So, you are eager to play the new AAA game but are unsure whether your PC can run it. As a PC gamer, you would often be asking this question because, in PC gaming, there is no cookie-cutter way of knowing which game will run unless you determine it.
Don’t worry, though; as in this article, I will tell you how you can find out if a game will run on your PC or not. The methods I will be listing for this task will work for any game.
To determine if a game runs on your PC or not, you will need to know the specification of your PC. Only after that, you will be able to apply the below-mentioned four methods.
So, without further ado, let’s begin.
Check Your PC Specifications
Without knowing about the current specification of your PC, you cannot figure out if a game will run on the PC or not. Therefore, firstly let’s figure out the specification of your PC.
All PC specs are important, but the one we are most interested in is the graphics card. Without a dedicated graphics card, you won’t be able to game on the PC hence knowing which GPU is installed on your PC is of great significance.
I have written a comprehensive article on how to find the specification of your PC, so I won’t go into much detail here.
Long story short, the best way of checking your system specs without fiddling with the different settings of the PC is to download the Speccy. This tool is your all-in-one utility for knowing all the system specs of your PC under one menu.
It will tell you about the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, and much more with a single click of a button; therefore, I prefer using it over having to fumble with different menus.
After knowing your PC’s specifications, it is advisable to list them down on a notepad because we will need to access them quite frequently.
How to Check Which Games You Can Play On Your PC
Now that you have your PC’s specifications figured out let’s find out which games this PC can run. The following are the methods by which we can determine this.
Method 1: Check the Game’s System Requirement
Any game available on the PC will have listed system requirements needed to run that particular game.
The easiest way to figure out if a game can run on your PC is to check its system requirements. Most PC games will have their minimum and recommended system requirements listed on the steam or other official websites.
The minimum system requirements allow you to play the game at the lowest setting. In contrast, the recommended system requirements are the preferred PC specification needed to play the game at a relatively higher graphic setting.
To see if your PC can run a particular game, match its system requirement to your PC’s specification that we had previously found.
- If your PC’s specification matches the minimum system requirement of the game, then you will be able to play that particular game on low graphic settings
- If your PC’s specification matches with the recommended system requirement of the game, then you will be able to play that particular game on high graphic settings
This process is fairly simple, with the only catch being it is not very accurate. A PC can have an infinitely different combination of specs; hence, sometimes, the game’s system requirement may not match the specification of the PC.
This is despite the PC’s ability to run the game perfectly well. Therefore, this method is used for a quick checkup and is usually followed up by the next method for confirming the gaming compatibility of a PC.
Method 2: Use the User Benchmark Compare Tool
This method that I am going to list is usually used in combination with the previously mentioned one. You see, finding out the game’s system requirements and comparing them with your PC specification does not always guarantee a match.
Therefore, it is impossible for an average gamer who does not know much about PC hardware to use the data of the first method effectively.
Matching the RAM and storage capacity might be possible but knowing if the performance of the CPU and the GPU present in your PC matches the one in the game’s system requirement is quite an impossible task.
This is where the user User Benchmark tool comes into play. This tool allows you to compare any PC component with another to match their performance. The following is how we can take advantage of this tool for our needs.
Comparing CPU With the User Benchmark CPU Tool
- Head over to the User Benchmark CPU Compare Tool
- Select the CPU your PC has in the first drop-down menu
- In the next one, select either the CPU mentioned in the minimum system requirement or the recommended system requirement of the game
- Compare the two CPUs that you have selected. The Avg Gaming Bench row will represent which CPU is superior
If the CPU in your PC is superior or very close to the CPU mentioned in the system requirement of the game, then you are good to go.
Comparing GPU With the User Benchmark GPU Tool
- Head over to the User Benchmark GPU Compare Tool
- Select the GPU your PC has in the first drop-down menu
- In the next one, select either the GPU mentioned in the minimum system requirement or the recommended system requirement of the game
- Compare the two GPUs that you have selected. The Avg Gaming Bench row will represent which GPU is superior
If the gaming performance of the GPU installed on your PC is better or the same as the GPU mentioned in the game’s system requirement, then there is a high chance that you can run that particular game on your PC.
After comparing if the GPU and CPU’s performance checks out and the RAM and storage capacity matches the listed one, you can play the game on your PC without any worry.
Method 3: Verify Game Compatibility With a Can I Run It Tool
If you are looking for an easy solution that can take the guesswork out of the equation, then a can I run it tool method is for you.
This method employs advanced tools that can verify if your PC can run the particular game that you just entered into the tool.
For demonstration, I will be using the System Requirements Lab tool because it has a very high effectivity rate and is also very simple.
The following is how you can use this tool to great effect.
- Head over to the Can you Run it tool
- Select the game you want to check for
- Press the Can you Run it button
- A new page will open again; press the can you run it button
- If prompted with a message to download the detection app, do so
- Let the whole procedure run until completion
- After it is finished, the tool will let you know whether you can run the selected game on your PC
This tool can be used for any game with decent effectiveness. About 80-90% of the time, the results provided with this tool are accurate. Therefore, you can rely on this tool but not entirely.
In some cases, when the tool says you can’t run a particular game, that is not true. Therefore, I always recommend cross-checking the results using multiple methods since it doesn’t hurt to give a couple of extra minutes to ensure that the results you are getting are accurate.
Method 4: Refer to Gaming Benchmarks on YouTube
The latest method you use to verify if a game will run on your PC is by checking YouTube benchmarks. A simple search on YouTube can give you multiple gaming benchmarks that use the exact PC specifications you have to test the game you want to play.
These benchmarks, therefore, provide the best depiction of whether your PC will be able to run the game or not. Make sure to refer to multiple YouTube videos, if possible, to verify that the gaming benchmarks that are being provided to you are indeed accurate.
While this may sound nice and dandy, before you get all excited, remember to search in the exact way that I will show you. When searching on YouTube, first enter the name and model of your CPU, followed by the name and model of your GPU, and lastly, the name of the game you want to play.
For example, an ideal search query should look something like this.
“Intel i5 12600k RTX 3060 Fortnite Benchmark”
In the above example, you can see that first, I mentioned the make and model number of the CPU, followed by the make and model number of the GPU, and then the name of the game.
Open the video that most closely resembles your search query. While watching the video, make sure to take note of the resolution and graphic setting that is being used to play the game.
This will give you a better idea of how the game will run on your computer. This method involves dealing with a lot of different variations. Still, if you find the right video with the same PC specification and monitor resolution as the one you want to play your games at, this method will be very effective.
What to Do if Your Computer Is Unable to Run the Desired Game?
After checking if you have found out that your PC cannot run the desired game that you want to play, don’t worry because not all hope is lost.
Since most gaming benchmarks test the game at the most optimal settings, which involve playing the game at 1080p resolution and medium graphic setting, chances are you would be able to get away if you drop the resolution to 900p or 720p.
If I am being honest, this is not the ideal situation you want to be in because the gaming experience at this resolution is not the best. If you are fine with that, you can go right ahead with it, but I won’t recommend it.
What you could do, however, is upgrade your gaming PC. I know this sounds harsh, but eventually, you will have to take this step because the PC you are using is no longer capable of running the games you want to play.
Suppose you want to upgrade your gaming PC on a budget. In that case, you can opt for just a GPU upgrade because having a higher-performing GPU will have a more significant impact on the gaming capability of the PC than upgrading any other PC component.
If you want to go all out and buy a new PC altogether, then going with a good prebuilt gaming PC under $1500 will allow you to play any modern AAA game you want at a decent graphic setting.
Related Guides
Check out our price-focused prebuilt PC guides below.
Check out our GPU-focused prebuilt PC guides below.
- Best RTX 3060 Prebuilt PC
- Best RTX 3070 Prebuilt PC
- Best RTX 3080 Prebuilt PC
- Best RTX 3090 Prebuilt PC
Check out our aesthetics-focused gaming PC guides below.
Check out some of the other related guides.
- How Much Wattage Does My PC Need
- 12 Important Things to Do After Buying or Building a Gaming PC
- Best Gaming PC
Final Thoughts
This wraps up our article on the best way to determine if your PC can run a particular game or not.
To conclude, the methods I mentioned work with varying amounts of success. The most effective way of finding game compatibility, believe it or not, is by using the first method in tandem with the second method.
This method removes the variation and guesswork from the equation. I am not saying other ways are not effective. In the right situation, they can provide great results but cannot be relied upon 100% of the time due to their situational efficacy.
Before I sign off, let me know which game you want to run on your PC, and tell me the method you used to determine whether that game can run on your PC.
