Wondering if your PC can run that game?

KSoD

Call me Mak or K, Mod Emeritus
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If so then this is the thread to check first. There are several things that you can do before asking if the game can run on your system.

Step 1

You must find out your System Specs. Now that means you have to know:
  • What CPU or Processor you have
  • How much RAM you have
  • What video card you have
  • How much free space you have
  • What OS (Operating System) you have

These are going to be the main items you need to know. The developers might have additional information such as DirectX version and Sound. I will touch base on that later.

Now to obtain this information you can do a couple of things. First you can check your System Properties. That will give you basic information that you can use to find out your specs. There are programs available such as Belarc Advisor, SiSoftware Sandra or Everest that can give you this information as well.

Now for the DirectX part. This is rather simple. DirectX 9 was the only version available for XP. DirectX 10 is installed by default in Vista. DirectX 11 is installed by default in Win7. So knowing your OS will answer this quickly and simply for you. But if you want to check this for yourself do this:

Code:
Start>run>dxdiag

This will bring up your DX information, sound information and much more. That will get you all the information you will need to know to find out if you can run that game.

Step 2

Now that you have the information the next step is quite simple. You find out the requirements for the game you are looking to purchase and play. Now this is accomplished by using your favorite search engine and just typing in the game name followed by "system requirements". You can also look right on the developers website for this information.

Step 3 (optional, can be done at any time)

Now that all of that is presented, there is another option in which you might not even need to do any of this. The only reason this wasn't presented first is because it doesn't work with every game. So if the game you're interested in is not listed, you gotta take the steps above. If it is listed you can run it and see. What I am talking about is this:

Can You Run It?

This site was built and designed to test your system and let you know if you can run the game in question.

Conclusion

Now that all of that information has been presented you can check easily for yourself if you can run that game. If you are unsure or dont know enough about PC's to be able to check this information yourself, feel free to start a topic and ask.

Enjoy and hope that game can run!
 
I know this sounds petty, but for those who are new to this, it might be worth clearing up the DirectX part of it. Just because your version of Windows supports DirectX 9, 10, or 11, that doesn't mean your video card does. I could see for someone who needs to find out how to tell if their computer can play a game, possibly getting mixed up on that part.
 
Just want to make sure, Windows is supposed to ask if Windows Installer should be allowed, right? >_>
 
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