Hardware Requirements
Microsoft has published the minimum specifications for a system to run Windows 7. Requirements for the 32-bit version are similar to that of premium editions of Vista, but are higher for 64-bit versions. Microsoft has released an upgrade advisor that determines if a computer is compatible with Windows 7.
| Architecture | 32-bit | 64-bit |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 1 GHz IA-32 processor | 1 GHz x86-64 processor |
| Memory (RAM) | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| Graphics card | DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM driver model 1.0 (Not absolutely necessary; only required for Aero) |
|
| HDD free space | 16 GB of free disk space | 20 GB of free disk space |
| Optical drive | DVD-ROM drive (Only to install from DVD-ROM media) | |
| SATA AHCI support | See below | |
Additional requirements to use certain features:
- SATA AHCI support was not added to Windows until XP Service Pack 1. As a result, in most motherboards the BIOS default for SATA support is to (emulate) IDE (ATA) rather than use AHCI (SATA). As explained here, this setting needs to be changed before installation, and any chipset-specific AHCI or RAID drivers need to be loaded (from a USB Flash drive, for example) at installation time.
- Windows XP Mode (Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise): Requires an additional 1 GB of RAM and additional 15 GB of available hard disk space. The requirement for a processor capable of hardware virtualization has been lifted.
- Windows Media Center (included in Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise), requires a TV tuner to receive and record TV.
Read more about this topic: Windows 7
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