Looking to refresh an old Windows machine

[Sleepy|Entity]

Hello!

I have an older Windows laptop that I want to install Linux on. I have used Linux in the past, not really a newbie so I do not need anything like that, just some recommendations on the specs. I will be using it for mainly game dev, probably some YouTube tutorials if need be, and GIMP. Nothing too terribly demanding (hopefully). I appreciate any advice.

SPECS:

8th Gen Intel core i3 processor (2.2 GHz base frequency, up to 3.4 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Dual-core)
4 GB DDR4-2400 MHz RAM
Intel UHD Graphics 620

 

[Condobloke]

G'day Sleepy|Entity, Welcome to Linux.org

That should handle the load.

If it were me, I would double the ram....i would even triple it. But that's me. I love power in reserve.

I am unsure what ram requirements are for game development.

Throw a Linux distro on it and give it an intensive half hour of what you need it for.

That will tell you more than any other way

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Depending on which game engine you'll use and type of games you may need a better GPU, however anything too strong and it won't be fully utilized due to CPU. there are sites that compare selected GPU to current CPU and tell how much of GPU power is wasted.

And ram I'd suggest 8-16GB.

 

[Sleepy|Entity]

@Condobloke @CaffeineAddict

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to upgrade anything right now, so it is either good enough or not. I will have to look into the system requirements for the game engine.

 

[NicWelds]

I would just try one of the more lightweight distros and see how it works. I would expect a web browser to work as long as you don't have too many tabs open. I don't know much about game development but if you have to run the game you might find things slow.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

For those specs, MX25+fluxbox DE should run nicely.

And ram I'd suggest 8-16GB.

For Game dev, that would definitely be the Recommended lower limit. 4 Gigs would browse the web fine and some light office work, but 4gigs is probably not enough for game development (I'm thinking it would work, but take a looooong time to compile.)

And welcome to the Forums!

 

[CaffeineAddict]

For Game dev

It depends a lot on software and type of games.
For AAA games with UE5 recommended hardware specs are very high, and I know minimum specs aren't good:

Processor	Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster
Memory	32 GB RAM
Graphics RAM	8 GB or more

Hardware and Software Specifications for Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.7 Documentation | Epic Developer Community

Minimum and recommended hardware specifications and necessary software for developing with Unreal Engine.

dev.epicgames.com

But figured later the OP is looking for software recommendation, there are plenty of engines with lower specs but their feature set is not as high.

 

[Sleepy|Entity]

For those specs, MX25+fluxbox DE should run nicely.

For Game dev, that would definitely be the Recommended lower limit. 4 Gigs would browse the web fine and some light office work, but 4gigs is probably not enough for game development (I'm thinking it would work, but take a looooong time to compile.)

And welcome to the Forums!

Thank you! I will give it a look and see if it will work.

 

[Sleepy|Entity]

But figured later the OP is looking for software recommendation, there are plenty of engines with lower specs but their feature set is not as high.

I already have my game engine, I am just wanting to switch to Linux. I do not touch those game engines.

 

[PuppyHome]

@Condobloke @CaffeineAddict

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to upgrade anything right now, so it is either good enough or not. I will have to look into the system requirements for the game engine.

In that case take a look at EndeavoOS and/or CachyOS. Both very low on resources (especially RAM) yet fast and powerful enough to do the job. Game dev? Yeah as said before here depends on the type of games and the workload.

EDIT: Be sure to create a SWAP file or partition on those. The size should be as much physical RAM you already have.

 

[kc1di]

Hello @Sleepy|Entity

Welxome to the Linux.org forum, enjoy.
With that machine I would also recommend light weight distros. AntiX would work nicely. MX with xfce should work but maybe a bit slow. Good luck in your search. Try a few of the Distros live see which one works best for you.

 

[bob466]

For general use...Mint xfce.

I have it running on my 14 year old Laptop with 4GB of Ram but it does have an SSD which also helps.