Every game page lists minimum and recommended requirements. Your PC's truth is sitting in CPU-Z and Task Manager. Put the two side by side before the sale ends — not after the download finishes and the stuttering starts.
“Will it run on my PC” is a question with a factual answer — but only if both sides of the comparison are honest. Game pages state their side plainly. Your side is the configuration this whole series teaches you to read: the processor, the graphics card and its dedicated VRAM, the RAM, and the storage. This page turns those readings into a buy, upgrade or skip decision — including the two traps (shared VRAM and GPU name numbers) that fool most buyers.
A worked example: each requirement compared against the machine's real, dedicated figures. Your game and your PC will show their own values — the method is the point.
Every comparison needs your side of the table. One pass through the tools from the video collects all of it:
Get-PhysicalDisk for the drive typeWrite the five numbers down once. The same note serves every future game and upgrade decision.
The two lists on a game page are promises of different strength. Minimum generally means the game launches and runs at low settings, often at a reduced resolution and frame rate — playable, not pretty. Recommended is the maker's idea of a smooth experience at normal settings.
Judge yourself honestly against both: meeting minimum with every part is a "runs" verdict, not an "enjoy" verdict. If your PC sits between the two lists, expect to tune settings — and know that before paying, not after.
Graphics card names mislead in both directions: a newer card with a smaller number can beat an older card with a bigger one, because generations improve efficiency. VRAM alone does not rank cards either — an older 8 GB card is not automatically stronger than a newer 6 GB card.
The honest method: find your card and the required card in any well-known review or benchmark comparison, and see which class each sits in. If yours is in the same class or above, the GPU line passes. If the name is simply missing from the game's list, class comparison — not the number — is how you decide.
When one line falls short, that line is your upgrade — and the checks elsewhere in this guide tell you how to do it safely:
Ten honest minutes have saved more money than any sale. Keep the note updated after every upgrade and the ritual gets faster each time.
Processor, graphics card, VRAM and RAM read from the hardware itself — the video shows the complete check you need before any purchase.
▶️ Watch Full VideoCompare by performance class. Look up your card and the listed card in any established review or benchmark chart: if yours sits in the same class or higher, treat the GPU requirement as met. Model numbers alone are unreliable across generations — a newer card with a smaller number frequently outperforms an older, bigger-numbered one.
Increasingly, yes. Many modern games are built around fast storage streaming, and on a hard disk they can stutter or load textures late even when the processor, GPU and RAM all pass. Treat the SSD line as a real requirement — and note that an SSD is also the single most noticeable upgrade for an older PC in everyday use.
Yes — this is where the ZIP (portable) version of CPU-Z earns its place. Run it from a pen drive on each machine without installing anything, note the five numbers per PC, and you have an honest upgrade map of the whole room in one round.