Why different computer games require different levels of hardware

As consumers, we tend to be aware of broadband line speeds, and the limitations slower connections might impose on activities like high definition streaming.

However, we tend to be less aware of the hardware limitations of the devices we rely on for our entertainment, even though these are often more significant – and more restrictive.

A Chromebook will be fitted with a basic graphics card, which is unlikely to be able to process anything more intensive than full-screen video footage.

A smartphone will lack enough short-term random access memory to run complex or immersive games without multiloading in different segments of program code.

And a games console might support backwards compatibility with titles from previous generation models, but it won’t allow you to play games released for future generations of that machine.

It’s often surprising how much device hardware requirements vary from one game to the next, and from one platform to another.

Below, we consider why it isn’t just your connection speed that determines your ability to enjoy the latest Call of Duty title, or free-roaming MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.

Stripped back to its components

Every smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop computer shares certain internal components which specify the level of performance they offer:

• A CPU. The Central Processor Unit is effectively the device’s brain, turning an endless stream of zeroes and ones into actionable instructions.
• A GPU. Separate to the CPU, a Graphics Processing Unit governs screen output, enabling dynamic movement and fluid processing of complex or ever-changing backgrounds.
• Memory. As we recently discussed, random access memory governs a device’s ability to remember what it’s doing from one millisecond to the next.

In desktop PCs and laptops, these devices are standalone components. In a smartphone, they tend to be bundled together into a system processor chip.

This standalone chip’s compact size results in limited performance, which in turn explains why mobile app stores tend to be full of relatively simple titles featuring fairly basic graphics.

You won’t find World of Warcraft games in the Google Play store, and the only Call of Duty title is a mobile-specific version containing limited device hardware requirements.

This is still astonishing by 20th century standards, when games consoles had limited memory and blocky graphics, but even the best smartphones will pale compared to a mid-range PC.

Serious gamers wouldn’t even countenance buying a laptop, let alone a tablet or a cut-price Chromebook. Only a dedicated gaming rig with multiple fans and high-octane GPUs will do.

A simpler way

The Sony PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series S/X are all highly focused machines, with the added advantage that one specification standard generally fits all.

The Xbox X has a 1TB hard drive, 8K HDR output and 16GB of RAM. That might sound like gobbledygook to some readers, but it means it can run any Xbox game on the market.

These include titles featuring lots of on-screen movement like racing games, where a detailed background is endlessly changing and other vehicles are moving around in the foreground.

Many modern titles require complex graphics processing like ray tracing, which simulates the interaction of light and objects in highly realistic ways.

A smartphone game won’t require such intensive processing, and most app store titles should work on the majority of modern handsets.

It’s only really PCs where device hardware requirements might not meet the increasingly intensive coding standards incorporated into newer software releases.