Step 2 of 5

Working out whether your desktop computer can run it

This is the step most people skip and then regret, because the alternative is a very large download that turns out to be unusable. It takes about fifteen minutes and produces five numbers you will keep referring back to. You do not need to understand what the numbers mean to write them down, and this step explains them afterwards.

Why requirements lists exist

A game draws a new picture of the world many times a second. How many times a second it manages depends on the computer doing the drawing. A requirements list is the vendor's own statement of the hardware at which they expect that to work acceptably. It is published by the vendor and applies to their game only; nobody else can tell you authoritatively what a given game needs.

Lists almost always come in two tiers. The minimum tier is the hardware below which the vendor does not expect the game to run properly at all. The recommended tier is what they consider a comfortable experience. Neither is a guarantee, because an identical set of components can perform differently depending on drivers, temperature, what else is running and the settings you choose.

For the example this course uses, the requirements are published on the vendor's own site. We do not reproduce figures here, because requirements change with updates and a stale number on a third-party page is worse than no number. Read them at the source.

Visit the War Thunder website Paid affiliate link. If you register an account after following it, Exact Ratio is paid a commission by the affiliate network that operates the link. The price to you is unchanged, and you can complete this step without using it.

Finding out what is in your machine

Work through these four parts on the computer you would actually play on, not the one you are reading this on, if they are different. Everything here is read-only: you are looking at information panels the operating system already provides, not installing or changing anything.

Open the system information panel. On Windows, open Settings, choose System, then About. On macOS, open the Apple menu in the top left corner and choose About This Mac. On most Linux desktops, open Settings and choose About; if your desktop has no such panel, a terminal command such as uname -a together with lscpu will produce the same facts in text form.
Write down the processor and the memory. Copy the processor line exactly as it appears, model number and all — the number is the part that identifies it, and a half-copied name is useless for comparison. Then write down the installed memory, which will be a figure in gigabytes, usually 4, 8, 16 or 32.
Find the graphics hardware. On Windows, press Ctrl, Shift and Escape together to open Task Manager, choose the Performance tab, and look at the GPU entry, which is named in the top right. On macOS, open About This Mac and then the system report, where the graphics entry is listed. On Linux, the display settings panel generally names the adapter. Write down the full name, again including any model number.
Check free storage and your connection. Open the file manager, look at the drive you would install to, and write down the free space in gigabytes — the free figure, not the total. Then note roughly what speed your home internet connection is sold as. You do not need a precise measurement; the order of magnitude is enough to estimate a download time.

You now have five things written down: processor, memory, graphics adapter, free storage and connection speed. That list is the whole output of this step.

What each number is for

What the five figures do in a game of this kind
Figure	What it affects	What to notice
Processor	Keeping track of the match: physics, other players' positions, what the game has to calculate each moment.	The model number matters more than the brand. An older high-end part can outperform a newer budget one.
Memory	How much the game can hold ready at once. Running short causes stutter rather than refusal.	Whether the figure is comfortably above or only equal to the minimum published by the vendor.
Graphics adapter	Drawing the picture. This is usually the component that decides whether the game is smooth.	Whether it is a separate card or built into the processor. Built-in graphics are common in office machines and are the usual sticking point.
Free storage	Holding the installed game, which is large, plus room for updates afterwards.	Leave meaningful headroom above the installed size. A drive filled to the brim causes problems beyond this game.
Connection speed	How long the first download takes. Ongoing play uses far less.	Whether you can leave the download running at a time when nobody else needs the connection.

Reading a minimum and recommended list

With your five figures beside you, open the vendor's requirements page and compare line by line. The honest way to read the result is as one of four outcomes.

Above recommended on every line. You can expect the game to run well. Nothing more to think about at this stage.

Between minimum and recommended. The usual case. The game will very likely run, and you will probably be adjusting the quality settings downward to get it smooth. This is normal, not a failure.

At or just below minimum on one line. Possible but uncertain. Since the game costs nothing to install, trying it is a reasonable way to find out, as long as you accept that the download may have been for nothing.

Well below minimum, especially on graphics. Treat the answer as no. Nothing in the settings menu rescues a machine that is far short, and buying hardware to fix it is a much bigger decision than the one this course is about.

Operating system matters as much as hardware

The example in this course is published for desktop and laptop computers running Windows, macOS or Linux. Check the specific versions the vendor names, not just the family: an operating system that is several releases behind is a common reason an install fails even when the hardware is comfortable.

Storage and the first download

Modern online games of this type are measured in tens of gigabytes, and they grow with each major update. Two practical points follow.

First, check the free space on the specific drive you will install to. Computers with a small fast drive for the system and a large slow one for files are common, and the installer will often default to the small one.

Second, plan when the download happens. On a typical Australian home connection a large game is not a five-minute affair, and if other people in the house depend on the same connection, starting it overnight is kinder than starting it at seven in the evening. If your plan has a data allowance, check the size against what is left in the month before you begin.

What to do if you are borderline

Three things help, in this order, and none of them costs money.

Update your graphics driver from the hardware maker's own site. An out-of-date driver is one of the few causes of poor performance that a newcomer can fix in ten minutes, and the difference can be substantial.

Close everything else before you play. Browsers with many tabs, video calls and background sync tools all compete for the same memory and processor.

Start at a low quality preset and work upward. People do the reverse — start at high, find it unplayable, conclude the machine cannot do it — when the sensible test is the other direction.

For general guidance on keeping a computer's software current and downloading only from legitimate sources, the Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes free advice for individuals and families at cyber.gov.au.

The worked example

The hypothetical household, Step 2

This household is invented to illustrate the steps. It is not a real family and makes no claim about any product's results.

Their five-year-old desktop was bought for office work, so the likely finding is a reasonable processor, enough memory, and graphics built into the processor rather than a separate card. The free space on the system drive is modest because it has never been cleared out.

That puts them in the third category above: possibly at or below minimum on graphics. Their sensible course is to update the graphics driver, free up space, and treat an install as an experiment rather than a plan. The outcome might be a game that runs acceptably at low settings, or one that does not run well at all. The point of Step 2 is that they know which question they are testing before they spend an evening downloading.

Before you move on

You should have five figures written down and a sense of which of the four outcomes you fall into. If you have not actually opened the panels on your own machine, this step has not been done — reading about it does not produce the numbers.

Checklist for Step 2

Open your computer's system information panel and write down the processor name in full, model number included.
Write down the installed memory in gigabytes.
Find and write down the graphics adapter, and note whether it is a separate card or built into the processor.
Write down the free space on the drive you would install to, and the total capacity of that drive.
Note your home internet connection speed and, if you have a data allowance, how much of it is left this month.
Open the vendor's own requirements page and compare each line against your figures.
Decide which of the four outcomes you are in: above recommended, in between, borderline, or well below.
Update your graphics driver from the hardware maker's own site, whatever the outcome.
Pick a time of day when a very large download will not inconvenience anyone else in the household.