System requirements

Industry analysts suggest that this trend plays a bigger part in driving upgrades to existing computer systems than technological advancements.

Generally speaking, this is a better guideline than minimum system requirements in order to have a fully usable and enjoyable experience with that software.

An HCL lists tested, compatible, and sometimes incompatible hardware devices for a particular operating system or application.

Most software running on x86 architecture define processing power as the model and the clock speed of the CPU.

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.

[2] Typical platforms include a computer's architecture, operating system, or programming languages and their runtime libraries.

A good example is DirectX, which is a collection of APIs for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming, on Microsoft platforms.

Internet connection (type and speed) and resolution of the display screen are notable examples.