Windows 7 on P4 2.8GHz?

[jrf2027]

I'm working on an older (July 2004) Dell Dimension 2400 for my parents, with an Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor (part 80532, according to Dell's System Information page). CPU-z reports rated FSB of 533 MHz, one core, one thread. I've previously upgraded the RAM to 2 GB. The OS is in desperate need of a refresh - I haven't done a fresh installation since 2006. I plan on upgrading the hard drive and possibly the video card; right now it's just using onboard video (Intel 82845).

Has anybody else installed Win 7 on a similar vintage system? Is it worth it? I know how to trim down the processes, etc. to the basics - my Win 7 notebook has only 30 processes running at idle. Or do I just reinstall XP again? (Yes, I know that XP will likely run better, I just want to know if anybody has any experience with Win 7 on a similar system.)

[nitroshift]

Windows 7 Professional x86 (untouched) runs perfectly on a laptop with Intel Celeron @ 1.73GHz, 2GB DDR2 and a Sis Mirage 3D graphics card. Not suitable for gaming for sure, but for browsing the internet, office work, movies and music is more than OK.

nitropuppy

[MagicAndre1981]

I'm also running Windows 7 x86 on a Pentium M 1,6GHz. It works, but don't expect wonders. Build a new (cheap) AMD based system go get more power.

[cluberti]

Win7 runs fine on an old P4 2.4GHz machine I've got here, although it is a bit slow to get to the desktop. Once it's up and running, though, it's fine (2GB of RAM and an nvidia 8800GT help), and considering I reboot it once in a blue moon (it is pretty snappy resuming from sleep) it's just not a problem.

[Innocent Devil]

that will not be big issue,u can easily work with that. Am running win 7ultimate on a p4 2ghz over intel d102ggc m/b 1GB ram and ati raderon 200 xpress card onboard, works smoothly, except some DWM issues - sloweing of UI and unresponsiveness, but it will not be there once u turnoff Aero and works on classic or basic.

[colemancb]

I'm running on a AMD Semperon 2ghz, 512MB RAM, nvidia geforce 5200fx agp 512mb, and everything is running great. Can't really squeeze out 720p playback anymore like I could in XP but everything else is so motherf***ing snappy compared to XP it's not a big deal. I can't run Aero of course but that doesn't bother me much either. You'll be fine.

[ardi]

Yep, a 2.8GHz machine is fine, especially with all that RAM. I've installed it with less memory and slower processor and never looked back at XP.

[crashnburn4u]

Would XP be faster on such a machine? I have a P-M 2.2 GHz 2GB RAM (Dell Inspiron 9300) w Nvidia GeForce 6800

[cluberti]

Faster to boot, perhaps, but likely not faster in any sort of day-to-day operations (it'll generally benchmark faster on older hardware, but in real-world application of that, it will make little to no difference). In fact, after running both for awhile, Win7 should be faster due to superfetch being smarter about your usage habits.