Civilization: Beyond Earth's announcement was treated with the kind of fervour you come to expect from a game series fully encapable of engulfing your life whole. Entire months and more than a few marriages have probably been lost to the all-encompassing Civilization series, as that just-one-more-turn factor leads to many a bleary-eyed Monday morning. 

To make matters even worse, Civilization: Beyond Earth is the spiritual successor to the fondly-remembered Alpha Centauri, blasting the series away from the confines of Earth into an enticing intergalactic adventure. Colonising strange alien worlds and unearthing bizarre futuristic technology, it's Civilization taken to the next level. Before you boot up Sid Meier's latest though, you'll need to know whether your PC's ready for blast-off, so read on to check out the Civilization: Beyond Earth system requirements.

Civilization: Beyond Earth Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows Vista 32-bit (Service Pack 2)
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.0 GHz
• RAM: 2GB System Memory
• GPU RAM: 256 MB Graphics Memory
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 256MB or AMD Radeon HD 3650
• HDD: 8GB Free Hard Drive Space
• DX: DirectX 11
• Audio: DX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
• Net: One-time internet connection required for installation

Civilization: Beyond Earth Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows 7 64-bit
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6400 2.13 GHz or AMD Phenom 9100e Quad-Core 1.8 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB System Memory
• GPU RAM: 1024 MB Graphics Memory
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 or AMD Radeon HD 5750  

You can always rely on the Civilization series to deliver some friendly system requirements, and Civilization: Beyond Earth is no different. While there's a slight increase from Civilization V's requirements, there's not much here that's too alarming. A 1.8 GHz dual-core processor is definitely on the lower end of the scale, as is the 2GB RAM and 256 MB VRAM, while the ever-reliable GeForce 8800 GT once more comes into play here.

One thing that is unusual is the need for DirectX 11 in the Civilization: Beyond Earth requirements, considering the 8800 GT and the Radeon HD 3650 are DX10 and 10.1 compliant respectively. Considering the other requirements we would expect this to be a mistake on Firaxis' part, with DirectX 10 being the minimum for Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth.

Any form of quad-core processor is needed for the recommended requirements for Civilization: Beyond Earth, as well as a fairly modest 4GB RAM and either a GeForce GTS 450 or a Radeon HD 5750. Most PCs bought within the last few years should be more than capable of this, and it is worth remembering that Civilization: Beyond Earth is turn-based, so you'll probably be able to get away with some pretty low frame rates if you want to test the lower-end of these system requirements. 

Remember, you can always check out how well your PC can run the Civilization: Beyond Earth System Requirements here, where you can check benchmarking and performance from other users. Compare your graphics card to the Civilization: Beyond Earth benchmark chart. What do you make of the Civilization: Beyond Earth system requirements? Let us know!