Beginner's Guide to PC Gaming

Specifications and System Requirements

Specifications are specific pieces of information about your hardware. The important ones when it comes to gaming are:

•RAM
•CPU/Processor
•Graphics/Video Memory (VRAM)

System requirements are the things you need to run a game on your system. It's a good idea to compare a game's system requirements with your system's specifications before trying to play a game.

How to find your specifications

•Windows:
*Open Control Panel
*Open the "System" part
*All necessary specifications are listed here

•Mac OS X:
*Click on the Apple logo at the top left of the screen
*Click "About This Mac"
*Click "More info..."
*All necessary specifications are listed here

•Linux:
*Google it, as I'm not sure. It may be different on some distributions.

How to find the game's system requirements:

•Steam
*Go to the store page for the game
*Scroll down until you see "System Requirements"
*All system requirements are listed here

•Physical copy of the game
*Look on the back of the case or box
*All system requirements are listed at the bottom

•Google
*Type the name of the game along with "system requirements"
*Search
*Click on the link to Game Debate or the link to System Requirements Lab
*All system requirements are listed here

If your specifications match or are higher than the system requirements, you can run the game. Some of your specifications may be lower, but you may still be able to run the game. For example, if the game requires a 2.0 GHz CPU/processor, and yours is 1.8, and everything else matches or is higher, you can most likely still run the game.

My recommended specifications for most games

•3.0 GHz quad core CPU/processor
•8 GB of RAM
•2 GB of graphics/video memory (VRAM)

With these specifications, you'll be able to run most games. Some games may require at least 4 GB of VRAM, but not a lot at this point in time.
If your specifications do not meet the requirements of a certain game, you can upgrade your computer. There are plenty of guides out there on how to do this.