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Would it be workable to put Windows 7 on an old AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8 GHz) with 736 MB of RAM? Or would this be really slow?
What are the experiences with a comparable system? (I am not interested in Aero stuff, etc.)
Update: After reading the answers, I decided NOT to install Windows 7. I reinstalled Windows XP instead.
Rabarberski
Posted 2009-12-20T19:20:46.427
Reputation: 7 494
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Seriously, It may just work - but I wouldn't.... (I don't think you can install with less than 1GB of memory - personally, I wouldn't use it with less than 2)
736MB of memory just isn't a lot, and by the time you disable enough services and features (such as Aero) in order to give more free RAM, there isn't much point in running Windows 7 for the sake of just running it.
I would personally just use it for XP and be happy.
If you still want to go ahead, try running the Windows Upgrade Advisor.
William Hilsum
Posted 2009-12-20T19:20:46.427
Reputation: 111 572
"I don't think you can install with less than 1GB of memory" no problem to install Windows 7 on a system with only 512 MB. – None – 2009-12-20T19:27:48.047
Must of just been Vista then - I will retest a bit later - just remember a warning stating that the machine does not have enough memory. – William Hilsum – 2009-12-20T19:38:23.217
1not sure bout Vista's requirement now, XP won't install on 64 MB or less, which can be circumvented, e.g. via nLite ("disable minimum memory requirement") – None – 2009-12-20T21:37:14.400
+1 for suggesting the Update Advisor (which I didn't see at first). – ChrisF – 2009-12-20T21:38:08.203
1just testing with a 32-bit Ultimate DVD in VBox, Windows starts fine with 256 MB, no dice with any lower settings though :) – None – 2009-12-20T21:49:16.383
"Starts with" is not the same as workable and usable... And, just tested in a VM, 512MB is the smallest size setup allows - http://i49.tinypic.com/jqg5zr.jpg
– William Hilsum – 2009-12-20T22:13:20.723you can install if it doesn't meet the requirement. All windows installer will do is just give you a warning – Jonathan – 2009-12-21T01:08:57.520
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It will work, I have the same CPU in my laptop and ONLY 512 MB of RAM. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate, and it runs just fine for the Internet but as expected, it is slow for anything else.
What do you mean by anything else? In my case, anything else would be Word, Excel and Picasa. I think that is about it. – Rabarberski – 2009-12-21T14:37:07.207
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It shouldn't be a problem, Running Windows 7 on a Dinosaur proves that Windows 7 can run perfectly even on a 128 MB RAM with a Pentium II CPU.
I personally have an AMD Athlon 3000+ with 1.5 GB RAM. It runs even faster than my Intel Core 2 Dual T5300 at 1.73 GHz with 2.5 GB RAM.
Jonathan
Posted 2009-12-20T19:20:46.427
Reputation: 1 857
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It would work all right, but even if you tweak the living daylights out of it (e.g. with vLite), it won't be as fast as Windows XP.
Is it feasible to buy a US$100 OS for such an old clunker? That's your call :)
why would you want to do this? – davr – 2009-12-21T02:01:08.850
@davr: the pc has xp on it for 5 years, but is getting dead slow (no surprise, I've never encountered a system running XP for so long), so a reinstall of XP is necessary anyway. Was wondering if Win7 wouldn't be a good option if I had to the the reinstall anyway... – Rabarberski – 2009-12-21T14:33:21.563
"Was wondering if Win7 wouldn't be a good option if I had to the the reinstall anyway". not on this system, it wouldn't. stick to XP or upgrade the system memory to 2 GB, RAM is cheap. – None – 2009-12-23T00:28:29.103