You’ve probably seen clips of wild League of Legends team fights popping up on your social media, or your group chat keeps begging you to join their weekly ARAM nights. Before you hit the download button, though, the first question on your mind is almost certainly can my computer play league of legends. The good news is Riot Games built LoL from the ground up to be accessible to as many players as possible, so you don’t need a high-end gaming rig to join in. That said, there are still a few baseline requirements you need to hit to avoid the kind of lag that makes you miss a game-winning skill shot or disconnect right as your team takes the nexus. This guide will walk you through exactly what you need to check, what specs you should aim for, and how to fix performance issues if your setup is a little older.
How to Check if Can My Computer Play League of Legends Fast
You don’t need a fancy diagnostic tool to figure out if your PC can run LoL. All you have to do is pull up your device’s basic spec list and compare it to Riot’s official requirements, which we’ve laid out later in this guide. For Windows users, just head to Settings > System > About to see your CPU model, how much RAM you have, and what operating system you’re running. To find your GPU, go to Settings > Display > Advanced display to see what graphics card your device uses.
For Mac users, the process is even simpler. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen, then select “About This Mac” to see all your core specs in one place. Write down those 4 key details (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS) and you’ll have all the info you need in less than two minutes. You don’t have to understand what every spec means, either – just match what you see to the lists we’ve shared below.
Official League of Legends Minimum, Recommended, and Optimal Specs
Riot updates its official system requirements every year as it adds new content to the game, but the bar still stays far lower than most other popular multiplayer titles. We’ve broken the requirements into three tiers, so you can pick what works for your playstyle, whether you’re a casual ARAM player or a competitive ranked grinder.
- CPU: Intel Core i3-530 or AMD A6-3650 (or newer equivalent)
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT, AMD HD 6570, or integrated Intel HD 4600
- RAM: 4GB (2GB works for older Windows 7 devices, though we don’t recommend using unsupported operating systems)
- Storage: 16GB of free hard drive space, ideally on an SSD for 2x faster load times
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit, macOS 10.13, or a compatible Linux distribution
If you only meet the minimum specs, you'll likely experience occasional frame drops during team fights or when multiple high-skill abilities pop on screen at once. You’ll have to run all settings on low, and you might have longer load times than other players, but the game will still be playable for casual matches.
The recommended specs are what most players should aim for if they want a smooth, stress-free experience. You’ll need an Intel Core i5-3300 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 CPU, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD 6950 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and the same 16GB of storage. With these specs, you can run the game on medium to high settings at a steady 60 FPS, with almost no frame drops during fights. For ranked players climbing Silver or above, we strongly recommend hitting at least the recommended spec threshold to avoid lag-related losses that set back your climb.
If you’re a competitive player who competes in local tournaments or streams your gameplay, you’ll want to hit the optimal specs. That means an Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or AMD RX 570 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and storage on an SSD. With this setup, you can run the game on ultra settings at 144+ FPS, which gives you a tiny but noticeable edge when reacting to fast-paced plays.
What to Do If Your PC Doesn't Meet LoL's Base Specs
If your specs fall just short of the minimum requirements, don’t rush out to buy a new laptop or desktop just yet. There are tons of easy tweaks you can make to get playable frame rates, even on older hardware. The first thing you should do is adjust your in-game settings. Turn all graphics sliders down to the lowest option, turn off shadows, disable anti-aliasing, and cap your frame rate at 30 or 60 FPS instead of letting it run unlimited. You can also turn off in-game voice chat and other background features if you don’t use them.
Next, make tweaks to your device itself. Close all unnecessary background apps before you launch the game, including extra Chrome tabs, Discord, streaming software, and any video editing tools you might have open. These apps take up valuable RAM and CPU power that LoL could be using. You should also make sure your graphics drivers are up to date, as outdated drivers are one of the most common causes of low frame rates and crashes. If you’re playing on a laptop, make sure it’s plugged in while you play – most devices throttle performance by 30% or more when running on battery to save power.
Even if you're running a 10-year-old laptop, you can usually get 30+ stable FPS in LoL if you tweak all in-game settings to their lowest options and close background apps. If none of these tweaks work, you can also look into cheap, easy hardware upgrades that cost less than $50. Adding 4GB of extra RAM or swapping your old hard drive for a small SSD can make a huge difference in load times and frame rates, even if you keep your old CPU and GPU. You don’t have to build a whole new gaming PC to get a better experience.
Common Misconceptions About Running League of Legends
After years of talking to new LoL players, I’ve heard a lot of wrong information floating around about what you need to run the game. Let’s clear up the most common myths so you don’t waste money on upgrades you don’t need. The biggest myth I hear all the time is that you need an expensive gaming PC to play LoL. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Riot’s entire business model relies on making the game accessible to as many people as possible, so it’s optimized to run on almost any hardware made in the last 10 years. You don't need to spend $1,000 on a gaming setup to enjoy ranked play or casual ARAM matches with friends. I’ve played LoL on a beat-up 2016 office laptop that cost $300 new, and I still managed to climb to Gold rank with all settings on low.
Another common misconception is that more RAM always equals better performance. Once you have 8GB of RAM, adding more won’t make LoL run any faster. The game only uses 3-4GB of RAM while it’s running, so any extra RAM will just sit unused. You’re far better off spending money on an SSD or a better GPU if you want to boost performance.
The last big myth is that LoL runs terribly on Mac devices. That used to be true a few years ago, when the Mac client was a poorly optimized port of the Windows version, but Riot has put a ton of work into updating it over the last three years. Most modern MacBooks, even the ones with M1 or M2 chips, can run the game at 60 FPS on medium settings with no issues. You will run into more performance issues if you’re running a 5+ year old MacBook, but that’s true for any game on older hardware. If you're experiencing constant crashes, it's almost never your PC's fault alone – corrupted game files or outdated drivers are the most common culprits. You can fix most crash issues by running the repair tool in the Riot Client, which scans for and replaces broken game files for free.
At the end of the day, the answer to can my computer play league of legends is almost always yes, unless your device is more than 12 years old or has less than 4GB of RAM and no integrated graphics. Even if your setup is a little older, the tweaks we’ve shared will help you get playable frame rates so you can join in on the fun without spending a ton of money. The best part? League of Legends is free to download, so you don’t have anything to lose by testing it out first before you think about upgrades. I’ve played matches on everything from high-end gaming PCs to cheap college laptops, and at the end of the day, your skill matters way more than how pretty the game looks on your screen.