DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Tech has definitely passed me by ......

There are ways around the requirements, and in most cases it's a matter of optional functions not being enabled.

Linus Tech Tips has a pretty good video on it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NivpAiuh-s0&ab_channel=LinusTechTips

around 7:00 he gets into how to get it on an older PC.

I watch Linus all the time, He's pretty good.

I just find it amusing that I have a pretty powerful system that cannot "officially" upgrade to Windows 11, and yet this tablet which I bought for $90, which is significantly less powerful in every way, has already updated. (officially)

Frankly, thus far, I have come away from my initial time with 11 rather unimpressed. It has an "eye candy" appeal, and has a more user friendly (with an "Android" type "Settings" icon) settings page. There is supposedly going to be more integration with Android apps and the Amazon store, and I suppose that's good .... but most of the Android and Amazon apps I use on my Android tablet are "time wasters". I don't know that I see great value there.

I'll keep 11 on my tablet, but I don't know that I'll lament not having it on my desktop system.

So ..... I have a bunch of old, outdated call phones lying around collecting dust. I read an article about using an old cell phone as a system monitor, so I set one up. It's pretty cool. I don't know if it's super useful, but pretty cool.

I also set up a second old smart phone as a Google machine. "Hey Google" with a British accent. It's good for when I am writing, and need a synonym, or a quote, or such. It's easier than bringing the browser back up, entering the parameters, and then going back to Word. I don't know how much easier, but it's a fun toy right now.

So ...anyway ...... my old Dell server tower passed on to the great beyond. It was a great computer, a little overly large and heavier than a horse or 2 ..... but it performed well.

I went on eBay and bought another for $199. I pulled the video card out of the old machine, and put it into the new one.

Nothing.

I was so frustrated. I knew I missed something.

Well, I like having a desktop ..... because that's what I am used to. I looked all over the site for something newer. I have no problems with Windows 11. I have it on my laptop and tablet, and it does well. I found a used PC, that literally looks like the guy bought the thing, pulled the graphics card, and threw an older one in. (and that's probably what happened, but so what) No problem, I had a GTX 1050ti here collecting dust, so I figured I would throw that in. Decent system, with an i3 9100, 16 GB RAM, and 3TB of storage. It had an old graphics card in it, but that didn't matter to me. The guy listed it at $399. I asked him why he didn't upgrade it to Windows 11, and he said that it wouldn't upgrade. I thought to myself, $400, and it's got good bones.

So anyway, I started monkeying around with the Dell, in the meantime. I was checking all of the connections ....... and then I saw it. The card I stuck in there had an external power plug ......... Plugged that sucker in and away we went. It runs just fine. It will probably never run Windows 11, but so what. For the price I paid for it, I'l be OK with that. I threw the harddrive from my old system in there and it was like nothing had happened.

So, in the meantime, my new system shipped. It arrived today. (3 days from Ill, nice) It looks even better than in the photos ...... and the RGB is starting to grow on me. I was about to wipe the drive and was going to reinstall Windows 10, but figured, "let's try 11". I ran the checker, and sure enough, it said "No way Jose. Your system doesn't have TPM 2.0 enabled." Enabled that in the BIOS, installed the newer video card, used the Windows 11 flash drive I used to upgrade my laptop. and in about 30 minutes, I had a shiny new Windows 11 system.

I wonder if the guy didn't know how to enable TPM, or just didn't care. Who cares? I got a solid enough system to stay up to date for quite a while.

I might have to take up gaming.

Yeah, I wasn't very happy to find out my new MOBO (2020) which was pitched as the intel next gen ready best you can get… it needed an additional $100 hardware module added to achieve TPM 2.0, and be Win 11 compliant. I upgraded but haven't really seen the improvement in Win 11 yet to make it worth it.

Wow, I thought that all MOBOs sold in the last 4 or 5 years had TPM 2.0 on them. Guess that was another ...... exaggeration by MS. I have seen too many people who have updated "incompatible" systems, though, to put much stock in the idea that 11 just won't run on older hardware.

I liked Win 10, and I like Win 11. Both have run fine for me, with the exception of one program conflict in Win 11.

I looked at building a new PC, but video card prices are so stupid (and the cards are hard to find) that I decided to look at used systems. I was glad to find this one at a reasonable price.

Meh, unless you are a gamer, the onboard intel graphics stream video just fine. I've never been into video games.

I like having a video card. Maybe it's just my having seen a ton of bad onboard video over the years. The bad thing is that even "mid cards" have been driven through the roof, price-wise. A GTX-3060 retails new for somewhere in the $300 range, but you can't find them at that price. They are sold out at retail, and are scalped online for 3 times retail. (or more) Even somewhat older cards are ridiculous.

I was discussing building a system on one of these threads, and someone said it's cheaper to buy a pre-built, and that does seem to be true. If a system builder (large one) builds a system, and even charges for assembly, the video card is still cheaper than what a person on the street can buy it for.