Can I put XP Pro on a 200 Mhz P1 computer?

Tim-KTim-K Southwest PA
edited January 2004 in Science & Tech
I know the official word from Microsoft is for 300 Mhz and higher processors only, but I have someone who wants me to install XP Pro on his computer. It's an old Dell Optiplex from 1994. It has a 200 Mhz Pentium 1 processor, and 128 MB of the old style "small" RAM chips in 4 rows. And a 4 GB hard drive.

He won't do much with it besides some low level musical work and miscellaneous web searches.

Will it work, Or should I just install 98 SE? It has 98 on it now and everything drags pretty badly. Slow operation in general.

I once put XP Pro on a 350 Mhz Gateway G6-350 with only 96 MB RAM installed and it worked good. It was later bumped up to 192 MB RAM (PC100).

Comments

  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited July 2003
    No, more than likey not.

    It requires a PII 333MHz, and 256MB of RAM, especially since those old sticks are probably the old 72 pin sticks
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    I'll tell you this:

    IT WILL WORK

    I can assure you of that

    HOWEVER, it will be so unbelievably slow, that it will be completely unusable. I cannot stress this enough: IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO USE IT. We're talking boot times of 3-4 minutes, 2 minutes to open a program, etc. And with only 128mb of SIMM memory, that thing will be paging to the HD every second that it's turned on. And with a system bus that slow, and a processor that slow, the paging operations will take hours. It will be unusable.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited July 2003
    So you're telling him there's a chance?






    (Just so no one gets dumbfounded, that's a slightly modified quote from Dumb & Dumber. Jim Carey is asking the girl of his dreams what the odds are of a guy like her and a gal like him going out. She says "Not good." He says, "What? Like 1 in a hundred?" She says, "More like 1 in a million" to which he replies, "So . . . you're telling me there's a chance!" Sorry if these quotes aren't exact, but they should be accurate enough to not skew things too far.)
    primesuspect said
    I'll tell you this:

    IT WILL WORK

    I can assure you of that

    HOWEVER, it will be so unbelievably slow, that it will be completely unusable. I cannot stress this enough: IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO USE IT. We're talking boot times of 3-4 minutes, 2 minutes to open a program, etc. And with only 128mb of SIMM memory, that thing will be paging to the HD every second that it's turned on. And with a system bus that slow, and a processor that slow, the paging operations will take hours. It will be unusable.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    I have always understood the minimum CPU requirement was a 233Mhz Pentium. I can't say first hand that it won't work, but if Windows XP is anything like Windows ME was (with regard to system requirements), if it detects an inadequate CPU it will not allow you to install. However I can not confirm this as I have never actually tried to install XP on a machine with specs that low.

    Which brings me to my next point. Like Prime' said, even if you could get it to install, it would be completely un-usable. Even if you upgraded the memory on that machine, it will still run so slow, you would have to wait half an hour just for the calculator to load up.

    I personally wouldn't install XP on a system with less than a 500mhz chip. I installed it on a K6-2 550 (I know they aren't exactly great chips but nevertheless) a while back and even then it was only borderline usable, and that machine had 256MB of RAM. Windows 98 is really your only option.

    Personally though I don't think it will even install, but that's just me. But that point is pretty much moot considering the fact that even if you get it installed, and your friend is willing to wait half an hour for apps to load, he probably won't have enough hard drive space left on that 4gig to run anything else anyway.

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314865
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2003
    I had it on a P2 333 and it worked fine. It was slow. I never did anything with it besides fold but I could surf to download the software client and was able to set it all up ok. It did have 192mb of RAM. 2k is a lil bit better on it. Boot time is only slow cause of the boot order.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2003
    One thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft doesn't make money by discouraging people from buying their products. When I see their minimum system requirements I usually add about 20% - their idea of minimum is the least you can get by with to run just Windows, and just barely that.

    If he is really your friend you should tell him to spend his money on a new computer!:D


    Prof
  • Tim-KTim-K Southwest PA
    edited July 2003
    Yes, he should have a newer computer, and it's not like finding even only a 400-500 Mhz machine would be hard or expensive, but this guy is Cheap with a capital C. This computer was given to him.

    He's "not even sure it's worth it" to get his own dial up account for $10-$20 a month!

    I'll install 98 and then the SE upgrade and see how that goes.

    Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the minimum specs for 98 SE? I'd imagine they're pretty low, like 66 Mhz CPU's and 32 MB of memory or something.

    I've heard in the past that 98 / 98SE is a good OS for not using a lot of system resources. Unlike XP. But I like XP.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Yeah I think it's 66mhz, 98 is pretty good on system resources, at least when compared to the memory sucking XP.
  • TobinTobin Philadelphia, PA
    edited July 2003
    I really wouldn't do it. The slowest I've ever run XP was at 350 MHz, 128 RAM and that was slooooooowwwww. You wouldn't be able to do anything on it anyway. Spend a few hundred dollars on a cheap PC.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited July 2003
    Windows 98 Minimum requirements are:

    486/66
    16 MB RAM
    195 MB HDD Space
    2x CD-ROM
    VGA ir higher resolution monitor

    Yes, Windows XP will run on a P200 MMX, however if you plan on using that system at all, you had better pack it FULL of RAM. 96 MB or higher will get the job done. :)

    I've had XP installed on a P233 MMX with 96 MB of RAM and was able to use the system for basic tasks, like word processing, spreadsheets, internet & e-mail.
  • CaffeineMeCaffeineMe Cedar Rapids, IA
    edited July 2003
    I used to run Win95 on a 486/66, 8MB RAM. Dog ass slow (but I could play Diablo on it!). I've also run W2K Server on a P233 w. 256 MB RAM. It was useable as a file/printserver, nothing more. XP is so graphical that the system you are discussing would be as good as unuseable. It's time for your friend to realize, you can't always get what you wa-ant, you can't always get what you wa-ant. But, you can try sometime, and you just might find, you get whatch you nee-ed....OHHH YEAH, baby!!!!!

    I went down, to the jersey drugstore..... :)
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited July 2003
    You must have the patience of Job.
    SimGuy said
    I've had XP installed on a P233 MMX with 96 MB of RAM and was able to use the system for basic tasks, like word processing, spreadsheets, internet & e-mail.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2003
    WinXP runs with approximately the same speed as a glacier on a 600MHz mobile Pentium 3 with 256MB of ram... and I'm speaking from personal experience. And that was with the fluff off too... I'd only install it on anything below 500MHz for laughs...
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    ive had windows xp on my 450 dell...it didnt run that bad at all..but then again i ONLY used it for folding
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Windows XP makes for a stable folding box, Buddy J had it on a Celeron 400 w/ 96mb ram. But, all it did was fold. Using it on a daily basis would probably be frustrating.
  • Tim-KTim-K Southwest PA
    edited July 2003
    What is a folding box and what does it do?
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Tim K said
    What is a folding box and what does it do?

    A folding box refers to having a PC solely dedicated to running the folding@home program.

    http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3
  • sas427bbsas427bb
    edited January 2004
    Why not put NT on it Not XP i got me and pc in new york for free it is a 1996 packed bell i took it home it had a 150 meg P and 49 meds of EDO ram 1.5 hardrive i upgrade it to a 5 gig hardrive 64 megs in ram i had windows 98 on it i took it off and put windows NT 4.0 ser pack 6 useing 350 megs of the hardive in the NTFS i made it into a web server works good and fast for what it is i have a chat and a post a bord server all on it. so he wants XP on a 200 p trun off system restore remove all the windows programs use the NTFS! No windows update maybe you can go some faster than and snail ok this is what a 150 p can do http://stans.servequake.com
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    primesuspect wrote:
    I'll tell you this:

    IT WILL WORK

    Thats not actually true.
    I have an old K6-2 machine that I can't install XP on because it says the motherboard is incompatible with XP, and refuses to install.

    So it's actually "It MAY work"
    :)
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