Step 2 of 5

Working out whether your desktop can run it

This step is a measurement, not a judgement. You are going to read two lists — what the game asks for, and what your computer has — and put them side by side. It takes about fifteen minutes at the machine and saves an evening of downloading something that will not start.

The operating system comes first

Of everything on a requirements list, the operating system is the one that is not negotiable. A faster processor can make up for a slow one; a supported operating system cannot be substituted for an unsupported one. If the game is published for Windows and macOS, then Windows and macOS are what it runs on, and a Linux desktop is not on the list however capable the hardware underneath it is. The same holds in the other direction: a game published only for Windows will not run on a Mac simply because the Mac is newer.

This matters for the example this course uses. World of Warships is published for desktop computers running Windows and macOS. It is not published for Linux, and it is not a mobile or console title. If the machine you intend to use runs Linux, this particular example is not available to you, and the rest of this course still applies to whatever you choose instead.

So write the operating system down first, in full, including the version number. "Windows" is not an answer. "Windows 11, version 24H2, 64-bit" is. The next two sections show you where to find that.

How to read a requirements table

Nearly every PC game publishes a table with two columns, usually labelled minimum and recommended. They are not two opinions about the same thing; they describe two different experiences.

Minimum means the game is expected to start and be playable at low settings and a low resolution. It is a floor, not a target. If your computer only just meets the minimum, expect to turn the visual quality down and accept that busy moments will be less smooth.

Recommended means the publisher expects a comfortable experience at a mainstream resolution and middling settings. It is not the maximum, and it is not a promise.

The rows you will see are usually these. Operating system, covered above. Processor, named as a specific model; a newer model from the same family is generally at least as capable, an older one generally is not. Memory, in gigabytes, and this is the row most often responsible for a game stuttering on an otherwise decent machine. Graphics, named as a card model and sometimes a minimum amount of video memory; on many laptops and small desktops this is built into the processor rather than being a separate card, which is worth knowing before you go looking for one. Storage, the installed size, which is almost always larger after the first round of updates. Network, usually just "broadband internet connection", because an online game needs one continuously, not only while downloading.

One habit is worth forming now: compare row by row and write down the result of each comparison. A machine that passes five rows and fails one is a different situation from a machine that scrapes past all six, and you cannot see which you have unless the comparison is written down.

Finding your specifications on Windows

Everything you need is already on the computer. There is no tool to install, and you should be wary of any site offering to scan your system for you.

1. Press the Windows key, type About your PC, and open the result. This gives you the processor model, the installed memory, the system type (32-bit or 64-bit) and the Windows edition and version.
2. Write down the processor line exactly as it appears, including the model number.
3. Write down the installed memory in gigabytes.
4. Press the Windows key, type Device Manager, open it, and expand "Display adapters". The entry or entries there are your graphics hardware. Write the name down exactly.
5. Open File Explorer, select "This PC", and note the free space on the drive you intend to install to — not necessarily the C: drive.

If the display adapter is named after the processor family rather than being a separate card, your graphics are integrated. That is common and perfectly workable for many online games; it simply means the graphics row of the requirements table needs reading more carefully.

Finding your specifications on a Mac

1. Choose the Apple menu, then "About This Mac". This gives the macOS version, the chip or processor, and the memory.
2. Note whether the chip is an Apple silicon chip or an Intel processor. This distinction matters, because some games are published for one and not the other, or run on the other only through a translation layer.
3. Write down the memory in gigabytes.
4. Open "More Info", then "Storage", and note the free space.

Mac support in this category is less uniform than Windows support. A game may list macOS on its requirements page, or may list it with conditions, or may have dropped it. The game's own requirements page is the only place that answer is current.

Disk space and the connection

Two numbers are routinely underestimated. The first is disk space. Take the installed size from the requirements table and give yourself a generous margin above it — a large online game grows as content is added, and a drive with almost nothing free will slow the whole computer down, not just the game. The second is the download itself. A client of tens of gigabytes on a connection that is busy in the evening can take many hours, and interrupting it is usually safe but wasteful.

If your connection is shared and slows after dinner, start the download before you go out, or overnight. Check whether your plan has a data allowance; a single large client plus its first month of updates is a meaningful amount of data on a limited plan.

Latency — the delay between your action and the server's response — is a separate thing from download speed, and it is mostly a function of distance. A game with Australian or regional servers will feel more responsive from Australia than one whose nearest server is in Europe or North America. Where a game's servers are is something the game's own site or support pages state; it is not something that can be guessed from the requirements table.

How old is too old

There is no year after which a computer stops working, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. The useful question is narrower: does this specific machine meet this specific table?

As general guidance, the parts age at different rates. Memory is cheap and often upgradable, and going from a cramped amount to a comfortable amount is frequently the single most effective change. Storage can usually be added or swapped. Graphics hardware is the part that most often decides the answer, and on a laptop or an all-in-one it usually cannot be changed at all. Processors are rarely the limiting factor for this category of game, though a very old one can be.

If the machine fails only on memory or only on free space, there is a cheap path forward. If it fails on operating system support or on graphics in a machine that cannot be opened, there is not, and it is better to know that now than after a long download.

The household we follow

Our hypothetical two-adult household sits down with a pen. The desktop is five years old. "About your PC" gives them a mid-range processor from that era, 8 GB of memory, and Windows 11. Device Manager shows a separate graphics card, also from that era. File Explorer shows 140 GB free on the only drive.

They find the game's requirements page and go row by row. Operating system: passes. Processor: passes the minimum, short of the recommended. Memory: meets the minimum exactly, which tells them to expect to close other applications before playing and makes a memory upgrade the first thing they would spend money on. Graphics: between the two columns. Storage: comfortable. Connection: fine before dinner, slow after.

Their conclusion is not "yes" or "no" but "yes, at reduced settings, and download it overnight". That is the normal shape of the answer, and it is only available because they wrote the comparison down instead of eyeballing it.

Where to check the game's own figures

This course does not reproduce any game's system requirements, because requirements change with updates and a copy made today would quietly become wrong. The vendor's own site is the source, and for the example this course uses, that is where the figures live — this publisher has not been supplied with them and will not invent them.

Visit the World of Warships websitePaid affiliate link. This site is paid a commission if you create and activate an account after following it, at no extra cost to you, and that payment did not influence this page. Full disclosure.

Two cautions about sources. Requirements copied onto third-party listing sites are often out of date, so treat them as a hint and confirm on the publisher's page. And no website can tell you whether your computer will run something by looking at it: a page that offers to scan your system, or that reports what it has "detected" about your machine, is doing something other than what it claims. The Scamwatch service run by the National Anti-Scam Centre collects reports of that kind of thing.