Basic Windows 8 Hardware Requirements

If you want to upgrade to Windows 8, your PC probably won’t complain; Hardware requirements remain almost the same. Windows 8 should work without problems on any PC currently running Windows 7 or Windows Vista. In fact, Windows 8 on your old PC might run faster than Windows Vista, especially on laptops.
If your computer is running Windows XP, Windows 8 may still run, but maybe not at its best.
If you have a tech expert in your family, ask them to translate the following table, which shows the requirements for Windows 8 hardware.
Windows 8 hardware requirements
Architecture                                       x86 (32-bit)                                                                                x86 (64-bit)
Processor                                            1 GHz
Memory (RAM)                                 1 GB                                                                                              2 GB
Graphic Card             DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
HDD Free space                              16 GB                                                                                               20 GB

In common parlance, the table simply states that any PC sold in the past five years can be upgraded to Windows 8 with little to no problems.
Windows 8 runs almost any program that runs on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It even runs some Windows XP programs as well. However, some older programs, including most security-based programs, such as antivirus, firewall, and security suites, will not work. You will need to contact the software manufacturer for an upgraded version.

Shopping for a new Windows 8 PC? To see how well a particular showroom computer can handle Windows 8, place your mouse pointer on the screen’s lower left corner and right-click. When the menu appears, choose System. The Windows Experience Index appears. I actually tested the computer and gave it a score ranging from 1 (bad) to 9.9 (unusual).
Don’t know what version of Windows is running on your current PC? Go to the Start menu, right-click on Computer, and choose Properties. The screen that appears lists your version of Windows.
(If the Start menu fills your screen with a set of colored squares, you’re already running Windows 8. If so, right-click in the lower left corner, choose System from the popup, and the System window Windows Version section shows which version of Windows 8 is running .)