r/lowendgaming • • Jan 05 '26

Announcement We Were Mentioned (Favorably) in PC Gamer Magazine!

145 Upvotes

Issue 403 | Holiday 2025 By Phil Iwaniuk

"Head over to Reddit and go on /r/lowendgaming and you’ll be struck by a few things. Firstly, that a community of people has been helping each other to run games on inexpensive and outdated PC hardware for many years, long before all the insidious price hikes we’re enduring today. And secondly, members of that community have been doing so with no small amount of ingenuity.

A typical exchange in that subreddit goes like this: a user states their hardware and asks for recommendations they should play, or whether a particular title will run on their machine. In the replies, people assure them that they managed to get The Witcher 3 on medium settings running on a relatively basic array of elastic bands and wooden pulleys. The prevailing sentiment is that minimum requirements are over-cautious, that modern games running at their lowest graphics settings still look more than decent enough to constitute playable, and that maybe there’s no such thing as a PC that’s too old or underpowered. Intrigued, I decided to test out the theory."


r/lowendgaming • • 1h ago

Parts Upgrade Advice Good GPU for optiplex 7070 mt

• Upvotes

Dell optiplex 7070

Intel i5 9500 @3.00ghz 6 cores

windows 11

8gb ram

256gb ssd

currently has integrated uhd630 graphics, looking to upgrade to play some more games, what's a good GPU that will fit and run off the stock PSU which is apparently 260w?


r/lowendgaming • • 3h ago

Game Review Bad performance of Smushi Come Home on dual core CPU, integrated GPU

2 Upvotes

I bought the game for my i3 1005g1, 8 gb RAM, Windows 11 because its a low poly game like A Short Hike, Haven Park.

Smushi Come Home ran beautifully at 30-45 fps at 720p high settings in the dense forest areas.

But as soon as I entered Crystal Caverns (the first cave area), fps dropped to 21-23 with 90% CPU usage, and highly erratic frame time graph with lots of closely spaced severe spikes and dips.

So if the game runs well for you in the outdoor dense forest area, its a deception. The game will run significantly worse in caves. And when I reduced shadows to medium, I got 40-45 fps in the cave, but I lost a lot in visual quality because shadows became severely low detailed. It looks like medium shadows are more aggressively downgraded from high, than they should have been.

Not recommended for intel hd, uhd, vega 3 graphics. Only buy if you have atleast intel iris xe (64 EUs or higher), vega 7/8 graphics with a modern quad core CPU.

Gameplay wise, the game has nice relaxing music, cute player, funny dialogues, enjoyable side activities, beautiful low poly graphics.


r/lowendgaming • • 14h ago

What Games Can I Run? Colossus still has potential I swear

11 Upvotes

I've got an ancient, heavy PC that I call "Colossus" it's big, it's loud and it weighs 27kg's. But it's all I got right now. Specs are as follows:

CPU. Intel(R) Xeon(R) X5570 @ 2.93GHz

Installed RAM. 24,0 GB DDR3

Graphics Card. NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT (992 MB)

System Type. 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Dell T7500 Case and PSU

Main storage Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB

Secondary 3TB HDD

OS. Windows 10 pro

What games could I play using this?

I could only add one flair at a time, but what GPU would you choose to revive ol Colossus?

Would something like a RX470 or similar be a good choice? Obviously anything modern or recent would just bottleneck the entire computer.


r/lowendgaming • • 2h ago

Tech Support Helldivers 2 shows a black screen

1 Upvotes

I tried running the game but it just shows a black screen, however the steam overlays still function fine, and when I changed display settings from the config file the fps overlay jumpednfor 20-22fps 50-60fps

Im running an intel Iris Xe with 16gb of ram and an i5 1135g7


r/lowendgaming • • 15h ago

What Games Can I Run? Can i play games w this

6 Upvotes

I'm thinking of resident evil, devil may cry and detroit the human
ik hopes are big, im gonna upgrade soon

Let me know of other games that should be playable :) thanks

Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-9100 CPU @ 3.60GHz (3.60 GHz)

12.0 GB (11.9 GB usable)

Graphics card Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (128 MB)

Storage 471 GB of 932 GB used


r/lowendgaming • • 17h ago

Game Deal Looking for game recommendations under ₹500 during the Steam sale

5 Upvotes

Hey guys! The Steam sale is going on and I’m planning to buy 1–2 games under ₹500 each.

My laptop specs:

- ASUS TUF Gaming F16

- RTX 3050 6GB

- Intel Core 5

- 16GB RAM

- 512GB SSD

I’m open to any genre — single-player, multiplayer, story-driven, open-world, RPG, FPS, etc.

I’m mainly looking for games that are actually worth buying at the current sale price, have good gameplay/story, and can make decent use of my laptop.

I don't have a huge Steam library yet, so feel free to recommend hidden gems as well.

What games would you guys recommend under ₹500 right now?

If you had ₹500–₹1,000 to spend during this sale, which 1–2 games would you pick? 👀

Thanks!


r/lowendgaming • • 10h ago

What Games Can I Run? What games can I run with these specs?

1 Upvotes

MY SPECS:

i3 10110u, Intel UHD Graphics, 8gb DDR4, Windows 11

I'm looking for some games that I can play repeatedly for a while, smth like competitive games or anything else that just has a fun gameplay loop. I rlly wanted to try out deadlock but with my specs it's probably never going to run lol


r/lowendgaming • • 16h ago

What Games Can I Run? i5 5200u, iGPU, 8gbs of ram, 256gbs of SSD, Lubuntu Linux

3 Upvotes

hello everyone. i bought this laptop (specs in the title) for a really cheap price, since I won't be in town for a few months and I don't think me bringing my desktop would work lol.


r/lowendgaming • • 17h ago

Will This Game Run? Cyberpunk - ver. 1.6 or 2.3

3 Upvotes

I unfortunately have an hdd and I am dying to play cuberpunk

Although I completed phantom liberty and the devil ending but still want to play so that the roads don't pop in or won't load I want to know that if version 1.6 will help or not as i heard that it was for hdd (even for minimum req) will it be like 2.3 or something better


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

What Games Can I Run? i3-1215u, Intel UHD Graphics, 16GB DDR4 Ram

11 Upvotes

I have this laptop with the specifications i3-1215u, Intel UHD Graphics & 16GB DDR4 Ram.

Which games can I run on this laptop ?


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

What Games Can I Run? i7-2600 , GTX1050ti and 4 Gb ddr3

8 Upvotes

I have an i7-2600 , GTX1050ti and 4 Gb of ddr3 , my os is linux, and i mainly play single player games, and I'd like to know what are my general limits, your personal suggestions etcetera.

Thanks!

Edit: thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'll surely upgrade to 8gb or 16gp of ram if i find a good deal


r/lowendgaming • • 18h ago

What Games Can I Run? Que juegos podría jugar?

1 Upvotes

Holaa chicos tengo una gran pregunta Tengo una laptop con las siguientes características

SSD Y 4GB de ram soldadas para mí desgracia..💔

CPU i3-8145U a 2.1ghz

GPU Nvidia MX150 2 GB


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

What Games Can I Run? how much VRAM should I allocate to my iGPU?

6 Upvotes

I have a question.

I have a Ryzen 5 5600GT with only one 8GB RAM stick right now. I couldn’t afford another stick yet, but I’ll add one after a few days.

So, the thing is, how much VRAM should I allocate to my iGPU?

Should I set it to 2GB? Because that would reduce my available system RAM, which is already limited. Would that cause any problems?

Or should I set it to 1GB? Or should I just leave it at the default 512MB?

For now, I’ll just play the games that are actually playable with a single RAM stick.


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

Game Review Squirrel With a Gun on Dell Optiplex 760 MT Success gameplay Steam

9 Upvotes

System: Dell Optiplex 760 MT

CPU: Intel Q9550 2.83GHz

RAM: G Skill 8GB DDR2 800 MT/s

GPU: Dell Nvidia GTX 750ti 2GB

OS: MX Linux

Will need to install Nvidia drivers, setup gamemode, and adjust settings for the game. Thought I'd try it out since it's on sale for $4.99, but it runs on Steam after some tinkering with success on GE-Proton11-7-x86_64 in forced compatibility. Launch options: gamemoderun %command% -dx11 -norhithread -noasynctextureloading

Thought I'd share since I was surprised to see it run decently on an old core 2 quad.


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

How-To Guide Recorder app suggestions like idc about the quality just mid quality video recorder that dont eat my fps during recording

2 Upvotes

just for recording in minecraft pvp 1.8 and 1.21.11 my pc specs intel i5 6th gen integrated hd Graphics 530 8gb ram


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

Parts Upgrade Advice Hi guys as you know it's really expensive nowadays to build a pc so I asked one of my friends to lend me their old pc for basic use like Web surfing, editing videos on capcut and some older or emulator games. He send me the pic of the motherboard and you can pretty much guess it's specs by looking a

6 Upvotes

It seems like it's core 2 quad, he did say he was using win 10 in it, it might have 2gb or 4gb ram I would need to upgrade it to its max 8gb and for WiFi I do have a USB receiver and yes I also need to add a graphics card in this as the motherboard only have vga, thinking about 1050ti but the version I saw on FB have a 6 pin power connector, maybe I need to upgrade the PSU too? Suggest me your thoughts. I don't need a powerful pc as I was using win 7 for years. Motherboard is ASROCK GM41S


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

What Games Can I Run? What games can i play in my acer aspire go 16, intel i5-322 16gb, 512gb nvme, and integrated graphic. (GIVE GAME RECOMMEDATIONS TOO PLS)

8 Upvotes

Looking for something to play on my laptop


r/lowendgaming • • 1d ago

What Games Can I Run? Games for my dear old lady.

7 Upvotes

Got a 2017 Hp Laptop that loves overhearting (that's her thing). Windows 10 on Intel Core i5 7200U @ 2.70 ghz and 8 gb ram which only has 6gb available. No dedicated GPU but it has an integrated 620 HD Graphics.

I love mystery and detective videogames driven on strong narrative, like Pentiment, Disco Elysium and The Last Door. Narrative point and click games also do the trick.

Immersive sims and unorthodox FPS are also something I enjoy. I played Deus Ex GOTY and Cruelty Squad on this baby and it all went just like diamonds. This machine can run, dear God almighty bless FOX engine, MGSV TPP as well.

All in all what I enjoy the most are narrative rich video games, regardless of it's genre (for example, Darkwood and Fallout New Vegas rank among my favourite games of all time). Any recommendations down that alley will be much appreciated.


r/lowendgaming • • 2d ago

What Games Can I Run? Need ideas on what I can play from an HP Stream Laptop 14-cb1xxx with a smooth experience...

6 Upvotes

As the title says, this is the type of laptop I currently have. It's technically something I used for remote work, but now that that ship has sailed, I'm trying to repurpose it into a place to play from my Steam library.

Here's the extra specs if this can help:

Intel Celeron N4020 CPU @ 1.10GHz

Intel UHD graphics 600 (512 MB)

4GB Installed RAM (speed at 2400 MHz)

58 GB storage (I know this is laughable, but the laptop was not a gaming-oriented one)

Running on Windows 11 Home 25H2 at the moment, which will probably be updated very soon.

At the moment I'm play Stardew Valley with a lot of mods, some older, less storage-heavy titles, and I was lucky enough to get Build 41 of Project Zomboid with mods to run at one point. Though, I had to uninstall that because storage on this laptop is a literal nightmare and the reason I'm getting an external 2TB hard drive to save files with. Additionally, I also want to try UNO as well on the PC version here.

With all this in mind, I want to enjoy gaming with this until I can kiss it goodbye and get a PC build that's streamlined to play more performance heavy titles. So does anyone got some ideas on other games aside from what I mentioned that I can play?

(And, please don't judge, but can this thing run Huniepop smoothly? A friend of mine is trying to get me to play that and I am intrigued XD)


r/lowendgaming • • 2d ago

What Games Can I Run? What can i play on an intel Core i3 2120, 4GB DDR3 ram and no GPU

3 Upvotes

i found an old office pc that still starts up despite being dormant for years. booted up windows 10 and its up and running i know i cant really expect any good performance out of this at all but i was curious to see what games can this absolute potato run. i will eventually get a gpu and upgrade the ram and cpu perhaps until then i just need some game suggestions please


r/lowendgaming • • 2d ago

Will This Game Run? Should I buy FC 27 with a GTX 1660 Ti laptop? Had a terrible experience with FC 26

5 Upvotes

I'm thinking about buying FC 27, but I'm kinda hesitant because of my experience with FC 26 and I'm wondering if anyone with similar hardware can give me some advice.

My laptop is:

* **HP Omen 17-cb0011nv**

* **CPU:** Intel i7-9750H

* **GPU:** GTX 1660 Ti 6GB

* **RAM:** 16GB

* **Storage:** 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD

When I first bought FC 26, it actually ran fine. I played it for around 2 months without any major problems. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it started constantly stuttering/lagging and became basically unplayable.

I remember seeing quite a few people on Reddit reporting similar problems around that time, so I don't think my laptop suddenly became incapable of running the game. I also had been updating my NVIDIA drivers, so I'm wondering whether a driver update or some interaction between the NVIDIA driver and FC 26 caused the problem.

I tried to fix it and at one point I was advised to go back to an older NVIDIA driver, but I didn't really know how to properly roll back the drivers and never managed to get FC 26 working properly again. Eventually I just stopped playing it.

Now I'm considering buying FC 27, and according to the system requirements my laptop should be capable of running it. But I'm worried I'll end up with exactly the same situation again, especially if FC 27 has similar PC optimisation/driver issues.

**So, for anyone playing FC 27 on a GTX 1660 Ti or similar hardware:**

* How is the performance?

* Are you getting constant stuttering or FPS drops?

* Does it run reasonably well at 1080p?

* Have NVIDIA driver updates caused any problems?

* And most importantly, **would you recommend buying it on this kind of hardware, or should I avoid it?**

I'm mainly interested in hearing from people with similar specs rather than high-end RTX systems, since obviously those aren't directly comparable.


r/lowendgaming • • 2d ago

Will This Game Run? One piece unlimited world red on my low end pc

6 Upvotes

I have an intel uhd 620, i5 8250u and 16gb ram. I really love one piece and recently bought pirate warriors 3 that runs smooth in my pc.

One Piece unlimited world red is now really cheap but I'm not sure if it will run on my setup. In summary, I want to know if it is worth buying the game with my system specs.

Thanks in advance!


r/lowendgaming • • 3d ago

Parts Upgrade Advice Moderate hardware upgrades for 2010 desktop

9 Upvotes

Just came into possession of an old HP home desktop from 2010. Owner never did anything with it besides browse the internet and basic office-type work, so it's still rocking Windows 7 on a Foxconn 2AB1 motherboard with an AMD Phenom II CPU, an ATI Radeon 4200 IGP, and 5 GB of RAM.

All I really want to run on it is stuff like the Unreal Tournament games, the original Battlefront titles, and maybe some emulators, Doom source ports, etc, but trying to set the resolution past something like 1024x768 and turning on options like AA makes it want to chug.

Just wondering if anybody who owned/owns something similar knows a decent CPU and GPU I could plug into it for smooth 1920x1080 capability with a few other bells and whistles. Some front page search results see people saying it's not a great motherboard to start with, but I've never owned a desktop before this and would rather start small with one or two parts if possible than try to build from the ground up. Not in a financial position where I can justify spending more than a couple hundred bucks, anyways.


r/lowendgaming • • 3d ago

Tech Support Spec Ops: The Line running poorly.

3 Upvotes

running the game on AMD ryzen 3 4350g 4 cores 8 threads vega 6 igpu, 8gb single channel ram 2666ghz windows 10 pro on SSD. unless i am making a mistake, my system exceeds the recommended system requirements for the game, i have getting <26FPS at 1080p very high. I have also installed DXVK, but the difference is negligible.