First post, by CapnCrunch53
- Rank
- Member
Maybe a bit of a misnomer, as I'm not getting a $500+ P4EE or putting a modern video card with it, but close enough.
Background: My partner is a huge fan of Windows XP, and also really loves the Pentium 4. I therefore decided it would be really fun to try and build a really high-end Pentium 4 system running XP as a gift, and the idea became solidified when I realized I actually have nearly all the components on hand as spares. Goal for this system is to run XP games and get the best out of the Pentium 4 within reason, and most importantly to make my partner happy.
Here are the parts I already had on hand without having to spend any money:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L Rev 1.0 - This was in a PC I found for free, with an E8500 (which I'll be using until the target CPU arrives).
- RAM: 2x2GB Corsair XMS2 (PC2-6400) - Pulled this from a mothballed PC that is out of commission. Nice ram with heatsinks.
- Cooler: Zalman 9500A - This was the cooler I bought for my very first build back in 2008, and I haven't used it in over a decade. Really excited to put it back into use.
- GPU: GeForce 8800GS - This came from a friend's old rig. I think it's an Asus but not sure. Should be more than enough to get the most out of the P4.
- SSD: 240GB SATA - Don't remember the brand but my dad gave this to me. I will leave 25% unformatted since I read that this helps with garbage collection (I believe XP doesn't TRIM, right?)
- PSU: Corsair HX1000 - My old PSU from back in my watercooled days. Overkill but will have plenty of headroom for overclocking the Cedar Mill.
- Case: Thermaltake Tsunami Dream (Gloss Black) - Also from the PC that I found for free, and a classic XP-era case. Big and roomy, should cool OK I hope.
That just leaves two components to purchase: a sound card, and a 775 Pentium 4. I'll cover my selection process for the CPU in the next post. For the sound card, I went ahead and ordered an X-Fi Xtreme Music (SB0460) off of Ebay for $13. It's a PCI card and I've heard they sometimes have problems, but also heard some people have good experiences with them, and the price was right. I haven't used any sound card newer than an Audigy 2 ZS before, so this will be interesting. If it ends up sucking I'll probably just get another A2ZS (I had hoped I had a spare, but unfortunately I did not).
I plan to assemble the machine in the next few days sans sound card and with the E8500 as a placeholder, just to test the other components and make sure it's kosher. I also have run into a bit of a problem: I've lost the L-shaped lever clip for the Zalman. This is really frustrating as they don't seem to be available as replacements anymore, so I'll spend some more time hunting as I know it's around somewhere. In the meantime, I might have to use an Intel stock cooler for this "test run".
I don't have pics yet, except for this pic of the case from when I found it being discarded a few years ago. It's in very nice shape other than some dust. As mentioned it came with an E8500 (very pleasant surprise!), an HD4850 (also very cool!) and this very nice Gigabyte board.
PCs, Macs, old and new... too much stuff.