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Dell Optiplex 320 upgrade to Windows 10?

8K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  tonyacardo 
#1 ·
I have a Dell Optiplex 320 with 1 GB of ran (expandable to 4). It is a Dou Core so it uses one of these 2 chips:

Intel® Pentium® D 800MHz FSB Socket T with Dual Core technology XD, EM64T, 2x2MB L2 cache, and EIST (900 series)
Intel® Pentium® D 800MHz FSB Socket T with Dual Core technology XD, EM64T, 2x1MB L2 cache (800 series)​

Will it run Windows 10. Does it support these:

  • PAE gives 32-bit processors the ability to use more than 4 GB of physical memory on capable versions of Windows, and is a prerequisite for NX.
  • NX helps your processor guard the PC from attacks by malicious software.
  • SSE2 is a standard instruction set on processors that is increasingly used by third-party apps and drivers.
If it would support those functions, with only 1 GB would it be too slow?

I got my Dell Specs from here
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/opti_320techspecs.pdf
 
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#2 ·
Theoretically it should, the ATi Xpress 1100 chipset should work in Win 10 despite no official driver support. I've upgraded a few machines with Xpress 200M, Xpress 1150 and they generally worked. Installing the integrated graphics driver may be a bit complicated though.

Be aware Smithfield (Pentium D 8xx) lack a few required instructions for Win 8.1/10 64-bit so they can only run Win 8.1/10 32-bit. Presler (Pentium D 9xx) can run 64-bit Win 10 just fine. Whether it'll perform well is another question. Still, when even a pathetic single core Pineview (Atom D4xx/D5xx/N4xx/N5xx) can run Win 10 acceptably... Pentium D isn't so bad compared to that.

But... why limit yourself to a space heater when you can go for a much cooler Core 2 Duo?
  1. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19664764
  2. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19403475
  3. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19332157
Many people have fitted Conroe or Allendale (65nm Core 2 Duo) into their 320 with success (of course with BIOS updated). Wolfdale (45nm Core 2 Duo) don't work. You should look for these:
  • Celeron E1xxx
  • Pentium Dual-Core E2xxx (except E2210)
  • Core 2 Duo E4xxx
  • Core 2 Duo E6xx0 (only 1066MHz FSB, also don't mix up with Pentium E6xxx which also uses 1066MHz FSB)
And for the memory, 1GB is just unacceptable, bump it up to at least 2GB, preferably 4GB which is the max it supports.
 
#4 ·
No one can give you a definitive answer; there is no support for win10 on the support page at dell. In fact, the only supported operating systems are vista and xp; not even win7 is supported.
When you use an unsupported operating system, you are in effect a beta tester. Might work just fine and it might not work fine. The only way you are going to find out is to install win10 and see.
FWIW I have win10 running on an old asus 790fx chipset motherboard [no win10 support] and it works fine however you may have a different outcome.
 
#8 ·
2GB should be fine, I know someone running windows 10 on the same model
I am running windows 10 on a Dell XPS 600 duo core and sometimes it crashes a lot. If you are not using it for at least 30 minutes, nothing will respond at all. If you install any updates it will make it to crash even more. You will need to install the graphics card driver if available.
I would just recommend you to use Windows 7 because it might run a little much better.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Take this into consideration, Windows 10 past 1607 will stop supporting old silicone (aka CPU's/Chipsets)

So you likely stuck with 1607 anniversary version, which has extended support until 2023.
The Windows 7 sp1 in contrast has extended support until 2020.

You may as well go Linux side, with some Ubuntu flavour, something to consider perhaps.

But please, not Linux Mint unless you dont value your security. Linux Mint philosophies are IMO unsuitable for machines that are internet facing or have a connection to the internet. Use at own peril.

Avoid 32-bit OS and PAE grab a few cheap ramchips even if you get 4GB ram only.
 
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