Left 4 Dead: PC requirements and the PC you need

About Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead is a co-op zombie shooter from Valve, the makers of Half-Life and Counter-Strike. Four survivors fight their way through a city overrun by infected hordes and nasty special zombies, heading for a rescue at the end of each campaign. The game changes where enemies and supplies appear each time, so no two runs are the same. You can play alone with computer team-mates or with friends online, and there is a versus mode where players control the zombies. It is an older game that runs on modest hardware, so any of our gaming PCs handles it easily.

What Left 4 Dead needs

In plain words: to play at all it needs almost any graphics, even the graphics built into the processor, and to play it well the makers suggest almost any graphics, even the graphics built into the processor, with 1GB of memory.

A low-spec PC or a high-spec PC?

This is a light game: almost any of our gaming PCs will run it comfortably at high settings.

On a PC that only just meets the minimum, the game will start and play, but on low settings: simpler shadows and textures, shorter view distances and fewer frames each second, so fast moments can feel less smooth. A 1080p screen is the sensible match.

On a PC that meets or beats the recommended spec, you can turn the settings up: sharper textures, proper shadows and lighting, more detail in the distance, and a smoother picture. A stronger PC also lets you use a sharper 1440p or high-refresh screen.

Questions about Left 4 Dead on PC

How we match: we compare the graphics card and the memory in each PC with the makers' spec, because those decide most of how a game runs. For very new or demanding games, ask us and we will check the processor too. More help: graphics cards explained, how much RAM, which screen.