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I recently acquired an old dual-processor Pentium 4, with 512Mb memory (I'm going to expand it to 768 or 1024). I'm considering installing Windows 7 instead of XP; does anyone have an idea which will give better performance on such a system?

Thx

Windows XP will give much better performance, XP can run okay on 512 and runs well on 1024
Windows 7 does not run on 512 and runs okay on 1024.
Install Windows XP.

There's no such thing as a "dual-processor Pentium 4" - unless you're running a dual-processor Xeon (which I highly doubt), what you have is either a Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, in which case XP would be the better bet, or a Pentium D, in which case Windows 7 might actually be a better option, since it makes much better use of multi-core processors than XP does (though as mentioned, you'd need to upgrade the RAM to at least 1GB).

Firstly, 7 will run on 512MB of RAM. Not much point, given how cheap memory is in a modern system, but it'll run. The rest is accurate, however; XP will run better, especially given how mediocre the P4 chips were to begin with. The Pentium Ds were simply doubled-up P4s, more or less, and as such still kinda crap and very hot under load. I wouldn't really consider advising 7 until the Core 2 generation.

Windows 7 runs well on an Atom. A sufficiently fast (and since it's either two-thread or two-core, it is) P4 will be fine.

If you can go to 2GB of RAM your life will be much happier.

Not saying it can't run it, but what's the point? It's not going to change the fact that it's a 6+-year-old pile. Put the money towards a worthwhile computer instead.

DaveJB wrote:There's no such thing as a "dual-processor Pentium 4" - unless you're running a dual-processor Xeon (which I highly doubt), what you have is either a Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, in which case XP would be the better bet, or a Pentium D, in which case Windows 7 might actually be a better option, since it makes much better use of multi-core processors than XP does (though as mentioned, you'd need to upgrade the RAM to at least 1GB).

It's not a multi-core processor - the board apparently mounts two P4 processors.

White Haven wrote:Not saying it can't run it, but what's the point? It's not going to change the fact that it's a 6+-year-old pile. Put the money towards a worthwhile computer instead.

Eventually I will replace it, but I don't want to spend the money at the moment if it isn't necessary (I got this computer for free, basically, we'll be having significant expenses soon due to moving). For the same reason, I don't want to exapnd the memory too much - I can expand it to 1Gb by cannibalizing my old computer, I'd rather not invest in new DDR 1Gb memory cards (the board only has two DIMM slots), since when I will get around to buying a new computer I'll presumably want DDR2 cards at least.

I first ran Windows 7 on a P4 with 768MB RAM, and it was a definite upgrade over XP. If you turn off the visual doodads it'll run smooth as butter.

eyl wrote:It's not a multi-core processor - the board apparently mounts two P4 processors.

I think you have an old Xeon board, then (either Socket 603 or 604).

Eventually I will replace it, but I don't want to spend the money at the moment if it isn't necessary (I got this computer for free, basically, we'll be having significant expenses soon due to moving). For the same reason, I don't want to exapnd the memory too much - I can expand it to 1Gb by cannibalizing my old computer, I'd rather not invest in new DDR 1Gb memory cards (the board only has two DIMM slots), since when I will get around to buying a new computer I'll presumably want DDR2 cards at least.

That's the oddest motherboard I've ever heard of! Only two DIMM slots? Can you post which motherboard model you have (it should be printed somewhere on it).

Also, you need to be careful about these types of computers; you may need registered RAM. eBay might be the best bet for RAM.

phongn wrote:

eyl wrote:It's not a multi-core processor - the board apparently mounts two P4 processors.

I think you have an old Xeon board, then (either Socket 603 or 604).

Eventually I will replace it, but I don't want to spend the money at the moment if it isn't necessary (I got this computer for free, basically, we'll be having significant expenses soon due to moving). For the same reason, I don't want to exapnd the memory too much - I can expand it to 1Gb by cannibalizing my old computer, I'd rather not invest in new DDR 1Gb memory cards (the board only has two DIMM slots), since when I will get around to buying a new computer I'll presumably want DDR2 cards at least.

That's the oddest motherboard I've ever heard of! Only two DIMM slots? Can you post which motherboard model you have (it should be printed somewhere on it).

Also, you need to be careful about these types of computers; you may need registered RAM. eBay might be the best bet for RAM.

It's an Intel D865GSA.

There should be a list of compatible RAM somewhere on Intel's site, I need to check it vs. what I have.

eyl wrote:It's an Intel D865GSA.

Okay, that's a single-socket board; the other thing is the motherboard chipset. Your CPU is either a hyperthreaded Pentium 4 or a dual-core Pentium D.

There should be a list of compatible RAM somewhere on Intel's site, I need to check it vs. what I have.

That RAM is easy enough to get. DDR 400, it's still relatively cheap. Get 2GB and go.

phongn wrote:

eyl wrote:It's an Intel D865GSA.

Okay, that's a single-socket board; the other thing is the motherboard chipset. Your CPU is either a hyperthreaded Pentium 4 or a dual-core Pentium D.


I'm not sure; the System Information tool and Task Manager performance tab present it as having two P4 processors.

That's the way a hyperthreaded p4 would show up.