How to Determine System Requirements.

[burnselk]

I'm considering an upgrade from Adobe Premiere Elements (APE) 1.0 to version 2.0. Below are the System Requirements for APE 2.0. I got these directly from Adobe.com

Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 "System Requirements:

Intel® Pentium® 4, M, D, or Extreme Edition or AMD Opteron or Athlon 64 (SSE2 support required)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, Home Edition, or Media Center Edition with Service Pack 2
256MB of RAM
4GB of available hard-disk space
DVD-ROM drive (compatible DVD burner required to burn DVDs)
1,024x768 16-bit XGA display
Microsoft DirectX 9 compatible sound and display drivers
DV/i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE 1394 interface to connect a Digital 8 or DV camcorder, or a USB2 interface to connect a DV-via-USB-compatible DV camcorder (other video devices supported via the Media Downloader)

I understand most of the requirements, but the two requirements that I highlighted with blue text have me at a loss.

I simply don't know how to determine if my computer meets these two requirements. Could someone please help me?

[DigitAl56K]

"1,024x768 16-bit XGA display" means that your screen resolution (in pixels) should be 1024 horizontal and 768 vertical. Any modern computer and display should provide this. To see what your display is set to now open the "Display Properties" control panel (assuming you are on Windows), then go to the Settings tab. "XGA" is a term that refers to laptop displays that have 1024x768 pixels. It's ok(/better) if your screen is larger, but you may have problems fitting the application on the screen if it is smaller.

DirectX is a media architecture for windows that provides a standard interface to the multitude of hardware devices Windows runs. Graphics and audio hardware that is DirectX 9 compatible (and any recent devices should be) are tested to work correctly with applications that use the DirectX 9 SDK. I'm 100% not sure about the definition of "Compatible" with respect to DirectX 9 - i.e. whether it means the hardware will work correctly with the DirectX 9 API, or whether it also fully accelerates all features of DirectX 9. For further information on this point consult Microsoft's website at http://www.microsoft.com/directx , or wait for someone else here to comment :)

[Doobie]

1,024x768 16-bit XGA display
Microsoft DirectX 9 compatible sound and display drivers
I simply don't know how to determine if my computer meets these two requirements. Could someone please help me?

Look up your computer on the maker's website.

[burnselk]

Under display in control panel, I found that my screen setting is currently "32-bit Highest". The only other setting choice (that I could change it to) is "16-bit Medium".

Is that what they're talking about?

[Inventive Software]

Nope. It's good that you can change it, but leave it as it is for now. If it doesn't work immediately and complains about needing 16-bit instead of 32-bit, then that's the time to change it.

About the DirectX 9 thing: If you have a graphics card that's a Radeon 9xxx or Geforce 6xxx or higher (where xxx represents numbers that vary across different models) then you can be sure that it supports DirectX 9. Sound cards and most onboard sound solutions support DirectX 9 these days, so you don't have to worry there.

[burnselk]

If you have a graphics card that's a Radeon 9xxx or Geforce 6xxx or higher (where xxx represents numbers that vary across different models) then you can be sure that it supports DirectX 9.

My graphics card is a nVIDIA RIVA TNT2 model 64 (hp) that came installed in my HP Pavilion model 7955. It's only a 32MB card.

My computer's power supply won't allow for easy graphics card upgrades. Most cards want at least 250 watts...mine is only 200 watts. To complicate matters, the HP 7955 has a micro ATX case with no "wiggle" room. A PSU to fit this small space (with the voltages the HP needs) is difficult, if not impossible, to find. I've researched that already.

The DirectX sound card test said my "card doesn't support hardware buffers" and "has to use software buffers"... whatever that means. But it passed the test so I guess it's OK.

[Inventive Software]

The sound thing is fine, so no worries there (I have the same thing come up).

You could always do what I do and cheat around the DirectX 9 requirement for the graphics card by just installing DirectX 9 and seeing whether Adobe plays nice. If it doesn't, upgrading to a Radeon 9550 shouldn't tax your power supply too much.

[Doobie]

My graphics card is a nVIDIA RIVA TNT2

Why didn't you just tell us your computer is a thousand years old?

You need to get the CP/M version of Adobe Premiere Elements.

[foxyshadis]

btw, geforce 6600 or 6800 (not GT!) cards only use another ~30-40W or so over no card at all, compared to the TNT2's ~10W, and it should only require 1 slot. It's a low end card currently, if you want to get a really powerful card you'd definitely need at least a 300W supply from a reputabe brand, and a PCIe motherboard.

(TNT2 is DX6 btw. Better not use any of the hardware accelleration options if you upgrade.)