Still kicking —
2014's Nvidia GTX 970 is still a "minimum requirements" workhorse.
Enlarge / At this rate, it might be the only graphics card you'll ever need?
When Dragon Age: Inquisition came out nearly 10 years ago, PC players could have invested $329 (~$435 in today's dollars) in a brand-new GTX 970 graphics card to make the game look as good as possible on their high-end gaming rig. Surprisingly enough, that very same 2014 graphics card will still be able to run follow-up Dragon Age: The Veilguard (previously known as Dreadwolf) when it launches on October 31. If you're using AMD cards, an even older Radeon R9 that you purchased back in 2013 will be able to run the game.
Veilguard's minimum specs are just the latest to show the workmanlike endurance of the humble GTX 970, which is currently available used on Newegg for as low as $140. Relatively recent big-budget PC releases like Baldur's Gate 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 both use the old card (or the less powerful follow-up variant, the GTX 960) as their "minimum requirement" benchmark.
Not every big-budget PC game these days is so forgiving with its minimum specs, though. When Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom: Eternal launched in 2020, they both asked players to be sporting at least a GTX 1060, which had come out around four years prior.
For a bit of context, the GTX 970 was used as the "recommended" baseline spec for the mid-range "Oculus Ready" PCs needed to power the then-new Rift VR headset when it launched in 2016. Today, a $500 Meta Quest 3 headset gives you much better graphical performance in a self-contained portable package, no gaming PC required.
Veilguard players sticking with a GTX 970 shouldn't expect to get the best graphical experience, of course. EA suggests an RTX 2070 (circa 2018) or a Radeon RX 5700Xt (circa 2019) to run the game at "recommended" specs. And you'll need at least 16 GB of RAM and 100 GB of storage space.
Since work on Veilguard began in earnest in 2015, the game has suffered a string of high-profile staff departures: Creative Director Mike Laidlaw left in 2017; Executive Producer Mark Darrah and BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson left in late 2020; Senior Creative Director Matt Goldman left in late 2021; replacement Executive Producer Christian Daley left in early 2022; and producer Mac Walters left in early 2023.
The full requirements for Dragon Age: The Veilguard are as follows.
Minimum Requirements
OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 3 3300X* (see notes)
Memory: 16GB
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970/1650 / AMD Radeon R9 290X
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 100GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD preferred, HDD supported; AMD CPUs on Windows 11 require AGESA V2 1.2.0.7
Recommended Requirements
OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (see notes)
Memory: 16GB
Graphics: Nvidia RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 100GB SSD available space
Additional Notes: SSD required; AMD CPUs on Windows 11 require AGESA V2 1.2.0.7