Windows 11 Possible on 3570K? Other Options?

5ubsonic · 2025-01-25T09:37:07+0000

I upgraded my main PC to AM5 last year and decided to use the parts from my previous PC to build a second one that I can use for gaming when staying at my parents' house.

I've just finished that build, installed Windows 10 and got it all working fine. Managed some decent overclocking of the CPU and GPU too.

Now I'm wondering what will happen when W10 support ends later this year? Is there any way for me to upgrade to Windows 11?
Should I just stay on W10 and forget about it? Switch to some variant of Linux instead?

The main game I play is Age of Empires II DE (online multiplayer) - a Microsoft game which I've heard is tricky to get working on Linux.

Relevant specs:
Intel i5 3570K
MSI Z77MA-G45
16GB DDR3 1600
ASUS DirectCU II OC 660ti 2GB
2 x 250GB SSDs

The motherboard has a TPM module socket (no module) but I believe this only supports TPM 1.2 so I think it's pointless me buying a module.

What are your thoughts?

marc2003 · 2025-01-25T09:46:20+0000

It's not officially supported but you can use a USB creation tool called rufus which will bypass the restrictions.

Download the windows 11 ISO

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

https://rufus.ie/en/

https://www.makeuseof.com/rufus-bypass-tpm-secure-boot-requirements-windows-11/

The only actual restriction for older PCs is that the CPU must support SSE 4.2 which your Ivybridge i5 does. I have a haswell which is technically unsupported but works fine.

5ubsonic · 2025-01-25T11:47:09+0000

Thanks. Seems straightforward. Are there any disadvantages to using this method? I heard that Microsoft may choose to implement a watermark on machines that don't meet the requirements for example, though I guess we don't know if that will actually happen.

marc2003 · 2025-01-25T14:26:42+0000

I very much doubt they'll change anything during the lifetime of 24H2. If more severe restrictions/bypass blocking is implemented, I'd expect it to be in a future named version as opposed to any 24H2 update.

It's a bit like the CPU restriction I mentioned. CPUs without SSE 4.2 can run 23H2 and earlier versions of windows 11. It would be extremely mean of them to release any 23H2 update that moves the goalposts on this. Instead they just said 24H2 is not for you.

alex24 · 2025-01-25T14:30:43+0000

You could try Linux for sure. Reports on Protondb say it’s playable including multiplayer but ymmv of course. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find out. Some threads in the Linux forum on distros to choose, but maybe starting out Mint or Ubuntu would work.