Hardware and Windows 10 Compatibility

[mw007]

I recently inherited two machines from a local business. They're fairly decent, so I decided to take one of them and make my son a (hopefully) mid-level gaming setup. I have two questions:

1. Motherboard is a Dell OptiPlex 3010 (model# MIH61R), which lists 8GB RAM as the maximum. Is this a hardware limitation, or would it be possible to exceed this?
    
2. I'm looking at putting Windows 10 on this. I haven't installed Windows on anything since Windows 98. The Win10 hardware requirements list "Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver" as one of the requirements. What is this and how do I tell if the graphics card is compatible?

Thanks!

[Guest]

1. Hardware

2. What is the full PC specs?

[mw007]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Full PC specs are:

• 4 x Intel Core i5-3470 CPU @ 3.20GHz
• 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
• 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
• 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
• 00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
• 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
• 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
• 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b4)
• 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
• 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation H61 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 04)
• 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port Desktop SATA AHCI Controller (rev 04)
• 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
• 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM]
• 01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6450 / 7450/8450/8490 OEM / R5 230/235/235X OEM]
• 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)

Note that to get this information, I used a linux live usb and ran the "lspci" command. It's the most effective way that I know of to get it. If there is a better way, please let me know.

 

So it looks like it has a Radeon HD 6450 graphics card. Please let me know if there is anything else you need.

[mw007]

It looks like it is compatible, according to this from a Microsoft employee:

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware/windows-10-amd-video-card-radeon-hd-6450-windows/f3f8cc9f-e044-49fe-a017-0110f28e1241

 

Though some people on that thread seem to disagree.