Alright. I play computer games but a rising problem is hardware. Game developers always want to use the latest video cards and other components, and I simply can't afford to update my system's hardware every 2 days.

What I need is to know how to check what my system's capabilities are, namely the video card and RAM. I remember trying to use Guild Wars on a standard $300 Dell (stupidest mistake of my life), and it would be extremely helpful to know what my comp can do for future reference. All help appreciated, thanks!

You should look at it the other way around, check the requirements of the games against what your computer is capable of.

SIW will give you the skinny on your machines current HW\SW config. There's no installer, just download and run the .exe.