Working out whether your desktop can run it

The four numbers that matter

Every game publisher lists system requirements: the hardware a computer needs before the game will run. The lists look intimidating and are mostly the same four things in a different order. You are going to write yours down on a piece of paper, and then you will be able to read any requirements list for the rest of your life.

• Operating system. Windows or macOS, and which version. This is a yes-or-no gate: if the version is too old, nothing else matters.
• Processor (CPU). The chip that does the general work. You want its make, model and generation, for example a four-digit or five-digit model number after the brand name.
• Memory (RAM). Measured in gigabytes. This is the number most often too small on an older household machine, and it is usually the cheapest to improve.
• Graphics (GPU). Either a separate card or a chip built into the processor. "Integrated graphics" means the second kind, and games run noticeably worse on them.

A fifth item, free disk space, is not really a performance question but it stops more installations than any of the others. A modern online game client can occupy a large fraction of a small drive, and the installer will refuse rather than squeeze.

Finding them on Windows

These steps use the panels built into Windows itself. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and you should not install a "system scanner" tool to do this — a scan you did not ask for is a classic pattern in misleading software, and the Australian Cyber Security Centre's general advice at cyber.gov.au is worth reading on that point.

1. Press the Windows key, type about, and open the result called About your PC or About this device.
2. Write down the two lines headed Processor and Installed RAM. The processor line gives the make, model and speed; the RAM line gives the memory in gigabytes.
3. On the same panel find Edition and Version under Windows specifications, and write both down.
4. Press the Windows key again, type dxdiag, and open the tool that appears. Choose the Display tab.
5. Write down the Name and the Display Memory on that tab. The Name is your graphics chip or card; if it reads as part of the processor's family, you have integrated graphics.
6. Open File Explorer, select This PC, and note the free space on the drive you would install to.

Finding them on a Mac

1. Open the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose About This Mac.
2. Write down the macOS version name and number, the chip or processor line, and the memory figure.
3. On an Apple-silicon Mac the chip line covers processor and graphics together; on an older Intel Mac, a separate graphics line appears.
4. Choose More Info, then Storage, and note how much space is available.

One extra question applies to Macs that no requirements list ever spells out: whether the game is published for Mac at all. Many online games are Windows-only. The game named in this course is published for both desktop Windows and Mac, and for neither phones nor consoles.

If the computer runs Linux

Then this particular game is not for that machine. The publisher offers no Linux version, and this course is not going to walk you through compatibility layers, which are an advanced topic and not something a first-time player should be troubleshooting. If Linux is the only computer in the house, Steps 1, 3 and 5 are still worth reading, and you can apply them to a game that does publish a Linux build.

Comparing your numbers with a published requirement

Now take your four numbers to the vendor's own system requirements page. Do not take them to a forum post or a video, because requirements change with each major update and only the vendor's page is current.

Requirements usually come in two columns, minimum and recommended. The useful way to read them:

Two cautions. First, a laptop with the same model number as a desktop part is usually slower, because laptops limit power to control heat. Second, memory is shared with the rest of the system; if the machine has the bare minimum and you keep twenty browser tabs open, the game is competing with them.

If your machine falls short, the honest options are to play something less demanding, to add memory if that is the only shortfall and the machine allows it, or to wait. Nothing in this course asks you to buy hardware, and no game is worth replacing a working computer for.

The worked example

The part nobody checks: your connection

System requirements describe the computer. An online game also depends on the link between your house and the game's servers, and two different things matter there.

Download size is a one-off cost in data. A modern game client is tens of gigabytes, and patches arrive regularly afterwards. If your plan has a monthly data allowance, check it before starting the download rather than during it.

Latency is the delay between your action and the server registering it, measured in milliseconds. It is a function of distance and the quality of the path, not of your download speed, which is why a fast connection can still feel sluggish in a game whose servers are far away. Australian players are physically distant from servers in Europe and North America, and if a game offers a regional server, choosing the nearest one usually matters more than any graphics setting.

Two household habits help more than any purchase: connect the computer by cable rather than wireless if that is possible, and avoid playing while something else in the house is downloading.

Before you move on

You should now have a short written list — operating system and version, processor, memory, graphics, free disk space — and a verdict against the vendor's current requirements page. You should also know roughly how large the download will be and whether your plan can take it.

If the answer was no, stop here with a clear conscience; nothing later in the course will change a hardware shortfall. If the answer was yes, Step 3 is about what you are agreeing to, which is worth reading before the download rather than during it.

Step 2 checklist