The title of your thread needs to change if you want to limit the CPU to around 2Ghz.

Why exactly do you want to limit it to that speed range?

You can get XP running on very nearly anything. If you like dothan cores buy a motherboard that supports it and then do some research or ask here about how to get XP on it.

As alluded to by cyclone3d, is 2GHz a hard limit you want set or do you expect to not be able to go beyond that for whatever reason ?

If you are will to use third party patches (potentially of dubious legality), you can go much further than 2GHz . See This Windows XP on newer Systems (Intel >Haswell/AMD Ryzen)

darry wrote on 2021-06-03, 04:22:

As alluded to by cyclone3d, is 2GHz a hard limit you want set or do you expect to not be able to go beyond that for whatever reason ?

If you are will to use third party patches (potentially of dubious legality), you can go much further than 2GHz . See This Windows XP on newer Systems (Intel >Haswell/AMD Ryzen)

2Ghz isn't even about some speed issue. XP will run fine on whatever Ghz the CPU runs at. The patches are only needed for newer CPUs that I believe normally will not run on XP.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-06-03, 05:07:

darry wrote on 2021-06-03, 04:22:

As alluded to by cyclone3d, is 2GHz a hard limit you want set or do you expect to not be able to go beyond that for whatever reason ?

If you are will to use third party patches (potentially of dubious legality), you can go much further than 2GHz . See This Windows XP on newer Systems (Intel >Haswell/AMD Ryzen)

2Ghz isn't even about some speed issue. XP will run fine on whatever Ghz the CPU runs at. The patches are only needed for newer CPUs that I believe normally will not run on XP.

Apologies as I realize my sentence was formulated in a way that somehow implied that patching was required for >2GHz functionality (it is not). What I meant to say is that 2Ghz is not a limit for XP in any way and one can go well beyond that with boards/CPUs released up to XP's official EOL date, but that if one wants to go beyond that with newer hardware (regardless of CPU clock speed), patches will likely be required mainly, AFAICR, due to to XP's ACPI support having issues with newer motherboard chipsets.

Sorry again for my lack of clarity .

I was guessing that XP support would be dropping off around the 2Ghz - 2.5GHz range. But if it is supported by faster infrastructure/chipsets, all the better.

I don't know if I want to go patching stuff and all that. But. If it really works and doesn't start breaking other things then that's fine too.

Is there a recommended guide for experimenting around with this? I'm sure there's plenty, just not in the mood for trying solutions that haven't been vetted. I hate that overwhelming feeling of too much information at one time. Then falling down a rabbit hole to failure, then backing out.

I understand that maybe it's good to start with a pre-modded/patched XP build for newer hardware. But I don't want script-O-kiddie children builds with stuff cut out, new wallpapers, and pointless applications. No ElITeZ WaReZ crappage..

If It's possible to run XP on an 8th Gen i7 with GTX 1080 graphics and 512MB SSD, hell, I'm all for it!

Lots to read and learn I suppose..sigh..

I was also thinking about virtualization - to run XP on modern i9 rigs. Gone as far as loading it as a guest OS. But that's it. Does anyone have any comment on how well that experience compares against real modern hardware? And/or which virtualizer is best for the task? Currently was thinking of VirtualBox.

I would suggest avoiding Haswell and sticking to Ivy bridge:
- Ivy has officiel XP drivers, especially the integrated graphics part
- Ivy is also the oldest platform officially supported by Windows 10
- Haswell has removed some legacy stuff (eg. see https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f … =59741&start=30 and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59919707/ … -and-successors)
- Haswell is also more difficult to cool down because of the integrated FIVR.

Now if you buy a Z77-based motherboard, not all are equal in terms of overclocking as described here: Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H 1.1, Intel Core i7 3770K, MSI GeForce 960
The Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H is a decent choice, it has no frequency throttle unlike Asrock, good connectivity (COM, LPT, a PCI port that is not behind an ASM1083 bridge) and very low noise in the audio path (in particular, I don't hear electrical noise from the GPU activity which is a common issue).

You won't need a modded Windows XP iso to install on Ivy if you set the SATA controller to IDE mode. In my experience there is no difference in performance between IDE and AHCI modes.

The fastest GPU supported in Windows XP is the Nvidia GTX960 and AMD HD7970.

You apparently can go up to a 980Ti / Titan X ( Maxwell) by modifying the .inf file.

"Best and most modern for XP"

"Wants roughly around year-2003 tech optionally with ISA."

Your wants imply more of a Windows 98 capable PC with decent early XP power for dual booting rather than a "most modern motherboard for XP".

If OP really wants ISA, then I suppose the Abit KT7A could fit the bill. A 2 GHz Athlon XP works great, albeit the lack of SSE2 restrict it from running more modern software.

As I bring this into more focus, lack of SSE2 would be a killer. Pentium-M instruction set is the lowest I'd be happy with.
Overclocking is not important. More interested in the upper/later end than the lower end.

If you search for IMG31ISA, you'll find a socket 775 motherboard with one ISA slot. I can't vouch for it but you'll get SSE2.

cde wrote on 2021-06-03, 15:43:

If you search for IMG31ISA, you'll find a socket 775 motherboard with one ISA slot. I can't vouch for it but you'll get SSE2.

Does it support DMA on the ISA slot though? My guess is no.

For boards with a fully working ISA slot, you are most likely going to be limited to Socket 478 industrial boards which are generally really expensive.

I was just given three processors, E7300, E6750, and AMD FX 6100. Wonder if those are useful..

I suppose ultimately I'm looking to maintain (and expand) my WinXP experience. I don't really need to go low on DOS/w95/w98 side of things. I have a 486 and Pentium III for that and am happy with those.

Keep forgetting just how many parts and choices there are!

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-06-03, 10:19:

The fastest GPU supported in Windows XP is the Nvidia GTX960 and AMD HD7970.

You apparently can go up to a 980Ti / Titan X ( Maxwell) by modifying the .inf file.

My XP rig has a 980ti and a haswell 4690k running at 4.0ghz. That isn't even the "fastest" configuration possible.

With the exception of a some AMD APUs I don't know of any motherboards that can't be made to work with XP with nothing more than a simple ACHI patch. Slipstreaming those patches into your image is not difficult. If the board supports legacy modes or IDE emulation you don't even need to do that.

https://www.win-raid.com/t22f45-Guide-Integra … W-k-W-k-CD.html

https://www.win-raid.com/t3024f45-Guide-Integ … nXP-W-k-CD.html

For all practical purposes, I can't see much reason to go beyond a ivy bridge/sandy bridge CPU with a GTX 960 or equivalent. My computer is overspeced because I also run windows 10 on it.

I currently have 3 several H370 systems with 8th Gen i7 and GTX 1080 available to me for ultra cheap. Only issue here is the 1080 drivers..? I suppose I'd need to do virtualization to get XP on that?

As far as graphics go, in XP, I wouldn 't expect to go above D3D 9c.

If you insist on using a 1080 then you can use xp on the host you just won't have 3d acceleration and will need to use 2d drivers.

If you want 3d then you'll need to use Vista or above or a *nix and run xp using virtualization but you may need to play the version game depending on what cpu you have and what the virtualization software supports for host os and guest 3d.

I'm pondering a machine that potentially has a C2D, 8600GT graphics, i965 for an XP gamer. It's actually a laptop, DRP type. I'm finding I like laptops a lot just to spend an hour on, not too much space to set up desktops, so just to play on a different gen/OS it's a lot of unplugging and lifting heavyish lumps around. Laptops, I can run XT, 386, 486, PII, PIII sitting easy. (P1s are not in service right now, needing some troubleshooting) Anyhoo, it's for sale locally cheap, but I don't have exact config details, could be as bad as a 1.6Ghz with intel onboard and only 1GB RAM, but most of the rest of the series had the 8600. Getting even basic details out of sellers these days seems like asking them for their mother's preferred girth and length to buy her a sex toy.