The question is can your PC run Windows 7? If you are considering upgrading Windows on your current PC, then there are two ways to check if your PC will work with Windows 7. The first is the manual way, read the system requirements and compare them to your PC, the other is the automatic way, run the Microsoft Windows 7 upgrade advisor.
The published minimum system requirements for Windows 7 are:
- 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x86) processor
- 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
- 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
A “DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver” means you need a graphics card which has drivers for Vista, in in practice this means an nVidia GeForce 6 series or better graphics card, or an ATI Radeon 9500 or better.
The recommended way to check for Windows 7 compatibility is to run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor. The upgrade advisor scans your hardware, devices, and installed programs for known compatibility issues, gives you guidance on how to resolve potential issues found, and recommends what to do before you upgrade.
Related links:
Will My PC Run Windows 7? New Upgrade Advisor Available
