Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-24/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Zaranthos Windows 11 runs better on some old hardware than Windows 10 did. Both suffer the same problem on older hardware and that's the bloat, remove that and it runs surprisingly well. Microsoft lacks a little vision here. They should be catering to older hardware enthusiasts and low end hardware enthusiasts a little more than they do. Linux does a better job here and Microsoft risks losing more users over time as Linux continually gets better even at running Windows software. Reply
John musbach Admin said: Enthusiast demos Microsoft’s newest OS running 'completely stable' on a Core 2 Quad Q6600, using a DDR1 motherboard, supported by an ATi Radeon HD 4650 AGP graphics card. RAM crisis provokes enthusiast to try Windows 11 on DDR1-era hardware — other key vintage components included the Core 2 Q6600 and ATI Radeon HD 46… : Read more The fun thing to do is install windows on a supported build then take the hd to an older PC and see what happens Reply
JohnnyNismo Zaranthos said: Windows 11 runs better on some old hardware than Windows 10 did. Both suffer the same problem on older hardware and that's the bloat, remove that and it runs surprisingly well. Microsoft lacks a little vision here. They should be catering to older hardware enthusiasts and low end hardware enthusiasts a little more than they do. Linux does a better job here and Microsoft risks losing more users over time as Linux continually gets better even at running Windows software. I absolutely agree. If you're using older hardware, Linux is the way to go. You can game rather easily on older hardware using Linux because of the great support nowadays. Reply
ejolson Zaranthos said: Microsoft lacks a little vision here. They should be catering to older hardware enthusiasts and low end hardware enthusiasts a little more than they do. While it's rumoured the official TPM 2.0 requirement for Window 11 was friends helping friends sell hardware, since then inflated prices have made replacing old computers more difficult than expected. I my opinion it would generate a lot of goodwill and some revenue for Microsoft to note many customers due to the AI buildout are experiencing difficulties buying new hardware and then announce "Windows 11 Retro" supported to run on old hardware. To avoid lawsuits, the Windows Retro version might include the warning "This product does not make use of modern security features provided by TPM 2.0 and may not be as secure as other editions of Microsoft Windows." Reply
usertests Zaranthos said: Microsoft lacks a little vision here. They should be catering to older hardware enthusiasts and low end hardware enthusiasts a little more than they do. Linux does a better job here and Microsoft risks losing more users over time as Linux continually gets better even at running Windows software Latest Win11 will technically run on Nehalem, but ordinary users require Intel 8th gen (desktop, a few 7th gen mobile SKUs work). Getting rid of very capable 6th/7th gen was a big blow, done for security and performance reasons (they don't support MBEC/VBS/HVCI in hardware and must emulate it). Microsoft was fine risking the hit to user count to shut down some pathways for malware/ransomware. If they create e-waste and second class OS users in the process, so be it. Win11 (not debloated) will technically run on 4 GB RAM. People recommend 16 GB. This is not outrageous, but it's a bad time to need more RAM. You don't get a choice for soldered machines. What's done is done. Microsoft should continue to stretch out Win10 support if they want to be helpful. If the hardware requirements get raised again for a Win11 service pack or Win12 in the future, it will look really silly if the likes of the i9-9900K and i9-10900K can't run it. It's long been suspected that there would be some Win12 requirements to support AI, such as an NPU, but unreleased Nova Lake will be the first desktop generation with at least 50 TOPS. So Win11 in its current form may last a long time. Microsoft is either rethinking its Copilot push or getting better at hiding it. Maybe Microsoft should try a different strategy. Go ahead and make Win12 the AI OS of their (not your) dreams and default on all prebuilt Nova Lake and newer systems, but keep supporting Win11 in parallel for a long time. Think 2040+. The OSes could look nearly identical to keep things simple. This might be the same as Win11 vs. Win11 (Copilot+ sticker) now that I think of it. Reply
Zaranthos JohnnyNismo said: I absolutely agree. If you're using older hardware, Linux is the way to go. You can game rather easily on older hardware using Linux because of the great support nowadays. Quite a while ago I took an old Raspberry Pi and set it up for my mom to play some simple games on. While I was at it I loaded some random games for my nieces and nephews (her grand kids) just by searching the package manager. The amount of free Linux games is mind boggling, and many far exceeded the capabilities of the Pi I was setting up at the time. Not only will Linux now run most Windows games pretty well it also has a pretty incredible selection of free games. Lately I've been playing mostly older games and realizing how much cheaper it is to find quality older games that don't require new hardware to enjoy. There are some very good older games that have been modernized with improved graphics or performance improvements making them modern gems. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/ram-crisis-provokes-enthusiast-to-try-windows-11-on-ddr1-era-hardware-other-key-vintage-components-included-the-core-2-q6600-and-ati-radeon-hd-4650-agp#main
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