Ultimate Gaming Rig Setup

Runtimes/Programs to Install on Windows

Microsoft Visual C++ Redist. x86 (x64 packages optional on x64 systems; MSVC 2017 is x64 only!)
2005-2017

Microsoft .Net Framework
1.1-4.7

DirectX Runtimes
11+ (Dependent on your GPU and Windows Version; for example DX12 is only on Windows 10)
9.0c (Jun2010) (Needed for some Games that use XAudio or Xinput Gamepads; Last version for Windows XP)

Oracle Java Runtimes x86 (x64 may be useful on x64 systems)
Oracle Java 8 SE (Java 8 will even if not supported, run on Windows XP)

Adobe Flash Player Runtime
Adobe Flash 27 AX, NPAPI, and PPAPI Browser Plugins. (AX not used in Windows 10)
Adobe Flash Player 27 Projector (Running Flash SWF and EXE files offline without a browser)

Adobe Shockwave Flash Runtime
Adobe ShockwaveFlash for Director 11 (Useful for older Macromedia Shockwave games)

Open AL 3D Audio Library
OpenAL 1.1 (Some Games and Emulators can use OpenAL as a Audio Renderer, Better than XAudio sometimes)

Open GL Graphics Library 
OpenGL 3.2 (Your OpenGL version is dependent on your GPU model)

RPG Maker RTP Runtines
2000-VXAce (Windows XP may only be able to use upto the XP RTP)

Recommended Hardware:
Nvidia GeForce GT 730 DDR3 2GB VRAM (The VRAM is built into the GPU PCI card; it doesn't matter what kind of System RAM slots the Motherboard has, the PCI is a different slot)
DirectX versions: 9.0c (WindowsXP), 10.1 (Windows Vista) 11.3 (Windows 7), 12 (Windows 10; Running at the DX11 feature level)
OpenGL version:4.6.0 (tested with a Open GL game: Minetest 0.4.16)

Recommended Windows OS:
Windows XP Black Edition x86 (if you can get everything to install on XP (Black Edition will install most of it for you); Limited to only 4GB of System Ram)
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (Supports upto 192GB of System Ram (16GB is more than enough tho); Able to install almost everything on this list, most modern laptop hardware no longer supports Windows XP)

Additional Software for Windows XP (These will still support Windows XP):
Mozilla Firefox 52.4.1 esr (32-bit) [Only use IE8 for Microsoft Features or Streaming Netflix with Microsoft Silverlight 5] (Last Stable Update for Windows XP SP2 and SP3)
Advast Anti-Virus for Windows XP (Freeware; better than Windows Defender)
VLC media player 2.2.6 (Freeware; better than WMP9/10) [Only use WMP9 for Games that require the Video Codec like Fable: TLC]