Most gamers seem not to realize the differences exist

Because I have seen so many, constantly repeated, comparisons of Apples vs. shovels performance comments (yes, worse than Apples and Oranges), here is a relatively current listing of a few of the popular games, arranged in difficulty order. In this list, it is graphics that counts, and the highest demand is the farthest toward the end. Only Crysis, NWN2, & Oblivion are down there with Supreme Commander.

These rankings of games by graphics requirements can be verified by sampling the Toms Hardware VGA Charts for similar games.

. . Compared Game Req's, Difficulty Order

Game ..... Minimum... Minimum...Recomm.... Recomm .... Graphic
Name ..... CPU Spd ... RAM .... CPU Spd.... RAM ....... Card

W o W..... 800 MHz... 512 MBs...1.5 GHz.. 1 GB ...... GF2 32 MB

GTA Vice.. 800 MHz... 128 MBs.. na GHz .. na MBs .... GF3 32 MB
City

Guild..... 800 MHz... 256 MBs.. 1.0 GHz.. 512 MBs ... GF3 32 MB
Wars

Unreal.... 1.0 GHz... 128 MBs.. 1.2 GHz.. 256 MBs ... GF3 32 MB
2004

KotOR ... 1.0 GHz... 128 MBs...1.6 GHz.. 512 MBs ... Dx9 32 MB

Far Cry .. 1.0 GHz... 256 MBs.. 2.3 GHz.. 512 MBs ... GF3 64 MB

Civ 4 .... 1.2 GHz... 256 MBs.. ?.? GHz.. ???? MBs .. Dx9 64 MB

AoE III .. 1.4 GHz... 256 MBs.. ?.? GHz.. ???? MBs .. GF3 64 MB

Doom3..... 1.5 GHz... 384 MBs.. 2.0 GHz.. 512 MBs ... GF3 64 MB

Call of... 1.4 GHz... 512 MBs.. 2.5 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. GF3 64 MB
Duty 2

Titan .... 1.8 GHz....512 MBs...3.0 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. GF3 64 MB
Quest

Company ... 2.0 GHz...512 MBs...na ...... na ........ GF3 64 MB
of Heroes

Quake 4 .. 2.0 GHz... 512 MBs...na GHz .. na MBs .... GF3 64 MB

FEAR ..... 1.7 Ghz .. 512 MBs . 3.0 GHz . 1024 MBs .. Dx8 64 MB

C&C3 Tib . 1.6 Ghz .. 512 MBs . 2.2 GHz . 1024 MBs .. Dx8 64 MB

Far Cry .. 1.0 Ghz .. 256 MBs . n/a GHz . n/a. MBs .. Dx9 64 MB

Dreamfall..1.6 GHz....512 MBs ..2.5 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. Dx9 64 MB

Prey ..... 2.0 GHz....512 MBs ..2.5 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. Dx9 64 MB

BF2 ...... 1.7 GHz....512 MBs...na ...... na ........ Dx9 128 MB

BF2142 ... 1.7 GHz....512 MBs...2.6 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. Dx9 128 MB

JE-SE .... 1.8 GHz....512 MBs...3.0 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. Dx9 128 MB

SupCom ... 1.8 GHz....512 MBs...3.0 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. Dx9 128 MB

Oblivion .. 2.0 GHz...512 MBs...3.0 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. R 9 128 MB

NWN2 ...... 2.4 GHz...512 MBs...3.0 GHz.. 1024 MBs .. R 9 128 MB

Crysis .... 2.8 GHz...768 MBs...3.4 GHz.. 1.5 GBs ... GF 6600 GPU
...................................................... R X800 GTO