Just did this with an hp dv7 core 2 duo. Threw an ssd in it and added ram (has 8gb). You can get cheap, 3x512gb ssds for about $100 and refurbish a couple cpus.

The dell boots on kernel 6.13 in about 15 seconds. The only hangup was it would freeze at first. I eventually figured out that it needed the intel microcode image loaded before the kernel, and acpi_osi set to windows 2006.