What's the cheapest PC that can run Sons of the Forest?

A AMD Ryzen 5 7600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB build at around £799. That hits 1080p/60 on high settings.

Is Sons of the Forest CPU-heavy or GPU-heavy?

Sons of the Forest is primarily GPU-bound. Prioritise the graphics card; a mid-range CPU like the Ryzen 5 7600 will keep up at 1080p/60.

Do I need ray tracing for Sons of the Forest?

Sons of the Forest does not require ray tracing. Any current-generation GPU will deliver the intended visual experience.

How much RAM do I need?

For Sons of the Forest, 32GB is the sensible answer in 2026. 16GB still works for the budget tier but limits future-proofing.

← Sons of the Forest

Best gaming PC for Sons of the Forest (2026)

For Sons of the Forest at 1080p/60 in 2026, you need at minimum a AMD Ryzen 5 7600 paired with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB and 16GB of RAM (around £799). For 1440p high settings, step up to a AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB — about £1,299.

The four PC tiers we'd build for Sons of the Forest

Budget

£799

1080p · 60fps

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD

For Sons of the Forest, the budget tier holds 1080p/60fps on medium settings. Step up to the mid tier for a smoother experience.

Build this at Create PCs →

Mid-tier

£1,299

1440p · 60fps

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB
RAM: 32 GB
Storage: 2TB NVMe SSD

Targets 1440p/60fps on high settings in Sons of the Forest. The 4070 Super has enough VRAM headroom for ray tracing with DLSS Quality.

Build this at Create PCs →

High-end

£1,799

1440p · 144fps

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB
RAM: 32 GB
Storage: 2TB NVMe SSD

Built for 1440p at 144fps in Sons of the Forest with all the visual extras on. The 9800X3D's 3D V-Cache helps in CPU-heavy moments.

Build this at Create PCs →

Enthusiast

£3,499

4K · 60fps

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32GB
RAM: 64 GB
Storage: 4TB NVMe SSD

Designed to max Sons of the Forest at 4K/60fps with path tracing and frame generation where supported.

Build this at Create PCs →

What Sons of the Forest actually demands from your PC

Steam's recommended spec for Sons of the Forest is NVIDIA GeForce 1080Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT with 16GB RAM and a INTEL CORE I7-8700K. That spec was written for the Newnight team's internal "minimum acceptable" target, not for a buyer in 2026 planning to keep this PC for the next four years.

GPU-bound title: Framerate scales directly with GPU power. If you have a fixed budget, prioritise the graphics card and accept a mid-range CPU.

What you can skip vs what matters

Worth spending on: GPU first, then a fast NVMe SSD (most modern games benefit from sub-3000MB/s sustained reads), then RAM at the tier amount.
Worth skipping at this budget: RGB lighting, exotic cooling, brand-name PSUs above 850W (unless you're building enthusiast tier), and motherboards with more than 4 M.2 slots.
Don't compromise on: The PSU. A reliable 750W gold-rated unit will outlast two GPU upgrades.

Frequently asked questions

What's the cheapest PC that can run Sons of the Forest?: A AMD Ryzen 5 7600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB build at around £799. That hits 1080p/60 on high settings.
Is Sons of the Forest CPU-heavy or GPU-heavy?: Sons of the Forest is primarily GPU-bound. Prioritise the graphics card; a mid-range CPU like the Ryzen 5 7600 will keep up at 1080p/60.
Do I need ray tracing for Sons of the Forest?: Sons of the Forest does not require ray tracing. Any current-generation GPU will deliver the intended visual experience.
How much RAM do I need?: For Sons of the Forest, 32GB is the sensible answer in 2026. 16GB still works for the budget tier but limits future-proofing.