Apple's silicon-powered Macs can now play 'Cyberpunk 2077' at 1080p with 60 FPS, with the M3 Pro chip being recommended for an optimal gaming experience.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, the highly-anticipated release of the acclaimed game, is set to debut on Apple Silicon Macs on July 17. This marks a significant milestone in the history of Mac gaming, as it's the first major game release in modern Mac history that does not launch on iPads or iPhones.
To run Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition on Mac with ray tracing enabled, you'll need at least an Apple M3 Pro chip with 18 GB of RAM. At this level, you can expect to run the game at 1080p and 30 FPS with ray tracing on. For a better experience with ray tracing at 60 FPS and 1080p resolution, an Apple M3 Max chip and 18 GB of RAM are required. Achieving this performance also necessitates the use of MetalFX DRS (Dynamic Resolution Scaling) to manage the demanding graphics workload effectively.
Higher configurations such as M3 Ultra/M4 Max with 32 GB of RAM are recommended for more demanding settings (such as 1440p 'High Fidelity' or 'Very High Fidelity' modes), although these details primarily target resolution and fidelity rather than explicitly ray tracing performance.
The base minimum requirements to launch the game are an Apple Silicon Mac with M1 or later, with at least 16 GB unified memory, and running macOS 15.5 Sonoma or later. However, to enable ray tracing effectively, you need the mid-to-high-end M-series chips starting at M3 Pro with at least 18 GB of RAM.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for macOS supports Spatial Audio, native HDR, and takes full advantage of Apple's Metal API. The recommended specs for the game include an M3 Pro along with 18 GB of memory for 1080p and 60 FPS. The "For this Mac" preset automatically assigns the best settings based on your hardware for Cyberpunk 2077 on macOS, and MetalFX dynamic resolution scaling will be enabled by default.
It's important to note that ray tracing defaults to off and must be enabled manually, as it causes significant performance impact. Also, the Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 can be purchased separately if you've only played the base game. The game is supported on all Macs with an M-series processor.
In summary, while Cyberpunk 2077 supports ray tracing on Apple Silicon Macs, it requires mid-to-high-end M-series chips starting at M3 Pro with at least 18 GB of RAM to achieve playable frame rates with ray tracing enabled.
To fully enjoy the graphical enhancements of ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition on a Mac, you'll need at least a smartphone-grade gadget, such as an Apple M3 Pro chip with 18 GB of RAM. Moreover, the latest technology from Apple, like the M3 Max chip, is required for a smoother gaming experience with ray tracing at 60 FPS and 1080p resolution.
