For the everyday, off-and-on PC gamer, knowing how to match your specifications to those that are recommended for playing certain games isn't always the easiest task. How should you know if your GTX 550 is above or below a Radeon HD 6950? Problems like this, coupled with laziness, have probably cost some of us some cash that we wish we had back while we're running a game at 10 FPS.

PC gaming is on the rise and has been for years. More and more of us are sitting down in front of our desktops thanks to games like Minecraft and services like Steam. Digital distribution hit the PC first and is slowly beginning to phase its way into the world of consoles. Not to mention, some games are just meant to be played using PC peripherals. Playing a first-person shooter without a mouse? That's not for me!

When you buy a Nintendo Wii, you know that every game you buy will run perfectly on the console. We can't say the same for the PC. We all have a different beast. In this post, I want to show you guys how you can know if your PC can run a game before you even buy it.

Can You Run It?

can my pc run it

CYRI is a web service brought to us by System Requirements Lab. It runs in the browser through an ActiveX/Java component (that is completely safe) and works on Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome. It'll work on any version of Windows: XP, 2000, 2003, Vista, 7, etc. None of your information is collected and the analysis is extremely fast and accurate.

can my pc run that game

CYRI will test your computer for both the minimum and recommended requirements, which is really a great feature. Passing or failing the analysis based on just one of those benchmarks alone could definitely mislead the user.

can my pc run that game

Aside from your grade, CYRI also shows you how you score based on individual benchmarks like your CPU, RAM, video card, and more. Another great feature that could help you and I gauge if a game is at a playable level.

can my pc run that game

CYRI is the premiere service in this field and it's never done me wrong. They do a great job of always adding new games and keeping the specifications and requirements of current games up to date.

YouGamers Game-o-Meter

can my computer run it

If CYRI won't work on your system for some reason, or for any other reason that you'd like to try an alternative, give Game-o-Meter a try.

While the benchmarking isn't as extensive as what CYRI has to offer, Game-o-Meter definitely gets the job done. Like CYRI, you'll be prompted to install an ActiveX component in the browser.

can my computer run it

Running this component will allow the application setup to begin downloading in the background, and it should eventually pop up.

can my computer run it

Game-o-Meter is directly affiliated with FutureMark, so you know that the benchmarks are on point. The end result is a page like this:

can my pc run it

Below your analysis is also a link that you can use to share your results. This is especially useful if you're looking for tech support or something like that. Here's my link to the results above.

Which of these two services is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!