A couple more photos

Nice build, I have the same motherboard and CPU combo in one of my PCs. Do you find you’re CPU limited with the GPU you’re using?

Very nice system! Does the motherboard has the P4 connector or do you use a period correct PSU?
What do you use for storage: HDD or something more modern?

the ultimate XP+ i believe, very cool (well, actually runs pretty hot!). I have an XP3200+ too, no home for it yet - what i dont have is a graphics card like yours, that's very nice and means all kinds of mid 2000's game will play well on it

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the kind words ❤️

JayAlien wrote on 2023-07-03, 03:37:

Nice build, I have the same motherboard and CPU combo in one of my PCs. Do you find you’re CPU limited with the GPU you’re using?

Some games it seem like I am, but I overclocked the graphics card for a while and it picked up FPS in some games, so I guess it depends on the game. I love the Athlon XP and I have a lot of nostalgia around it so it doesn't bother me. It's a solid board. I had mine recapped a while back tho as the caps were bulging.

nd22 wrote on 2023-07-03, 08:44:

Very nice system! Does the motherboard has the P4 connector or do you use a period correct PSU?
What do you use for storage: HDD or something more modern?

The motherboard does not have a P4 connector. I use a period correct PSU. I am currently using a 500BG 7200rpm hard drive with a SATA to IDE adapter, but I have been thinking about moving to a SATA SSD. The machine feels pretty fast in Win XP with the hard drive so that's why I haven't made the jump yet. Way back in the day I had a Ultra160 SCSI adapter with a 15K SCSI drive but it was loud and kind of overkill.

gerry wrote on 2023-07-03, 09:57:

the ultimate XP+ i believe, very cool (well, actually runs pretty hot!). I have an XP3200+ too, no home for it yet - what i dont have is a graphics card like yours, that's very nice and means all kinds of mid 2000's game will play well on it

It actually runs pretty cool with the Silver Mountain 2 cooler. Yeah it performs very well with just about anything I throw at it. I love the performance. I also think it's pretty cool that the graphics card is longer than the motherboard 😆

gerry wrote on 2023-07-03, 09:57:

the ultimate XP+ i believe, very cool (well, actually runs pretty hot!). I have an XP3200+ too, no home for it yet - what i dont have is a graphics card like yours, that's very nice and means all kinds of mid 2000's game will play well on it

Since the motherboard uses a late VIA KT chipset, it should support StpGnt and Hlt CPU-idling instructions quite well. Meaning it won't dissipate 100% power at all time, like when just staring at the Windows desktop. At least, that is my experience with the Asus A7V600 motherboard implementation.

gerwin wrote on 2023-07-03, 15:37:

gerry wrote on 2023-07-03, 09:57:

the ultimate XP+ i believe, very cool (well, actually runs pretty hot!). I have an XP3200+ too, no home for it yet - what i dont have is a graphics card like yours, that's very nice and means all kinds of mid 2000's game will play well on it

Since the motherboard uses a late VIA KT chipset, it should support StpGnt and Hlt CPU-idling instructions quite well. Meaning it won't dissipate 100% power at all time, like when just staring at the Windows desktop. At least, that is my experience with the Asus A7V600 motherboard implementation.

Do I have to do anything to enable this in WinXP or does it do it by default? Even under load, the Silver Mountain 2 keeps things very cool. I had a smaller copper skive cooler on it a while back and it would get toasty but not anymore.

boggsman wrote on 2023-07-03, 20:31:

gerwin wrote on 2023-07-03, 15:37:

Since the motherboard uses a late VIA KT chipset, it should support StpGnt and Hlt CPU-idling instructions quite well. Meaning it won't dissipate 100% power at all time, like when just staring at the Windows desktop. At least, that is my experience with the Asus A7V600 motherboard implementation.

Do I have to do anything to enable this in WinXP or does it do it by default? Even under load, the Silver Mountain 2 keeps things very cool. I had a smaller copper skive cooler on it a while back and it would get toasty but not anymore.

It has been a while, but this old screenshot of mine shows the relevant bits.
On the Asus there was a BIOS option for this.
When power saving is absent the "Thermal Power" value is closer to the "Thermal Design" value.
This is a download for that program. The program only shows its GUI on AMD Athlon/Sempron systems.
Edit; new link that is not dead: https://www.pcworld.pl/ftp/pc_7677/Central-Br … ld-0729-R1.html