So you have finished a system after a significant amount of time. Everything seems to be in place. You have the queries for database and normalized the database. The system is probably bug-free(maybe for now). The design is neat and not confusing which can give the "user-friendly" touch. Everything seems to be ok and in the moment of publishing.

But what does a computer system usually require in terms of hardware( or maybe software as well) before it can be put in the computer? Do you need a specific hardware for the database like a very big machine? Or will a standard computer will do just fine? Does the computer need a very big amount of RAM in order to run the system? And does the graphics on the finished system can be enough for the graphics card of the computer system? I hope you didn't get confused with what I said.

To all of your questions, the answer is "it depends"...

Part of the process of "finishing" a programming project is to specify hardware, software, and other requirements to run it. Re. database - does it require an industrial strength RDBMS such as Oracle, or will MySql suffice? Re. graphics - does it require HD video with high framerates, or will lower resolution and lower framerates work (if not as nicely)? How much RAM does it need? If >4GB then it also needs a 64-bit machine and operating system, even if you can use virtual memory (disc swap space), unless the hardware supports PAE to allow the OS to utilize more than 4GB of RAM (processes are still limited to 4GB).

All of these questions need to be considered before you determine if your software can run on a "normal" machine vs. a server or big workstation class system. These days, a "normal" computer can handle just about anything you throw at them, if not as effeciently as one that is sized to handle the specific load your are throwing at it. Example: my personal workstation is a dual 64-bit cpu with 8 3GHz cores, 8GB of RAM, 10+TB disc, dual HD display video. This is far faster and more capable than supercomputers of a few years ago, though I could use some more RAM... :-)

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