Subnautica — System Requirements, FPS Estimate & Settings
2018 · Indie, Adventure · Unknown Worlds Entertainment · ESRB Everyone 10+ · Metacritic 83
Official system requirements
Publisher-published Minimum / Recommended values via RAWG, retrieved 2026-08-21. Real-world performance varies with drivers, resolution and your full build.
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Minimum: | Recommended: |
| Processor | OS: Windows Vista SP2 or newer, 64-bit | OS: Windows Vista SP2 or newer, 64-bit |
| Memory | Processor: Intel Haswell 2 cores / 4 threads @ 2.5Ghz or equivalent | Processor: Intel Haswell 4 cores / 4 threads @ 3.2Ghz or equivalent |
| Graphics | Memory: 4 GB RAM | Memory: 8 GB RAM |
| Storage | Graphics: Intel HD 4600 or equivalent - This includes most GPUs scoring greater than 950pts in the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark | Graphics: Nvidia GTX 550 ti or equivalent |
| DirectX | Storage: 6 GB available space | Storage: 6 GB available space |
| Item 7 | Additional Notes: Subnautica is an Early Access game, and minimum specifications may change during development | Additional Notes: Subnautica is an Early Access game, and recommended specifications may change during development. |
Multi-GPU FPS estimate
Estimated average FPS by GPU at 1080p / 1440p / 4K, derived from Subnautica's demand tier (tier 1, Very light (runs on integrated graphics)) and published TechPowerUp-style relative-performance indices (RTX 4090 = 100), retrieved 2026-08-29. Planning estimates, not benchmarks.
| GPU | 1080p | 1440p | 4K |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 4090 | 480 | 380 | 219 |
| RTX 4080 Super | 480 | 341 | 196 |
| RTX 4080 | 480 | 327 | 188 |
| RX 7900 XTX | 480 | 363 | 209 |
| RX 7900 XT | 480 | 341 | 196 |
| RTX 4070 Ti Super | 440 | 291 | 167 |
| RX 7800 XT | 440 | 291 | 167 |
| RTX 4070 Super | 414 | 274 | 157 |
| RTX 4070 | 388 | 256 | 148 |
| RX 7700 XT | 399 | 263 | 152 |
| RTX 3070 | 362 | 239 | 138 |
| RX 6800 XT | 435 | 287 | 165 |
| RTX 4060 Ti | 319 | 211 | 121 |
| RX 6700 XT | 388 | 256 | 148 |
| RTX 3060 | 292 | 193 | 111 |
| RX 6600 XT | 330 | 218 | 125 |
| RTX 2060 | 264 | 174 | 100 |
| GTX 1660 Super | 218 | 144 | 83 |
| RX 580 | 253 | 167 | 96 |
| GTX 1060 6GB | 207 | 136 | 79 |
| GTX 1650 | 165 | 109 | 63 |
| Intel Arc A770 | 335 | 221 | 127 |
| UHD 770 (integrated) | 67 | 44 | 26 |
Method: a game's demand tier maps to a “GPU index needed for ~60 FPS at 1080p”; each GPU's relative index produces an estimate via a diminishing-returns curve, then scaled for resolution. Source: TechPowerUp GPU database (relative performance), 2026-08-29.
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Open profile →Optimize Subnautica for your hardware
Pick your GPU, CPU, resolution and target refresh rate, then generate a printable settings card with per-preset expectations and upscaler guidance.
Optimize Subnautica for your PC
This is a planning estimate derived from the game's demand tier, not a benchmark.
My Subnautica Settings Card
Generated at GameFigs on 2026-09-25. Game demand tier: 1/9.
Release & version notes
Official release date: 2018-01-23. Ongoing patches and version history are published by the developer — for the latest patch notes, see the official store or support page. GameFigs summarizes the official release only and does not invent patch dates.
About Subnautica
Subnautica is a first-person game about survival in the deep sea. You control Ryley Robinson, a space traveler in the 22nd century, who crash-landed his starship on a planet that is covered almost entirely by the ocean. The protagonist needs to eat and drink, although this can be disabled in lower difficulty modes. He can desalinate oceanic water, catch or gather the seafood, and create useful tools and structures. Unlike many survival games, Subnautica has a detailed plot, in which Ryley has to uncover why his ship crashed. By exploring the ocean, finding the remnants of other crashes, and listening to the radio messages, Robinson will learn about the enormous Leviathan, the mysterious Precursors, and the reason why this planet is quarantined. The game is famous for its spectacular portrayal of the ocean and its wildlife. Robinson is equipped with a scuba diving gear that allows the player to spend most of the game underwater, although oxygen still has to be replenished. The player can dive deep and explore the world full of corals, fish, and other colorful sea creatures, often grotesque or bio-luminescent. The environment is randomly generated to improve replayability.
Sources & attribution
- Game data (release year, genres, platforms, system requirements, description, cover art) via RAWG.io, retrieved 2026-08-21.
- GPU relative-performance indices via TechPowerUp GPU database (relative performance), retrieved 2026-08-29.
- FPS estimates on this page are GameFigs planning estimates from the demand-tier + GPU-index model — not benchmark results.
How the Subnautica optimization card & FPS estimate are computed
Each game is scored on a 0–9 demand tier from its published PC requirements (and a year/genre fallback when requirements are absent). The FPS estimate compares your selected GPU's relative-performance index against the tier's required index using a diminishing-returns curve, then scales for resolution. The settings card maps the demand tier and your hardware to a starting preset, an FPS band and an upscaler recommendation. All outputs are planning guides — verify in-game with the built-in benchmark when available.
Tools for Subnautica
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