If we have played a video game on PC at least once, we know very well that, compared to consoles (where you switch on, put the disc and games), a game may not start or be displayed with a low resolution or a low refresh rate, ruining in fact, every video-gaming experience (you spend more time finding the configuration than actually playing!). In this article we try to give you a hand, showing you what are the technical specifications and hardware requirements to have on a PC in order to play video games, wasting little time with the settings and playing as much as possible with an acceptable speed.
At the end of the guide we will be able to understand if our PC is suitable for playing a certain game, if it is able to play all games (even the newest ones) or if we need some hardware updates instead.
READ ALSO -> most powerful PC ever: better hardware parts today
In the article on things to know before buying a new computer, we stressed how high the expense can become if you plan to use your PC to play modern video games.
In fact, PC games are the most demanding programs from the point of view of system requirements.
Let's say immediately that, if you think of buying a Windows PC to be used only as a video game machine, you might as well buy a console and play there, since everything is optimized and ready to use in a few seconds.
If, on the other hand, we are particularly demanding in terms of graphics rendering, then using the PC might be the right choice, but we must first of all see if our hardware allows you to enjoy such great graphics magnificence.
1) Check the hardware available
To check the hardware specifications of your computer we can use a free program like Speccy, produced by the same house that releases CCleaner.
Using this simple program we can find out which CPU we have, the amount of RAM memory present, the type of RAM memory, the motherboard model, the hard drives present and, what should not be underestimated when it comes to games, the video card model .
If we are looking for other useful programs to find out the information on the PC hardware, we can use one of the following:
- AIDA64
- CPU-Z
- GPU-Z
2) Find out if a game runs on our PC
To see if a particular game can run on our computer, without carrying out any type of in-depth analysis at the hardware level, we can use the service offered by the Can You Run It site ">
From this site, just choose the game title from the most tested ones below or by entering its name in the upper search bar and then run the test on the PC to check whether the minimum requirements are met.
If the requirements are met, we can start the game without problems, otherwise the site will notify us of what we are lacking and about any limits we may run into (maybe we can only play a game in low resolution).
Even just using this site we can get the answers we need, but if we intend to update our machine or deepen the discussion on the components necessary to run any game, it is better to carefully read the next chapter of the guide.
3) Hardware components for playing
The most important hardware components and those to focus on are:
- CPU
The processor is the component that often misleads us when we talk about video games, having a role that is certainly important in the execution of these programs but not decisive (as instead a GPU can have for example).
That's why it is possible to play without problems even with processors of 4-5 years ago, the important thing is to carefully check the number of cores present: to be able to run all modern games very well you need a quad-core CPU, better yet if it has 8 cores or higher.
If we respect this requirement (easily controlled with CPU-Z recommended at the start of the guide) we will be able to run without problems practically all the games on the market (except for specifications it requires very powerful processors).
For the Intel and AMD video games they are the same, so we will not have to make any kind of drastic choice in the case of a new processor: we choose the product that has the best quality / price ratio, considering that CPUs often focus a large part of the expenditure.
READ ALSO -> Buying PC processor or CPU: what you need to know
- Video card
The video card ( GPU ) is the most important hardware component for running video games, since it takes care of generating images in real time.
Even the computer with a powerful CPU but an insufficient video card will have problems running the latest games on the market.
If we already have a video card on our computer, we check with GPU-Z (recommended at the beginning of the guide) which model of GPU integrates and how much video memory is present: to be able to play a good part of the games very well, at least one NVIDIA GeForce GTX is required 1050 or an AMD RX 560 flanked by 4 GB or more of video memory .
If we don't have these video cards, the chosen game could certainly start but we will have to choose a lower resolution or set the graphic parameters to higher values in order to maintain good fluidity.
If instead we have to buy a new video card, we can focus on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or RTX2070 or 2080 models, with prices always above € 600.
READ ALSO: Which video card (graphics card) to buy for the computer
- RAM
RAM is the computer's memory and the data generated by the operating system and all non-graphical game data are saved there.
Although it is not as important as the first two components, we recommend always using more than 12 GB of RAM in order to run any type of game without problems.
By now the DDR4 are the masters and will soon be the only standard supported for computer memories, but even if we have the old DDR3 we should not have particular problems with games (especially if we have fast and snappy memories).
To deepen the discussion we refer you to reading our guide -> How to increase RAM and add new memory to your PC .
- Storage
The hard disk can influence the loading times of a game and affect (in some cases) the fluidity, since if it is not fast enough it can slow down the reading and writing of new data at the CPU, RAM and GPU.
For this reason we now advise everyone to adopt an SSD as the main storage system for Windows and for programs (including games): in this way we will have faster uploads and we do not risk seeing the game slow down because the antivirus has decided to start a scan!
If we don't know what an SSD is and we want to install one on our computer, we invite you to read the following guide -> Best SSD disks to buy to make the PC go fast .
4) Other components of the PC
Among the other hardware components, given for granted system requirements such as the sound card and internet connection, it is also necessary to dwell on the power supply and the cooling system present on the computer.
The more a computer has high performance, the more powerful the power supply must be, in particular to give electricity to modern video cards (which can consume a lot when we run a modern game or a game with a high level of detail).
The cooling system should be chosen according to the silence: when the game uses a lot of CPU and GPU, the sounds emitted by the case must be minimal otherwise there is the risk of ruining the video-gaming experience (with the default or old fans it will seem to hear leave a helicopter!).
On both topics we invite you to read our two guides Which power supply to choose for the PC and how many Watts are required and Manage the PC fans for better cooling and air flow .
Finally, let's not forget the monitor: a good FullHD warning is essential to be able to play all modern games, while for the most demanding we can also find 4K UHD monitor, with a 21: 9 ratio and 144Hz frequency, for beautiful and fluid images Like never before.
In this regard, we invite you to read our two guides Best PC monitors to buy between 100 and 200 Euros and Buy the 21: 9 wide monitor (ultra wide screen) .
5) Programs to speed up game execution
From the software point of view there are also several programs that allow you to automatically optimize your computer to play video games.
The best we can try is without a doubt Game Booster, available for free for all PCs (even non-gaming).
Using this program we will be able to optimize many parameters of the operating system and of the graphics card automatically also according to the game we intend to launch: we will thus obtain a completely optimized environment to make every game run at maximum, without wasting too much time tinkering and changing parameters of which we don't know the function.
In this regard, we can deepen the topic by reading the guide to make the PC run at its best and to run video games
