According to Microsoft, here is the minimum system requirements for a PC to be able to run Windows 10, the latest upcoming Windows.
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
- RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
- Free hard disk space: 16 GB
- Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
- A Microsoft account and Internet access
Simply put: if your PC can run Windows 8.1, you are good to go.
If you are not sure, here are a couple of options for you:
- Download and run Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant and let this little agent to tell you whether your PC is good to go.
- Or just try to install Windows 8/8.1, and the installer will run a checkup and tell you before it loads the OS for you.
What’s missing in this system requirements is the extra bit for Processor, if you look the system requirements for Windows 8.1. It actually reads like this:
See the highlighted extra hardware support needed for Processor? And what are they anyway? See more details
- PAE (Physical Address Extension) gives 32-bit processors the ability to use more than 4 GB of physical memory on capable versions of Windows, and is a prerequisite for NX (NX processor bit).
- NX helps your processor guard the PC from attacks by malicious software.
- SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2) is a standard instruction set on processors that is increasingly used by third-party apps and drivers.
So how can I tell if my processor is equipped with these supports? A tool like CPU-Z would do the trick. It’s a free and portable system gathering tool. Just download and run. Then look into the CPU tab and Instruction section. If you see SSE2, EM64T (support for PAE), and either VT-d or VT-x (support for NX), and you are good to go.
And it looks like my computer is capable of running the upcoming Windows 10 system.