Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition
- Developer
- Tantalus Media
- Publisher
- Xbox Game Studios
- Released
- 15 October 2020
- Age rating
- PEGI 16
- UK price
- £26.99
Platforms: PC
Genres: real time strategy rts , strategy
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition completes the celebration of one of the most beloved real-time strategy franchises with remastered graphics and music, all previously released expansions and brand-new content to enjoy for the very first time.
Best gaming PC for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition in 2026
Full buyers guide →Below are the four PC tiers we'd actually recommend for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition today. These are our 2026 hardware picks, not the dated publisher minimums you'll find on Steam.
Budget
1080p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 5 7600
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 8GB
- RAM
- 16 GB
- Storage
- 1TB NVMe SSD
Mid-tier
1440p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
High-end
1440p · 144fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
Enthusiast
4K · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32GB
- RAM
- 64 GB
- Storage
- 4TB NVMe SSD
Official system requirements
These are the minimum and recommended specs as published by Xbox Game Studios on Steam. They tend to be conservative, usually "what ran the game at 1080p when it shipped". For what you should actually buy in 2026, see the tier cards above.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 version 18362.0 / higher | Windows 10 version 18362.0 / higher |
| CPU | Intel i3-2105 @ 3.1GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 973 with an average CPU Passmark score of 1830 or better | Intel i5-3300 @ 3.0GHz or AMD FX-8350 or equivalent with an average CPU Passmark score of 4100 or better |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| GPU | GeForce GT 430, Radeon HD 5570, or Intel HD 4400 with an average Passmark G3D Mark of 570 or better @720p | GeForce GTX 980 or Radeon R9 Fury or equivalent with an average Passmark G3D Mark of 9500 or better @1080p |
| Storage | 42 GB | 42 GB |
| DirectX | 11 | 11 |
Verified 13 September 2026 against the Steam store page.
Can your PC run Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition?
If your CPU is roughly equivalent to Intel i5-3300 @ 3.0GHz and your GPU is at or above GeForce GTX 980, you'll hit recommended settings at 1080p/60. For 1440p or higher, look at the tier picks above.