Important Notice for PC Gamers: Ensure Optimal Cooling System Conditions Before Attempting to Run the Phantom Liberty Expansion for Cyberpunk 2077

The Upcoming Big Expansion: A Challenging Test for Your PC, But No Need to Worry About Overheating 

Important Notice for PC Gamers: Ensure Optimal Cooling System Conditions Before Attempting to Run the Phantom Liberty Expansion for Cyberpunk 2077

The forthcoming Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion is slated for release on September 26, a mere two weeks away. Filip Pierściński, the lead scene programmer, has issued some crucial advice to those eager to delve into this new chapter: Ensure that your PC's cooling system is up to the task before diving in.

Much like battlemechs, PCs are sensitive to heat. The harder you push them, the hotter they become, and if you can't effectively dissipate that heat, you'll encounter major issues at the most inconvenient moments. Pierściński underscored the importance of regular maintenance in a Twitter warning.

He tweeted, "Before the release of CP2077 2.0 and PL, please check the condition of your PC's cooling system. We'll be utilizing all available resources, so expect a workload of up to 90% on 8-core CPUs. To save yourself time, run a benchmark like Cinebench or a similar tool to assess the stability of your system."

Cinebench is a program that evaluates a computer's hardware performance and stability under heavy loads. While not a perfect representation of real-world usage, it's a reliable indicator—if your PC can pass a Cinebench test without crashing, it should handle anything else you throw at it.

Pierściński's caution understandably raised concerns among some players who worried that Phantom Liberty might not run smoothly on their systems or, worse yet, could lead to overheating, melting, or even explosions. In response, he assured his followers that Phantom Liberty won't stress PCs as intensely as synthetic benchmarks, but insufficient cooling systems could still lead to thermal throttling during gameplay, resulting in lower-than-expected performance or crashes in extreme cases.

To alleviate these concerns, Pierściński posted a follow-up tweet to reassure everyone that there's no need to panic. As he had stated earlier, his intention was merely to stress the importance of regular PC maintenance and care.

“My intention was to highlight the need to maintain your cooling systems and check them regularly,” Pierściński tweeted. "Neither Cyberpunk 2077 after 2.0 nor Phantom Liberty will cause your PCs to overheat. The game will perform well on recommended hardware."

Phantom Liberty does come with slightly elevated minimum system requirements compared to the original Cyberpunk 2077 release. CD Projekt noted in June that the updated minimum specs "better represent the required PC configuration to run the game at 1080p, maintaining an average of 30 FPS at low settings."

This marks a significant increase from the original minimum requirements, which included a Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310, 8GB RAM, and a GTX 780 or Radeon RX 470. In contrast, the updated specs call for a Core i7-6700 or Ryzen 5 1600, 12GB RAM, and a GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 580, with hard drive support entirely dropped. However, it's worth noting that nearly three years will have passed between the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and the Phantom Liberty expansion, allowing ample time for changes and advancements in the world of PC hardware.