Best PC for Half-Life 2 (2026)

Half-Life 2 stands as a cornerstone first-person shooter, where players wield Gordon Freeman's crowbar amid the ruins of City 17, manipulating the gravity gun to hurl explosive barrels, saw blades, and even toilets at Combine forces. The Source engine's Havok physics drives every interactive moment, from stacking crates for cover in intense firefights to propelling vehicles across ravaged landscapes. Accompanied by Alyx Vance, you navigate sprawling chapters packed with vehicle sections, headcrab ambushes, and antlion swarms, all demanding smooth physics simulations to maintain momentum in combat. Episodes One and Two extend this campaign with Citadel escapes and White Forest defenses, while Deathmatch adds chaotic multiplayer tossing matches. For minimum specs, the Ryzen 5 5500 handles the single-thread heavy physics and AI pathing without stuttering, even in modded Workshop campaigns. Pair it with a budget Radeon RX 9060 XT to render rain-slicked streets and particle-heavy explosions at consistent framerates. Recommended builds prioritize value, selecting the Ryzen 5 7600X for its exceptional efficiency in threaded physics updates and Episode co-op scripting. The GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC delivers top performance per dollar, powering high settings, ray-traced mod enhancements, and 4K runs effortlessly.