"System Requirements" check for PC gamer dummies

[J T]

This is a nice little web page for figuring out if your computer should be able to play the latest games for PC. It figures out your specs and then compares them against the known system requirements for the most popular games:

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

[Mozgus]

Pretty cool for people who know nothing of spec terminology, I guess.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

This doesnt work well at all for people with integrated graphics though, if you have an Intel chip you'll never find anything you can play I swear.

[Niode]

Here's a compatibility list for Intel Integrated Chipsets:

[Mozgus]

Here's a compatibility list for Intel Integrated Chipsets:

Popcap games.

[Harvey]

I bought BioShock when it was $5 on Steam but it didn't work at all on my computer. I just ran this system check and it said I pass the minimum requirements to play BioShock. This system requirement program isn't entirely accurate--just a warning to anyone who uses it.

[nikon_62]

I just realized how much I made the switch to console gamer after years of PC gaming. My computer I use as a firewall now was built as a gaming computer. I'm on it now and I made the minimum requirements to play crysis. Too bad it's running Linux now and the most I use it for is a web browser and firewall. Oh well I'm gonna go play dreamcast.

[fast]

To take this alittle off topic - though most every game mentioned should run on everyones pcs:
You can play plenty of great games on integrated, they are just not the most current titles. I spent $200 on an experiment and built a nettop specifically for gaming.

Specwise it is:
1.6 ghz dual core atom processor (Atom 330)
2 gigs of DDR2 - 533
80 gig SATA 2 harddrive (sadly only a 8 meg buffer)
GMA950
XP SP2

The reason I went for this is it was a decent computer, cheap, and pulls down roughly 38 watts at full load (compare that to my old P4 where the processor itself pulls down that much). Power consumption is very important when you plan on having 4-8 of the same machines in your house.

Well it doesnt benchmark very well, but it runs like a champ. Installed on it right now are:
Red Alert 1
Red Alert 2
Red Alert 3 - though it runs VERY poorly (9-15 fps) - I am working on it
Warcraft 2
Warcraft 3 & Frozen Throne & DOTA
Starcraft
Emperor Battle for Dune
Dune 2000
Total Annihilation with Core Contingency and Battle Tactics
Warlords Battlecry 3
Half-Life with CS, TFC, Ricochet, Wanted, AHL, OPCTF, Deathmatch Classic & and a gig of maps - More mods will be added as time goes on
Tribes 2
Tribes Vengence
Shogo
Open Arena
Quake 2
Unreal Tournament
Medal of Honor Allied Assault
Aliens vs Predator Gold
Aliens vs Predator 2:Primal Hunt
Battlezone 2
Soldier of Fortune 2 demo – full version has trouble installing for some reason.
Sacred
Arcanum
Neverwinter Nights Diamond
GTA2
Battlefield 2142 – that when tweaked with 3d analyzer runs at a playable 15fps on the 8 player stages – it aint pretty though and will be replaced with BF1942 with mods.
There are more but I cannot remember them. 39 titles in all and I still have more than 15 gigs to play with. Sure the games are old, some of them more than a decade old, but there is still a lot of fun in them and they all play well on the box.

A reviewer stated that netbooks are like the handhelds of pc gaming. They are inferior hardwarewise, but still have good games and ports of some of the best games of all time. And lets be honest, how many of us really need a computer that pulls over 600 watts?

For the record Source engine games run at 10-15 fps in DX7 mode on it, so not worth it. The only reason Red Alert 3 is on there is that once you get in game it is ok and playable, just not ideally so. And I am quite aware that a lot of people don’t want to play old games, but to say you cannot game on integrated is like saying when you get a new console the old one is a doorstop. There is plenty of excellent gaming one can do on an integrated chipset, it just isn’t new (or Darwinia).