How to Check with DirectX

- Start->Run
- Type in DxDiag

There you! You’ve got everything you need at your disposal. If you’d like to save the info out, just hit “Save All Information”, and dump it into a nice, clean, and easy to read text file.

How to Check with the Manufacturer

Most computers display the Model of your Motherboard when your computer boots up. It will usually consist of a few numbers and letters, depending on the brand. For example: DEF933 A, or something like that. Once you have that information, provided that your computer was distributed by one of the bigger companies like Dell or Gateway, just visit their website and look up your information under the product listings (sometimes also found under support). You should be able to get detailed information about any on-board or pre-installed hardware, that your model ships with (like RAM and Processor Speed/Make/etc).

- Simply push and hold the  power button down until your computer turns off.

Most computers will power down after about 5 seconds, but some will take as long as 10. While this method isn’t recommended, because it may result in unforseeably problems (like corrupt files), a slightly safer alternative is to simply tap the off button once. If windows hasn’t completely frozen up at this point, it will start to close out all of your programs before shutting down.