Step 2 — Can your computer and your connection cope?
Step 2 of 5 · about nine minutes to read, plus ten at the keyboard
The five numbers that decide it
Whether a desktop game will run acceptably on your computer comes down to five pieces of information. You can gather all five in under ten minutes using tools already installed on the machine, and you should write them on paper rather than trusting memory, because you will be comparing them against published lists for some time.
The five are: the operating system and its version; the processor, usually called the CPU; the amount of memory, called RAM; the graphics hardware, called the GPU or graphics card; and the free space on the drive where you would install.
A sixth item, the connection, is covered separately below because it behaves differently from the rest.
| Item | What it decides | Typical unit |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | Whether the game can be installed at all. A game published for Windows, macOS and Linux will list a minimum version for each. | Name and version number |
| Processor (CPU) | How much the game can calculate each frame. Often the limiting part on older machines in games with many objects on screen. | Make, model, GHz |
| Memory (RAM) | Whether the game can hold what it needs without constantly swapping to disk. Too little shows up as stuttering. | Gigabytes (GB) |
| Graphics (GPU) | How much detail can be drawn, and how smoothly. Usually the part you lower settings to compensate for. | Make and model |
| Free disk space | Whether the install fits, now and after a year of updates. Allow noticeably more than the stated figure. | Gigabytes (GB) |
Finding them on Windows, macOS and Linux
These are general procedures for each operating system. Menu names shift slightly between versions, so treat the words below as a description of where to look rather than an exact script.
On Windows
- Open Settings, then System, then About. This page lists the Windows edition and version, the processor and the installed memory. Write all three down.
- For graphics, press the Windows key, type dxdiag and open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. The Display tab names the graphics hardware.
- For disk space, open File Explorer and select This PC. Each drive shows free space against total.
On macOS
- Open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. This gives the macOS version, the chip or processor, and the memory.
- For more detail, including graphics, choose More Info and then System Report, where the Graphics/Displays section names the hardware.
- For disk space, the Storage view in System Settings shows available space on the startup disk.
On Linux
- Most desktop environments have a Settings application with an About or Details page giving the distribution, version, processor, memory and graphics.
- In a terminal, lscpu describes the processor, free -h shows memory, lspci | grep -i vga names the graphics hardware, and df -h shows free space.
- Note your distribution name and version as well, because support statements are often written per distribution.
Reading a requirements list honestly
Publishers normally publish two lists: minimum and recommended. The words are not standardised across the industry, but there is a general convention worth knowing.
Minimum usually means the game will start and run at low settings and a low resolution, not that it will be enjoyable. Recommended usually means a reasonable experience at moderate settings. Neither is a promise, and neither is defined by any external standard.
So read them like this. If your machine is below the minimum on any single item, treat that as a no until proven otherwise. If you meet the minimum but not the recommended, expect to spend time in the settings menu reducing detail. If you comfortably exceed the recommended, you can stop thinking about this and go to Step 3.
Two items deserve extra suspicion. Memory figures on requirements lists usually assume nothing else is running; if you keep thirty browser tabs open, add headroom. And disk figures are the install size on the day of writing, not after a year of patches, so plan for considerably more.
A note on where requirements come from
The only authoritative requirements list for any game is the one its own publisher puts on its own site, and it changes as the game is updated. Third-party pages that reproduce requirements, this one included, go stale. When it matters, read the publisher's page on the day you install. That is also the reason this course describes installation in general terms rather than walking you through any particular publisher's menus.
The connection, and why distance is the hard limit
Online multiplayer games are unusual in that they care far more about the consistency of your connection than its raw speed. A connection fast enough to stream video is almost always fast enough to play, because the game sends small messages very often rather than large ones occasionally.
What matters instead is latency — the round-trip time between your computer and the game server, measured in milliseconds. Latency has a floor set by physics and geography. If the nearest server for a game is in Asia or North America, no amount of money spent on your home connection will bring the round trip below the time light needs to cover the distance. This is the single most common disappointment for Australian players of games whose servers sit elsewhere.
Before committing time to any online game, find out where its servers are and whether there is an Oceania or Asia-Pacific region. Publishers usually state this on their support pages, and player communities discuss it constantly. If there is no nearby region, the game may still be perfectly playable, but you should expect a less responsive feel than a local player of a locally hosted game would get.
Three household details also matter more than your plan's headline speed. A wired connection is steadier than wi-fi. Someone else in the house running large downloads or uploads during your session will be felt immediately. And a connection that drops briefly once an hour is worse for a match than one that is permanently a bit slower.
The worked example: 8 GB and a decision
The hypothetical household from Step 1 sits down with their five-year-old desktop and spends ten minutes gathering the five numbers. They find a 64-bit version of their operating system, a mid-range processor from the year the machine was built, 8 GB of memory, an integrated graphics chip rather than a separate card, and 40 GB free on the drive.
They then open the publisher's requirements page for the game they are considering and compare line by line. Operating system: fine. Processor: above the minimum, below the recommended. Memory: equal to the stated minimum, half the recommended. Graphics: integrated graphics are listed as supported at low settings on this particular list. Disk: enough today, tight in a year.
Their conclusion is not "yes" or "no" but something more useful: it will run at low settings, it will stutter if they leave other programs open, and the drive will need attention within a year. That is a decision they can make deliberately. They note two actions on their sheet — close other applications before playing, and clear 20 GB of old files — and move on to Step 3.
Notice what they did not do. They did not buy anything, they did not install a system-scanning tool to tell them what they could read themselves, and they did not take a stranger's word for what their machine contains.
If your machine is on the edge
Being near the minimum is common and is not a dead end. Several free adjustments usually buy more than people expect, and all of them are reversible.
- Lower the resolution the game renders at. This is almost always the single largest gain.
- Turn down shadows, reflections and anti-aliasing before anything else; they cost a lot for subtle improvements.
- Close other applications, particularly browsers, before starting a session.
- Make sure the graphics driver is current, obtained from the hardware maker or through your operating system's own update mechanism, never from a search result.
- Install on a solid-state drive if the machine has one, which mainly shortens loading rather than improving play.
- Check that a laptop is on mains power and set to a performance rather than a battery-saving profile.
If none of that is enough, the honest answer is that the game is not for this computer today. That is a far better outcome than discovering it after an evening of downloading.
Before you move on
What Step 2 established
You now have five numbers written down, taken from your own machine with tools you already had. You know that minimum means "it starts" rather than "it is good", that the publisher's own page is the only current source, and that latency is set largely by where the servers are. Keep the sheet beside you.
Step 3 moves from the hardware to the paperwork: the terms, the Australian classification, and the clauses about money.
Checklist 2 — your machine and your connection
Gathering the five numbers
- Write down your operating system and its exact version number.
- Write down the processor make and model.
- Write down the installed memory in gigabytes.
- Write down the graphics hardware make and model, including whether it is integrated or a separate card.
- Write down the free space on the drive you would install to.
- Open the publisher's own requirements page and compare all five, line by line.
- Mark each line as above recommended, between minimum and recommended, or below minimum.
- Find out whether the game has a server region in Oceania or Asia-Pacific, and note the answer.
- Check whether a wired connection to your router is possible from where the computer sits.
- Agree with anyone else in the household about large downloads during your playing times.
- If any line is below minimum, stop here rather than installing and hoping.