Windows 8 In Depth

Processor Requirements

Windows 8 desktop minimum: 1GHz modern processor

This is a true minimum requirement because these days you’d be hard pressed to even find a PC with a 1GHz processor. There are plenty of cheap PCs available running old Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs at 1.8GHz and AMD Athlon processors at 2.0GHz. But for adequate Windows 8 performance, you need at least a midrange processor, which means an Intel Core i3 or i5, or an AMD Phenom II X3 or X4, running at 2.5–3.0GHz. Faster is better, of course, but only if money is no object. Moving up to an Intel i7 or AMD FX-series chip running at 3.2GHz or even 3.8GHz might set you back a few hundred dollars, but the performance improvement won’t be all that noticeable. You’d be better off investing ...