How to Check Your PC Specs on Windows 11

Five built-in ways to find your CPU, RAM, GPU, motherboard and storage — no software needed.

9 May 2026 9 min read Windows Tips Alex M.
How to Check Your PC Specs on Windows 11

Knowing how to check your PC specs on Windows 11 is one of those small skills that saves you a lot of grief. Whether you're trying to work out if a game will run, planning a hardware upgrade, comparing your machine against system requirements, or sending details to a repair shop, you need to know exactly what's inside the case.

Customers across Edinburgh, Leith, Portobello and Musselburgh ring us most weeks asking the same thing: "How do I check what processor, RAM and graphics card I've got?" The good news is Windows 11 has at least five built-in tools that will tell you everything — and you don't need to install a single thing. Here's how each one works and when to use it.

1. The Quickest Way: Settings > About

If you only need the basics — processor, installed RAM, system type and Windows edition — this is the fastest method on Windows 11.

  1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.
  2. Click System in the left sidebar.
  3. Scroll right to the bottom and click About.

You'll see your Device specifications (CPU model and speed, installed RAM, device ID, system type) and Windows specifications (edition, version, build, install date). It's perfect for quick answers but doesn't show your graphics card or storage.

2. Best for Gaming: DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag)

If you're checking whether your PC will run a game, dxdiag is the tool to reach for. It shows your processor, RAM, BIOS version, the DirectX version you have installed and — on the Display tab — your graphics card details, including the manufacturer, exact chip and dedicated VRAM.

  1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type dxdiag and press Enter.
  3. Use the tabs along the top: System, Display, Sound and Input.

There's also a handy Save All Information button that exports the lot to a text file — useful if you're emailing details to us before bringing your machine in.

3. The Engineer's Choice: System Information (msinfo32)

For the deepest view, nothing beats System Information. It shows your motherboard make and model (under BaseBoard Manufacturer and BaseBoard Product), BIOS mode (UEFI or Legacy), Secure Boot state, virtualisation support, RAM speed, and a complete component tree you can browse.

  1. Press Windows + R.
  2. Type msinfo32 and press Enter.
  3. Look at System Summary for the headline information, then expand Components for displays, storage, network and more.

This is the tool we use first when diagnosing motherboard issues, BIOS problems or Windows 11 upgrade compatibility.

4. Real-Time View: Task Manager (Performance Tab)

Task Manager isn't just for closing frozen apps. Its Performance tab gives you a live view of every key component along with its specifications.

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click Performance in the left sidebar (you may need to click More details first).
  3. Click each component — CPU, Memory, Disk, Wi-Fi/Ethernet, GPU.

Each panel shows the model, current usage, speed and useful extras: number of CPU cores and threads, RAM slots in use, drive type (SSD vs HDD) and dedicated GPU memory. If your PC feels sluggish, this is a great first stop — see our guide to speeding up a slow Windows PC for what to do with what you find.

5. Power Users: PowerShell & Command Prompt

If you'd rather get specs without clicking through menus, two short commands give you most of what you need. Right-click the Start button and choose Terminal, then try:

  • systeminfo — full text dump of OS, CPU, RAM, BIOS, network and patch state.
  • Get-ComputerInfo — PowerShell equivalent with structured output you can filter.
  • wmic memorychip get capacity, speed, manufacturer — details for each installed RAM stick.

Pipe the output to a file with systeminfo > specs.txt if you want to email it to us before a repair appointment.

What Those Numbers Actually Mean

Reading the specs is the easy half. Knowing which numbers matter is what stops people buying the wrong upgrade, so here is the short version of what each line is telling you.

  • Cores and threads — Task Manager lists both. A 6-core, 12-thread processor has six physical cores with hyper-threading (Intel) or SMT (AMD) doubling the logical count. Games and everyday work lean on a handful of fast cores; video exports, compiling and virtual machines scale with the total.
  • Base speed versus current speed — the big figure in Task Manager is what the chip is doing right now, not its rating. A laptop sitting at 0.8 GHz on mains power is telling you something about heat or power settings, not about the processor you bought.
  • RAM capacity, speed and slots used — 16 GB in a single stick runs in single channel and is noticeably slower in games than two 8 GB sticks. The Memory panel shows Slots used: 1 of 2 and the speed in MT/s, which matters as much as the total.
  • Dedicated versus shared graphics memory — on the Display tab of dxdiag, Display Memory (VRAM) is the card’s own memory and Shared Memory is system RAM it can borrow. Integrated Intel and AMD graphics show a small dedicated figure and a large shared one; that is normal, not a fault.
  • Drive type — the Disk panel in Task Manager names the model and states Type: SSD or HDD. It is worth checking before anything else: a mechanical drive is the single most common reason a perfectly respectable spec sheet feels slow.

Checking Windows 11 Readiness (or Why an Upgrade Got Blocked)

Most of the machines we see that refuse a Windows 11 upgrade are perfectly capable of running it. Three lines in System Information usually explain the block:

  • BIOS Mode — should read UEFI. If it says Legacy, the disk is using the old MBR partition style and needs converting before Windows 11 will install.
  • Secure Boot State — should read On. Unsupported normally means the machine is still in Legacy mode; Off just means it needs switching on in the firmware.
  • TPM — press Windows + R, type tpm.msc and look for Specification Version 2.0. “Compatible TPM cannot be found” almost never means the machine lacks one; on most PCs from the last decade it is simply switched off in the firmware, listed as PTT on Intel boards and fTPM on AMD. Our guide to enabling TPM 2.0 in the BIOS walks through it board by board.

If all three look right and the upgrade still stalls, the processor itself may not be on Microsoft’s supported list — our Windows 11 upgrade guide covers what your options are at that point.

What to Write Down Before You Buy an Upgrade

Nearly every returned part we hear about comes down to one of four details nobody checked. Note these down from the tools above before you order anything:

  • Motherboard make and model (msinfo32, BaseBoard Manufacturer and BaseBoard Product) — this one line decides the CPU socket, whether the board takes DDR4 or DDR5, the maximum RAM it will accept and whether there is a spare M.2 slot.
  • RAM slots, speed and generation — DDR4 and DDR5 are not interchangeable, and a board with both slots occupied means replacing sticks rather than adding them. On thin laptops the memory is often soldered to the board, so check Slots used before assuming an upgrade is possible at all.
  • Storage type and the spare slot — an M.2 slot can be NVMe, SATA-only, or both, and the wrong drive simply will not work in it. If you are moving from a hard drive to an SSD, our guide to cloning a hard drive to an SSD covers getting Windows across without reinstalling.
  • Power supply and physical clearance — Windows cannot see either. The wattage is printed on the label on the side of the PSU, and a modern graphics card needs both the headroom and the length inside the case. We go through the sensible order of upgrades in our gaming PC upgrades guide.

When the Specs Aren’t the Problem

Plenty of machines that come through the workshop look fine on paper and still feel dreadful. If your spec list is healthier than the performance suggests, the cause is usually one of these:

  • Heat — a processor that drops to its base speed under load is throttling, and dust in the fans is the usual culprit. Our guide to monitoring CPU and GPU temperatures shows what normal looks like.
  • Something running in the background — if the CPU sits at 80–100% while you are doing nothing, the hardware is not the issue. Start with our guide to fixing high CPU usage on Windows 11.
  • A drive that is full or failing — an SSD with almost no free space slows down, and a mechanical drive that is starting to fail will stall the whole machine for seconds at a time.
  • Battery health, on laptops — a worn battery can force Windows into a low-power state even on mains. Our guide to checking laptop battery health produces a report in a couple of minutes.

What to Do With Your Specs

Once you have your spec list, you can:

  • Compare against game or software requirements — particularly the CPU, RAM, GPU and available disk space.
  • Plan a sensible upgrade — the motherboard model decides which CPU and RAM speeds your machine actually supports.
  • Check Windows 11 compatibility — the system type, Secure Boot status and TPM version are the usual sticking points.
  • Send accurate details to a repair shop — saves a back-and-forth and helps us quote correctly.

One quick note for our Edinburgh customers: don't rely on the sticker on the side of an old PC. Hardware gets swapped, RAM gets upgraded, and the sticker rarely tells the whole story. Always check from inside Windows.

Need a Hand?

If your PC is too slow to even open Settings, or you're not sure how to interpret what System Information is telling you, we're happy to help. Whether you're in central Edinburgh, Bonnyrigg, Penicuik or Dalkeith, our team can run a full diagnostic, identify upgrade opportunities and get your machine back to its best.

Take a look at our hardware upgrade service, our software troubleshooting service, or arrange a remote support session if you'd rather not leave the house. We also offer home and office callouts right across the Lothians.

Book a repair online or drop us a message on WhatsApp and we'll get straight back to you.

Last updated: 20 September 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions Edinburgh customers ask when they are looking up what is inside their PC.

Settings > About deliberately leaves the graphics card out, which is why so many people think Windows 11 does not report it. Use dxdiag and look at the Display tab for the exact chip and its dedicated memory, or open Task Manager’s Performance tab and click GPU. Laptops with switchable graphics will show two entries — the integrated chip and the dedicated card — and both are meant to be there.

A small gap is normal: integrated graphics reserve a slice of system memory, and the firmware takes a little more. Task Manager’s Memory panel shows the amount set aside as Hardware reserved. A large gap — 8 GB showing where 16 GB is installed — usually means one stick is not seated properly or has failed, and the Slots used line will confirm it.

Run msinfo32 and read BaseBoard Manufacturer and BaseBoard Product in the System Summary. If you prefer a one-liner, open Terminal and run wmic baseboard get product,manufacturer,version. On some pre-built machines the board reports an OEM code rather than a retail model name, in which case the PC’s own model number is the more useful thing to search for.

Usually not. The large figure is the current clock speed, which drops when the machine is idle to save power and heat. Compare it against Base speed just underneath. It is worth looking into when the speed stays below base while the PC is working hard, as that points to thermal throttling or a power limit rather than a faulty processor.

Open Task Manager, go to Performance and click the disk. The panel names the drive model and states Type: SSD or Type: HDD. The Defragment and Optimise Drives tool shows the same thing in its Media type column. If it says hard disk drive, replacing it with an SSD will do more for day-to-day speed than any other single upgrade.

Yes. The firmware setup screen (usually Del, F2 or F10 as the machine powers on) lists the processor, installed memory and the drives it can see, which is enough to identify the machine and plan a repair. A bootable USB with a live Linux environment gives you the full picture. If you would rather not go digging, bring it to the workshop and we will read the hardware directly.

Two commands cover almost everything. Run systeminfo > specs.txt in Terminal and attach the file, or open dxdiag and use Save All Information, which writes a text file including the graphics card. Either one saves a round of questions before you book and helps us tell you what is worth doing before your machine arrives.

Need an Upgrade or a Health Check?

Send us your specs and we'll tell you exactly what's worth upgrading and what isn't. No pressure, no jargon.

Book a Repair Contact Us