The Witcher 3 Remastered Is a Free Upgrade on September 29. Can Your PC Run It, and Is Path Tracing Worth Turning On?
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered unlocks on September 29 at 10:00 UTC, which is 6am on the East Coast and 3am on the West, and it is free. CD Projekt Red's own post says anyone who purchased any version of the game in the past, physical or digital, gets the upgrade within the same platform ecosystem: Steam, GOG, Epic and Battle.net on PC, plus PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2. Saves carry over.
That makes this the largest single install base to receive a new set of PC requirements this year. The Steam page for the Complete Edition still lists a GTX 660 and Windows 7 as the minimum, with a note that "system requirements will change on 2026.09.29." They do. The new sheet has six tiers, runs from a GTX 1660 to an RTX 5080, and the top of it is a path-tracing mode that the first benchmarks say nothing on sale can hold at 60 without frame generation.
What is actually in the upgrade
On PC the remaster is a rendering rebuild more than a content one. The engine moves to native DirectX 12 with multithreaded rendering, and on top of that CDPR has added full path tracing, ray-traced HairWorks, DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, FSR 4 with frame generation and Anti-Lag 2, and XeSS 2.0 with frame generation. FSR 4 needs a Radeon RX 7000 or newer, and older AMD cards fall back to FSR 2.
The gameplay side is smaller but not nothing. Skills are now a tree with three ranks each, prerequisites gate progression rather than point spend, and every existing character has its points refunded. Combat gets reworked monster AI, new finishers and a dynamic camera, and master craftsmen can reforge gear to change its look without touching stats. It is still the 2015 game with the two expansions, and it plays like it.
The spec sheet, all six tiers
CDPR published the requirements on September 28, one day out, and DSOGaming and VideoCardz carried the full ladder. Storage is 60GB on an SSD at every tier, and the sheet as relayed by iXBT lists Windows 11 as the OS, which is worth noticing if you are one of the many Steam users still on 10.
| Tier | Target | CPU | GPU | RAM | Upscaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | 1080p, 30 fps, Low | Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600 | GTX 1660, RX 5500 XT or Arc A580 | 12GB | None stated |
| Recommended | 1080p, 60 fps, High | Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600X | RTX 2060 Super, RX 6600 XT or Arc B580 | 16GB | None stated |
| High | 1440p, 60 fps, Ultra | Core i7-13700K or Ryzen 7 7700X | RTX 3070 Ti, RX 6800 XT or Arc B580 | 24GB | XeSS on the B580 |
| Ray tracing | 1080p, 30 fps, RT | Core i7-11700K or Ryzen 7 5800X | RTX 2060 Super, RX 6600 XT or Arc B580 | 16GB | Required |
| Ray tracing Ultra | 1440p, 60 fps, RT Ultra | Core i7-13700K or Ryzen 7 7700X | RTX 4080 or RX 9070 XT | 24GB | DLSS or FSR |
| Path tracing | 4K, 60 fps, PT | Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 7 9800X3D | RTX 5080 | 24GB | Upscaling plus frame generation |
Three things stand out.
The bottom is generous. A GTX 1660 and a Ryzen 5 2600 are 2018 and 2019 parts, and 12GB of RAM is an odd number that reads like a laptop concession. The 2015 game ran on anything, and CDPR has kept the floor low enough that most of the people who own it can still play it.
The middle jumps. Between 1080p High and 1440p Ultra the CPU line goes from an 8700K to a 13700K and the RAM from 16 to 24GB, which is a bigger step than the GPU line takes. The B580 appearing on three rows, including the 1440p Ultra one with XeSS, tells you CDPR is comfortable leaning on upscalers to hit its own targets.
The top is a target, not a measurement. The path-tracing tier says 4K 60 on an RTX 5080 with upscaling and frame generation. The benchmarks below say what happens without the frame generation, and it is not 60.
What your card gets you with ray tracing off
These are estimates from the model behind our FPS calculator, using a Witcher 3 Remastered profile calibrated to the rasterized ladder above: the 2060 Super tier lands at its stated 60. They are ranges at High settings with ray tracing off, not benchmarks, and the profile will be re-rated when a full launch suite exists. Nothing in this table is CPU-limited.
| Pairing | 1080p | 1440p | 4K |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 2600 + GTX 1660 (minimum) | 38-52 | 28-38 | 17-23 |
| Ryzen 5 3600X + RTX 2060 Super (recommended) | 56-76 | 41-55 | 25-33 |
| Ryzen 5 5600 + RX 6600 XT | 61-83 | 44-60 | 26-36 |
| Ryzen 5 5600 + RTX 3060 12GB | 70-94 | 50-68 | 31-41 |
| Core i5-12400F + Arc B580 | 66-90 | 48-66 | 29-39 |
| Ryzen 5 5600 + RTX 4060 | 77-105 | 56-76 | 34-46 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X + RTX 5060 | 85-115 | 62-84 | 37-51 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X + RX 9060 XT | 82-112 | 60-82 | 36-48 |
| Ryzen 7 7700X + RTX 3070 Ti (1440p Ultra tier) | 94-126 | 68-92 | 41-55 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X + RTX 5060 Ti | 96-130 | 70-94 | 42-56 |
| Ryzen 7 7800X3D + RTX 5070 | 110-148 | 79-107 | 48-64 |
| Core i7-13700K + RTX 4080 (RT Ultra tier, RT off here) | 117-159 | 85-115 | 51-69 |
| Ryzen 7 9800X3D + RX 9070 XT | 112-152 | 82-110 | 48-66 |
| Ryzen 7 9800X3D + RTX 5080 | 124-168 | 90-122 | 54-74 |
| Ryzen 7 9800X3D + RTX 5090 | 132-178 | 96-130 | 58-78 |
Read it as a rasterized game from 2015 with a much heavier renderer bolted on, because that is what it is. The minimum tier is a 40 fps experience at 1080p on High and will do better on Low, which is why CDPR's 30 fps target is safe. The RTX 3060, still the most common card on Steam, is comfortable at 1080p and playable at 1440p. From a 5060 or 9060 XT up, 1440p at 60 is the default, and the 5070 and 9070 XT class is where 1440p high-refresh and 4K at 60 both open up.
One check against the real thing: Hardware Unboxed's 1440p Medium numbers, relayed by Club386, were 85 fps for the RTX 5060, 102 for the Arc B580 and 121 for the 8GB RX 9060 XT. Our High-preset ranges sit below those, as they should, and the B580 beating the 5060 at Medium is a reminder that this engine likes Intel's card more than most do. Put your own pair into the calculator and it will show this game next to whatever else you play.
The path-tracing numbers
Two outlets had a build before launch, and neither found a card that holds 60 at 4K without frame generation.
Hardware Unboxed tested at 4K on the RT Ultra preset with path tracing on and DLSS or FSR set to Performance, which renders internally at 1920x1080 and upscales to 4K. GameGPU tabulated the results:
| GPU | 4K, path tracing, Performance upscaling |
|---|---|
| RTX 5090 32GB | 59 (dips to 49) |
| RTX 5080 16GB | 43 |
| RTX 5070 Ti 16GB | 40 |
| RTX 5070 12GB | 29 |
| RX 9070 XT 16GB | 23 |
| RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | 22 |
| RX 9070 16GB | 20 |
| RX 9070 GRE 12GB | 17 |
| RX 9060 XT 16GB | 12 |
| RX 9060 XT 8GB | 10 |
| RTX 5060 Ti 8GB | 10 |
| RTX 5060 8GB | 8 |
| Arc B580 12GB | 7 (dips to 4) |
At native 4K with no upscaler, PurePC's run in Velen on the Uber+ preset had the RTX 5090 at 22 fps, the 4090 at 18, the 5080 at 13, the RX 9070 XT at 8 and the 7900 XTX at 7. That is the whole path-tracing story in one row: the tier CDPR published, 4K 60 on a 5080, is only reachable with DLSS Performance and frame generation stacked, and the 5080's real rendered frame rate underneath is 43.
Two details from that table matter more than the 5090 headline. The 16GB and 8GB versions of the same card are not the same card here: the 5060 Ti goes from 22 to 10 and the 9060 XT from 12 to 10 when the memory halves, which is the 8GB VRAM line drawn in a single game. And AMD's cards fall much further behind in this mode than they do with ray tracing off. The 9070 XT trades with the 5070 Ti in most 2026 games and is at 23 against 40 here.
Then there is 1080p. Hardware Unboxed also ran path tracing at 1080p with DLSS Quality on a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and got 62 fps on the RTX 5090, 62 on the 5080 and 61 on the 5070 Ti, with the CPU showing about 35% load. Three cards from three price tiers landing within one frame of each other is a main-thread ceiling, and it is on the fastest gaming CPU you can buy. Outside Novigrad the numbers climbed to around 80, still flat across the cards. This is the case our bottleneck checker is built for: at 1080p with path tracing on, a 5090 is bottlenecked by a 9800X3D, and buying a bigger card changes nothing. A 9070 XT with FSR at the same settings managed 43.
Should you turn it on
Probably not on day one, and the reason is not only frame rate.
Hardware Unboxed called the path tracing in this title "very underwhelming," pointing at over-exposed characters and a washed-out look, and GameGPU published a separate piece arguing that path tracing makes some scenes look worse than the standard renderer. That is two outlets, before a day-one patch, on a mode that costs a 5080 more than half its frames. It may be tuned. Cyberpunk's path tracing improved substantially over its first year. But the honest advice for launch week is to play on the RT Ultra preset, which Hardware Unboxed measured at 58 fps average and 49 at the 1% lows on an RX 9070 GRE at 1440p, and to try path tracing in Novigrad for ten minutes to see whether you can tell.
For buying decisions the sheet is clearer than the marketing. If you want the remaster with ray tracing at 1440p and 60, the tier says an RTX 4080 or RX 9070 XT, and a 5070 Ti sits between them. Nobody should buy a 5090 for this game: at 1080p it is CPU-capped, at 4K it does not reach 60 without frame generation, and the visual case for the mode it is being sold on is contested. The build generator will put a whole machine around a 5070 Ti or 9070 XT, and the best GPU for your CPU pages will tell you whether an older processor is the thing holding a new card back, which in this game, at this setting, it is.
The short version
- Free upgrade for every existing owner, September 29 at 10:00 UTC (6am Eastern), on PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2. Saves carry over, skill points reset.
- Minimum is a GTX 1660 and a Ryzen 5 2600 at 1080p 30 Low, which our model reads as 38 to 52 fps at High. Recommended is an RTX 2060 Super for 1080p 60. 1440p Ultra wants an RTX 3070 Ti and 24GB of RAM.
- Ray tracing at 1440p 60 needs an RTX 4080 or RX 9070 XT with upscaling. Path tracing at 4K 60 needs an RTX 5080 plus upscaling plus frame generation.
- Without frame generation the RTX 5090 averages 59 fps at 4K path tracing with DLSS Performance and 22 at native. The 5080 does 43. The 8GB 5060 Ti does 10.
- At 1080p, path tracing is capped near 62 fps by a Ryzen 7 9800X3D. A 5070 Ti and a 5090 tie.
- Two outlets say the path tracing looks worse than expected at launch. Play RT Ultra, test PT yourself, and do not buy a card for it.
Related reading
- FPS calculator with the Witcher 3 Remastered profile loaded
- Where the 8GB VRAM line is in 2026
- Best GPU and CPU pairings for the 1440p ray-tracing tier
- The Blood of Dawnwalker PC requirements, from the studio the Witcher 3 leads went on to found
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the minimum PC requirements for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered?
For 1080p at 30 fps on Low: a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600, 12GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1660, Radeon RX 5500 XT or Intel Arc A580, with 60GB of SSD space. The new sheet lists Windows 11. On our model that pairing reads 38 to 52 fps at 1080p with ray tracing off, so the 30 fps target is conservative.
What do you need for 1440p or ray tracing?
1440p at 60 on Ultra without ray tracing asks for a Core i7-13700K or Ryzen 7 7700X with an RTX 3070 Ti, RX 6800 XT or Arc B580 and 24GB of RAM. Ray tracing at 1440p 60 on the RT Ultra preset moves that to an RTX 4080 or RX 9070 XT with upscaling on. Ray tracing at 1080p and 30 fps is possible on an RTX 2060 Super or RX 6600 XT with an upscaler.
What does path tracing need, and can an RTX 5090 do 60 fps?
CDPR's tier for path tracing is 4K at 60 fps with an RTX 5080 and a Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and that target assumes both upscaling and frame generation. Hardware Unboxed's pre-launch run put the RTX 5090 at 59 fps average at 4K with DLSS Performance and no frame generation, dipping to 49, and the RTX 5080 at 43. At native 4K PurePC measured the 5090 at 22 fps. So no, not without frame generation.
Is the remaster free, and do my saves carry over?
Yes on both. Anyone who bought any version of the game, physical or digital, gets the remaster free within the same platform ecosystem, on PC through Steam, GOG, Epic and Battle.net, plus PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2. It unlocks September 29 at 10:00 UTC, which is 6am Eastern and 3am Pacific. Existing saves are compatible, but skill points are reset because the skill system was rebuilt into a tree.
Is The Witcher 3 Remastered CPU or GPU heavy?
With ray tracing off it is GPU-bound on every pairing we ran, which is why the CPU rows on the lower tiers are old six-cores. Path tracing is the exception: at 1080p with DLSS Quality, Hardware Unboxed saw the RTX 5090, 5080 and 5070 Ti all land at 61 to 62 fps on a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is a CPU ceiling. Above that resolution the GPU takes over again.