Define 'modern'.

I made it a question instead 😉

My most modern mainboard for XP was based around an AMD E-350 APU, I think.
It was from Asus or Asrock. Sorry, I don't remember the exact model anymore. 😊

I have plans to use Intel X79 chipset, Socket 2011, and an i7 CPU.

Intel Z68 or other motherboard chipsets from the 6-series. 7-series should be possible as well, though I don't know the driver situation concerning the intel USB3 interface that was introduced with the 7-series.

I have XP installed on an AMD FX-8320e based system.

X79 should definitely be doable as well.

I dunno about Ryzen boards, but i made it working on Z370 that is most modern board..
https://docs.zoho.com/sheet/published.do?rid= … 6e3c6dc17cafb36

If you dont invest some additional effort last officially supported are AM3 boards or Z68 boards.

ruthan wrote:

There is also problem that for Windows 98 and XP - you need lots PCI-E slots for additional cards and board has only 6 slots.. and modern GPU is 2 slot

I think some USB devices may help here too: USB sound card, USB network card for example.

I think some USB devices may help here too: USB sound card, USB network card for example.

USB soundcards are working that is fine and some has good enough sound quality and cheap, but i had problem on some systems to make them work after removal, some problem with Microsoft supporting virtual kernel devices, on MSFN we spend lots of time on it and it was not fixed.
New Windows 98 install would fix it, but its annoying.

USB network card you need some ASSIX AX88772_772A chipset most of cheap USB dongles on ebay are described as Windows 98 compatible but its are actually AX88772_772B or C, there some proven, but i found out from US sellers, but problem is shipping price for EU is nonsense.. so you have to be rich, devoted or have some USA based friend - real shipping price is few bucks.

My Windows XP rig uses an ASUS P8H67-M EVO motherboard which works perfectly. I haven't risked it on my main rig's motherboard because I just put in 3GB of memory to make sure nothing odd happened.

I can highly recommend my Windows Xp rig though:
i5-2500k (some games require you to disable the extra cores but that's easy to do)
3GB memory
2012-era graphics card (in my case HD 4870)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (best Windows XP sound card as far as I'm concerned)

My compatibility rate with this rig is incredibly high - 98% so far. Without any tweaks, it would be around 95% but most require minute tweaks like disabling cores. Two of the games that give me issues, don't like high poll rates on mice so an older gaming mouse would fix those.

red_avatar wrote:

3GB of memory to make sure nothing odd happened.

In my experience, Windows XP is very good in ignoring any RAM that is beyond its useable range. Totally OK with 8GB, it just does not use all of it. Maybe you were thinking of the Windows 98 512MB+ memory issues.

gerwin wrote:

red_avatar wrote:

3GB of memory to make sure nothing odd happened.

In my experience, Windows XP is very good in ignoring any RAM that is beyond its useable range. Totally OK with 8GB, it just does not use all of it. Maybe you were thinking of the Windows 98 512MB+ memory issues.

In 2006, I had built a brand new system right before Vista was released and it had 4GB and I remember it causing some problems which is why I didn't go for 4GB or more. It's been 12 years and it might have been the BIOS but since this is a PC built just for Windows XP I thought I'd play it safe.

I've been using Windows Xp for the past two weeks on this rig and it's really pleasant to use. I miss the very clear and relatively simple UI. With Opera, I can access most sites and even watch Youtube while I'm downloading and installing games (I'm trying to fill the entire 1TB hard drive).

Congrats on getting XP to work on newer systems. Admittedly, I've only tried twice but both times were exercises in futility and frustration. These were both machines that came with Vista 64bit installed, one Nvidia GPU based and the other AMD.

XP did manage to install on both systems but I was left with 640x480 SVGA, no sound, no WIFI. I Googled till the G key broke on my keyboard searching/downloading various drivers for XP since the manufacturers websites only had Vista/Windows 7 drivers. Nothing. I managed to get the sound working on one (both were Conexant based) but couldn't get native Video drivers working. I tried hacked drivers, editing the drivers' inf file...nothing.

It all comes down to whether you have the right drivers.

red_avatar wrote:

I've been using Windows Xp for the past two weeks on this rig and it's really pleasant to use. I miss the very clear and relatively simple UI. With Opera, I can access most sites and even watch Youtube while I'm downloading and installing games (I'm trying to fill the entire 1TB hard drive).

On my XP rig I find Firefox 52 (the last XP supported version) works with every website I've tried it on at the time of this writing. Chrome/Opera gives me lots of "This webpage is not available ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH" errors and rendering issues on numerous websites. The ERR_SSL error is a result of using XP's oudated system certificates (also used by IE). Firefox doesn't rely on these, having its own internal certificates.

If you have working XP system, RAM could be problems if you have lots resident programs.. regardless of raw CPU or memory speed, from my experience, boot to all system ready could be slow and there could be some lags.

You could try 64 bit PAE patch, its working on most of the systems and it dont broke compatibility and add some speed, so XP is fully usable even today, from speed perspective https://msfn.org/board/topic/176356-simple-xp … true-pae-guide/

Norton Commander wrote:

XP did manage to install on both systems but I was left with 640x480 SVGA, no sound, no WIFI. I Googled till the G key broke on my keyboard searching/downloading various drivers for XP since the manufacturers websites only had Vista/Windows 7 drivers. Nothing. I managed to get the sound working on one (both were Conexant based) but couldn't get native Video drivers working. I tried hacked drivers, editing the drivers' inf file...nothing.

If you post specs someone could help you, but mentioned Wifi, so if it is laptop, its always worse than desktop.

Yes they were both laptops. I no longer own the Nvidia latop and the AMD is running fine with Win7. I ended up buying a separate used laptop that was made for XP instead .

Not the most modern, but I think your best bet is going with a P4 s775 AGP8x motherboard that will run WIN98 to XP.

Link - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?I … N82E16813157338

PhilsComputerLab actually did a review on it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YnfioK2xZ4

Norton Commander wrote:

Yes they were both laptops. I no longer own the Nvidia latop and the AMD is running fine with Win7. I ended up buying a separate used laptop that was made for XP instead .

Once again without specs we can give only general info..