So, you want to buy a new game and you are not sure of the game’s compatibility with your PC or maybe you already have the game installed but for some “strange reasons”, your computer does not seem to be able to play the game, and you ask yourself “can I run it?”. This is how to know if you can.
In this article, I talk about:
a. How to find out your computer’s specs
b. How to find out the minimum and recommended requirements for any game of your choice
If your laptop has weak graphics hardware, you may not be able to play most PC games especially the newer games as they require that you have high graphics available. One of the major differences between a gaming laptop and a normal laptop is usually the fact that while the normal laptop uses an intel Integrated graphics, which is cheaper and consumes less power, the gaming laptops offer both the intel integrated graphics and the dedicated NVIDIA or AMD graphics card, switching between them depending on what you are doing.
How to check for your computer’s specs
To check for your computer specs means to find out:
a. Your CPU type and speed
b. Your Computer’s RAM
c. Graphics card details
You can check and find out your computer specs in several ways –
1. Online – You can simply type in your laptop’s name and model followed by the word ‘specifications’ into your search engine for examples ‘Dell Vostro 1400 specifications’ and the result of this search tells you all about your computer specs especially when it is listed on sites that sell the laptop in question.
2. Manually – You can find out the type of CPU you have on your computer’s RAM on Windows 10 simply by :
i. Right-clicking the ‘Start’ icon to reveal a list of options
ii. Select ‘system’ from the list and this pops up this window below. The processor tells you what type of CPU you have and the Installed memory (RAM) gives you the PC’s RAM.
To find out your PC’s graphics card details, just like the first time,
i. Right-click on the ‘start’ menu icon
ii. Select ‘Device Manager’ from the list this time
iii. Click on the dropdown next to ‘Display Adapters’ to reveal the list of your Graphics Card types.
3. System Information tool – You can also find out all your system’s specs by downloading and installing a system’s information tool like Speccy. The system information tool provides you with a summary of all the information you need about your Pcs specs.
How to check for your game requirements
This is pretty simple to do, you can simply go to the game website and from there, find out the minimum and recommended requirements to be able to play the game on your PC and then compare this information with the one you already have on your PCs specs.
If your PC does not meet the recommended requirements but meets the minimum requirement for the game, this sometimes means that while the game runs on your system, you might not have the full satisfying game experience.
See Also: Mobile Gaming Industry is Changing: Here’s What To Expect in the Future
If you do not want to go through all the trouble of finding out the specs for one game on their website, and then going to another website to check for their game specs, sites like https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/ allow you to search for a game and by clicking the ‘Can you run it” button, they provide you with the recommended and minimum requirements for the selected game.
