Hey everyone! I'm looking for some advice on which Linux distribution would be the best fit for my old PC. It has just 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a Pentium processor running at 2.60 GHz, and an NVIDIA GT 520 graphics card. I've been considering Linux Mint since I'm a beginner, but I'm unsure if that's the best option. Any suggestions?
5 Answers
Since your PC is a bit vintage, using a standard web browser might be frustrating. For your graphics card, if you go for a current distribution like Mint, you'd be using the unofficial nouveau drivers, which can be slow and buggy. It might be better to look at lightweight options like Lubuntu or Fedora with LXQt. If you want to use the older NVIDIA 390 drivers, you could consider Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12, but you might need to downgrade the kernel or find a special package.
MX Linux is a great choice! Their NVIDIA installer works well, and you can run the 390 driver on the latest kernel. I would recommend trying the Fluxbox edition since your RAM is limited—it’s more minimal but can look modern with some themes.
For an older system like yours, go for something light! I suggest Lubuntu or antiX. They should run well without bogging down your RAM too much. Plus, Arch could also be a good fit if you want a bit more control.
LXQt is another great option to keep in mind. It’s lightweight and runs smoothly on older hardware like yours. If you're open to it, Debian is also a solid choice for stability.
I wouldn't go with Mint unless you're using a really old version. Your old hardware means you'll need to find a distro that uses RAM sparingly, so maybe avoid Mint and Ubuntu. I find Chromium works better for low RAM setups than Firefox. Also, consider turning swap off; it can help make your machine feel snappier despite the small RAM.
Definitely consider Lubuntu LTS. It's lightweight, efficient, and should work great with your specs, especially with 2GB of RAM. Hope that helps!
Very true! And if you're leaning towards Debian, adding the MX repo could work for you since they're similar; just be cautious about potential dependency issues.