Unveiling the Unbelievable: Hogwarts Legacy Running on Ancient Hardware!

Highlights

As a graphical powerhouse, Hogwarts Legacy struggles to run on older GPUs like the GTX 660, leading to a significant loss in visual fidelity.

Unreal Engine 4, despite its nearly decade-long existence, continues to impress with its visually stunning graphics in Hogwarts Legacy. This is made possible by the unwavering commitment of Epic Games to provide continuous updates and support.

A Reddit user's video clip serves as a testament to the importance of upgrading PCs to ensure optimal gaming performance, even though older GPUs can still handle newer titles like Hogwarts Legacy.

One player of Hogwarts Legacy showcases the game's stunning graphics on a GPU from 2012. The game itself is considered a visual marvel, even by modern standards, as it transports players back in time to the renowned wizarding school during the early 20th century, predating Harry Potter's enrollment. Unfortunately, the impressive graphical quality is not appreciated on older GPUs, such as a ten-year-old one, which struggles to meet the game's minimum requirements even on its lowest settings.

During the development of Hogwarts Legacy, Avalanche Software utilized Unreal Engine 4 as their game engine. At that time, Unreal Engine 5 had not yet been released. However, Unreal Engine 4 remained one of the most widely-used graphics engines in the gaming industry, following its availability to other developers in 2014, courtesy of Epic Games. Notable titles such as Borderlands 3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Gears 5 were just a few of the many games created using this engine. Nevertheless, some studios have started transitioning to the newer Unreal Engine 5 for their upcoming releases.

Despite being nearly a decade old, Unreal Engine 4 has continuously been updated by Epic and pushed to its limits by studios, resulting in the impressive visuals seen in Hogwarts Legacy. As a consequence, players were required to accommodate the engine's advancements as older GPUs became less capable of handling newer games developed on this engine. Reddit user Adeno demonstrates this by showcasing Hogwarts Legacy running on Nvidia's GTX 660, which transforms the game into a jagged, low-quality experience reminiscent of games from the original PlayStation or Nintendo 64 era.

Upon its release in 2012, the GTX 660 was considered a reliable GPU, albeit a mid-range option among the then-newly introduced GTX 600 series GPUs by Nvidia. When paired with appropriate components, this GPU was capable of handling more demanding titles at the time, such as Battlefield 4 or The Lords of the Fallen, on higher graphics settings. However, the 660 was outperformed by stronger units like the 680 or 690.

Adeno's clip reinforces the idea that some consumers believe they need to upgrade their PC with the latest components for optimal performance, especially in terms of gaming. Despite the availability and capability of the GeForce 30 series from 2020, Nvidia's most recent GPU line, the GeForce 40 series, was released in October 2022 and generated a significant demand. This is particularly notable considering that the GeForce 30 series can handle the requirements of newer games like Hogwarts Legacy.

Speaking of Hogwarts Legacy, it is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is set to be released on November 14, 2023, on Nintendo Switch.