XP and the games of your targeted era deals better with 2 fast CPU cores than with 4 slower. Either OC the Q8200 or get an E8600.

You'll need a bigger hard drive than that WD Raptor. Late era games often install close to 10GB. You'll run out of storage fast. I'd say you'll need at least 250GB.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-07-30, 06:30:

XP and the games of your targeted era deals better with 2 fast CPU cores than with 4 slower. Either OC the Q8200 or get an E8600.

You'll need a bigger hard drive than that WD Raptor. Late era games often install close to 10GB. You'll run out of storage fast. I'd say you'll need at least 250GB.

I'll at first assemble the machine and then will look for a better CPU/more HDD/Sound Card. for this mobo which CPU do you recomend?

Advices like these are much welcome.

It seems it has no ussues supporting anything for the socket. For XP I'd recommend the highest clocked dual core (that is not a Pentium D):
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P5B/HelpDesk_CPU/

Unless you want to dual boot a more modern OS. The GTX550 Ti can deal with a lot more than 2006/2008. It'll play well with anything except maxed out Crysis.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-07-30, 06:42:

Unless you want to dual boot a more modern OS. The GTX550 Ti can deal with a lot more than 2006/2008. It'll play well with anything except maxed out Crysis.

I'm curious why you recommend GTX 550 Ti over something like 750 Ti? I guess 550 Ti is a bit more period correct if that's important, but 750 Ti is clearly faster while using half as much power. I don't think 550 Ti has much of an edge with driver flexibility either?

Sombrero wrote on 2022-07-30, 07:12:

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-07-30, 06:42:

Unless you want to dual boot a more modern OS. The GTX550 Ti can deal with a lot more than 2006/2008. It'll play well with anything except maxed out Crysis.

I'm curious why you recommend GTX 550 Ti over something like 750 Ti? I guess 550 Ti is a bit more period correct if that's important, but 750 Ti is clearly faster while using half as much power. I don't think 550 Ti has much of an edge with driver flexibility either?

That's just what OP has. I'll back up the recommendation too. I'm running a comparable but older GTX 275 in my XP build and pushing it has actually been a challenge. Far Cry at 1600x1200 doesn't upset it. If you're starting from scratch and looking for peak performance though, a 750 Ti is a great option and I believe with modded drivers you can even run a 970.

Hakeshu wrote on 2022-07-30, 06:36:

Sound Card

X-Fi is the answer. Just do your homework and don't get one of the budget models like the Xtreme Audio that don't have all the hardware features (you need the EMU chip for EAX & CMSS).

Pierre32 wrote on 2022-07-30, 07:30:

Sombrero wrote on 2022-07-30, 07:12:

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-07-30, 06:42:

Unless you want to dual boot a more modern OS. The GTX550 Ti can deal with a lot more than 2006/2008. It'll play well with anything except maxed out Crysis.

I'm curious why you recommend GTX 550 Ti over something like 750 Ti? I guess 550 Ti is a bit more period correct if that's important, but 750 Ti is clearly faster while using half as much power. I don't think 550 Ti has much of an edge with driver flexibility either?

That's just what OP has. I'll back up the recommendation too. I'm running a comparable but older GTX 275 in my XP build and pushing it has actually been a challenge. Far Cry at 1600x1200 doesn't upset it. If you're starting from scratch and looking for peak performance though, a 750 Ti is a great option and I believe with modded drivers you can even run a 970.

Oh, didn't notice. I've just noticed RandomStranger recommending 550 Ti elsewhere and also using one himself I believe, so I was just wondering is there some edge using one that I don't know about. Also pretty sure you can use 980 Ti with modded driver if one wants to go that route 😁

Pierre32 wrote on 2022-07-30, 07:30:

If you're starting from scratch and looking for peak performance though, a 750 Ti is a great option

The best thing about that that it exists in low profile. That with an Ivy Bridge i3 can make very compact yet overpowered XP build.

Thank you all for all the replies and advices. Tried to assemble the parts I had and no luck. My mobo must be busted, tried with 2 PSUs, 3 cards but no boot at all.

I'll now look for a new mobo, sound card and an E8600 CPU (I'm not into buy an i7, i5 just to run it with single core). GPU wise I guess that the 550TI will hold the fort.

Once again thanks for the information.

Update: Found a working kit with a reasenable price. Talking with the seller atm

Asus P5B-Premium
E7500
4GB RAM Kingston 6400

Let's see if my XP build will arise anytime soon hahaha

PS: Prices here in Brazil for anything PC related are hella crazy atm.

Hakeshu wrote on 2022-08-01, 02:56:

Update: Found a working kit with a reasenable price. Talking with the seller atm […]
Show full quote

Update: Found a working kit with a reasenable price. Talking with the seller atm

Asus P5B-Premium
E7500
4GB RAM Kingston 6400

Let's see if my XP build will arise anytime soon hahaha

PS: Prices here in Brazil for anything PC related are hella crazy atm.

Brasil also has that crazy tech tax IIRC making pretty much anything tech made outside of Brasil stupidly expensive.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-08-01, 05:09:

Brasil also has that crazy tech tax IIRC making pretty much anything tech made outside of Brasil stupidly expensive.

Yeah, that's why I try to get my stuff locally, but sometime you can't even find the parts you're looking for.

Well, it took some time, but I finally managed to get a nice kit.

Mobo: Maximum Formula with X-fi Sound Card
Processor: E8600
Memory: 2x CM2X2048-6400C5
Hard Disk - WD740 Raptor 74GB - 10,000rpm (waiting for the SSD)
GPU - Nvidia GTX550TI 1GB
PSU - CX430

I'm Pretty happy with the Machine. Time to enjoy some 2k awesomeness

Just so you know, that X-Fi sound card isn't really a X-Fi at all, it's basically just a PCIe version of a integrated sound chip that has some software features of a real X-Fi without the hardware acceleration real X-Fi cards have.

How much that bothers you is of course up to you, you might be perfectly happy with it regardless.

Sombrero wrote on 2022-09-21, 06:39:

Just so you know, that X-Fi sound card isn't really a X-Fi at all, it's basically just a PCIe version of a integrated sound chip that has some software features of a real X-Fi without the hardware acceleration real X-Fi cards have.

How much that bothers you is of course up to you, you might be perfectly happy with it regardless.

After all the tests I realized that the seller assembled the kit with a rampage X-fi and not the original for the Maximum Formula. I will keep the kit since the deal for all the parts was good, but I can't make the X-fi to work on the mobo 🙁

Now I need to get a sound card for the system

Hakeshu wrote on 2022-09-22, 01:58:

Sombrero wrote on 2022-09-21, 06:39:

Just so you know, that X-Fi sound card isn't really a X-Fi at all, it's basically just a PCIe version of a integrated sound chip that has some software features of a real X-Fi without the hardware acceleration real X-Fi cards have.

How much that bothers you is of course up to you, you might be perfectly happy with it regardless.

After all the tests I realized that the seller assembled the kit with a rampage X-fi and not the original for the Maximum Formula. I will keep the kit since the deal for all the parts was good, but I can't make the X-fi to work on the mobo 🙁

Now I need to get a sound card for the system

Sounds like an opportunity to get a real hardware based X-Fi card !

I just would not trust old CX430 psu. Those old corsair budget PSUs had quite bad reputation even when they were new. The ones that had CX with green letters on the side of the PSU had quite bad failures. The ones that had CX with black letters were fine.

Hakeshu wrote on 2022-09-21, 02:59:

Well, it took some time, but I finally managed to get a nice kit. […]
Show full quote

Well, it took some time, but I finally managed to get a nice kit.

Mobo: Maximum Formula with X-fi Sound Card
Processor: E8600
Memory: 2x CM2X2048-6400C5
Hard Disk - WD740 Raptor 74GB - 10,000rpm (waiting for the SSD)
GPU - Nvidia GTX550TI 1GB
PSU - CX430

I'm Pretty happy with the Machine. Time to enjoy some 2k awesomeness

Very similar to what I'm currently building. Yes, definitely get that X-Fi card you won't be disappointed.
What is the model number of that mobo? That thing is built like a tank!

Baoran wrote on 2022-09-22, 06:15:

I just would not trust old CX430 psu. Those old corsair budget PSUs had quite bad reputation even when they were new. The ones that had CX with green letters on the side of the PSU had quite bad failures. The ones that had CX with black letters were fine.

I would wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. Check out jonnyguru's review for the cx430. Most of my builds have the cx series in them

gmaverick2k wrote on 2022-09-25, 08:37:

Baoran wrote on 2022-09-22, 06:15:

I just would not trust old CX430 psu. Those old corsair budget PSUs had quite bad reputation even when they were new. The ones that had CX with green letters on the side of the PSU had quite bad failures. The ones that had CX with black letters were fine.

I would wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. Check out jonnyguru's review for the cx430. Most of my builds have the cx series in them

I guess our opinions just differ here. From my perspective it uses cheap caps and starts having really high ripple even at 250-300W load and during the time I have been fixing other peoples computers I have seen several cases where when it fails it takes out other parts in the computer when it does so. I would just not trust them personally.