Averaging more than 60 million players each month, League of Legends is the most-played computer game in the world. With that being said, it comes as no surprise to find that fans of this game would check out sites such as leaguesmurfs.com in the hopes of buying League Smurf accounts.
Thankfully, it’s also a game that doesn’t need extreme amounts of computing power to run.
But how powerful of a PC do you need to be to play League at a fast framerate and high resolution? Beyond that, what kind of PC would you need to play League triple monitors or at 4K resolution? This guide will take an in-depth look at the computer hardware necessary to play League on everything from minimum settings like players that might end up using sites like Unrankedlolaccounts.com, up to crazier multi-monitor setups or extremely high resolutions that are more than likely to be used by players that are a lot better.
A note on CPU requirements: The CPU is definitely not the bottleneck in League, and in truth, a 2 Ghz single core CPU should be able to run the game moderately well. In our build recommendations, we’ll be suggesting progressively more powerful CPUs, but we do that because a computer’s components should be balanced, and not necessarily because League needs a high-end CPU to run at higher settings.
A note on GPU requirements: Your graphics card plays a much bigger role in determining how well League runs on your PC. Even when it comes to graphics cards, you don’t need much to get by on lower settings – though you’ll need a good mid-tier card to really get the most out of the game at 4K resolution or with multiple monitors.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
First, let’s take a look at the minimum system requirements according to the developer, Riot Games.
CPU: 2 Ghz
GPU: Direct X 9 support
RAM: 1 GB
These recommendations are very easily achievable, but they don’t supply much specific hardware information.
Here’s a build Logical Increments recommends to play League on the minimum settings:
CPU: AMD A4-5300 or Sempron 2650
GPU: GT 210 or integrated graphics
RAM: 1 GB
A setup comparable to this could be found in the Destitute or Poor tiers on Logical Increments.
MEDIUM SETTINGS
What if you’d like to run the game on medium settings at a decent resolution? You’re going to need to upgrade to a better low-tier dedicated graphics card, and have at least 2 GB of RAM. The AMD chips from our previous build would work here, but we’re recommending an upgrade to the G3220 to keep the system balanced.
Here’s our medium settings build:
CPU: Intel G3220
GPU: R7 240
RAM: 2 GB
A build like this could be found at the Minimum tier at Logical Increments.
MAXIMUM SETTINGS @ 1080p
The most important factor in running League on full settings at 1920×1080 will be a mid-tier graphics card, though you don’t need a very powerful one.
To be frank, this build is a little overkill for League, but as a bonus it’s powerful enough to run more demanding games pretty well, and still at a very reasonable price.
We normally shoot for getting 60 FPS on max settings, but this setup could probably get you more like 80 or 90 FPS, assuming your monitor’s refresh rate allows it.
CPU: X4 750K
RAM: 4 GB
Check the Entry or Modest tiers on Logical Increments for builds similar to this.
MAXIMUM SETTINGS @ 4K OR TRIPLE MONITORS
Playing the game at extreme resolutions or with multiple monitors really just requires a slight upgrade from our previous build.
CPU: X4 760K
GPU: GTX 750 Ti
or R7 265
RAM: 4 GB
A build similar to this can be found at the Good tier on Logical Increments.
MORE BENCHMARKS
Special thanks to Edward Smakov for his video footage.