Hey everyone! I'm looking for some advice on the best Linux distribution to use for my old PC. It has only 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a Pentium processor running at 2.60 GHz, and an Nvidia GT 520 graphics card. I'm considering Linux Mint since I'm a beginner, but I want to know if that's a good choice or if there are better options available for my specs.
3 Answers
I wouldn't recommend Mint, especially not the newer versions, considering your hardware. You're better off with something light that won't bog down your system. I'd suggest alternatives like Lubuntu or even antiX, which are designed for lower specs. Just remember that web browsing will be your main challenge with only 2GB RAM.
Honestly, with your setup, you're leaning towards vintage computing. Using a web browser might be pretty slow. If you go with something like Linux Mint, you'll have to deal with the unofficial nouveau drivers for your graphics card, which aren't the best. Instead, consider lightweight distros like Lubuntu or the Fedora LXQt spin for better performance. You could stick with an older LTS like Ubuntu 22.04 if you want to use the official NVIDIA 390 drivers, but you might need to downgrade the kernel or find specific drivers. Another option is trying an unsupported older version like Linux Mint 20.3, but keep in mind you'll miss out on security updates. Good luck!
If you're only using 2GB of RAM, you need a distro that's light on resources. Mint and Ubuntu would be heavy on memory. Chromium might perform better than Firefox in low RAM scenarios. Unfortunately, I'd suggest disabling swap altogether to make your machine feel more responsive.
Mx Linux could be your best bet—its Nvidia installer handles everything well. Running the 390 driver on the latest kernel is smooth, especially with the Fluxbox edition for lower RAM usage. If you're up for it, you could also install Debian with the LXQt desktop, then add the MX repo for the Nvidia driver, but make sure you're careful with that.