System Requirements

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your System Requirements shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the System Requirements offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of System Requirements at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a System Requirements? Wrong! If the System Requirements is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about System Requirements then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling System Requirements? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about System Requirements and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your System Requirements wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your System Requirements then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the System Requirements site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about System Requirements, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your System Requirements, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain Computer hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer system. These pre-requisites are known as (computer) system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed to an absolute rule. Most software defines two sets of system requirements: System Requirements#Minimum System Requirements and System Requirements#Recommended System Requirements. With increasing demand for higher processing power and resources in newer versions of software, system requirements tend to increase over time. Industry analysts suggest that this trend plays a bigger part in driving upgrades to existing computer systems than technological advancements.

Minimum system requirements This set of requirements must be satisfied for the software to be usable at all. Computers with lower specifications than the minimum requirements may sometimes also run the software. It is suggested, however, that the user will not have a representative experience of the software this way. Generally this set is regarded more of a rule than a guideline. A system meeting this requirement will provide basic performance of a software application.

Recommended system requirements This set of requirements is often suggested by Independent Software Vendor for optimal performance of a software. Although not a necessity, this set of requirements is often sought after by power users who expect to gain a better experience of software usability. Recommended System Requirements do not promise best possible performance of a software and are treated as more of a guideline than a rule. Almost always a better system is available, or will be in future, to provide better performance. Also, exceeding by far these requirements does not guarantee to the user that everything will run with absolute smoothness and look its best. More often than not, games are a bit disappointing in this respect, presenting issues that may or may not be corrected with future modifications.

Hardware requirements The most common set of requirements defined by any operating system or software application is the physical computer resources, also known as Computer hardware. A hardware requirements list is often accompanied by a hardware compatibility list (HCL), especially in case of operating systems. An HCL lists tested, compatible, and sometimes incompatible hardware devices for a particular operating system or application. The following sub-sections discuss the various aspects of hardware requirements.

Architecture All computer operating systems are designed for a particular computer architecture. Most software applications are limited to particular operating systems running on particular architectures. Although architecture-independent operating systems and applications exist, most need to be recompiled to run on a new architecture. See also a list of Comparison of operating systems#Technical information and their supporting architectures.

Processing power The power of the central processing unit (CPU) is a fundamental system requirement for any software. Most software running on x86 architecture define processing power as the List of microprocessors and the Clock rate of the CPU. Many other features of a CPU that influence its speed and power, like Front side bus, cache, and Instructions per second are often ignored. This definition of power is often erroneous, as Advanced Micro Devices Athlon and Intel Pentium CPUs at similar clock speed often have different throughput speeds. Intel Pentium CPUs have enjoyed a considerable degree of popularity, and are often mentioned in this category.

Memory All software, when run, resides in the random access memory (RAM) of a computer. Memory requirements are defined after considering demands of the application, operating system, supporting software and files, and other running processes. Optimal performance of other unrelated software running on a multi-tasking computer system is also considered when defining this requirement.

Secondary storage Hard-disk requirements vary, depending on the size of software installation, temporary files created and maintained while installing or running the software, and possible use of Virtual memory (if RAM is insufficient).

Display adapter Software requiring a better than average computer graphics display, like Graphics software and high-end Video game, often define high-end Graphics processing unit in the system requirements.

Peripherals Some software applications need to make extensive and/or special use of some peripherals, demanding the higher performance or functionality of such peripherals. Such peripherals include CD-ROM, Computer keyboard, pointing devices, Computer networking device, etc.

Software requirements Software Requirements deal with defining software resource requirements and pre-requisites that need to be installed on a computer to provide optimal functioning of an application. These requirements or pre-requisites are generally not included in the software installation package and need to be installed separately before the software is installed.

Platform In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in computer hardware or software, which allows software to run. Typical platforms include a computer's Computer architecture, operating system, or programming languages and their runtime libraries.

Operating system is one of the first requirements mentioned when defining system requirements (software). Software may not be compatible with different versions of same line of operating systems, although some measure of backward compatibility is often maintained. For example, most software designed for Microsoft Windows XP does not run on Microsoft Windows 98, although the converse is not always true. Similarly, software designed using newer features of Linux Linux Kernel v2.6 generally does not run or compile properly (or at all) on Linux distributions using Kernel v2.2 or v2.4.

APIs and Drivers Software making extensive use of special hardware devices, like high-end Graphics processing unit, needs special API or newer device drivers. A good example is DirectX, which is a collection of APIs for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming, on Microsoft platforms.

Web browser Most web applications and software depending heavily on Internet technologies make use of the default browser installed on system. Microsoft Internet Explorer is a frequent, albeit poor, choice of software running on Microsoft Windows, which makes use of ActiveX controls, despite their vulnerabilities.

Other requirements Some software also has other requirements for proper performance. Internet connection (type and speed) and Display resolution of the display screen are notable examples.

Examples Following are a few examples of system requirement definitions for popular computer games and trend of ever increasing resource needs:

For instance, while StarCraft (1998) needed:

Microsoft Windows 95 or NT or superior
Pentium processor at 90 MHz or higher
16 MB Random Access Memory
80 MB available in the hard disk
CD-ROM, 2x or higher
DirectX 3.0 or higher

and Spider-Man (2002) needed:

3d accelerator card
Microsoft Windows 98/2000/NT/XP
Pentium III processor at 500 MHz or higher
128 MB Random Access Memory
1.5 GB available in the hard disk
DirectX 8.1

Doom 3 (2004) needs:

3D Hardware Accelerator - 64MB of memory minimum
Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
Pentium 4 1.5 GHz or Athlon XP 1500+ processor or higher
384 MB Random Access Memory
8x Speed CD-ROM
2.2 GB free hard disk space
DirectX 9.0b compatible 16-bit sound card
DirectX 9.0b