Can my PC run it?

[SlimShady]

Can my PC run Windows 8? Here are my System Specs:

Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard (BIOS VERSION: Revision 1302)
1.5 GB of RAM
80 GB Hard Disk Space
SoundMax Integrated Audio
Intel Onboard Graphics (Intel Extreme Graphics 2 92MB)
1024 x 768 Screen Resolution
Intel Pentium D 3.0 GHz

 

[bobkn]

System requirements:

Buy Windows - Microsoft Windows

There are at least 2 requirements that your PC doesn't meet: 2GB RAM, 1366X768 screen resolution. I'm not sure about the WDDM graphics driver (Vista or newer drivers). (Win7 can run using XP, also know as XDDM, graphics drivers. 8 will not. Your "92MB" of graphic memory indicates that you're not supporting Aero Glass effects.)

Any of these would be fixable (more RAM, a new monitor, maybe a discrete graphics card), but may not make economic sense.

 

[Mystere]

Hmm... is that 2GB enforced by the installer? If it's like 7 or Vista, then it would still install and run. And, since 8 has much better resource needs, it should work pretty well in 1.5GB.

Also, Slim, do you set your res to 1024x768 or is that actually your monitors highest resolution? If you can set it higher, then you will get the full benefit (Windows 8 will still install on lower res, but you can't use the Metro Snap feature).

In any event, there should be a hardware assessment program you can download.. hopefully that's available soon.

 

[bobkn]

Hmm... is that 2GB enforced by the installer? If it's like 7 or Vista, then it would still install and run. And, since 8 has much better resource needs, it should work pretty well in 1.5GB.

Also, Slim, do you set your res to 1024x768 or is that actually your monitors highest resolution? If you can set it higher, then you will get the full benefit (Windows 8 will still install on lower res, but you can't use the Metro Snap feature).

In any event, there should be a hardware assessment program you can download.. hopefully that's available soon.

Upgrade Assistant:

Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows

The link doesn't lead anywhere yet (1:22 PM EDT), but it ought to work tomorrow. The Upgrade Assistant can be run without buying Windows 8.

 

[Windows 8]

Last time I checked, Windows 8 had the same system requirements as Windows 7 and Vista. RAM is cheap however, and adding more certainly would not be a bad idea.

 

[Lazure]

That machine is extremely outdated.

* The motherboard you're using uses DDR1 memory, and maxes out at 2GB. Finding DDR1 memory to expand it fully may be problematic, on top of that. However, you could probably get away with installing Windows 8 with 1.5, but it may not perform optimally.

* Your onboard graphics would be way too weak to render a DWM desktop, even if a WDDM driver were available (none are). Even in windows 7, the earliest Intel onboard graphics chip that had WDDM support (for Aero, etc) was the GMA 950, and it BARELY handled it. Windows 8 no longer uses GDI or XPDM, requiring DWM at all times due to the start screen and "Metro" apps. This would be what murders windows 8 for you right here. The only way to solve this is to find an AGP card with a WDDM driver, such as an AGP NVidia 7900GS or AGP ATI Radeon 4670 and use one of them as your graphics card. (They MUST be AGP! You can't get a PCI-E card for your current setup).

* Your processor is dated, and single core. It's only a step up from a Pentium 4 and not much of one to boot. Relying on the default VESA/VGA driver, windows 8 would be trying to render "Metro" and even the desktop using the CPU where the GPU normally would be used. Expect the UI to respond very slowly, if Windows 8 even installs.

* 1024x768 resolution is the minimum usable resolution in Windows 8. However, without the 1366x768 widescreen variant, you'll be missing out on the metro snapping feature and whatnot. The only way to fix this is to buy a new monitor, since you're using an old 4:3 LCD panel whose native resolution happens to be 1024x768. This is probably the least of your worries, however.

My suggestion would be to find an inexpensive newer machine. You can find laptops with decent specs for just under $400 USD that would run many many circles around what you're using today. However, if that's beyond your budget, try finding one of the aforementioned video cards I mentioned above (make sure they support your AGP slot!), so you can at least HW accelerate the desktop/metro UI properly to save your CPU a lot of stress. You will only be able to install the 32-bit (x86) version.

 

[Hopachi]

Can my PC run Windows 8? Here are my System Specs:

Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard (BIOS VERSION: Revision 1302)
1.5 GB of RAM
80 GB Hard Disk Space
SoundMax Integrated Audio
Intel Onboard Graphics (Intel Extreme Graphics 2 92MB)
1024 x 768 Screen Resolution
Intel Pentium D 3.0 GHz

Yes it works.

Yo Shady, we have the same specs! On the machine I'm now: 80GB hdd, resolution and stuff is the same, except I replaced the Pentium D (still runs) with a cheap dual core (for x64 support).

Pentium D will support the standard x86 (32bit version). The minimum for a clean install (boot from DVD or USB stick) is 512MB RAM.
I also have 1.5GB and it installs and works well. That 2GB minimum is fantasy. The 64bit works even on 1GB for me.

Ok it's not a fast combination all that hardware but works for daily simple tasks.

Give it a go.

 

[Lazure]

Can my PC run Windows 8? Here are my System Specs:

Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard (BIOS VERSION: Revision 1302)
1.5 GB of RAM
80 GB Hard Disk Space
SoundMax Integrated Audio
Intel Onboard Graphics (Intel Extreme Graphics 2 92MB)
1024 x 768 Screen Resolution
Intel Pentium D 3.0 GHz

Yes it works.

Pentium D will support the standard x86 (32bit version). The minimum for a clean install (boot from DVD or USB stick) is 512MB RAM.
I also have 1.5GB and it installs and works well. That 2GB minimum is fantasy. The 64bit works even on 1GB for me.

Give it a go.

His GPU will be the primary problem with Windows 8. I explained in detail in the post above, but he needs to get a dedicated AGP video card on the later end of the AGP era to have a WDDM driver available or else he's going to have a rough time with the UI rendering or watching videos since he'll be stuck on VGA drivers with that setup he's got right now.

 

[whs]

It will run - don't worry. And a test with the free version is easy to do.

 

[Hopachi]

Can my PC run Windows 8? Here are my System Specs:

Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard (BIOS VERSION: Revision 1302)
1.5 GB of RAM
80 GB Hard Disk Space
SoundMax Integrated Audio
Intel Onboard Graphics (Intel Extreme Graphics 2 92MB)
1024 x 768 Screen Resolution
Intel Pentium D 3.0 GHz

Yes it works.

Pentium D will support the standard x86 (32bit version). The minimum for a clean install (boot from DVD or USB stick) is 512MB RAM.
I also have 1.5GB and it installs and works well. That 2GB minimum is fantasy. The 64bit works even on 1GB for me.

Give it a go.

His GPU will be the primary problem with Windows 8. I explained in detail in the post above, but he needs to get a dedicated AGP video card on the later end of the AGP era to have a WDDM driver available or else he's going to have a rough time with the UI rendering or watching videos since he'll be stuck on VGA drivers with that setup he's got right now.

We all know that a recent OS requires recent hardware but for testing and different purposes even an older machine works well.
Know your hardware.

Don't know what's wrong with that adapter. Mine says onboard Intel 256MB and I have WDDM drivers.
UI renders well and videos are OK. If you tweak the UI enough you can run the desktop on 32MB graphics (there is no Aero check).

If it's an older model, he can get the drivers running in compatibility mode.
All latest drivers should be searched (catalog.update.microsoft.com) and installed manually (no exe's) from Device Manager.

 

[Lazure]

Yes it works.

Pentium D will support the standard x86 (32bit version). The minimum for a clean install (boot from DVD or USB stick) is 512MB RAM.
I also have 1.5GB and it installs and works well. That 2GB minimum is fantasy. The 64bit works even on 1GB for me.

Give it a go.

His GPU will be the primary problem with Windows 8. I explained in detail in the post above, but he needs to get a dedicated AGP video card on the later end of the AGP era to have a WDDM driver available or else he's going to have a rough time with the UI rendering or watching videos since he'll be stuck on VGA drivers with that setup he's got right now.

We all know that a recent OS requires recent hardware but for testing and different purposes even an older machine works well.
Know your hardware.

Don't know what's wrong with that adapter. Mine says onboard Intel 256MB and I have WDDM drivers.
UI renders well and videos are OK. If you tweak the UI enough you can run the desktop on 32MB graphics (there is no Aero check).

If it's an older model, he can get the drivers running in compatibility mode.
All latest drivers should be searched (catalog.update.microsoft.com) and installed manually (no exe's) from Device Manager.

Sure, it worked in Windows 7 because you could disable DWM, use the basic (or even worse, the classic) theme and turn off all the animations and shadows in the performance options. Even if you were using XPDM drivers, you could use an (albeit very gimped) Windows 7 experience. Windows 8 however requires DWM. If you don't have WDDM drivers, Windows 8 uses your CPU to do the desktop compositing tasks instead. That's pretty harsh on a Pentium D. Sure, it will run, but it may not be a fun or even usable experience. His integrated GPU wouldn't have the shader support, and it doesn't even have 128mb of graphics memory. Even with a working driver, it would not handle the demand of DWM on its own. There's no 'classic theme' or 'GDI' to fall back to in Windows 8 like there was before.

That is where I'm getting at.

 

[Hopachi]

His GPU will be the primary problem with Windows 8. I explained in detail in the post above, but he needs to get a dedicated AGP video card on the later end of the AGP era to have a WDDM driver available or else he's going to have a rough time with the UI rendering or watching videos since he'll be stuck on VGA drivers with that setup he's got right now.

We all know that a recent OS requires recent hardware but for testing and different purposes even an older machine works well.
Know your hardware.

Don't know what's wrong with that adapter. Mine says onboard Intel 256MB and I have WDDM drivers.
UI renders well and videos are OK. If you tweak the UI enough you can run the desktop on 32MB graphics (there is no Aero check).

If it's an older model, he can get the drivers running in compatibility mode.
All latest drivers should be searched (catalog.update.microsoft.com) and installed manually (no exe's) from Device Manager.

Sure, it worked in Windows 7 because you could disable DWM, use the basic (or even worse, the classic) theme and turn off all the animations and shadows in the performance options. Even if you were using XPDM drivers, you could use an (albeit very gimped) Windows 7 experience. Windows 8 however requires DWM. If you don't have WDDM drivers, Windows 8 uses your CPU to do the desktop compositing tasks instead. That's pretty harsh on a Pentium D. Sure, it will run, but it may not be a fun or even usable experience. His integrated GPU wouldn't have the shader support, and it doesn't even have 128mb of graphics memory. Even with a working driver, it would not handle the demand of DWM on its own. There's no 'classic theme' or 'GDI' to fall back to in Windows 8 like there was before.

That is where I'm getting at.

Don't worry about this DWM too much. I've done some tests and on Pentium 3 (1GHz) it's using the CPU as you said BUT not permanently.
It runs and I assume that a 3GHZ cpu will be better. Look on the update catalog site and see if there are WDDM drivers.

If it's the only hardware you got or if you want to test the OS you can give it a try on a Pentium 4 why not.
His graphics adapter has a chance with the latest drivers provided be it WDDM or compatibility mode.

Sure, it will run, but it may not be a fun or even usable experience

Agreed. But sometimes you need to try and test it yourself.
Of course it's not the same as on Ivy Bridge motherboards but it will run. Don't worry.

 

[ivy8]

Why bother? This isn't 2005. You won't experience 8, you'll grind through it. Its 2012, get a modern PC that will be at least three times as fast and use half the power. Most phones are faster than the OP's system.

 

[SlimShady]

Cool thanks for the help, the AGP cards that Lazure recommended would be a pain to find but I'm pretty sure if I go to an antique computer parts store or anything similar I could probably get a 128 MB tops.

 

[SlimShady]

Hey guys, I just ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant and it said my PC is okay but some of my programs (Daemon Tools, Adobe Air, etc.) also it said that NX is not enabled or not available on my Motherboard the same goes for secure boot. Now I have been looking it up but I can't seem to see anything that says my Motherboard supports NX. It supports PAE and SSE2 by default though.

 

[pyrate]

Hey guys, I just ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant and it said my PC is okay but some of my programs (Daemon Tools, Adobe Air, etc.) also it said that NX is not enabled or not available on my Motherboard the same goes for secure boot. Now I have been looking it up but I can't seem to see anything that says my Motherboard supports NX. It supports PAE and SSE2 by default though.

You have to see if you can turn NX on in the bios.
...........Microsoft says: If your PC doesn't support PAE, NX, and SSE2 you won’t be able to install Windows 8. Upgrade Assistant will provide you with an error message if your processor doesn't support PAE and SSE2. You'll also see a notice if the processor might not support NX or if NX is turned off in the PC BIOS. Windows 8 Setup will attempt to turn on NX during installation and, if it isn't able to, will return your PC to the current operating system. What is PAE, NX, and SSE2 and why does my PC need to support them to run Windows 8?
As for secure boot..... mine doesn't support that either....and I'm quite happy about that.

 

[Hopachi]

Hey guys, I just ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant and it said my PC is okay but some of my programs (Daemon Tools, Adobe Air, etc.) also it said that NX is not enabled or not available on my Motherboard the same goes for secure boot. Now I have been looking it up but I can't seem to see anything that says my Motherboard supports NX. It supports PAE and SSE2 by default though.

You have to see if you can turn NX on in the bios.
...........Microsoft says: If your PC doesn't support PAE, NX, and SSE2 you won’t be able to install Windows 8. Upgrade Assistant will provide you with an error message if your processor doesn't support PAE and SSE2. You'll also see a notice if the processor might not support NX or if NX is turned off in the PC BIOS. Windows 8 Setup will attempt to turn on NX during installation and, if it isn't able to, will return your PC to the current operating system. What is PAE, NX, and SSE2 and why does my PC need to support them to run Windows 8?
As for secure boot..... mine doesn't support that either....and I'm quite happy about that.

PAE or NX should be the same. Look in the BIOS to be completely sure it's available or not.
Upgrading is always more difficult and the minimum requirements are higher.

Choose the ISO in the upgrader option and do a clean install. A clean install works on a Pentium3 Coppermine with PAE, 512mb RAM is enough and you don't need SSE2! It should be OK on a Pentium4 (D).

I already tested the clean install (works!) on Pentium3 and don't want to argue about these low specs.
The Pentium3 didn't had any PAE option in the BIOS, it was by default enabled. How did I found this: by installing VMware Player 3.1.5
On a even older CPU (P3 733Mhz) the VMware installer checked and came with an error during installation saying no PAE.
On the Coppermine (1Ghz) it installed without problems meaning PAE was available.

SO if your BIOS has no PAE or NX options, try installing VMware Player 3.1.5 (no 4 or 5 that are x64 aware). If the install succeeds, then the Windows upgrader is just not allowing the install because it needs even higher specs. But the clean install might fix the problem.

Good luck with installing.

 

[Mystere]

PAE and NX are *NOT* the same thing, they are totally unrelated. PAE is a technology that lets a 32 bit OS use more than 4GB of memory (although desktop versions of Windows do not support this, server versions do). NX is the No eXecute bit, that allows the OS to mark parts of memory as data, and not executable. This helps prevent security flaws from being exploited.

 

[Hopachi]

PAE and NX are *NOT* the same thing, they are totally unrelated. PAE is a technology that lets a 32 bit OS use more than 4GB of memory (although desktop versions of Windows do not support this, server versions do). NX is the No eXecute bit, that allows the OS to mark parts of memory as data, and not executable. This helps prevent security flaws from being exploited.

Sorry for my ignorance. I was comparing it to VirtualBox where both settings are enabled with one checkbox (PAE/NX).
But not all BIOSes are alike or even have all options available.

 

[Fredledingue]

My machine was supposed to have enough firepower to run W8 and theoricaly meets the requirement, yet it refused to install or run because of more complicated reasons, not mentioned in the requirements (some BIOS and processor option, in my case). In one word W8 refuses to work on some old computers it deems too old for him. Please test the Release preview before purchasing.