Current test results: Star Citizen 3.4.3 - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/2035427 Recommendations in order of importance CPU Single thread performance CPU core count (>=6, i5-9600K for example) CPU thread count (>=8, quad-core + hyper-threading) RAM Capacity (>12GB, prefer >=16GB) GPU performance RAM Speed (DDR4-2133 vs DDR4-3200) RAM latency (Differs, equation: CAS latency / RAM speed -> Lower number = lower latency) GPU VRAM (>=4GB) Game on SSD Page file on SSD - Exception: Low RAM capacity Recommendations detailed Referring to the above I'll explain each stat. The single thread performance of the CPU has drastic effect on the game's performance. It effects many aspects including stalls/hitches as well as framerates like the mininmum, average, and maximum. You need to have a CPU with >=6 physical cores to get good, stutter-free performance. This means something like an i5-6600K/i5-7600K/i3-8350K/R3 2200G/R3 1300X/R3 2300X will not give you good performance. A quad-core with hyper-threading/SMT can bypass the core issue by providing a little bit more performance over a standard quad-core. There's a basic equation for HT/SMT CPUs of 0.6x the thread count being roughly equivalent to physical core count. Thus, a 4 core/8 thread CPU (i7-7700K/R5 2400G/R5 1500X/R5 2500X) is roughly equal to 4.8 physical cores. This isn't always the case and I technically don't have a CPU of this nature to verify this. Systems tested Intel i5-6600K (4 Core/4 Thread) tested with clock fixed at 3.5GHz and 4.7GHz Asus Z170-A 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-2400 15-15-15-35, Ran at DDR4-2133 15-15-15-35 and DDR4-2666 13-14-14-28 - G.Skill F4-2400C15D-16GVS Nvidia GTX 970 (EVGA 04G-P4-1976-KR) -> Fixed to 1380 Core/Stock Memory Samsung 850 EVO 500GB on SATA3 Intel Xeon X5660/X5670 (6 Core/12 Thread) tested with clock fixed at 2.8GHz and 4.4GHz Asus Sabertooth X58 or Asus P6T (older tests but little difference) 30GB (3x8GB + 3x2GB) 4 different models (don't ask), DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24, Ran at DDR3-1333 9-9-9-17 and DDR3-1680 9-9-9-17 - 3x 8GB, technically: G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GXM Nvidia GTX 970 (EVGA 04G-P4-2972-KR) -> Fixed to 1380 Core/Stock Memory Samsung 850/860 EVO 250GB in RAID0 on SATA2 -> Attempt to simulate SATA3 Archive of previous tests 2.6.3 - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/2035407 3.0 - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/880296 3.2.0 - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/2035413 3.2.2 - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/2035415 (Current) 3.4.3 - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/performance-comparisons/2035427