Old PC: New OS

[Jackie Daytona]

I've just learned that Steam will no longer support Win7 as of 2024. I'm forced to upgrade, and I'm not sure how to handle this. All options seem bad.

I figure dual-boot with a secondary OS is the best solution. I've been able to do it before, but the experience was poor. Regardless, that's what I'm going with. Which OS, though?

Win10 - About to die off, itself. Has compatibility issues with some of the games I like. Has improved compatibility with some of my games. Doesn't officially work with my CPU (i7-4770k).

Win11 - It's about the same as Win10. Not sure that a system as old as mine can handle it. (From official information, it seems my comp cannot run Win11.)

Steam OS - Release of the next version was delayed. (Or that was the case months ago when I read about it.) I can't be sure the next version will support my specs. (And I'll undoubtedly be forced onto that at some unknown time.)

Alternately, I could get a dock for my Steam Deck. Then just use that as my computer. However, many of my games won't work on it at all. (or work poorly)

No matter what, I'm losing access to some of my games. So, this is a difficult decision.

Update:
I appreciate all the comments. I've taken them into consideration. Spent a few days thinking about this. I've been reading up on Win10 and Win11. I've looked into alternative OS. I've looked to past versions of Steam. I've looked into other game launchers.

Seems it's impossible to obtain an official Win10 key. (Just because M$ decided that's how it would be.) The only way to do so is through shady gray market sites. I'd rather not do that.

Win11 isn't possible. My mobo is "out-of-date". As it doesn't allow the advanced tracking that M$ decided needed to be part of the OS. My system fulfills EVERY requirement with the exception of that ONE. So, I can't use Win11, either.

I joined Steam around 2011. For certain game. I didn't want to. (However, this particular game was ONLY available through Steam.) I felt the dangers of an online-only game-launcher would be trouble. And I've been proven correct. Every fear has come to pass.

I will (soon) no longer be able to play games I paid for. Games that don't require anything beyond what I have now.

There are a number of f2p games I got through Steam. This was a mistake. As *not* playing them through Steam would mean I could continue to play. Now? I'll have to make a new account, or spend $1000 for a new computer. Just so I can play these games.

So, I'm done with Steam. It is a game service that is taking away my games. Games I legitimately purchased. Through proper channels. That do not require Win10.

Going forward, some games will still require Steam. I'll have a linux machine for that. I'm leaving my Win7, as it is. The corporate overlords have made it impossible to upgrade through legitimate and official means. (While also requiring me to do so.)

I've emptied my Steam Wallet. I'll be clearing my wishlist. Aside from DLC for a few games I already own? I won't be spending money through Steam. (Well, I will be buying the official Steam Deck dock, but that'll be the last.) I'll still redeem keys I get through sites like Humble. I won't have an alternative.

And why is all this happening? Because Steam wants to implement a newer version of Google's browser. That's it. That's the ENTIRE reason. I don't think that's a good reason to cut me off from all of my games.

But, hey! There is always sailing. And if Valve doesn't want my money? That's cool. Epic is happy to take my business.

[Cathulhu]

Why do you say that Win10 officially does not work with an i7 4770k? That is nonsense. But there too is the question of how long Steam will support it. Microsoft already announced the End of Support for Windows 10, so it will not be a question of if, but when.

But so far i haven't seen ANY game running on Windows 7 not running on Windows 10, or Windows 11. What games do you suspect you will have trouble with?

About Win11, that will be an issue. Here the 4770k is really not supported due to a lack ot TPM2.0 There are ways to circumvent that, but that may end up in Microsoft refusing to provide updates at some time.

SteamOS 3.0 is still not released for desktop PCs. That much is true. But you can use any other Linux of your choice and get a similar experience.

[UserNotFound]

Yeah, at OP, whatever gave you the idea that the i7 4770K would not work well, or work at all, under Win10? I'd been running my now retired HTPC rig with the exact same CPU, an i7 4770K + 2x 8GB RAM + GTX 1080 and it was working just fine.

Other than HTPC duties, I did play some games on it, including Godfall at '4K', with FSR set to Quality. So, who told you about the Win10 not 'officially' working the 4770K?

[emoticorpse]

At some point you will need to upgrade. If you keep buying games, its on you if you lose them at this point.

[Jackie Daytona]

Cathulhu の投稿を引用：

Why do you say that Win10 officially does not work with an i7 4770k? That is nonsense.

UserNotFound の投稿を引用：

Yeah, at OP, whatever gave you the idea that the i7 4770K would not work well, or work at all, under Win10? I'd been running my now retired HTPC rig with the exact same CPU, an i7 4770K + 2x 8GB RAM + GTX 1080 and it was working just fine.

Other than HTPC duties, I did play some games on it, including Godfall at '4K', with FSR set to Quality. So, who told you about the Win10 not 'officially' working the 4770K?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-10-21h1-supported-intel-processors

As of this date/time, my CPU is not on this list.

[Viking2121]

That system will work really well with Windows 10, Will also work with Windows 11 with a tweak to the installer. As for some games not working with Win 10, you might be surprised as windows 10 comparability mode is not too bad, and if its a old easy to run game, running a windows 7 VM might work, but just look up how to get that game to work on Windows 10, there is a lot of info online about compatibility with old games anew OS's.

[Illusion of Progress]

Jackie Daytona の投稿を引用：

Win10 - About to die off, itself.

It's still two and half years away (and that's if it doesn't get an extension, which it honestly may due to market share). And yes, the fact that it on borrowed time itself would make it less ideal of a solution to move to on something that didn't also support Windows 11, but... you can just install this on your current PC. So there's no "cost". I'd avoid BUYING something now that supports Windows 10, but not 11, but there's no cost to adding to to something you already have.

There's the obligatory mention is that if you used Windows 7 this long, the point at which third party stuff starts dropping support for Windows 10 will be beyond the two and a half years it currently has left. I wouldn't RECOMMEND this... but given you're doing it now, it's an option.

Eventually, upgrades become necessary. We got spoiled with Windows 7 through 10, which didn't really raise the OS requirements a whole lot, and least not drastically like they used to. And CPUs started getting faster a slower rate anyway. Result? Stuff was lasting forever (maybe too long for the chip makers). But that was unlikely to ever be the end game. You've gotten a decade, plus or minus, out of it. That's a very good run. My 2500K lasted me almost as long.

[CJM]

Illusion of Progress の投稿を引用：

Jackie Daytona の投稿を引用：

Win10 - About to die off, itself.

It's still two and half years away (and that's if it doesn't get an extension, which it honestly may due to market share).

Microsoft has previously done 4 years with feature updates ("Service Packs"), 4 years patches only, and 5 more years with critical security updates only.

Microsoft has wanted again and again to charge support contracts for the last five years of an Operating System's life cycle, but I think it is a matter of national security for Microsoft to have 12 years of support for an operating system at this point.

So four more years on Windows 10 is to be expected as of right now, though it is not guaranteed.

[76561198343548661]

it must work on this CPU . My old laptop with i3 2350M which is Sandy Bridge runs on Windows 10 22H2 ! Just checked . It has always run on Windows 10 flawlessly .

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Windows 10, even 22H2 you can properly install and use on Core 2 Duo/Quad and AMD FX stuff. So Intel 4th Gen definitely is not an issue.

[76561198343548661]

Ha ha , see what is written - Earlier generations and models of the CPUs listed may have limited support for devices on this version of Windows 10.

Nonsense . Most likely the increased tracking will not work . lol

[MisterCrow]

Your system will absolutely run Win 10 fine. I had an i7 4770 for years and it ran Win 10 fine (I upgraded it to 10 from 7 back in 2015). I've never had an issue trying to run something on 10 that worked on 7. What games are you trying to run? Win 10 has been around a long time now and is pretty well tested.

Besides which, running Win 7 is now a security risk, so if your machine is on the internet, it's not going to be very secure.

[SlowClick]

My PC has a i5-4430 CPU and a GTX 960 GPU. It runs Win 10 just fine and MS Update does not warn me about compatibility issues with Win 10.

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

I have Windows 10 on a Core2Duo and it's FASTER on Win10 than Win7. That laptop is from 2007. Works just fine. The computers that are older can either see positive or negative outcomes, but in my experience, the older computers love Windows 10 because it is lighter than Win7.

[Haruspex]

Jackie Daytona の投稿を引用：

Steam OS - Release of the next version was delayed. (Or that was the case months ago when I read about it.) I can't be sure the next version will support my specs. (And I'll undoubtedly be forced onto that at some unknown time.)

First off, SteamOS isn't for anything other than the Steam Deck right now, and even when it does come out for other devices it will be primarily intended for a "Steam Machines" style set top box for couch gaming, rather than general computing. There's the old version of SteamOS that's not recommended for anybody at all.

If you want to stick with Windows, I would just go ahead and install Windows 10. There's really nothing Windows 11 offers that 10 doesn't do just fine, and you'll be able to hang on to it until around the end of 2025.

If you want to go the Linux route, forget about SteamOS and install your choice of distro. The various Ubuntu flavors have very good support, or you can go with more interesting choices like Garuda or Chimera OS. Chimera tries to bring all the features of SteamOS to the desktop, which is kind of cool. My personal choice is Kubuntu, since Ubuntu has very good support and I prefer KDE to the default Gnome desktop.

If you have an Nvidia GPU, you might want to try Pop!OS. It comes with the proprietary Nvidia drivers by default and has a very nice desktop environment.

Another really cool up-and-coming distro is Nobara. It's made by Glorious Eggroll, who is better known for his custom builds of Proton. it's based on Fedora with a lot of really nice quality of life and gaming-centric features added.

https://kubuntu.org/

https://garudalinux.org/

https://chimeraos.org/

https://pop.system76.com/

https://nobaraproject.org/

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Forget the whole dual boot idea. It does not work very well for multiple WinOS' anyways.

Just backup what all you need off the Win7 drive to another Drive.

Make your own Win10 64bit 22H2 usb flash drive using MS media creation tool. When it's all done exit the tool. Then go to C Drive. Ensure you can see hidden folders. Then delete the first two folders on C drive that starts with a $ symbol.

Then go to usb drive letter and run SETUP.EXE and perform an inplace upgrade to Win10. Disconnect the internet during this time. Once the 10 install has completed and you've reached the Win10 Desktop go to activation and connect to internet and ensure it activates. After internet is on it might take a couple reboots before it auto activates. Once it is activated, connect the Win10 usb again, this time reboot the system and then boot from this usb drive. During the install select custom then select I do not have a product key. Then select the Edition you were using for Win7 home or pro. If you were using Win7 Ultimate then select Win10 Pro. During the drive selection delete all of the old OS DRIVE. Then select the blank drive and click NEXT. It will auto partition and format it for Win10.

Once you are in Win10 download and run the Intel Driver Support Assistant. This will get the correct drivers for your Intel Chipset, System Management, RST and HD Intel Graphics. Once all that is installed reboot and download and install the latest GPU driver from AMD or NVIDIA per your GPU model and OS