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Abit VP6

ZapbuzZ

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Nov 29, 2018
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I have a beautiful twin 800mhz pentium III VP6 system.
With 128mb AGP 4X card.
Currently I have 1gb memory i am planning to upgrade to 2GB.
I am worried that windows 2000 and xp are not supported anymore and I need to find a newer
OS that will utilise the processors original MMX.
Would windows 10 x86 support this generation CPU?
Is there an OS today that would give me modern alternatives to xp?
 
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Anything pre Win 7 isn't supported, and Win 7 support ends in a year, so your only options for OS are either Windows 8.1/10, or switching to Linux. Your system is old and rickety AF, I'm surprised you've kept it running this long and actually manage to do much on it. It'd be cheaper and easier to pick up a super basic Pentium workstation with the OS preinstalled.
 
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Currently I have 1gb memory i am planning to upgrade to 2GB.
I'd recommend 3GB or 4GB of RAM. Shouldn't be too expensive.
I am worried that windows 2000 and xp are not supported anymore and I need to find a newer
Nothing wrong with XP SP3 as long as you stay off the internet.
Would windows 10 x86 support this generation CPU?
That's a very good question. Maybe? No harm in trying it out. You shouldn't expect great performance though.
Is there an OS today that would give me modern alternatives to xp?
There is Linux. Mint with XFCE desktop is a great choice for that system. XFCE is a desktop environment that is very light on resources.
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3599

Anything pre Win 7 isn't supported, and Win 7 support ends in a year, so your only options for OS are either Windows 8.1/10, or switching to Linux. Your system is old and rickety AF, I'm surprised you've kept it running this long and actually manage to do much on it. It'd be cheaper and easier to pick up a super basic Pentium workstation with the OS preinstalled.
They might be turning it into a classic gaming system though. Even if not, it's a classic peace of hardware that should be preserved.

That said, @ZapbuzZ
There's a great thread here on TPU that would very much welcome you and your classic hardware! Head on over and introduce yourself. Welcome to TPU!

TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-299
 
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Just a tiny, quick and simple 5 second "homework" search shows that motherboard only supports a maximum of 4 x 512MB SDRAM sticks. Verified here. So, of course, 2GB is the maximum you can install and you are wise to plan to go no higher.

A couple more seconds with Bing Google shows there are W10 drivers available here and here - but they don't seem to be officially sanctioned by Abit. So you take your chances. Sound may be a problem as it looks like Vista is as far as they go.

The problem with upgrading such legacy hardware is you end up rocking the boat. That is, you put extra demands on the power supply and motherboard voltage regulator circuits. You physically mess with hardware components like long unused RAM slots. You ask the aging hardware to do something it has never done before, and never designed to do.

I am just saying, some times it is better to just be happy antique hardware is still working in it original configuration, instead of trying to upgrade and bring such legacy hardware up to more modern standards it was not designed to support.
 
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I would go for windows 7 for such computer , & btw respect for u 4 keeping this system.
 
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Just a tiny, quick and simple 5 second "homework" search shows that motherboard only supports a maximum of 4 x 512MB SDRAM sticks. Verified here. So, of course, 2GB is the maximum you can install and you are wise to plan to go no higher.
Looks like you might be right. I was thinking of an ASUS board which has 1GB DIMM support.

Still, after looking that board up, it's got potential for some classic computing.
@ZapbuzZ
Windows XP is your best bet OS wise. If you intend to use it as a daily use, general purpose platform and not a hobby PC, it really would be best if you got a newer system, from at least 2010.
 
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