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Everything you need to make sure your PC can run Windows 10

Published Jun 1st, 2015 10:30AM EDT
BGR

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Windows 10 is officially dropping on July 29th and you may be wondering whether your PC can run the highly anticipated new OS. Thankfully, ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has put together a terrific guide for any PC users to make sure their computers are up to snuff for Windows 10.

RELATED: Microsoft just announced Windows 10’s release date – and pricing has already leaked

The most important thing to know is that if your PC can run Windows 8.1 right now, it will also be able to handle Windows 10. However, for those people who don’t have the latest version of Windows, Kingsley-Hughes says you’ll need to have the following hardware to handle Windows 10:

  • 1GHz processor or faster
  • 1GB of RAM for 32-bit processors, 2GB of RAM for 64-bit processors
  • 16GB of free disk space for 32-bit processors, 20GB of disk space for 64-bit processors
  • Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics card with a WDDM driver
  • Internet access and a Microsoft account

So that’s definitely good news: You won’t need cutting-edge hardware to handle Windows 10 by any stretch of the imagination.

However, there some catches to this list — for instance, it seems that a 1GHz processor will need to support PAE, NX, and SSE2 for it to run Windows 10.

To get the full, detailed rundown for getting your PC ready for Windows 10, be sure to check out ZDNet’s full guide by clicking here.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.