Cyberpunk 2077 Developer Suggests PC Gamers Test Cooling Systems Before Phantom Liberty Launches

As Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion draws closer, developer CD Projekt Red has warned PC gamers to test their cooling systems first. In a tweet, the scene’s lead programmer Filip Pierściński claimed that the game’s paid expansion and version 2.0 update would use a lot of CPU, essentially eliminating all performance from the chip. As such, one can easily expect a 90% workload on an 8-core CPU, which could lead to thermal throttling. It’s unclear exactly what aspect of the update makes the game so CPU-intensive, but previous patches focused heavily on ray tracing features.

Before launch, the developer recommends running software like Cinebench to ensure cooling is optimal under heavy loads. For the uninitiated, the free application evaluates the hardware limitations of your PC by subjecting it to sustained stress over a certain period of time to deduce its stability by giving you a score. This is by no means close to a real-world scenario, but if your PC manages to pass the test without crashing, it should generally be able to handle whatever you throw at it. Indeed, such comments had gamers panicking that Cyberpunk 2077 could potentially melt their CPUs, with many responding to the original tweet with their PC’s specs to check first-hand if they were in the safe zone .

To allay concerns, Pierściński followed up with another tweet, noting that Phantom Liberty and the version 2.0 update “will work fine” on the hardware specified by CD Projekt Red in their system requirements infographic. Its intention was simply to emphasize the importance of good PC maintenance so that in the event of a heat dissipation problem, the overall performance is not affected. For reference, running Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on the lowest settings will require an Intel Core i7-6700 processor or an AMD Ryzen 5 1600 processor, the latter of which comes with six cores. Compared to the original – and broken – version released in 2020, the game will now rely on SSDs, given that it has been completely overhauled.

Phantom Liberty is a paid expansion that offers you a high-stakes espionage mission to save the President of the New United States of America (NUS). In this setting, we will work with FIA agent Solomon Reed (Idris Elba) to penetrate the gated community of Dogtown and, over time, uncover his intentions. The expansion launches alongside a major 2.0 patch that completely overhauls the skill system and adds a maximum capacity for the number of modifications your body can handle. Technological augmentations can be put into overdrive to overcome these limitations, but with some consequences to your overall health. It’s nowhere in the same realm as the Cyberpsychosis seen in the Netflix anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, but there is a certain risk-reward factor to how you build your character.

CD Projekt Red has also planned an episode of Night City Wire for this Thursday, September 14 at 8:30 p.m. IST in India / 8:00 a.m. PT in the United States. The event will be streamed live on the official Cyberpunk 2077 YouTube and Twitch channels and will cover new radio stations, gameplay changes, abilities, and some details about the character of Reed from Idris Elba himself.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty releases September 26 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X. It also comes with free version 2.0 update.