730 fps at 1080p on low settings is roughly the ceiling here, and no current monitor uses all of that. An RTX 4090 makes far more sense for a heavier game.

Yes, generally. A 2020-or-newer Iris Xe chip on low settings often lands in the 90 to 120 fps range, and some configurations push past 144 depending on the specific laptop, its cooling, and RAM speed, which matters more than usual for integrated graphics since it doubles as VRAM.

Yes. Radeon 780M, found in recent Ryzen laptop chips, comfortably runs Valorant at well over 100 fps on low settings. The older Vega 8, common in budget Ryzen laptops from a few years back, is weaker but still clears 60 fps on low, which is enough for casual play.

No. Valorant's console release skipped the previous generation entirely and launched only on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. A PS4 or Xbox One cannot run it.

Yes, trivially. Any RTX 50-series card, from a 5060 up to a 5090, is far more GPU than Valorant will ever ask for, and you will be entirely CPU and monitor limited rather than GPU limited on any of them.

Yes, comfortably. It is an older card, but it is still well above what Valorant needs, and it holds high frame rates at 1080p or even 1440p without issue.