Can Your PC Run Gears of War: E-Day? Specs, File Size and Steam Deck

Gears of War: E-Day launched on October 6, 2026, and The Coalition’s PC system requirements, posted on the Steam store page (Steam appid 3010850), are unusually strict for a third-person shooter: every spec tier requires a hardware ray-tracing capable GPU, and the recommended spec needs 115 GB of free storage. The game is also on Xbox Series X|S and PC Game Pass. This guide covers the official minimum and recommended specs, the file size, what ray tracing does in this game, and whether the Steam Deck or Linux/Proton can run it.

Quick answer:

• Minimum GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 6600 / RX 9060 (1080p, hardware ray tracing required).
• Recommended GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti / RTX 5060 / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT / RX 9060 XT (1440p target).
• Minimum CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel Core i5-10400 / Intel Core i7-6850K.
• Recommended CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel Core i5-11600K.
• RAM: 12 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended.
• Storage: 115 GB SSD required (the spec sheet says SSD, not HDD).
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit 22H2 (build 19045.7291) minimum, Windows 11 64-bit 25H2 recommended.
• DirectX: Version 12 required at both tiers.
• Steam Deck: No official Valve rating. ProtonDB reports an overall Gold tier (27 reports, the best Platinum tier).
• Game Pass: Day-one on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Minimum specs (1080p)

The Steam store page lists these minimum requirements for a 1080p run with hardware ray tracing on:

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit 22H2 (build 19045.7291)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel Core i7-6850K / Intel Core i5-10400
• RAM: 12 GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 6600 / Radeon RX 9060 (hardware ray tracing required)
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 115 GB SSD available

This is a step above a typical 1080p minimum: every supported GPU needs ray-tracing hardware, so older cards without RT cores are out. NVIDIA’s RTX 2060 was the entry-level RT card in 2019, AMD’s RX 6600 added RT hardware in 2022, and the RX 9060 is the most recent of the three.

Recommended specs (1440p)

For a 1440p target on the recommended tier:

• OS: Windows 11 64-bit 25H2 or newer
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel Core i5-11600K
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti / RTX 5060 / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT / Radeon RX 9060 XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 115 GB SSD available

The recommended GPUs all have at least 8 GB of VRAM and a clear margin over the minimum tier; the RTX 5060 is the most recent NVIDIA addition, listed alongside the more common RTX 3060 Ti. AMD’s RX 6700 XT and the newer RX 9060 XT sit at roughly the same performance class.

File size and storage

The spec sheet calls for 115 GB of free SSD space, which puts Gears of War: E-Day in the same storage league as a Call of Duty launch. The spec does not list an HDD option; the storage line says “SSD,” which is consistent with the engine’s open-zone E-Day chapter and the larger Havoc-driven set pieces. Plan for 115 GB plus the Windows page file and shader caches, so 130-140 GB free on the boot drive is the safe bet before installing.

Day-one patches and the post-launch Seasons 1/2 content add more. The Coalition’s first major patch was already 8 GB on October 16, per our first-patch coverage. If you have a 256 GB boot drive, you’ll want to move older titles off before installing.

What ray tracing does in E-Day

The minimum line is explicit: “Hardware Ray Tracing capable GPU is required.” That means even on the lowest preset, the game’s renderer needs a GPU with RT cores. This is the first Gears of War game since 2006’s Gears of War for PC to require hardware RT, and it lands alongside Hellblade II and the most recent Doom expansions as one of the few PC titles that gate the minimum spec on RT hardware.

E-Day uses ray-traced reflections in the E-Day chapter’s flooded streets and the indoor set pieces; the rest of the game leans on traditional lighting. Disabling it isn’t supported, so anyone running a GTX 1660 or RX 580 from the previous generation is out of luck.

Steam Deck and ProtonDB status

Valve has not published a Steam Deck Verified rating for Gears of War: E-Day. The game’s Steam store page lists it as Windows-only with full controller support and HDR, but no Deck badge. The Coalition’s Gears of War E-Day system requirements do not call out a Deck target.

ProtonDB (player-reported Proton compatibility) gives Gears of War: E-Day an overall Gold tier with 27 player reports, a “strong” confidence rating, and a Platinum best-reported tier — meaning some players have gotten it running at native performance with manual tweaks. For Linux players the practical answer is: the game runs on Proton, but expect to spend time tweaking Proton versions and shader caches. The Coalition has not shipped a native Linux port.

For Steam Deck specifically, the spec floor is the bigger problem than Linux compatibility: the Deck’s custom APU doesn’t have ray-tracing hardware, so the game is unlikely to launch on Deck. If The Coalition patches in an RT-off toggle in a later update, the Deck could run it at 30 fps with the resolution scale turned down, but that’s not promised.

Game Pass availability

Gears of War: E-Day is published by Xbox Game Studios, so it’s available day-one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (console, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming). It is also available on the Microsoft Store for Windows. There is no PS Plus version. Our What Gears of War: E-Day’s Sales Numbers Really Say About Game Pass piece covers how Game Pass positioning shaped the launch.

Crossplay and online play

The Coalition confirmed cross-platform multiplayer between Steam, Xbox and the Microsoft Store at launch, per our Is Gears of War: E-Day Cross-Platform? Steam, Xbox, and PC Crossplay guide. Cross-progression is on by default for players signed in with the same Xbox Live Gamertag. PS5 crossplay is not supported because the game is not on PlayStation platforms.

Is your PC ready for E-Day? A quick check

If you already have a build that ran Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III or Helldivers 2 at 1080p on the recommended tier, you should be fine. The two big blockers for older PCs are the ray-tracing hardware requirement and the 115 GB SSD floor.

A pre-built Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, or Lenovo Legion Go will not run E-Day at native settings because none of those handhelds include an RT-capable GPU. The closest handheld that will run the game at the recommended tier is the ASUS ROG Ally X paired with an external RTX 3060 Ti eGPU.

We compared the Steam system requirements against the ProtonDB player reports and the day-one patch notes from our first-patch coverage. Three patterns stand out for anyone deciding whether to upgrade before launch: first, the RTX 2060 / RX 6600 minimum is the highest bar a Gears of War PC port has ever set, and older GTX 1660 / RX 580 systems will not run the game at any preset. Second, 115 GB of SSD storage is the new ceiling for AAA PC releases, alongside the 125 GB requirement of the recent Doom: The Dark Ages. Plan for headroom before day-one patches. Third, the ProtonDB Platinum-best-with-Gold-overall rating is the right takeaway for Linux players: the game works, but expect to spend 30-60 minutes tweaking a clean Proton install to get it stable on launch day, and there is no native Linux or Steam Deck path until The Coalition adds an RT-off toggle or ships a Vulkan renderer.

For everything else on E-Day, our Gears of War: E-Day Crossplay guide covers the online play rules, our Reviews Roundup covers critic scores, and the Gears of War: E-Day hub collects every story and guide we have published.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report