Windows Vista Hardware and Software Requirements

According to Microsoft corp, computers
capable of running
Windows Vista are
classified as Vista Capable
and Vista Premium Ready. A Vista Capable or
equivalent PC needs to
have at minimum an 800
MHz processor, 512 MB
RAM and a DirectX 9 class
graphics card. A computer that meets these
requirements will be
capable of running all
editions of Windows Vista
although some of the
special features and high end graphics options may
require additional or more
advanced hardware. A Vista Premium Ready PC
will take advantage of
Vista's "high-end" features
but will need at least a 1.0
GHz processor, 1 GB main
memory, and an Aero- compatible graphics card
with at least 128 MB
graphics memory and
supporting the new
Windows Display Driver
Model. The company also offers Windows Vista
Upgrade Advisor from its
website to determine the
ability of a PC to run Vista
in its various guises. The
utility runs on Windows XP (with Service Pack 2) and
Windows Vista.
Microsoft lists some Vista
capable hardware on their
website. The "Windows
Vista Premium Ready" laptops they specify have
Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 or
above CPUs and 1 GB
memory. Windows Vista's "Basic"
and "Classic" interfaces
will work with virtually
any graphics hardware
that supports Windows XP
or 2000; accordingly, most discussion around Vista's
graphics requirements
centers on those for the
Windows Aero interface.
As of Windows Vista Beta
2, the NVIDIA GeForce FX family and later, the ATI
Radeon 9500 and later,
Intel's GMA 950 integrated
graphics, and a handful of
VIA chipsets and S3
Graphics discrete chips are supported.Though some
XGI Technology Volari
chips were DirectX 9
(including the Volari V3XT
which was available in PCI
cards), with XGI's exit from the graphics card
business it appears none of
its chips are supported as
of Vista Beta 2. A PCI
Express (PCIe) video card is
not a requirement for Windows Aero, but
Microsoft recommends
PCIe video over an AGP
device due to the
interface's greater
bandwidth. There are some PCI cards available
that are compatible with
Windows Vista as well. Windows Vista system
requirements Vista Capable Processor 800MHz
Memory 512 MB
Graphics card DirectX 9
capable
HDD capacity 20 GB
HDD free space 15 GB Other drives DVD-ROM Vista Premium Ready Processor 1.0 GMHz
Memory 1 GB
Graphics card DirectX 9
capable GPU with
Hardware Pixel Shader
v2.0 and WDDM driver support
Graphics memory 28 MB
RAM supports up to
2,756,000 total pixels (e.g.
1920 × 1200) or 512 MB+
for greater resolutions such as 560x1600
HDD capacity 40 GB
HDD free space 15 GB
Other drives DVD-RW