Is Valorant the only game so far to require TPM 2.0/Secure Boot on Windows 11? Does it also require an 8th gen or later CPU?

Cyber Akuma · April 14

While I don't play Valorant (and after hearing about how intrusive it's anti-cheat is, never will), the fact that it requires this kind of stuff for it's anti-cheat if you're playing on Windows 11 worries me that other games might start enforcing such requirements too in the future. A big part of that worry is that due to Windows 10 hitting EoL in 2025 I am going to basically be forced to upgrade to 11, and I have systems still work perfectly fine even for gaming that don't meet the nonsense "8th gen or later" CPU requirement. I know you can still force-install Windows 11 on those, but if games start enforcing this kind of requirement left and right after the death of 10 it's going to be problematic for me.

Thing is many of my systems, the ones I would use for gaming still anyway, support Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, they just have older CPUs. I have only heard of the anti-cheat in Valorant requiring Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 to be enabled, not about the CPU requirement. Does it also enforce that you need an 8th gen CPU or later too? Or if you just have TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled but have an older CPU it will still work?

Levent · April 14

I am not sure about 8th gen or later part. There should be TPM2 module you can buy as long as your motherboard has an header for it.

Cyber Akuma · April 14

The motherboard supports TPM 2.0 in it's firmware. I actually recently ran an upgrade patch for it that converted it from TPM 1.2 to 2.0. It's just that it's an older CPU than 8th gen.

BlueChinchillaEatingDorito · April 14

1 hour ago, Cyber Akuma said:

The motherboard supports TPM 2.0 in it's firmware. I actually recently ran an upgrade patch for it that converted it from TPM 1.2 to 2.0. It's just that it's an older CPU than 8th gen.

Interestingly enough, there doesn't seem to be a requirement for Windows 10 for TPM2.0. That's only for Windows 11 which should be enabled anyways if you've installed it officially. There are ways to force Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.

https://playvalorant.com/en-us/specs/

Cyber Akuma · April 14

34 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Interestingly enough, there doesn't seem to be a requirement for Windows 10 for TPM2.0. That's only for Windows 11 which should be enabled anyways if you've installed it officially. There are ways to force Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.

Yes I know, that's what I meant. Valorant only requires it if you are on Windows 11, but there are ways to install 11 without meeting it's requirements. The problem is that one of those requirements is an 8th gen or newer CPU, which is pretty ridiculous since it can run perfectly fine on older CPUs, but officially won't let you install it on such a system even if you still have TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled. Which is why I am asking if Valorant also enforces the minimum CPU requirement on 11.