Be careful when using hard drives larger than 500gb with WinXP. I remember running into weird issues.

How do you like that Thermaltake case?

I have the opportunity to grab a NOS ThermalTake Tsunami Dream VA3000SNA (which appears to be very similar) for about $50 USD. I don't have an immediate use for it but thought that it could be a good case to house a future XP build.

mrzmaster wrote on 2022-07-05, 13:42:

How do you like that Thermaltake case?

I have the opportunity to grab a NOS ThermalTake Tsunami Dream VA3000SNA (which appears to be very similar) for about $50 USD. I don't have an immediate use for it but thought that it could be a good case to house a future XP build.

I quite like it! Although it's very big and quite heavy. I only had to drill out the HDD drive bays, as my GPU was too long (Radeon ATI 5870). If you have a shorter GPU Card this won't be a problem and I believe the 5870 was a exceptional length at the time..

Nice system! The Radeon 5870 is a fast, reliable, compatible, and reasonably efficient card for the XP era. There are faster XP compatible cards out there if you're trying to chase 3DMarks but in my opinion you probably won't get a much better gaming experience over the card you have.

There are adapters available (some are plastic, some are metal) that can allow you to install a hard drive within the 5.25" optical bay drive cages. Here's an example:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002998067941.html

That Zalman cooler is really cool looking with a windowed case. I hope it's enough for that i7 since they weren't the best in cooling. Build looks exactly like it's from 2009-2010. 😁

I can recommend getting 3rd 2gb ram to max out triple channel even if 32bit xp doesn't utilize the actual ram. Also xeon x5675 can can be had for around 15$ now. Great chip for overclocking to 4.5ghz or just to save in heat output compared to 45nm i7s.

1366 is awesome platform for supporting pretty much anything you throw at it ranging from w98 with voodoo 2 pci to win11 with rtx gpu and nvme disk with pcie adapter.

Well cant say i am a fan of ppl using op parts for win XP... Windows XP when i heard this AthlonXP and Pentium 4 478 is the first i think about.. Socket 939 and maybe 775 (C2D mostly not quad) can be for XP too. But 1156/ 1155, 1366, AM2 and AM3 when i heard these for windows XP it completely resolves me really, it just sounds and seems wrong to me... Not to mention windows 98 systems with LGA 775, AM2 and above...
But that is just my 2 cents...

bassix6 wrote on 2022-07-06, 09:05:

mrzmaster wrote on 2022-07-05, 13:42:

How do you like that Thermaltake case?

I have the opportunity to grab a NOS ThermalTake Tsunami Dream VA3000SNA (which appears to be very similar) for about $50 USD. I don't have an immediate use for it but thought that it could be a good case to house a future XP build.

I quite like it! Although it's very big and quite heavy. I only had to drill out the HDD drive bays, as my GPU was too long (Radeon ATI 5870). If you have a shorter GPU Card this won't be a problem and I believe the 5870 was a exceptional length at the time..

Dont know how someone may like a case, that he was unable to fit his video card, without modding the case 🤣... Take something bigger for example like SilverStone TJ07 that case is plenty big it will house everything inside...

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-07-09, 08:21:

But 1156/ 1155, 1366, AM2 and AM3 when i heard these for windows XP it completely resolves me really, it just sounds and seems wrong to me...

I still have the Asus M4A77TD Phenom II X4 system that I ran with WinXP from 2010 until 2013, when I finally relented and installed Win7.

Like it or not, AM3 is period-correct for a late WinXP configuration.

KT7AGuy wrote on 2022-07-09, 12:01:

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-07-09, 08:21:

But 1156/ 1155, 1366, AM2 and AM3 when i heard these for windows XP it completely resolves me really, it just sounds and seems wrong to me...

I still have the Asus M4A77TD Phenom II X4 system that I ran with WinXP from 2010 until 2013, when I finally relented and installed Win7.

Like it or not, AM3 is period-correct for a late WinXP configuration.

Well id go with s939 instead for XP build it is more unique and special, also can choose between DFI LanParty, Soltek, ABIT, EPoX and other banrds, and also if i want NF3 chipset with AGP slot or NF4 with PCIex......

Lol that series of boards is so bad... I had 2 of them they both had problems, and was brand new one as well, not used. The first i managed to sell it the garbage board did not post some times, but mostly posting, not sure maybe after some time did die or something. The second board was so garbage it did need mem OK spam on that button in order to make the board post, then was working, overall garbage sold it for cheap as not working properly.. Then i did search the net about these boards, it appears many ppl got problems specially no posting, and not working.. FK ASUS one of the worst brands for motherboards out there... To have memory OK debugging button on ur motherboard 🤣 what a piece of garbage....

My piece of advice sell that trash board and buy some Gigabyte one it will work better, as many ppl did report, that their system was working fine with one of these ASUS M4 boards, and one day they did just die...

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-07-09, 13:05:

ASUS one of the worst brands for motherboards out there... To have memory OK debugging button on ur motherboard 🤣 what a piece of garbage....

My piece of advice sell that trash board and buy some Gigabyte one it will work better, as many ppl did report, that their system was working fine with one of these ASUS M4 boards, and one day they did just die...

My M4A77TD has been running fine for 12 years now. I'd say that's pretty reliable.

More then pure luck, nothing more.. If was me tho i was going to sell that crap as quickly as possible...

bassix6 wrote on 2022-07-05, 08:16:

After building a Windows 98SE PC, I realized that a lot of the games I wanted to play were bitter fit for a Windows XP pc. I did […]
Show full quote

After building a Windows 98SE PC, I realized that a lot of the games I wanted to play were bitter fit for a Windows XP pc. I didn't waste any time and started to hoard parts for a overkill XP PC that will be able to run anything from 2002 to 2010.
Apart from the SSD and PSU I tried to buy parts that are from the 2009/2010 era. I managed to find everything in thrift shops or Marktplaats (The Dutch E-bay 😉 ). All in all I think i've spend between 150-180 euro's on the project, which I'm pretty happy with. The system runs amazing and the games I tested TES: Oblivon, Hitman Blood Money and Max Payne 2 run buttery smooth!

Compared to the Win98 PC, the installation of this XP rig went really smooth. It might be due to the fact that I know more about retro gaming, but maybe technology just got more user friendly through the years.
The only problem I ran into was when I tried to install the Radeon 5870 in the Thermaltake case. The GPU was too long and I had to drill out the HDD bays, which was an annoying task.

On to the fun part! These are the current Specs:

Motherboard: ASUS P6T SE
CPU: I7 930
GPU: ATI Radeon 5870 1 GB
RAM: 4 GB DDR3 (Kingston Technology 99U5458-002.A00LF)
Soundcard: Audigy 2 ZS
240 GB SSD (PNY CS900)
Thermaltake Soprano RS 101
Zalman cnps9900 Max Blue CPU cooler
650 Watt PSU (Corsair TX650M)

Pictures

Future plans

- I have a spare 1 TB HDD that I want to install. However as I had to remove the HDD bays from the Thermaltake, I can't find a reliable way to mount it. I'm thinking about using velcro and sticking it to the bottom of the case.
-I'm still looking for a good 4:3 monitor to go along with the pc. I hope to find a Dell 2007 FSB.
- Recently I found a Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 for 12.50 euro's. I might install it in the rig, but don't see a need for it at the moment
- The Audigy 2 ZS could be upgraded with the Creative X-FI Xtreme Music, although this isn't a priority

Ayyy, our XP rigs aren't too different 😁