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I have a PC that is over 8 years old. Having said that, I have upgraded the he** out of this PC during this time. The upgrades have included a new graphics card, new power supply, additional memory, and a solid state hard drive. I have a high end laptop (that is now my primary computer), but this Dell XPS 410 continues to serve me well as a second computer.

That said, here is my question. Should I take Microsoft up on their offer of a free upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10? (Yes-I have a retail version of Win 7 installed on this PC). I ask the question about possibly upgrading to Win 10 on this computer because although it runs Win 7 perfectly fine.....I am wondering if I am just inviting problems if I put Win 10 on this PC? Perhaps I should leave well enough alone. But when I see that invite (for the upgrade) in my task bar, it's tempting to go ahead and register for it. Thanks for any advice.

PS - I did have a problem last year (with driver support and the BIOS setting) when I decided to install a new solid state drive on this Dell (of course also requiring the complete reinstall of Win 7 at that time on this Dell). But I have the work around documented on that issue--which I talked about a year ago on this forum.

I've got Win10 on an upgraded Latitude E6400 at work. 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD. Runs like a champ, so there's a good chance yours will run it.

bthylafh wrote:

I've got Win10 on an upgraded Latitude E6400 at work. 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD. Runs like a champ, so there's a good chance yours will run it.

That's good to know about your work PC running Win 10. I've owned my Dell XPS 410 since the very beginning of 2007 (came with XP just before Vista launched). So while mine is a little older, perhaps it's still a good comparison to your Latitude E6400.

Given Microsoft's focus on enabling Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 to run well on smaller devices (like tablets, etc.), I'd go so far as to say that you might actually find Windows 10 perform slightly better than Windows 7. As long as you're not strongly opinionated about the UI in either Windows 7 or 10, it'll be a safe and good move to make. FWIW, I have an XPS 420 from early 2008 running Windows 8.1, and will make the move to Windows 10 pretty much immediately (particularly since its not my primary PC, just like your 410).

arunphilip wrote:

Given Microsoft's focus on enabling Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 to run well on smaller devices (like tablets, etc.), I'd go so far as to say that you might actually find Windows 10 perform slightly better than Windows 7. As long as you're not strongly opinionated about the UI in either Windows 7 or 10, it'll be a safe and good move to make. FWIW, I have an XPS 420 from early 2008 running Windows 8.1, and will make the move to Windows 10 pretty much immediately (particularly since its not my primary PC, just like your 410).

I like your answer about 10 possibly performing better than 7. We know that smaller devices are more powerful than they were 8 years ago when my XPS was brand new. But having said that, I think you still make a good point....not to mention the fact that I've upgraded the sh** out of my XPS 410. I have very briefly played with Win 10 (in a Virtual Machine) on another computer and I am fine with the UI on Win 10.

I am guessing the only hiccup that I may encounter could be the BIOS setting--particularly if I decided to do a clean install (which I normally do with Windows). I am unsure about the 420, but on the 410, the only two settings in the BIOS (under hard drive settings) are 'Raid On' and 'ATA/Autodetect'. In a nutshell, the 'Raid On' is the factory default setting on the 410; and it is the desired setting (for housekeeping purposes and otherwise)--particularly if you are going to use a solid state hard drive on the PC. But last year, I encountered a problem with the 'Raid On' setting when doing a clean install of Win 7 on the new solid state drive. But the issue was resolved (which I talked about on here a year ago).

One thing I am good at is backups. And I've got an external hard drive full of them along with a recent system image of this 410 running Win 7.

I've been running Windows 10 Technical Preview inside Virtual Box on a Dell M4400 laptop (T9900 Core2Duo, upgraded to 8GB and an SSD) for about three weeks, and apart from minor VM-attributable latency in some tasks, it runs rather well. Something to consider is that if your XPS410 has a C2D E8x00 or similar, it may support some of the E9x00 series Core2 Quads, such as a Q9650 (or equivalently, a cheaper Xeon E5450 with the pin-mod kit, if you are so inclined).

scott784 wrote:

I am unsure about the 420, but on the 410, the only two settings in the BIOS (under hard drive settings) are 'Raid On' and 'ATA/Autodetect'. In a nutshell, the 'Raid On' is the factory default setting on the 410; and it is the desired setting (for housekeeping purposes and otherwise)--particularly if you are going to use a solid state hard drive on the PC. But last year, I encountered a problem with the 'Raid On' setting when doing a clean install of Win 7 on the new solid state drive. But the issue was resolved (which I talked about on here a year ago).

Wouldn't it be the other way around? i.e. Wouldn't disabling the on-board RAID via BIOS (by choosing ATA/AutoDetect) enable TRIM commands to pass through? According to this AnandTech article, Intel added support for passing TRIM commands through RAID only in the 7-series chipsets. My 420 has a 3-series chipset (X38), and I presume your 410 would have a similar/older chipset.

Also, my 420's BIOS has the exact same options as yours. The default is also 'RAID On' for me, since I'd ordered it with a pair of WD Raptors in RAID-1. I've since replaced that pair of HDs with a single HD.

ludi wrote:

I've been running Windows 10 Technical Preview inside Virtual Box on a Dell M4400 laptop (T9900 Core2Duo, upgraded to 8GB and an SSD) for about three weeks, and apart from minor VM-attributable latency in some tasks, it runs rather well. Something to consider is that if your XPS410 has a C2D E8x00 or similar, it may support some of the E9x00 series Core2 Quads, such as a Q9650 (or equivalently, a cheaper Xeon E5450 with the pin-mod kit, if you are so inclined).

This was the one upgrade that I forgot to mention (in my post above). Years ago, I did upgrade the CPU from a C2D to a Core2Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (quad core). This PC has about every upgrade that it is/was ever capable of receiving...LOL. Speaking of upgrades, the only other thing I could have done was bump the memory up from 6GB to 8GB (maxing it out). But I never bothered with that; and it's probably too expensive anyway now days for older memory. What made a difference (more than anything) was putting in the new SSD last year. It turned this PC into (what feels like) a low end i5.

scott784 wrote:

This was the one upgrade that I forgot to mention (in my post above). Years ago, I did upgrade the CPU from a C2D to a Core2Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (quad core).

I'm sure the Q6000 will perform well under Windows 10. The Surface 3 gets 39 single core and 134 in multi core in Cinebench R15 and it performs well as far as Windows 8.1 use goes. The Q6600 gets 62 and 231 in R15. I still have my Q6600 rig (dead motherboard ) and I was always impressed at how well it performed under Windows 7.

Amazing how CPU tech has progressed. My fanless Core M gets 111/230 in R15.

I've seen a P8700/4GB DDR2 laptop run earlier builds of Win10 just fine, and honestly, your machine should work fine with Win10.

I've now had Win7 (reinstalled as a clean install) for one year with the solid state hard drive that I purchased in 2014. I don't have a bit of a problem with it. And with the work around (as I previously posted), Device Manager shows (under the Storage controllers) folder: Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller

But to the point made on here earlier by 'ArunPhilp' does it really matter (in Win10) if I have the factory default setting of 'Raid On' in the BIOS? From the reading I have done on other forums, it appears "RAID On" does in fact enable AHCI by default! And it was my understanding this is what I needed for full hard drive support (especially now with a SSD). And the Raid On mode is supposed to be faster while enabling performance features like Native Command Queuing (NCQ). The manual that came with this PC clearly recommends leaving the BIOS setting to Raid On and not ATA/auto detect.

But there's something about this particular computer (and I think other similar ones) that make it a bi**ch to get clean installs done because the installation media typically doesn't find the drivers it needs for the SATA controllers. (The only time I recall not having a hickup with a clean install (using Raid On) is when I used Dell's own version of a Vista install disc when doing a clean install. Otherwise, when the computer is left in 'Raid On' mode, a clean install will get hung up during the installation and you see the BSOD. But there are/were workarounds with clean installing Vista/Win7 by simply installing in BIOS mode - ATA/Autodect and then going back into the system and changing the driver setting (as previously posted).

Unlike Win7/Vista, that workaround to get Win7 clean installed (while enabling BIOS setting of Raid On) is not applicable for Win8 or the upcoming Win10....although (I think) if I run into problems with BIOS setting of 'Raid On' when attempting to clean install Win10, I can just install in ATA/Auto detect BIOS mode and then reboot to safe mode to allow the PC to install the appropriate drivers...and then proceed as normal....back to the factory default setting of 'Raid On'....if desired or needed. I think this....but I don't really know!

I do want to ensure that I have FULL Trim Command support for my SSD on this older PC? And truthfully if I thought/knew Win10 had FULL native support already inside the OS, I wouldn't care what BIOS mode I had for the SATA controller. But again my knowledge about this topic is limited.

PS There's only two BIOS settings on this PC (Raid On and Autodetect/ATA) with Raid On being the factory default setting.

You know, on that note - I have an HP dc7700 (Pentium D 925, 2GB DDR2, Q965 chipset, GMA 3000) sitting around. Upgraded it from Windows 7 64-bit (which it doesn't officially have drivers for BTW, just XP, Vista 32/64, and 7 32) straight to the latest Win10 beta, and it worked just fine. I even regained the ability to use the onboard speaker, once Windows installed a generic Realtek driver - Windows 7 only recognized the 3.5mm outputs with drivers it provided. (The onboard speaker on these is some sort of ATAPI device, shows separately.) Only oddity is that Windows 7 automatically loaded a Microsoft WDDM video driver (aero, correct screen res), and then downloaded the Intel one via Windows Update. The Windows 10 upgrade defaulted to a generic video driver (1024x768), and Device Manager showed that as the only installed compatible driver. It happily downloaded a Microsoft WDDM 1.1 driver (like Win7 included) when I told it to search Windows Update though - not sure what happened to the actual Intel driver. Probably would've while installing had I followed the recommendations during setup. 2007 era machine that supports Pentium D's/Conroe's. And it does seem a tad faster/smoother than 7.

Unfortunately, I also have a HP DC7600 from 2006 (Pentium 4 524, 2GB DDR2, 82945G/945G chipset, GMA 900) that runs Windows 7 64-bit (officially has 32-bit drivers for XP and Vista, no official 64-bit support as I recall). Win7 works fine on it (though the graphics struggle with aero), but Windows 10 refused to install due to a lack of certain processor extensions. Might work if I installed a Pentium D (supports 4 and D).

My Dell as an Intel Core 2 Quad CPU at 2.40GHz (2007 time era) with 6.00 GB of ram and an upgraded PSU. More recently, I installed a video card, Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti and a new SSD in 2014. So this PC is still very capable with these upgrades. The SSD (in particular) was a major upgrade--PC boots to desktop in Win7 X64 in practically no time.

In hindsight, I should’ve installed Win10 in a virtual machine to check it out. But I believe MS has shut down any further installs of the pre-release builds of Win10. My only concern now is having full Trim support for Win10 on this older PC with the BIOS settings and doing a clean install without headaches. But the good news is……I have a recent Win7 system image on an external hard drive along with a recent full backup of all of my personal data.

I am probably just going to go for the free WIn10 upgrade and see what happens. Worst case scenario, I can always revert back to my system image of Win7. But if there is any further insight (from anyone) about my inquiry with Trim support and BIOS settings—please let me know. I assume I'll be receiving notification of the free upgrade within a week or two after 07/29 since I've already registered for it.