No reason to use Windows, especially Windows 10, as it’s too bloaty for old computers.
If you have a monster gaming PC, Windows 10 is fine. However, if you want to revive your old computer, the last thing you should do is shoehorn Windows 10 into an old computer. This is counter-productive and creates more issues, than it could possibly solve.
In your case, I would recommend to troubleshoot the real problem systematically and then install something like Kubuntu onto it.
@Akito
You are way off base here, Windows will work with what @LeanLin has, I doubt if Linux
ever will. As for as Gentoo, I have spent the past several months studying and
learning, it is not the casual Linux install of what Linux is now, As for Debian, I have
did a CLI install, several years ago, nowhere near as complicated as Gentoo. The only other challenge left for me is to do a Linux from scratch or Kali, but
I do not have the time to tackle either one. I can now get Gentoo up and running
with just one use flag and four cpu flags,
It is clear, that our definitions of “work” are not the same. I do not accept a successful boot up but then having extreme amounts of lag as “working”.
Okay. But this topic is not about your problem, but someone else’s.
I rest my case.
@4dandl4 and @Akito I will definitely take both your suggestions into consideration. And I am very happy to have received them.
I am very much aware and is not the reason behind my recent discovered inclination towards Gentoo. From what I read Gentoo is an advanced version of Linux, the one that people with skills use and have a hard time doing it. And that is what intrigues me. Plus I like the name. 
(call me silly, I don’t care)
I am worried I would install a much user-friendlier version of Linux and just use it the way I use Windows, or at all, and end up not actually learning much from it. But if Gentoo works only after I learned what I need to learn to make it work, than my goal is reached and I’ve learned Linux to a satisfactory level. And then I get to explore further. I learned electronics and german on my own and skiped the basics all together, I’m not the best at any of the two, but I am at a level I am proud of myself, so why not do the same with Linux?
And again, not yet 100% decided. I might just buy some compatible cheap GPU and continue the hassle with the diva LM I already started.
I don’t know how anyone could say these specs would be too slow/low to run Linux on this hardware…
It’s at least a generation newer than my old Phenom II (~2010) “gaming” rig, which I ran linux (usually / nearly always, an LTS release of Ubuntu - but I’ve tried elementary, Manjaro, fedora on there too) on for 10 years. AMD Phenom II X6, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, used onboard crossfire Radeon GPU with a PCIe Redeon “crossfire” capable GPU (but it worked fine using using the onboard APU).
The A10 FM2 chips hail from around 2014 I believe… Quad core, 8 GB of RAM - should be plenty…
On my system, I eventually replaced the PCIe GPU with an NVidia GTX660 Ti OC and no longer use the APU. Last year replaced the GTX660 with a GTX1650 “super”.
Eventually relocated the 1650 into my new Ryzen 7 system, and put the 660 back in and ran folding@home on it (the Phenom system) until about 2 months ago when I turned it off… And now I do everything on the Ryzen 7 system…
But that ancient Phenom II X6 didn’t skip a beat… served me well…
Whatever you do, don’t start off with Gentoo. My first distro was Slackware, but that was 25+ years ago. I’ve been told Slackware sits somewhere on the dificulty scale between Arch (easier) and Gentoo (harder). I don’t even understand why Gentoo is being discussed as first time user distribution. Back in 1995 nothing about Linux (or even UNIX) was “easy”, and yeah, I had to compile stuff sometimes, but not compile “EVERYTHING”…
Thank you @daniel.m.tripp also for the tips. Nice to hear someone other than me consider my old configuration still a good one. From all the PC’s I’ve had to work with at my job, which isn’t in IT so did not worked with them like that, but doesn’t matter for my argument here, there are many computers to use there, my old one is the best of the best in comparison.
Ah, but I am no longer a “first time user”. 
I mean since last week and until now I learned so much, and toggled between Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Plus I can now boot a Linux and chose the Something else option at boot and know mostly what I’m supposed to do there, isn’t that awesome? (a bit full of myself, but why not?).
and why not everything? That sounds much more interesting…to me anyhow. Actually, if I think about it from my perspective, the “everything” is what might make it easier for me than just parts of it. Because “just parts of it” could eventually confuse me as I would not be sure if I have to compile something or not. Maybe it is as it should be and I just don’t know it, which would make me doubt myself and be afraid to compile.
If I know from the begining the next step will not happen unless I say so, then I just need to learn to say so the right way and go further, or trip and fall and rise up and try again because there would be no way around it. Doesn’t that sound fun?
P.S. I’ve also learned English pretty much all by myself, albeit started 20 years ago. What are your feelings about my English?
And afterall, Linux needs knowledge of a programming language, what does it matter which Linux and which language for someone who does not yet speak one? 
I’ve been using Linux 25+ years, and UNIX a bit longer… I started with Slackware 3.x running Kernel 1.2.13. You could actually get a running Slackware system without having to “compile”, but to get a “functional” system, e.g. with ethernet support for your NIC, or sound from your soundcard, or some acceleration for your VGA card, you had to compile a kernel (and you had to know what ISA interrupts and DMA to submit to the make file).
From my experience - these are the distributions in order of difficulty :
I’m sure I’ve got some things wrong here… There’s probably a few others between Arch and Debian, and Debian and Red Hat… And it’s been a while since I used SUSE, I’d probably rate it may equal with Red Hat… And not sure which is trickier, LFS or Gentoo… Probably LFS…
But - I wouldn’t want to have my main Linux machine compiling EVERYTHING for hours and hours - it was bad enough on my 386DX machine when I used to compile a new kernel (never mind compiling everything) - can’t remember how long, but I reckon maybe 2 hours to compile the Linux kernel, 1.2.13? The kernel is now exponentially larger than it was 25 years ago (and even Linus Torvalds acknowledges it suffers from bloat).
Maybe if you want difficult/tricky, go for Arch or Slackware - then - once you’re happy, you can figure out KVM, or QEMU (or just VirtualBox on your desktop) and learn how to do Gentoo and/or LFS in a VM?
Also - you write English VERY well - I couldn’t even tell it wasn’t your first language! 
Awesome tips @daniel.m.tripp. Very much appreciated. I will definetly keep all these in mind when I finally decide to work on my old machine. I also have two laptops laying around somewhere which I intend to convert to Linux, if they are at all functional. I can’t remember. And I think I still have a Linux machine which I’m not sure how exactly is made (my ex made it). I know I was supposed to log through my Windows PC and a terminal, with IP and su username and password. It stopped functioning at some point and I don’t know why so I just put it aside hoping to learn enough Linux one day and take care of it. Looking forward to that, since that machine was intented as an external storage device (don’t ask me why, I am not aware of the reasons), so all my photos prior to 2016 are on that (bad choice of trust placing, but that’s in the past so…). Not the biggest loss but it would be nice if I could save them from oblivion.
My soon to be Linux PC is not my main machine, but it will be the main Linux machine, mostly because it’s configuration is better than the other ones and it has a new power supply, yay! I am keeping Windows, and I also feel I need to keep it for my daughter. Somehow I have the feeling schools will not switch soon to Linux (but I am not yet up to date with pretty much anything in the current school system, so I might be wrong). I want to be able to teach her to use a computer the same way she would learn in school, and afterwards we can experiment on learning Linux (of course, once I’ve learned it myself enough to teach).
Now it would bother me to have it running for days since it’s a very tiny and crowded apartment and the noise would irritate me, so I’m putting my Linux project on hold till the end of the year, beginning of 2022 maybe, when all my gear gets a room of their own (what a dream! 
)
All the info on Linux systems is greatly appreciated, since before I landed on this forum all I got was: “why not try Linux”. And as I see here, this is an understatement since there are so many versions and possibilities, you cannot simply put it like that.
Besides all of it, my Linux learning goal is not so advanced, since I don’t plan on working in programming or anything similar (but then again, I did not plan, actually promised myself, I would not move to Germany, and here I am. Also did not plan in becoming an electronics technician, yet I have done that too, so who knows, maybe I will work in programming at some point 
). The point is, I’m not looking to be a master of Linux, but to know enough know-how to be able to put it on my resume, expand my options in job searching and of course, to be able to actually do what I’m saying I can. And for the jobs I’m searching there is not a great deal of Linux required, just half of the basics maybe. But it wouldn’t hurt to know slightly more than half of the basics.
I was suggested to try Ubuntu. Did that, and something is off with my machine and it did not work. Mint was further on suggested and it does not work. The next thing I heard was Gentoo, so why not try the next in line? Altough Fedora caught my eye. Just the name really, I know nothing other than the name. Saw the desktop backgrounds topic here and Kubuntu logo looks cool… (all unreasonable grounds to try a Linux OS, but I have no expectations or demands of it, so what the heck!)
Thank you very much! I am myself particularly proud of my English language level. I hope I can teach my daughter well.
The part about compiling kernels makes it all very interesting, to be honest. I somehow had the impression this kernel I kept hearing about was a default state of the CPU and once that’s damaged it’s all scrap, as if it would be a physical component. Since I have no actual experience with kernels, and when my Linux tries from the last days failed and I complained about it, I got a few “kernel is damaged and that’s that” alongside the amusing Kernel panic along the installation process, I just thought I will need to replace the CPU and try again. I kind of like the idea that I can compile a kernel myself.
P.S. keep in mind I am not a big computer freak (well just among my colleagues and friends, cause from that point of view I am, hahaha) so my understanding of it might sound childish at times, it is also part of my learning process, so I do apologize if I do sound childish, irrational or maybe even ungrateful. Not my intention.
Been working with my Gentoo VM!!
Compiled Clementine for a music player and VLC for a
video player, although it is also an excellent music player.
