For four years, the console crowd has been throwing some serious shade on the PC edition of PES. We've got the most powerful boxes with the most advanced gaming hardware in the world, but we've been getting treated to ports of the PS3 version of PES, a console that's now 11 years old. Not so with PES 2018, which for the first time on PC has feature and graphical parity with the PS4 and Xbox One versions. That can mean only one thing though - more demanding hardware is required. Here are the official Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 PC system requirements.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Windows 7 64-bit CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3.1 GHz or AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz

Intel Core i5-3450 3.1 GHz or AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz RAM: 8 GB System Memory

8 GB System Memory GPU RAM: 2GB Video Memory

2GB Video Memory GPU: GeForce GTX 650 or Radeon HD 7750 2GB

GeForce GTX 650 or Radeon HD 7750 2GB HDD: 30GB Available Hard Drive Space

30GB Available Hard Drive Space DX: DirectX 11

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 Recommended System Requirements

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Windows 10 64-bit CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-4170 4.2 GHz

Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-4170 4.2 GHz RAM: 8 GB System Memory

8 GB System Memory GPU RAM: 2GB Video Memory

2GB Video Memory GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7950

Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7950 HDD: 30GB Available Hard Drive Space

30GB Available Hard Drive Space DX: DirectX 11

PES on PC, welcome to 2017! For far too long we've been lumped with a crappy port of the previous gen console edition, but for PES 2018, we're getting the real deal on PC. Times change, just ask Neymar above, who's probably getting fitted for his PSG kit as we speak. The superior port means the enhanced Fox Engine that powers MGSV, far better visual fidelity and the authentic physics systems and gameplay changes that have crept into the console versions during the past four years. This does swing both ways, however, and PES's reputation as the lightweight football game on PC is gone. You can no longer run PES 2018 on a potato, you need a pretty decent gaming PC.

Stack Pro Evolution Soccer 2018's PC system requirements up against PES 2017 and there really isn't any comparison. The minimum specs this year far, far outstrip the recommended requirements from PES 2017. For PES 2018 you'll need a graphics card with 2GB VRAM as a minimum, together with 8GB RAM and a solid quad-core CPU. There is a huge performance disparity between the AMD FX-4100 and the Core i5-3450 though, indicating some third or fourth gen Core i3's may possibly run PES 2018 fine. Our suspicion is that the 8GB RAM requirement is far too high as well, and it's difficult to envision PES 2018 not being playable on a 4GB machine provided all other running programs are closed.

The jump from minimum to recommended specs for PES 2018 on PC is tiny, suggesting not a great deal of wiggle room on the graphics options. It's the same 30GB installation size, 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM. You just need a marginally more powerful graphics card to max it out, alongside a solid CPU. The Core i7-3770 and FX-4170 were both pretty high end back in the day, but they're getting on a bit now and comfortably matched by today's low-end processors.

As ever, remember you can always check out how well your PC can run the Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 System Requirements here, where you can check benchmarking and performance from other users. Compare your graphics card to the Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 GPU benchmark chart and we also have a Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 Frames Per Second system performance chart for you to check.