Reading technical specs for PCs

KatrinaKatrina
edited March 2010 in General
I have a stupid question about reading technical specs for PCs.


When software says something like "Intel Pentium D or faster", how do you figure out what the "or faster" means? Some software specs will say Intel Pentium or better.
AMD 64 3200+ or Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz or better?


And what about the video card?
56 MB Nvidia Geforce 6600GT / ATI Radeon 1600XT or better?


How would I go about reasearching whether a PC fits any of these specs? There seem to be a lot of new processors on the market, and I can't tell if they are "better" than some of the older model preocessors. Newer doesn't always equal "better".
I don't want a situation like years ago, when folks got non-Penitum processors and a lot of stuff wouldn't run on those PCs.

Comments

  • TimMasonTimMason
    Tom's Hardware might help. I think they do comparative charts.
  • Dr. MutexDr. Mutex
    edited March 2010
    Usually it's games that have all the special system requirements. If you go to the company's website, they will probably have a utility you can download that will check your system and tell you whether your system kicks sufficient ass. I find you can sometimes get by with a little bit less CPU than the specs on the box call for if you're careful to run nothing else. Video requirements are less forgiving because the game requires the video processor to be able to draw at a certain rate.
  • KatrinaKatrina
    Thanks, you two!

    I'll have a look at Tom's Hardware. I've seen that site but didn't realize about the charts.
    Yep, my son has gotten bit by the video requirements before.
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