# What specifications do I need for games, movies and pictures?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specifications-do-i-need-for-games-movies-and-pictures/581833>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 13, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specifications-do-i-need-for-games-movies-and-pictures/581833 "2011-05-13T21:49:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specifications-do-i-need-for-games-movies-and-pictures/581833/1 "2011-05-13T21:49:56Z")

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Pretend I know next to nothing about the inside of a PC and reading things like “Core Duo XSRAM 60HD DDR 5X” is the same to me as reading “purple nipples subtract gilded sno-cones.” Because it is.

Me and my family play lots of games and lately my 10 year old Dell has been choking on them. It won’t run Civ 5 at all, not even after the patches. My son plays on-line with friends with web cams and talky-thingy (see, I’m all up on the jargon). My daughter and I have tons and tons of music. I also take lots of pictures of jewelry. Big, detailed pictures. We all watch Netflix and Hulu.

It’s time for a shiny new PC. What should I be looking for? Please talk slowly. Thanks in advance.