What are the minimum system requirements to play current computer games?

Question

I am in the market for a new computer and I'd like something that will be able to meet the requirements for playing computer games. I'm not looking for top of the line equipment, just something that will get me by without too many problems. If anyone could give me some advice on these areas, I'd appreciate it:

1. CPU (Minimum Athlon/Intel processors to consider)

2. RAM (1 GB or 2 GB? And what type of RAM?)

3. Video Card (I need the most help with this, every computer I've ever bought seems to come up short in this area).

I'd welcome any other advice or comments you might have. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

core 2 duo is whats good right now. no need for a quad core. p4 are still very usuable if you cant afford a core 2 duo, but it would be worth the extra investment to get it. core 2 takes less power to run and performs better especially if your multitasking.

1gb is pretty close to the min system requirements for the newer games, id go with 2gb for optimal performance.it will be ddr2 most likely

the 8 series from nvidia is the newest. with the 8800 being the top of the line. but since you dont need the best you can get a 8600gts which is what i bought for aorund $175. or the 8500 for around $75 if you look for the good deals. The 8 series cards also have directx10. if you dont have windows vista or dont plan to upgrade it tohugh you can get some of the 7 series cards that are as good as the lower end 8 series but they only have dx9. for the 7 series id get something like the 7900. also check to see if your mobo is sli rdy so you can use to video cards of the type to get even better performance.

Answer 2

Currently the slowest processor I would recomend would be a an AMD athlon 2200 2.2ghz or a penium 4 2.8ghz. they preform at about the same level. I would recomend the 2 gig of ram but you might be ok with a gig if you get a fast enough processor, and your mother board supports ddr2. the video card I would recomend a nvidia card if your going to be playing games and not much else. it will be cheaper than an ATI and not so much extra stuff you probably wont use. get a PCI Express or AGP 8x, not a regular PCI card or it will slow your gaming down significantly, and go for a card with at least 128 mb of video memory, that would be the bear minimum. hope this helps.

Answer 3

You can try searching for "game machines" for typical configurations. Also. Most games have minimum and recommended systems on the box (forget the "minimum" part since that'll be lousy anyway). So pick up a copy of the type of game you want to play and see what it says.

Having said that, my machine at home is definitely NOT top of the line, but it does pretty much what I need it to. It's a P4/2 Ghz Intel w/ 1.5GB RAM. My video card is Geforce 7600GS 512MB.

Answer 4

you need a mid range gaming rig-

2 GB of ram DDR2-minimum
256 MB dedicated class 3,class 2 or class 1 GPU
at least a 2.0 Ghz CPU
100 GB 7200 RPM


cpu benchmark (notebook and desktop)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

Graphics card benchmark
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

GPU's as a rule of thumb- nVidia GeForce 7600 and up, ATI x800 and up are very good Graphics cards.

The best bang for the buck is the Gateway m7525 or 7515.
You can usually get these from ebay rather cheaply- $600-$1000 depending if you buy new or used. upgradeable to 2 GB of ram, with class 3 Radeon x600 GPU 256 MB shared( 64 or 128 dedicated),class 1 AMD Athlon 4000+ 2.6 Ghz CPU, 5400 RPM 100 GB HDD.

Answer 5

I recently purchased a computer, and it really depends on what your budget is. Well I guess I'll try to build a computer for under a thousand

I suggest an Intel core2duo, 2.13 Ghz should be great

2 Gigs of DDR2 RAM PC5300, should only run you about a hundred.

Video Card, if you're willing to spend around $200, I suggest a Radeon X1900XT.

But i suggest you go to this link for the best video cards for each price range.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/03/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/

Answer 6

get an intel core 2 duo processor

get at least 1gb of ram, 2 gb is best

get a dedicated graphics card like a nivida 8600

Answer 7

CPU: Core 2 Duo : T6600 it is nice one

Ram: OCZ or Hyper-X from kingstone PC26400 2GB

and choose minimum latencies

VGA: Nividia Geforce 8800 Ultra

now you can play anything on your computer