My older PC (DualCore CPU, 2GB RAM, 512MB GPU) currently runs Windows 7 x64. Because of CPU limitation I wasn't able to use 64-bit version of 8.1 on it. And 32-bit version of 8.1 was slower than 64-bit version of Windows 7 on this PC. I was thinking to try Windows 10 32-bit to see if it's any better... From your experiences, how Windows 10 works with older hardware?
backup your windows with acronis backup software or ghost.... just try it... if no good restore back... if dunno .. do nothing.. stick to win 7
I have old hardware with similar specs that I never thought about upgrading to Windows 10 but now seeing how the system is running I might consider it. I will try it maybe this weekend.
I am now on my somewhat newer (just slightly) hardware that's about 6 or 7 years old on Win10 Pro 64 bits, it's a Dell Latitude D630, Core 2 Duo T7250 CPU @ 2 Ghz, 4GB DDR3 memory, 350 GB 7200 RPM HDD (no SSD) w 2 partitions - just upgraded this evening after dinner, took just about 1:15 from start to finish w. some tweaks on the various settings. Smooth & seamless, just like when it was on W7Pro - Office 15 (365 ProPlus) is fine, Dropbox & OneDrive are working and even Chromecast is okay - it's fully activated (so later on, I will backup & do a full & clean install) Everything in my D (data/storage) drive intact & nothing lost - i'm happy sitting in my living room lounger watching TV and doing my web surfing OP, give it a try if the ESD is ready for install, backup your important files & if you aren't happy - 30 days to roll back. Good luck - this is for me, Windows 7.1 and Windows 8.2 (LOL)
off - topic : could check out linux always free , always was , always is I find that the only program catagories that are not freely available on linux are 'professional' multimedia and CAD. Everthing else is there in both Debian and CentOS. BONUS no viruses.
I think 2GB RAM is probably pushing it. I think it will work, but it might have to do a lot of paging. If you are going to image your drive first, use Macrium. The free version will do what you need. Don't really see the point in Acronis as long as Macrium exists.
You should be able to replace that CPU with one that supports the necessary instructions on ebay for a few dollars. However, given the option I would use Windows 10 32-bit. Not a good idea to use 64bit anyway with only 2GB ram. 64bit uses more ram overall.
if you do upgrade, things should be OK! i have no problem using Windows 10 on a 6 year old lenovo laptop.
I was bored so last night before I went to bed I installes Windows 10 on a system very much like OP's, 1 GB ram though. Runs great. If you don't want to go the Linux route or must have Windows 10, then probably Win 10 will run better than Windows 7 on the same hardware (by how much I don't know and after a clean install). Personally, while it's good to have Windows 10 on there, I might go back to Mint.
I have a similar older PC (AMD X2, 2GB RAM, Radeon 4670). I tried Windows 10 and it's overall slower than Windows 7 (both 64bit). Boot time is much slower, it takes almost twice as long. GPU acceleration is incomplete, so HD Flash streams are quite choppy at times. It uses slightly more RAM, too (around 100MB more). You'd probably get the best performance with 32bit Windows 7. I don't like to recommend 32bit OSs at this point, but if you don't plan on having more than 2GB RAM it might make sense.
Give a try to Windows 10 32-bit. Your PC will never get more than 4 GB of RAM and old drivers could be inexistant are bugged for the 64-bit version (seen on old netbooks). Don't forget to get and install all your drivers. If they are old, Windows 10 probably doesn't have them into its drivers database.
The problem (with the oldest hardware) is almost ALWAYS the GPU - that is the issue with the older of my two notebooks. There may be driver hacks available (there is for the notebook GPU in question); however, Windows 10 is harsher on such hacks than previous versions of Windows; it tends to find a way to stuff them up with Code 43, forcing you back to using the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter - which is likely why you are having the issues you are having. The MBDA underwhelms in terms of performance, and especially compared to proper (including hacked) drivers; Flash REQUIRES hardware acceleration, and has for a few versions now (hence the hacks). What bus does your Radeon 4670 take to work - AGP or PCI Express? If AGP, you have limited upgrade options, and almost all are in the used category. PCI Express, on the other hand, gets you quite a few MORE options without getting spendy. If you are talking about a NOTEBOOK, (AKA HD4600 series), upgrade to the current AMD Catalyst Omega - which supports all the way back to HD4200; I run that in my newer notebook, which is also AMD-driven (Turion II - the mobile version of Athlon II); it also has Hyper-V support. All my hardware runs x64 Windows 10 - I refuse to run x32 if at all avoidable. I found out early that x64 is not JUST about large amounts of RAM. Now if you HAVE large amounts of RAM, x64 may be your only option; however, the benefits of x64 extend surprisingly far down the memory loadout.
Installed on an acer netbook that has Intel Atom on it originally with Windows 7 Starter, Windows 10 works great. I use it mainly as a music server so really no need to put Windows 10 on there to begin with, but I've been trying Windows 10 on older hardware and so far it seems to perform well enough to keep, at least on par (if not a little better) than Windows 7.
I was on W7 x64 and I've reinstalled W7 x86 (32 bits) to be able to get the free update of W10 x86 (because W10 x64 doesn't works on my old CPU). My CPU is a Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and has not the instruction "compareexchange128" which is required for W10 x64. Anyway, x64 is useless if your computer has no more 4Gb of RAM. So, go to W10 x86 for better stability !
my older pc, I install win10 pro 32-bit. so far so good Biostar G31-M7 TE, Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 2.00 GHz, 2GB DDR2, Radeon HD5450 512MB don't forget, update your drivers
Obviously x86 versions are faster. Ther's no point to use x64 on PCs with less than 4GB of RAM. No matter if old hardware or not.