GHz - Requirement vs Actual

I'm sure this is a very basic question, but I appreciate any responses.

I was looking at purchasing a game, and the System Requirements stated a 3.0 GHz processor, and I have a 2.2GHz processor. All other system requirements my laptop meets.

Does this preclude me from playing this game, or will it just not run as smoothly as it otherwise could with a 3+GHz processor?

Thanks

 

can you post your exact system specs? because if you have a dual core processor, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

Dont worry. The game will run fine. Those specs are not in touch with today's technology. A 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo laptop will trash a 3GHz oldschool AMD/Intel. I doubt you need a 3 GHz Conroe or Nehalem. That is over kill for everything.

My 2.4 GHz Penryn can run every game out there. The GC will stop it, not the processor or the RAM.

 

Is that the Minimum requirements or the Recommended requirements. If it is the Recommended requirements then you might get away with it.

Also, what is the "game" you are looking to purchase and what is your laptop's specs, maybe some others have tried it before.

 

I does not matter. Its not like he will play on a 30 inch screen max resolution in quad SLI. In that case, yes, you need a more potent processor to feed those hungry GCs.

 

And just a note, GC = Graphics Card.

 

Yeah, if it is indeed an older game listing P4 Ghz rating then there is no problem there. But just wanted to make sure it wasn't GTA IV, which could use a 3.0 Ghz Quad Core to get the best performance. It does run on a Dual Core but being designed for more cores it helps quite a bit.

 

GHz is a measurement of cycles (actually billions of them) per second.

It is NOT how fast the processor is the GHz rating is missing how much work is done in a cycle!

3.0GHz processors with previous architectures do a lot less processing/sec than a single core of today's dual-core processors.

If you are buying a Core 2 Duo processor at 2.2 GHz they will destroy the processor requirements of pretty much anything of the 3-4GHz previous generation.

Unless you processor is an older generation (non dual-core) you can safely ignore the processor requirements unless it specifies which generation.
(requires Core 2 duo 2.0GHz is pretty specific)

I haven't found a single game which works that much better by OC'ing from 2.26GHz to 2.5GHz. A 2.2GHz is fine. (not to say a 2.8 or 3.0GHz C2D isn't better!)

 

Thanks for the responses. I figured my system was capable, since there were a lot of favorable reviews of the performance of the Gateway. I figured I was missing something when I saw the requirements of the game. I believe the game was NBA Live '09? Or was it a Spiderman game. Can't remember which one for sure.

I have the Gateway 7805u with the WUXGA screen. My system specs are as follows:

Core™2 Duo Processor1 P8400 (2.26GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit)
4096MB 1066MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory (2-2048MB modules)
320GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive3
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTS Graphics with 1GB of GDDR3 Discrete Video Memory and Intel® PM45 Chipset

 

this...

and..keep in mind that *SOME* games are more dependent on CPU
than others e.g., Supreme Commander.

 

Most GHz ratings are based on the original Pentium 4 CPU (like Prescott). Newer CPU's aren't so much about raw speed GHz as it is about architecture. For the most part, any Core 2 Duo (even 1.6GHz) will smoke a P4 3.0GHz CPU in most gaming circumstances.

Unfortunately it's a lot to note every possible CPU configuration. However, it would be nice if there were a website, or even a benchmark, that would equate your system to the rating systems used by publishers on boxes.

I know about systemrequirementslab.com but it isn't 100% accurate, however they seem to do a decent job. I think it would be better to run a program on your PC that would measure for CPU speed, GPU, GPU Memory,GPU RAM and come up with a universal rating that everyone could use.