Windows 11 will soon let you know why your PC hardware sucks

Microsoft is working on a new feature in Windows 11 that will help explain how less RAM or a weaker GPU might affect your PC performance. The latest preview builds of Windows 11 include a new frequently asked questions section in the system settings, with answers related to GPU memory, system RAM, and even OS versions.

Windows watcher phantomofearth discovered the new section in the latest Dev Channel build of Windows 11 released earlier this week. Microsoft hasn’t officially acknowledged it’s working on this FAQ feature, and it’s currently hidden away and has to be manually enabled in the latest builds.

The FAQ includes answers to question about low RAM, or recommendations if your GPU has less than 4GB of memory. If you’re not running the latest version of Windows 11 then this will also be flagged in this section.

It’s not clear how dynamic this FAQ list is, though. The answers could be static based on your RAM and GPU configuration, or they may well adapt across multiple systems. Presumably, a high-end system on the latest OS version wouldn’t need any FAQs here, but we’ll have to see once Microsoft officially starts rolling this out.

Microsoft used to use a score to determine your PC hardware, starting with Windows Vista. The Windows Experience Index rated each individual system component with a subscore, which added up to an overall score to give you an idea of how well your PC would run the latest versions of Windows.

The inclusion of the FAQ in the Dev Channel builds suggests that this particular feature could arrive for all Windows 11 users in the coming months. Microsoft typically tests features in the Dev Channel that are close to rolling out for its 24H2 update to Windows 11, although the company does occasionally scrap features before they’re released.