Xeon would be pointless. You could also go with the Duo-Core Quad CPUs, but if you really want to keep it dual core get anything above 3.2ghz. And a GTX 285 is a really good card for XP era games.

Also the XPS series isnt "bad". But why not just buy a socket 775 Asus/Gigabyte motherboard and get your own case? And go with a MicroATX build, so its cheaper.

Heard 400 model does not support core 2 series that means Pentium D 9** maximum.

My plans for an XP-specific build are in this recent thread. I'm using a mixture of new and old components.

High-End
XP
Retro

pick two.

buckeye wrote:

Wanting to look into building a XP rig to "fill in" the gap between windows98/dos and current games. The Dell XPS models (400???) seem about right for a high end XP build (Duo-core and etc.) but what about the Xeon chips? Overkill or not applicable for games? Thanks ahead for any comments!

Xeons are a good way to go. Been using them for years.
For a given performance level (and assuming you shop-smart) they are far cheaper to build than skt 775.
RAM in 4Gb sticks runs about $1.75/Gb. L5420's (2.5 GHz Quads at 50 watts) can be had for $20.
There has been a micro-ATX(ish) version for sale on eBay (with no sound) for $27 for over a year now. They have a lot of them.
You have the option of using low watt CPUs. (Which means less cooling needed and less fan noise.)
You can build it with dual or single CPUs. (You don't HAVE to use both CPU sockets.)
They also can take a lot more RAM than skt 775.
You will need a big (or at least deep) case due to CPU location.

My every day machine is a socket 771 running XP on Dual Quads.

With certain chipsets there is the option of running a 771 CPU in a 775 board.
.

I've built quite a few XP builds and test setups and what I would recommend is:

A socket 1155 Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge motherboard with a dual core Pentium or maybe even an i3.

They have full XP support, are very energy efficient and have heaps of performance. Very soon the markets will be flooded with systems that have these parts.

Don't discount AMD, socket AM3+ is awesome, covering a massive range of processors, unlike with Intel.

For graphics, a GTX 285 is often mentioned and I can confirm it's a great card. Don't be shy in using newer cards, especially the x60 cards, like the 460, 560 and 660 offer good value and have XP drivers. I'm not too familiar with the AMD options, but have a HD6770 and that works great too.

Socket 775 is also decent and can be cheaper, but really, you're spoilt for choice, take you pick!

High End XP machine eh... I'd say an E8500 C2D OC'd a bit (20%) with a good air cooler, 4GB of ram and like an 8800GT or maybe up to a 280, x-fi.

Trank wrote:

Xeon would be pointless. You could also go with the Duo-Core Quad CPUs, but if you really want to keep it dual core get anything above 3.2ghz. And a GTX 285 is a really good card for XP era games.

Also the XPS series isnt "bad". But why not just buy a socket 775 Asus/Gigabyte motherboard and get your own case? And go with a MicroATX build, so its cheaper.

Anything above 3.2Ghz just sounds silly. A 1.8GHz C2D E6300 is enough to beat the crap out of any XP-only game out there.

Actually, I opted for Athlon XP 3200+ on nforce2U and Radeon 9800Pro, if this rig can't handle something, it will work great on my main PC.

leileilol wrote:

High-End XP Retro […]
Show full quote

High-End
XP
Retro

pick two.

^ I just had to laugh 🤣!

RacoonRider wrote:

A 1.8GHz C2D E6300 is enough to beat the crap out of any XP-only game out there.

try GTA 4

RoyBatty wrote:

8800GT or maybe up to a 280, x-fi.

280 were made with 65 nm, later 275 and 285 with 55 nm. If there are no compatibility/speed issues I'd look to newer 4xx-...

Tertz wrote:

RacoonRider wrote:

A 1.8GHz C2D E6300 is enough to beat the crap out of any XP-only game out there.

try GTA 4

I already did. Playable, but could be better, I blame the videocard (had x1800GTO at the time). And it's not XP-only.

Does GTA 4 have compatibility issues on Vista+?

RacoonRider wrote:

Tertz wrote:

RacoonRider wrote:

A 1.8GHz C2D E6300 is enough to beat the crap out of any XP-only game out there.

try GTA 4

Playable, but could be better

Yes, not so "crap out". I suppose it's not the only XP-only game having recommended CPU higher than C2D 1.8 GHz.

And it's not XP-only.

From formal side. I don't count Vista, as XP era practically ended with Windows 7.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Does GTA 4 have compatibility issues on Vista+?

What is officially supported by Vista is not guaranted to be supported by Windows 7 and later.

I'm quite sure I didn't put together the best, but just as an example, here is my thing:

- Athon 64 X2 3800+ (939 pin - soon to be Opteron 180 - arrived today from post office)
- Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard
- Zotac Nvidia GTS250 1GB display adapter (Purchased a 9800GX2 once, but realized it was not fitting in my chassis)
- 4GB DDR
- SB Audigy 2 ZX
etc.

Thought about SLI for a while but my research show that it's more trouble than I want to handle, so I'm going with single GPU now.
It plays well whatever I throw at it, including Crysis, which is the most modern game I played on it.

I have a couple of XP rigs:

- C2Q Q6600 | Asus P5K-WS | 4GB Corsair XMS3 Platinum series 1333Mhz | Zotac Geforce 9800GT | 250GB WD Caviar Black | Antec P180 - XP SP3
- C2D E6600 | Zotac nForce 780i | 4GB Corsair Dominator 1066MHz | 2x XFX 7950 512MB | 250GB WD Caviar Blue | Thermaltake Shark - XP SP3

I use these for stuff like Doom 3 and Quake 4 - although those games work fine on windows 8. The fastest XP rig I could build would be:

- Phenom II X6 1055t / Biostar A780L3 (AMD 760G) / 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ Corsair XMS3 / Geforce GTX 280 --> this should run XP perfectly. Dunno if the GTX 480 has XP drivers but if it does I could use that.

Tough I see no point in running XP on anything but the LGA775 rigs I listed above. Even Q6600 could run win 8.1 perfectly.

Many many games which are console ports are very CPU hungry from the era. Oblivion, Fallout 3, GTA 4, STALKER, and other poorly optimized games.

Tertz wrote:

From formal side. I don't count Vista, as XP era practically ended with Windows 7.

What is officially supported by Vista is not guaranted to be supported by Windows 7 and later.

As far as I know, GTA4 works fine on windows 7. DRM stuff is a pita, even for legal steam version, but it's the same with Vista.

buckeye wrote:

Wanting to look into building a XP rig to "fill in" the gap between windows98/dos and current games. The Dell XPS models (400???) seem about right for a high end XP build
(Duo-core and etc.) but what about the Xeon chips? Overkill or not applicable for games? Thanks ahead for any comments!

Without knowing specifically the amount of performance needed to max out fps with no dips & full effects, my rough guide would be to triple the era's top CPU & GPU performance. Practically every CPU can scale down to piv 2.0 speed so no problem with setting to slow speed if needed. If you're like everyone else and skip a vista rig, then you're looking at covering 01 to 08. So, whatever is 3x the speed of an i7 965 & gtx280. CPUs in the timeline below are the fastest for a given year.

187 386 20 ps/2 30 hicc pvga1a     adlib cms innovation mt32                2.0
288 386 25 tl      vga wonder      lapc-i                                   2.1
389 486 25         et4000          sb sound master                 vesa 1.0 2.11
490 486 33 ps/1                    disney                          vesa 1.1 3.0
591 486 50         s3 911          pas sbpro scc-1                 vesa 1.2 mme
692 dx2 66         mach32          gus sb16 gold                            3.1
793 586 66                         scc-1a rap-10                            3.11
894 586 100        s3 vision       gusmax awe32 ess sc-88          vesa 2.0 win32s 
995 586 133        virge           guspnp db50xg                   dx1      95       
1096 586 200        mystique voodoo awe64                           dx3      osr2    
1197 pii 300        riva            vortex(a3d 1.0)                 dx5      osr2.5  mmx
1298 pii 450        tnt             live!(eax 2.0) vortex2(a3d 2.0) dx6      98 
1399 piii 800       tnt2u                                           dx7      98se    sse 
1400 ath 1200       gf2u                                            dx8      w2k 
1501 piv 2.0        ti500           audigy(eax 3.0)                 dx8.1    xp      sse2    
1602 piv 3.0        ti4600          audigy2(eax 4.0)                dx9.0   
1703 a64 fx-51      5950u    
1804 a64 fx-55      6800u                                           dx9.0c           sse3      
1905 a64 fx-57      7800gtx         x-fi(eax 5.0)
2006 c2d x6800      7900gx2                                         dx10     vista   sse4
2107 cqd qx6850     8800u
2208 ci7 965        gtx280                                          dx10.1           avx
2309 ci7 975        gtx285                                          dx11     7 
2410 ci7 980x       gtx480 
2511 ci7 2700k      gtx580
2612 ci7 3770k      gtx680                                          dx11.1   8
2713 ci7 4770k      gtx780ti                                        dx11.2   8.1
2814 ci7 4790k      gtx980
2915 ci7 6700k      gtx980ti                                        dx12     10 

RacoonRider wrote:

Tertz wrote:

From formal side. I don't count Vista, as XP era practically ended with Windows 7.

What is officially supported by Vista is not guaranted to be supported by Windows 7 and later.

As far as I know, GTA4 works fine on windows 7. DRM stuff is a pita, even for legal steam version, but it's the same with Vista.

This, also works fine on Windows 10 by updating GFWL.