Minimum Requirements

[Jocelyn]

As a general rule of thumb for gaming, what are the minimum requirements for a computer in terms of hard drive space, memory, audio and video cards, etc.? Obviously I know the requirements vary somewhat from game to game, but just estimating, what's the bare minimum your computer should be equipped with to run games smoothly?

 

[darbella]

Most people I know pay close attention to the audio and video cards once they get everything else under control. How old is your PC now, what is currently in it? Most times if you get an idea of what you have you can find out the few things you might need to upgrade depending on what you want performance wise.

 

[Clark]

Well, just look at a recent game, which came out less than a month ago, a famous game which everyone is waiting. Take the recommended requirements for that game and you have it...a pc with those specs should run every game.

 

[Aurora]

Clark makes a very good suggestion. If you want a ballpark estimate of what current games require, just check out the backside of the cover of a current game. The only thing I know is that most PC games these days require at least 1 GB RAM; I couldn't really tell you anything else.

 

[pilot2fly]

With newer games you can expect to see higher requirements. At least 2 GB RAM, 512 mb video card, intel i5 or i7, up to date drivers and audio, and a 7200 rpm hard drive. Those are just standard specs I would use when looking at any new game.

 

[lindbergh]

If you have around 250 to 500 GB of hard disc space, you're already very well covered. Most computers now have 2GB of RAM and a 1.67 GHz processor. Having these requirements would generally allow you to run most apps and games.

 

[jliehr]

With newer games you can expect to see higher requirements. At least 2 GB RAM, 512 mb video card, intel i5 or i7, up to date drivers and audio, and a 7200 rpm hard drive. Those are just standard specs I would use when looking at any new game.

I'd probably say at least a 1GB of GDDR5.

 

[Valhoon]

Eh, I'd recommend at least a quadcore of at least 3.00ghz for anything out now, and AT LEAST 4gb of 1333mhz DDR3 ram, anything under that and I don't think you're gonna run much of anything, GPU's on the other hand (graphics cards)...this is debatable I'd recommend at least a ATI 5xxx series or the Nvidia equivalent to be able to run games coming out now, at least on low-medium with at least 1gb of GDDR5 with a 600watt power supply.

 

[damagicalmuggle]

I would say 4 cores (i5, fx 4xxx) , 4 gb ram, 60 gb hardrive, and a decent gpu.( 560ti > ,or 6850 > )

 

[dagscot]

I'd say, a minimum of an i5 processor, with 4GB of ram and a 500GB hard drive. Hard drives are pretty cheap now. Then spent some time picking out a good nvidia GPU (graphics card). a Geforce GTX 650 maybe. But, remember how fast these things become outdated and try to leave some overhead for future games.

 

[Jatelo2]

For older PC games I'd say 1 GB RAM, 80GB HHD and 128MB of Video Card...For new PC Games you can rely on @Pilot2fly's proposals.