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High end XP retro rig

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First post, by buckeye

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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!

Asus P5N-E Intel Core 2 Duo 3.33ghz. 4GB DDR2 Geforce 470 1GB SB X-Fi Titanium 650W XP SP3
Intel SE440BX P3 450 256MB 80GB SSD Radeon 7200 64mb SB 32pnp 350W 98SE
MSI x570 Gaming Pro Carbon Ryzen 3700x 32GB DDR4 Zotac RTX 3070 8GB WD Black 1TB 850W

Reply 1 of 26, by Trank

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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.

Last edited by Trank on 2016-01-13, 20:57. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 3 of 26, by y2k se

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

Tualatin Celeron 1.4 + Powerleap PL-IP3/T, ASUS P2B, 512 MB RAM, GeForce 4 Ti 4200, Voodoo2 SLI, AWE64, 32GB IDE SSD, Dell 2001FP

Reply 5 of 26, by PCBONEZ

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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.
.

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Reply 6 of 26, by PhilsComputerLab

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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!

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Reply 8 of 26, by RacoonRider

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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.

Reply 9 of 26, by Tetrium

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leileilol wrote:
High-End XP Retro […]
Show full quote

High-End
XP
Retro

pick two.

^ I just had to laugh 🤣!

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
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Reply 10 of 26, by Tertz

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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-...

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Reply 11 of 26, by RacoonRider

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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.

Reply 13 of 26, by Tertz

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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.

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Reply 14 of 26, by tayyare

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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.

GA-6VTXE PIII 1.4+512MB
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB
Diamond Monster 3D 12MB SLI
SB AWE64 PNP+32MB
120GB IDE Samsung/80GB IDE Seagate/146GB SCSI Compaq/73GB SCSI IBM
Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 15 of 26, by kanecvr

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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.

Reply 17 of 26, by RacoonRider

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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.

Reply 18 of 26, by awgamer

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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.

87 386 20 ps/2 30 hicc pvga1a     adlib cms innovation mt32                2.0
88 386 25 tl vga wonder lapc-i 2.1
89 486 25 et4000 sb sound master vesa 1.0 2.11
90 486 33 ps/1 disney vesa 1.1 3.0
91 486 50 s3 911 pas sbpro scc-1 vesa 1.2 mme
92 dx2 66 mach32 gus sb16 gold 3.1
93 586 66 scc-1a rap-10 3.11
94 586 100 s3 vision gusmax awe32 ess sc-88 vesa 2.0 win32s
95 586 133 virge guspnp db50xg dx1 95
96 586 200 mystique voodoo awe64 dx3 osr2
97 pii 300 riva vortex(a3d 1.0) dx5 osr2.5 mmx
98 pii 450 tnt live!(eax 2.0) vortex2(a3d 2.0) dx6 98
99 piii 800 tnt2u dx7 98se sse
00 ath 1200 gf2u dx8 w2k
01 piv 2.0 ti500 audigy(eax 3.0) dx8.1 xp sse2
02 piv 3.0 ti4600 audigy2(eax 4.0) dx9.0
03 a64 fx-51 5950u
04 a64 fx-55 6800u dx9.0c sse3
05 a64 fx-57 7800gtx x-fi(eax 5.0)
06 c2d x6800 7900gx2 dx10 vista sse4
07 cqd qx6850 8800u
08 ci7 965 gtx280 dx10.1 avx
09 ci7 975 gtx285 dx11 7
10 ci7 980x gtx480
11 ci7 2700k gtx580
12 ci7 3770k gtx680 dx11.1 8
13 ci7 4770k gtx780ti dx11.2 8.1
14 ci7 4790k gtx980
15 ci7 6700k gtx980ti dx12 10

Reply 19 of 26, by MrEWhite

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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.