Best OS for an old PC

[tomkis90]

So I built an old computer from parts I had laying around the house.
Its running
2gb of DDR2 ram,
Pentium D 820,
Gt 630,
Old 80gb HDD.
I use the pc for steam in home streaming and watching movies.

My question would be what is the best OS for it? I now have Ubuntu installed but it tends to crash when in big picture after and it just works slow when in the big picture mode.

P.S.
Would is be better to run the OS from the old hard drive or a usb stick?

 

[Aristotelian]

Try LUbuntu.

 

[tomkis90]

Try LUbuntu.

Will do.

 

[Wes006]

I would also recommend checking out Zorin OS.

 

[photonboy]

If the system is CRASHING it's likely he'll have issues with other Linux versions.

It may be related to insufficient drivers possibly not having the 3D ones installed which I remember having to add manually but it has been a while. There was a LINK in the top right of Ubuntu.

Other:
a) USB sticks aren't meant to run an OS on. They have a limited number of write cycles.

b) You should test your DDR2 memory and HDD. You can do both with ultimatebootcd (use MEMTEST86+ and the closest HDD program that matches your HDD)

www.ultimatebootcd.com

c) Not sure if you are interested in a MEDIA interface (i.e. Kodibuntu) but here's a link:
http://kodi.tv/download/

I have the Windows version and may even get a media device for it. I saw one for about $100 with a remote. It's basically similar to a ROKU box, not as refined but also supports things Roku doesn't and is continuing to get updates (more media formats, BluRay support etc).

 

[tomkis90]

photonboy,

My memory is fine. the hard drive might be a little bit too slow.

It crashed after a few minutes in the steam big picture mode and the big picture mode was laggy. can that be caused by not having the right drivers?

 

[photonboy]

photonboy,

My memory is fine. the hard drive might be a little bit too slow.

It crashed after a few minutes in the steam big picture mode and the big picture mode was laggy. can that be caused by not having the right drivers?

It definitely could be a driver issue such as needing a better video driver (again may be a link in top-right of Ubuntu). I'm not very good with Linux though.

It may also be laggy if the CPU is way underpowered though crashing is usually a software issue or defective hardware (not functional hardware that isn't fast enough).

Update: your CPU should not be an issue

 

[tomkis90]

For now I'll try and install the LUbuntu thingy. Maybe it will solve all the problem that I have if not I'll try to replace the HDD because its old and I think its the thing thats causing all the slowing down.