Old Dell Inspiron 531 w/ XP. Can I run 14.04?

I had an old Dell Inspiron 531 laying around and wanted to do something with it.

I decided to make it into a HTPC/DVR and light gaming rig(iRacing) mainly.

I was able to find a Dual core AMD64 XII 6000 125w 3.0ghz cpu for $20(Brand new) to take the place of the Sempron that's in it now.

I added 2 more gigs of ram for a total of 4. Also added 2gb GeForce610 graphics card to it, 160gig WD Hard Drive.

Now my question is will it run 14.04 or should I go ahead and buy Windows 7?

I will initially dual boot it with the XP pro that's on it now with hopes that I can eliminate XP all together.

Thanks for any help.

David

2 Answers

You should have no performance problems with such a system to run Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Desktop 11.04 and up uses Unity as the default GUI while the previous releases used GNOME Panel by default. In order to run Unity the system needs a more capable graphics adapter – see more here or below:

• 1000 ΜHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)

• 1024 MiB RAM (system memory)

• 3D Acceleration Capable Videocard with at least 256 MB

From experience, we all know that it is recommended to have 2048 MiB RAM to properly run a day to day Ubuntu.

A good start should be with minimum 1024 and recommended 2048 MiB RAM.

Soucre:

If your computer satisfies the following requirements the Ubuntu will comfortably work in your comp.

1. 700 MHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)

2. 512 MiB RAM (system memory)

3. 5 GB of hard-drive space (or USB stick, memory card or external drive but see LiveCD for an alternative approach)

4. VGA capable of 1024x768 screen resolution

5. Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media

6. Internet access is helpful

If you still have doubts then go for the virtual machine first.