Info Dusting of an old i5-2400

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Shmee

Shmee

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biostud said:
They have a Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H, which has no connector for a tpm module, and does not support 2.0 through uefi/firmware.
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This isn't really needed. There are many tricks to get Windows 11 installed on older hardware, if desired. Even on some legacy BIOS systems, at least last I checked.
 
biostud

biostud

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igor_kavinski said:
Yup. My 2nd office PC is i5-2400 running Win7. It really was perfect. They just needed to iterate on it, much like MacOS. Not re-invent the frickin' wheel three times in a row and their latest wheel has millions of microdents in it so the ride is never going to be smooth.
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I really wished they forked Windows into 'pro' which would evolve around a win7 feel, and then then 'home' where they could do all the crappy things they are currently doing. But, meh, Linux seems to do most of what I want.
 
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igor_kavinski

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mikeymikec said:
It's easy to install it anyway, I've done it on Sandy Bridge. One command and the job is done.
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Please outline the procedure (was there a TPM module slot on the mobo) and most importantly, how did Sandy do with Win11? I wouldn't expect it to be snappy with something like only four cores.
 
mikeymikec

mikeymikec

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igor_kavinski said:
Please outline the procedure (was there a TPM module slot on the mobo) and most importantly, how did Sandy do with Win11? I wouldn't expect it to be snappy with something like only four cores.
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(in-place upgrade) Download the Win11 ISO for your language, mount ISO as a drive letter, admin command prompt, point it at the ISO drive letter:

setup /product server

Beforehand I tend to do a full chkdsk, personal data backup, sfc, dism, then the upgrade. I also opt out of optional downloading and I disable the Internet connection until the upgrade is complete. If you've got a Realtek GB NIC with an old driver, I would consider upgrading it as I've seen a few machines crash as soon as the network cable is plugged into a live Win11 session after such an upgrade.

In my experience Win11's Explorer responsiveness is laughably poor even on high-end hardware. It's not notably worse on say a i3-2100, but it was pretty bad on a customer's G620 until I threw in an i7-2600.
 
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igor_kavinski

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biostud said:
It will no longer get security updates.
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If your parents are sufficiently "internet educated" (meaning they know how to identify scammy ads and links and know better than to download EXEs from internet and running them, especially with admin privileges), install Win8.1 and set the DNS to 9.9.9.9 and alternate DNS to 1.1.1.1 and that should be enough to protect them from MOST malware sites. I'm still on Win8.1 on my Ivy Bridge Thinkpad.

1753006215126.png

It works like a dream on older hardware and you get most of the good stuff of Win10 (the improved task manager etc.).
 
DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

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biostud said:
Doesn't most of those prevent updates?
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You mentioned the primary concern i.e. what the client wants/needs. I vote cheap mini PC. Most draw like 40W-60W max from the wall under heavy load. The stuff your parents use it for will probably be under 20W. They can leave it in sleep mode when not using it. Almost every model I've looked at comes with 11 already installed.

I have a Deskmini A300 that is 6 years old. The X300 with 5600GT would be more than enough for your folks.
 
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511

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You can get a N305 based mini PC if they want basic stuff would be faster than 2400.
 
Jan Olšan

Jan Olšan

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biostud said:
Doesn't most of those prevent updates?
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You have to manually update to the major versions (25H2, 26H2 etc) through known workarounds. As long as you do, you get all security patches to those versions. So it is perfectly workable computer besides some hassle that needs to be done once a year (and needs somebody slightly knowing what they are doing, so it is not a perfect solution for everyone).
Linux is not exactly something that will work forever with zero administration either so running W11 like this is the easier way IMHO.

The important thing is that any unsupported thing in your hardware setup will cause you to not be eligible for updates (besides the above trick).
The TPM is one such thing, but even before that, there is the CPU whitelist which will stop you and is by far the main blocker (anything under 8th generation Core and Ryzen 2000/3000 excluding G-series Ryzen 2000 is not on the whitelist).
And that means that getting the physical TPM never helps because you will get rejection based on CPU list anyway. Basically just use the trick in the first place and don't bother with TPM.
 
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mikeymikec

mikeymikec

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Re Win11 and unsupported PCs

I normally have a conversation with a customer along the following lines:

First I have a think about the history that I'm aware of with the PC and whether it has any history/symptoms that concern me, if not:
1 - do you have any issues with your PC and is it fast enough in your opinion.
2 - if your PC died tomorrow, would waiting say up to a week for it to be repaired/replaced pose a serious problem for you or a minor inconvenience?

If answers to 1 is yes and 2 is no, then IMO why not take a minor gamble and maybe grab a few more years out of this known-reliable PC rather than sending it to the landfill / gathering dust as spares.

One exception I can think of to this advice is that this is a family scenario and if the family member are more trouble than they're worth tech support wise then I would think twice about this option, but then if I thought that already I would be finding an excuse not to help them with tech support full stop / keep them very much at arm's length, e.g. "A PC from wherever with at least this class of processor should be perfectly fast" (subtext: I'm not helping you buy it).

Jan Olšan said:
You have to manually update to the major versions (25H2, 26H2 etc) through known workarounds.
Click to expand...

I've updated unsupported PCs from 23H2 to 24H2 with the same in-place upgrade advice I gave earlier. Mount ISO, single command, done. According to MS there have been no changes to the codebase for 25H2 so logically the process of upgrading should be identical. In any case, it's hardly been rocket science so far.
 
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mikeymikec said:
Re Win11 and unsupported PCs

I normally have a conversation with a customer along the following lines:

First I have a think about the history that I'm aware of with the PC and whether it has any history/symptoms that concern me, if not:
1 - do you have any issues with your PC and is it fast enough in your opinion.
2 - if your PC died tomorrow, would waiting say up to a week for it to be repaired/replaced pose a serious problem for you or a minor inconvenience?

If answers to 1 is yes and 2 is no, then IMO why not take a minor gamble and maybe grab a few more years out of this known-reliable PC rather than sending it to the landfill / gathering dust as spares.

One exception I can think of to this advice is that this is a family scenario and if the family member are more trouble than they're worth tech support wise then I would think twice about this option, but then if I thought that already I would be finding an excuse not to help them with tech support full stop / keep them very much at arm's length, e.g. "A PC from wherever with at least this class of processor should be perfectly fast" (subtext: I'm not helping you buy it).



I've updated unsupported PCs from 23H2 to 24H2 with the same in-place upgrade advice I gave earlier. Mount ISO, single command, done. According to MS there have been no changes to the codebase for 25H2 so logically the process of upgrading should be identical. In any case, it's hardly been rocket science so far.
Click to expand...
the only rocket science is MSFT managing Windows
 
biostud

biostud

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If I lived close by I might do the more adventurous routes, but as I don't they'll just buy the mini PC.

Could I run win11 on a VM on Linux on this PC? :p
 
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igor_kavinski

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biostud said:
Could I run win11 on a VM on Linux on this PC? :p
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Yes you could but you would need at least 24GB RAM to keep things smooth.

But dealing with a VM isn't fun, especially for someone elderly.

I have a Windows 2000 VM setup at work that I had to come up with as a solution because the vendor isn't interested in porting the software to a modern OS. People use it mostly without issue but when it craps out, it leads to a lot of head scratching. Have had to do pretty serious troubleshooting and fixing (no one other than I could've done it as far as I can tell, judging by how people approach tech there, as a necessary evil, not with passion) that VM and I don't look forward to it crapping out again.
 
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BurnItDwn

BurnItDwn

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biostud said:
It will no longer get security updates. Sure Win10 is better than 11, it was after all Win11 which pushed me into Linux.
Click to expand...
Windows 10 LTSC is probably what they want.
Its meant for IOT things or for Enterprise, not usually sold to home users.
Essentially, get security updates until 2029 with win10.

learn.microsoft.com

Windows 10 - release information

Learn release information for Windows 10 releases
learn.microsoft.com
 
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