**The Confusion Surrounding Minimum Requirements**

When it comes to PC gaming, one of the most frustrating aspects is trying to determine whether your computer can run a game smoothly. The minimum requirements listed on Steam or game studios' websites are often misleading and can be a source of confusion for potential buyers. Typically, these requirements are close to the bare minimums needed to get the game running, with low-quality settings at a low resolution and frame rates. However, this may not be enough for everyone, as many gamers want a more satisfying experience.

**Understanding Minimum Requirements**

Game studios often base their minimum requirements on hardware that is technically compatible, rather than on a minimum bar of acceptable performance. This means that the earliest GPUs that support the game's required instructions are used to set the minimum spec, even if they may not be sufficient for a smooth experience at any other setting. For example, a game might require a GPU from five years ago to produce specific visual effects, which may result in slow performance at anything other than the absolute minimum settings. In these cases, the minimum requirements are true minimums, and the game may not even be playable on that hardware.

**The Role of Recommended Specifications**

Adding to the confusion are recommended specifications, a term that is about as devoid of meaning as a janitorial log in a gas station bathroom. There is no standard for what "recommended" means, and gamers are often left wondering whether they should upgrade their hardware to meet these specs or not. Some games may still not be playable on high settings with decent frame rates even if the recommended components are used, while others may list components that are overkill.

**Figuring Out Your Experience Requirements**

To figure out what kind of experience you want from your gaming PC, you need to consider several factors. Are you okay with running a game at console-like 30 FPS or do you need buttery smooth 60 frames per second performance? What trade-offs are you willing to make between performance and image quality? Answering these questions will help you determine whether you need to upgrade your hardware.

**Using Benchmarks to Inform Your Decisions**

One way to inform your decisions is to use benchmarks, which provide a clear picture of the performance that can be expected from different components at various price points. Independent reviewers have conducted extensive testing of popular games on different CPU and graphics card combinations with varying quality settings. These resources can help you decide whether it's worth upgrading to meet the minimum requirements for your desired gaming experience and how expensive the necessary hardware may be.

**The Value of Cloud-Based Website Builders**

On a completely unrelated note, SquareSpace is an excellent cloud-based website builder that allows users to create beautiful and functional websites without prior coding knowledge. The platform offers a range of templates, drag-and-drop functionality, and a free domain with paid upgrades. With 24/7 support via live chat and email, gamers and non-gamers alike can start building their online presence with ease.

**The Latest SquareSpace Feature**

Recently, SquareSpace has introduced a new feature for e-commerce sites: customer accounts. This allows customers to save their payment and shipping info, as well as view their shopping trends. Every SquareSpace site now has this additional feature, making it easier for users to manage their online store.

**Getting Started with SquareSpace**

To get started with SquareSpace, sign up for a free trial with no credit card required. Use the offer code "techquickie" to receive 10% off your first purchase. With its user-friendly interface and affordable pricing, SquareSpace is an excellent choice for anyone looking to create a professional-looking website or e-commerce site.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthanks for watching techwiki click the subscribe button then enable notifications with the bell icon so you won't miss any future videos so you've recently decided to get into the world of pc gaming but given that your seven-year-old computer struggles just to boot into windows you find yourself wondering aloud how in the world am i going to run those fancy new aaa titles that my favorite streamers are playing on thousand dollar hardware but wait the listed minimum system requirements on the side of the box or excuse me web page actually seem pretty close to what you have so why is everybody running out buying prohibitively expensive hardware just to play games well first off on a console most games are tweaked to run in a predictable consistent manner on one specific hardware configuration or at most like five but running well may mean different things to different people and this is particularly true of pc gamers so typically the minimum requirements you see on steam or on a game studios website are close to the bare minimums to get the game running or at least walking we're talking low quality settings at a low resolution with still low frame rates and while this actually might be good enough for a lot of people many others would probably be left feeling unsatisfied from time to time game studios also based their minimum requirements on the hardware that is technically compatible at all rather than on a minimum bar of acceptable performance for example a game might be coded in such a way that it requires the graphics card to support certain instructions to produce specific visual effects so if the earliest gpus that support everything the game needs are say five years old then the minimum requirements might list a gpu from that era even if the game might run so slowly at anything other than absolutely minimum on that card that it looks more like a pixelated slideshow than an actual game so in these sorts of situations minimum requirements are true minimums with the game not being playable at any settings if your hardware isn't up to that level on the flip side other game developers have been known to post minimum requirements above what you may be able to get away with this can happen for a number of reasons oculus famously set a very high minimum spec for the rift on its release to ensure that anyone who followed their guidelines would have a smooth experience across the platform and in other cases game studios have made assumptions about what they think most players will be using instead of spending a ton of r d time validating very old stuff and they've effectively used the minimum spec as a way of saying well anything under this might work and you're welcome to try but we just won't guarantee that the experience will run well adding even further to the confusion are the recommended specifications a term about as devoid of meaning as a janitorial log in a gas station bathroom since there isn't any kind of standard for what recommended means you'll sometimes see configurations that might still not be good enough to run the game on high settings with decent frame rates while others will list components that are obviously overkill like eight thread processors for games that can't take advantage of more than four so okay then linus if i want to make sure my computer can actually handle my new game what the heck am i supposed to do then well figure out what kind of experience you want are you okay with running a game at console like 30 fps or is buttery smooth 60 frames per second performance something that you have to have and what kind of trade-offs are you okay with making between that performance and image quality once you've decided the answer is benchmarks there are plenty of resources available online where popular games are tested on different cpu graphics card and quality setting combinations at different price points by independent reviewers you can use this information to decide if it's worth it to upgrade and how expensive of a part you might need and you actually might end up pleasantly surprised to find out how good of an experience you can have with a mainstream processor and a sub 200 graphics card these days but even if it looks like you would need to spend a thousand dollars that you just don't have on a brand new system to get the experience you would have wanted at least i can say this don't fret too much because then you can also save yourself the seventy dollars that you might have spent on a game that turned out to be more style than substance because who says you can't have style and substance that's what squarespace is all about with squarespace you can build a beautiful and functional website yourself without any prior coding knowledge it's all cloud-based so you just pick one of their gorgeous templates drag in the photos and graphics and text that you want and boom you have a high-speed reliable website with tons of great features and if you have any trouble whatsoever they have 24 7 support available via live chat and email it costs just 12 a month and you get a free domain if you buy squarespace for the year so why not go check it out oh oh we have a new feature customer accounts for your online store now your customers can save their payment and shipping info and you can even keep an eye on their shopping trends that's fantastic so every squarespace site has had commerce for a while now and now you've got this additional feature so start a trial with no credit card required and start building your website today when you sign up use offer code tech quickie which we'll have linked below to get 10 off on your first purchase so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other channels don't forget to leave a comment if you have suggestions for future fastest possible videos and subscribe and enable the bell so you don't miss any of our videosthanks for watching techwiki click the subscribe button then enable notifications with the bell icon so you won't miss any future videos so you've recently decided to get into the world of pc gaming but given that your seven-year-old computer struggles just to boot into windows you find yourself wondering aloud how in the world am i going to run those fancy new aaa titles that my favorite streamers are playing on thousand dollar hardware but wait the listed minimum system requirements on the side of the box or excuse me web page actually seem pretty close to what you have so why is everybody running out buying prohibitively expensive hardware just to play games well first off on a console most games are tweaked to run in a predictable consistent manner on one specific hardware configuration or at most like five but running well may mean different things to different people and this is particularly true of pc gamers so typically the minimum requirements you see on steam or on a game studios website are close to the bare minimums to get the game running or at least walking we're talking low quality settings at a low resolution with still low frame rates and while this actually might be good enough for a lot of people many others would probably be left feeling unsatisfied from time to time game studios also based their minimum requirements on the hardware that is technically compatible at all rather than on a minimum bar of acceptable performance for example a game might be coded in such a way that it requires the graphics card to support certain instructions to produce specific visual effects so if the earliest gpus that support everything the game needs are say five years old then the minimum requirements might list a gpu from that era even if the game might run so slowly at anything other than absolutely minimum on that card that it looks more like a pixelated slideshow than an actual game so in these sorts of situations minimum requirements are true minimums with the game not being playable at any settings if your hardware isn't up to that level on the flip side other game developers have been known to post minimum requirements above what you may be able to get away with this can happen for a number of reasons oculus famously set a very high minimum spec for the rift on its release to ensure that anyone who followed their guidelines would have a smooth experience across the platform and in other cases game studios have made assumptions about what they think most players will be using instead of spending a ton of r d time validating very old stuff and they've effectively used the minimum spec as a way of saying well anything under this might work and you're welcome to try but we just won't guarantee that the experience will run well adding even further to the confusion are the recommended specifications a term about as devoid of meaning as a janitorial log in a gas station bathroom since there isn't any kind of standard for what recommended means you'll sometimes see configurations that might still not be good enough to run the game on high settings with decent frame rates while others will list components that are obviously overkill like eight thread processors for games that can't take advantage of more than four so okay then linus if i want to make sure my computer can actually handle my new game what the heck am i supposed to do then well figure out what kind of experience you want are you okay with running a game at console like 30 fps or is buttery smooth 60 frames per second performance something that you have to have and what kind of trade-offs are you okay with making between that performance and image quality once you've decided the answer is benchmarks there are plenty of resources available online where popular games are tested on different cpu graphics card and quality setting combinations at different price points by independent reviewers you can use this information to decide if it's worth it to upgrade and how expensive of a part you might need and you actually might end up pleasantly surprised to find out how good of an experience you can have with a mainstream processor and a sub 200 graphics card these days but even if it looks like you would need to spend a thousand dollars that you just don't have on a brand new system to get the experience you would have wanted at least i can say this don't fret too much because then you can also save yourself the seventy dollars that you might have spent on a game that turned out to be more style than substance because who says you can't have style and substance that's what squarespace is all about with squarespace you can build a beautiful and functional website yourself without any prior coding knowledge it's all cloud-based so you just pick one of their gorgeous templates drag in the photos and graphics and text that you want and boom you have a high-speed reliable website with tons of great features and if you have any trouble whatsoever they have 24 7 support available via live chat and email it costs just 12 a month and you get a free domain if you buy squarespace for the year so why not go check it out oh oh we have a new feature customer accounts for your online store now your customers can save their payment and shipping info and you can even keep an eye on their shopping trends that's fantastic so every squarespace site has had commerce for a while now and now you've got this additional feature so start a trial with no credit card required and start building your website today when you sign up use offer code tech quickie which we'll have linked below to get 10 off on your first purchase so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other channels don't forget to leave a comment if you have suggestions for future fastest possible videos and subscribe and enable the bell so you don't miss any of our videos\n"