Can this run Windows 7 effectively?

Windows i7 920 · 07 Aug 2011

Specs of system I want to attempt to run Windows 7 (32-bit) on:

768 MB PC-133 SDRAM (3x256)
Cyrix M II processor
NVidia Quadro FX 1400 /(128 MB)
Current OS: Microsoft Windows 98 SE
HDD: 250 GB EIDE 7200 RPM 8MB cache

This... is a 1998 machine on a roid rage

The only thing I can see wrong is the CPU will be a bit underpowered at around 300-ish MHz. As for RAM, I have seen reports of Win7 functioning on 512 MB, and I could also use speedboost anyway. On Windows 98, this thing is so fast! Really, for basic computing, its a great machine. I might also boot Linux onto it and use it as a home server.

Maguscreed · 07 Aug 2011

I don't think a 333mhz proc is really going to manage it.

Brink · 07 Aug 2011

Hello Windows i7 920,

I would venture to say that it most likely would not run on that system. Sorry.

Information

Windows 7 Minimum Hardware Requirements:

NOTE: For more information on this, see: Windows 7 system requirements

1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1 GB RAM for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 2 GB RAM for 64-bit Windows 7
16 GB available hard disk space for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 20 GB for 64-bit Windows 7
Graphics card or chip that supports DirectX 9 with 128 MB memory (to have Aero theme enabled)
DVD-R/W drive, or bootable USB port with Windows 7 USB flash drive
Internet or phone access to activate Windows 7.

Windows i7 920 · 07 Aug 2011

This is what I assumed, but I'm going to try anyway just for fun. If it at least installs, I can probably remove some unneeded services to bring resource usage down a bit. I did that with XP in a VM once and got its RAM usage cut in half!

Brink · 07 Aug 2011

I wish you luck. It'll be interesting to hear what your results are. :)

strollin · 07 Aug 2011

The cpu clock speed may be the killer but the other day I installed Win 7 Pro on a circa 2000 1Ghz P3 with 512M RAM and a 20G hard drive. It runs, but it's definitely not a speed demon. Seems like it would be OK for simple tasks like surfing, email and light word processing.

DeaconFrost · 08 Aug 2011

Windows i7 920 said:

This is what I assumed, but I'm going to try anyway just for fun. If it at least installs, I can probably remove some unneeded services to bring resource usage down a bit. I did that with XP in a VM once and got its RAM usage cut in half!

The RAM isn't going to be the biggest issue, it will be the processor. 768 would run Windows 7 fine....not fast, not responsive, but it would run.

By the way, cutting unecessary services doesn't free up resources. If a service isn't needed, it isn't running and isn't chewing up any resources. There was an infamous website, known as QuackViper to the enthusiast crowd, who used to extoll the virtues of disabling services. His methods were debunked years ago, and with each new OS that self-tunes since then, these steps have become even more useless.

That all being said, there's no harm at all in trying to install it just for laughs. You might need a few drinks to get through the install, as it will surely take quite some time.

A Guy · 09 Aug 2011

There is this chestnut...

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

A Guy

strollin · 09 Aug 2011

I've personally found that, regardless what the Upgrade Advisor reports, the only way to know for sure is to try it.