Will I mess up my computer by running a game that is below the minimum requirements?

[Dual]

Specs are i3 6100 3.7 GHZ, GTX 950 2GB. Specifically asking for the game DOOM. I bought it a few weeks ago and it has been the only game where I didn't check if I met the reqs. I just bought it because it was on sale, installed it and when I tried to play it, I couldn't even get to the main menu. The cutscenes leading to the main menu would run at less than 2 frames. It was REALLY bad and unresponsive so I checked the reqs and sure enough my CPU falls short and requires an i5 minimum. So I figured I would wait until I upgrade my CPU sometime soon and play then. Then just now, I went and decided to give it a try because since then I have updated drivers and things for other games and purposes, plus DOOM apparently had a driver update I installed without noticing. Regardless, I started it up earlier and it runs for some reason. All the settings are on medium and high by default and was running at 55-60 FPS constantly. So I'm not sure what to think of it. I'm still new to PC gaming, this is my first build and while it's not the best, I got stuff that could run most games decently.

Similar problem, No Man's Sky runs like crap for most as we all know but it's run okay for me for the most part. However I noticed my computer is slightly, not terrible, but slightly louder when playing it. I know that game is very CPU intensive but I still meet reqs and still run good enough as it is. Anyways am I risking anything by running games below the reqs, even if it's just the older CPU? Can it hurt anything in the long run?

[CursedPanther]

No your PC won't 'mess up'. At the most the game will just be really stuttery like you're describing and maybe crashes a few times.

[Dual]

Messaggio originale di CursedPanther:

No your PC won't 'mess up'. At the most the game will just be really stuttery like you're describing and maybe crashes a few times.

Well it's not stuttery anymore, I just found it odd and wanted to make sure running something below the minimum reqs wouldn't hurt any parts or overheat anything. Sorry for the noob esque PC knowledge, still fresh to me.

[_I_]

skylake i3 is enough for doom
gtx 950 will run it, but not at good settings and fps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8ZC4M6btfE

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Skylake i3 + GTX 960 4GB is enough to almost fully max out DOOM for 1080p/60 FPS

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

It was prob just driver issue at first. i3-6100 is perfectly fine to run Doom, it runs much better with graphics cards that have more then 2 Gb VRAM though, GTX 960 4 Gb and R9 380 4 Gb or better yet GTX 1060 and RX 480.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yea 2GB VRAM will not cut it for newer games like DOOM.
As below 60 FPS in DOOM or newer two Wolfenstein games feels sluggish and slow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOkzAFnn1_I

But again u can lower visual quality settings and look at the active monitoring within DOOM (Show Performance Metrics) it has advanced options allowing your to monitor CPU/GPU usages, VRAM amount usage, etc.

Lower the visual settings (not your native screen resolution) until the VRAM usage is always below 2GB. Otherwise get at least a GTX 960 4GB or GTX 1060. Even on an i3, these GPUs will shine very well and Skylake i3 wont hold them back.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

1. No, you won't mess up or ruin your computer by running games which you don't have the required hardware spec for.

("Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better", your processor isn't decisevly worse than those, not much at-least. The 2400 is four generations older, the FX-8320 likely have more total integer performance at-least but the i3 6100 will perform better in some games.)

2) I assume you may not have the correct drivers installed at all when you just got 2 FPS.

3) Similarly the developers behind No man´s sky recommended to install the latest drivers for the game and updated it like on the same day so if you had the latest drivers and maybe they had updated it that may have sorted it out for you.

4) Your PC is at-least as good as the Playstation 4 I'd say.

5) If you think your PC make a bit more noise maybe you have the stock processor cooler which came with the processor? It should be good enough if you have decent air flow in your case but it's not the best and most silent. If it's the stock cooler it just had to handle more heat and span the fan a bit more which made more noise but it's no problem. If you worry a lot you can check the temperature with HWmonitor (Speedfan?)

[Lil C]-[ew C]-[ew is ☂д☂]

Messaggio originale di Dual:

Messaggio originale di CursedPanther:

No your PC won't 'mess up'. At the most the game will just be really stuttery like you're describing and maybe crashes a few times.

Well it's not stuttery anymore, I just found it odd and wanted to make sure running something below the minimum reqs wouldn't hurt any parts or overheat anything. Sorry for the noob esque PC knowledge, still fresh to me.

The best thing for trying game below what it asks is by doing experimentation*. Sometimes do work, sometimes not.

[pasa]

Beyond malware nothing can really mess up a well-built PC. If your rig is not up to the game you will suffer only in that game and may get use to 100% heating up to max -- the pc should handle that fine. Even if not the best, components usually have thermal protection and start to throttle or shut down before a damage point.

However if you agressively OC or do specific tweaks that may hose the countermeasures you may have problem from that -- regargless the game.

[Dual]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've been able to run all the games I have on medium or high settings. I'm looking to upgrade parts though soon and from what you guys are saying here, I'm not sure what I should upgrade first. My inital thought was the CPU because it just seems kinda out-dated for people running i5 and i7. I thought the GPU was good enough but now I'm not sure what to take priority in first. A real nice CPU or a real nice GPU. Sorry if this isn't the place to talk about this sorta thing. I appreciate all the feedback.

[_I_]

skylake i3 is a good start
go with the best gpu you can get next, then wait for the next 1151 cpus to be released and pick up an i5