• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

What is the oldest CPU (AMD or Intel) that will enable Windows 11 unofficially?

B

Bear415

New Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2021
Messages
5
Location
USA
As far as I'm aware, the CPU must be 64 bit, support the XD bit and SSE3, and support the POPCNT CPU instruction.

I ran a quick search, but did not see this asked already, thanks.

Why 11? Because I want to.
 
Last edited:
Bear415 said:
Why would you question people's motives? That just seems nosy.
Click to expand...
Relax. Its a tongue in cheek reference to how awful windows 11 is.

And asking what your working on is nosey? What do you think the purpose of this forum is? To discuss what were working on and collaborate with others.
 
Windows Server 2025 requires 1.4GHz 64-bit with NX, DEP, CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHF, PREFETCHW and SLAT.
I'm not sure if there is a web site where you can click this in and get list of CPUs.
 
Bear415 said:
As far as I'm aware, the CPU must be 64 bit, support the XD bit and SSE3, and support the POPCNT CPU instruction.

I ran a quick search, but did not see this asked already, thanks.

Why 11? Because I want to.
Click to expand...
I like the "because I want to" part. Nothing wrong with trying (or forcing) the latest OS on a retro machine.

But I agree with another member. Windows 11 is not good. Windows 10 is even worse imo. I always try Windows 7 on retro machines.
 
h2ospa said:
I like the "because I want to" part. Nothing wrong with trying (or forcing) the latest OS on a retro machine.

But I agree with another member. Windows 11 is not good. Windows 10 is even worse imo. I always try Windows 7 on retro machines.
Click to expand...
Windows 7 64 is still my tried and true constant. It just runs and runs well.
 
I run 2022 on my main PC and it is great.
There's a bit of post install configuration to do, mainly in services, enabling audio and disabling server remote mgmt and stuff like that.
10 mins after install you're left off with clean version of Windows 10, alike Windows 2000. Microsoft Store isn't there, there aren't any web shit on the desktop, and it's very very fast.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Linux on everything here, unless I have no choice.
Click to expand...

I dual boot between Windows and FreeBSD for 20 years. Used Windows 7 till couple of years ago. When I switched to 10 I noticed it's constantly snooping on my ZFS array, spinning up my fixed drives that it can't understand, not to mention the social/web hassle everywhere in the OS.
Moving to Server 2022 took care of that.
 
Bear415 said:
As far as I'm awa,re, the CPU must be 64 bit, support the XD bit and SSE3, and support the POPCNT CPU instruction.

I ran a quick search, but did not see this asked already, thanks.

Why 11? Because I want to.
Click to expand...
If the motherboard doesn't comply with Windows Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM) and have UEFI BIOS support, you are just shoveling you know what against the tide as far as W11 is concerned. Its more on the mobo than the CPU. Find a minimum compliance mobo and then what's least CPU supported by that board. You may be able to kludge something together that could possibly boot into W11, but it will never be fully functional. So unless you just want to prove a point, why bother?
 
Agent Orange said:
You may be able to kludge something together that could possibly boot into W11, but it will never be fully functional. So unless you just want to prove a point, why bother?
Click to expand...

As I clearly said, because I want to. I asked a fact based question, not a list of why people hate 11.
 
I installed and used RC of Win11 year+ ago with secure boot turned off. It requires modifying the registry of installer environment. I don't see why that would pose problems in the usual OS workflow later on. Or I'm misinterpreting what you are saying.
 
You might also take a look at the https://ameliorated.io/ Ameliorated community, they specialize in removing unnecessary components to make windows run faster on less resources(which is like 98% of Windows 11). I bet they'll have some ideas.
 
I will not get into the debate about how good or bad Windows 11 is, but I run it on my i7-3770 with no problems whatsoever and also on i5-4300 and i5-6500 rigs. There is an easy way to bypass the TPM and CPU requirements when upgrading to Windows 11, and this is by applying the following registry tweak (source Microsoft):

- Press Windows + R and type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup.
- Right-click the MoSetup folder and create a new DWORD value named AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU.
- Double-click the entry you just created and change the value from 0 to 1.

My personal experience is that Windows 11 hogs as much memory and CPU resources as Windows 10, so no real difference there. Both really require an SSD to run smoothly as Windows 7 seems to be the last version which would run happily on a traditional HDD. I have not tried it with a dual-core, but suspect it will run reasonably smoothly as long as an SSD is used.

For the record ... Windows 11 is fully functional when the registry tweak is applied, and updates normally including the major updates.
 
Last edited:
Bear415 said:
As I clearly said, because I want to. I asked a fact based question, not a list of why people hate 11.
Click to expand...
Hey Beard, I clearly gave you a fact based answer and I don't hate W11. What more facts do you want? It takes a qualified mobo and a qualified chip. Also, when asking for help, you may not want to be so snippy.
 
hunterjwizzard said:
Orange, you are weirdly passionate about windows 11. Do you also hate firewire?
Click to expand...
Weirdly passionate? It and W10 are the only games in town if you live in 2024. Firewire? How long did that app last? You're probably still using it, aren't you? It would be difficult to get emotional concerning Firewire one way or the other. Apple did though, when Intel whacked their support. Lets see: Today Firewire = 40MB per sec / USB4 = 400GB per sec . Not much room left for love is there?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top