Windows 7 on a Pentium 4 Machine

[dbtmellis]

As the title says, will Windows 7 install on a older (10 years) Pentium 4 Machine?

Also, is the P4 in 32, or 64 bit?

 

[Berton]

It should work on a Pentium 4, speed requirement is for at least 1GHz plus at least 1GB of RAM. Don't know which exact model of the P4 you have, there's a bunch of different ones, but it will run 32-bit but questionable on the 64-bit. If it will run 64-bit you'll need 2GB RAM. And if the motherboard has onboard/built-in video it takes part of the RAM so always better to run more, I like minimum 2GB for 32-bit and 3GB or 4GB for 64-bit. Note: if that was a WinXP computer, only the Professional version was available as either 64-bit or 32-bit editions, Home and Media Center editions were only 32-bit.

 

[LMiller7]

What are the full specs of the computer?
The CPU being a P4 tells us very little.
Early P4's were 32 bit only, later ones were 64 bit capable.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

You can install 32 Bit Windows 7 on almost all P4 machine. But there won't be any compatible VGA driver available for most of the P4 chipsets. If the chipset is a 915 one, XP driver will work in compatibility mode. Otherwise i would recommend buying an AGP card which is 'Win 7" compatible.

 

[Imrankhan]

I still have a Pentium3 PC, which dont even run Purple Place game, with Windows 7 Basic x86. But runs Macromedia flash games.
You can install Windows 7 without any problem on P4.

 

[AddRAM]

It`ll run, but it`ll run slow

Just type the cpu model in Google, and Ark should give you all its information.

 

[gregrocker]

I would run 64 bit only on more than 4gb RAM.

On low resource machines immediately edit Visual Effects in Advanced System Settings of fading, sliding, animation, dragging intact and selection rectangle. This will not be noticeable but help conserve resources.

Depending on your video card you may or may not have Aero but it isn't enough of a concern to turn off to save resources.

Other tips to get and keep a perfect install are the same as for http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[dbtmellis]

The Machine is a Dell Dimension 3000. Pentium 4 2.8ghz CPU, 80GB Hdd, 2GB of RAM, Integrated Video, but I think there is an AGP slot available.

This is my neighbors machine he wants me to see if I can try to run Windows 7, since Windows Xp is now retired. He refuses to upgrade to Windows Vista.

 

[Porthos]

I know this is not what you were looking for but.....For less than $200 you can get a very capable computer. Since a legal copy of windows is about $100 and The maximum DDR memory the Dimension 3000 supports is 2gb. [2 x 1gb modules]. its not worth upgrading in my opinion.

An alternative....

Refurbished: Lenovo M58P DTIBM58P-MT1W Desktop PC Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz 4GB 250GB HDD Windows 7 Home Premium - Newegg.com

All of my computers are think centers and they are workhorses.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

I would recommend downloading the latest SP1 integrated installation images of "Windows 7" from "DigitalRiver" ( a subsidiary of Microsoft" and use it to install 7 on your neighbor's machine.

Windows 7 SP1 ISO Official DigitalRiver Direct Download Links


Since your neighbor's system is old and probably may not run Aero, "Home Basic" will best suit to his system. The trial install will let you know which components works and which are not and if any upgrade like an AGP card is needed. If everything is okay, you can buy a license and activate Windows.

 

[Hexagon12]

Can you post a CPU-Z screenshot? I installed Windows 7 on 2 Pentium 4 HT machines, and it runs just fine. What is your graphics card model? Because mine is a Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 and it runs Aero just fine.

 

[bigmck]

I have an old laptop, P4 with 1.8 ghz processor. I installed Win 7 and it runs, but very slow. I just finally gave up on it and it is living out its final days in my closet.

 

[Berton]

I've found some of the older Notebooks need to have their power-saving features set to either Always on or Desktop, keeps the CPU from throttling down to about half-speed. It has worked for me on a couple of older ones but not great for the battery charge but then I wasn't needing to carry them around very often.

 

[dbtmellis]

My neighbor is an older gentleman, and has a fixed income. All he wants is basically an "email machine". I doubt he will never have a need for more than what a 32 Bit CPU can handle. So, Windows 7 Basic would be the best fit? I could try and see if I can get him to buy and install a GPU/Graphics card, as he has an empty AGP slot.

 

[gregrocker]

Since the only retail copies MS allows sold now are Premium and Pro, might as well get Premium when it goes down to $89 at Tiger Direct or New Egg. It likely won't run Aero but that's OK. Just be sure to do the effects edits I gave you and stick with the same tips, tools and methods as in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164 and you'll give it every advantage.

Delete all partitions during booted install and have your Ethernet driver for that model for Win7 if possible in your backup to get online and run all Updates which should include most drivers. The tutorial shows how to find the rest. We can help.

 

[dikbozo]

Consider an alternative as his machine is a bit older than it could be and his finances are quite limited.

Burn him a copy of Puppy Linux and boot it with him. Walk him through the process and help him do things with it. Check some webmail and surf a bit too. No changes to his box and a free trial run. It seems to me to worth a try.

Puppy Linux Community Home - Getting Started