Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-04-03, 12:04:

Not always. GOG sometimes makes changes to the executable which prevent it from running on WinXP since its (unmodified) kernel l […]
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SScorpio wrote on 2025-04-03, 11:53:

Most times you can run the installer and then just copy the files. You might need to delete DLLs that are wrappers for the newer systems.

Not always. GOG sometimes makes changes to the executable which prevent it from running on WinXP since its (unmodified) kernel lacks the needed functionality.

Quake 2 is one such example. The GOG version of the game will simply error out under WinXP, while working fine on Win10. And that one isn't even on the "preservation" list yet.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-04-03, 11:55:

But yeah, one should still expect the very real possibility that games on that program might not install on pre-Win10 systems, wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority are like that and quite frankly I think it sucks ass.

Sadly, it's not the first time they did this.

I remember watching an older video from Phil where he showed how to extract the ISO image from the (old) GOG version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. You could then burn that image to a disc, and play it on real DOS hardware. In Phil's video, GOG was still shipping the game with DOSBox, so that was a relatively easy process. But when I bought the game a few years back, GOG had switched to ScummVM, which made the procedure no longer possible.

I've checked and they claim to offer a "rollback" feature via the Galaxy client, letting you donwload older patches of games, but it's based on the devs or publishers not unpublishing any previous updates Gonna check on the client when I get back home, but I'll get back on the dedicated thread on this forum, wich you linked before.

Well, finally ordered a cheap E8600 from a reputable seller. Maybe it will arrive in time for the holidays I'm getting at the end of the month.
I also got free performances out of the HD6970 by simply downgrading drivers.
I had installed the latest provided by AMD on their website, 14.4, and getting around 1392 points in Unigine Heaven. Being almost double than the HD4850, I said to me "that's nice, maybe I'll squeeze a bit more with a better CPU".
Then I found this thread here on Vogons.
Downgraded to 12.1 version (from PHIL' S COMPUTER LAB), and tried another benchmark run.

2999 points.

Then I noted to me that I was (probably) running the 4850 too with much recent drivers (prolly 13. something), and gettin around 900 points in Unigine. I wonder how much I could gaing with older drivers even on the 4850!

Thanks AMD. Thanks.
Now games from the era are 100% CPU limited at 1280x1024

So, how is the benchmarking run coming along, @cyclone3d?

I just had a chance to get the final piece working.

Was wanting to use the HOCBench Crysis benchmark tool but the registration tool is nowhere to be found. It was originally free to register by sending an email to HOC but once they stopped development that option died. Then somebody released a registration tool and it was posted on Guru3d.com. The link is dead, Guru3D is not responding to my email and although a bunch of people have looked at my request on the forum, nobody has responded.

Because of that I am using the other Crysis benchmarking tool that was released around the same time.

Once the Crysis benchmark run finishes, I'll have my stock settings benchmarks done and will post them. Going to put them in a different thread and reserve a few posts at the beginning since only 5 attachments are allowed per post.

Edit: Thread for benchmarking results:
LGA775 Windows XP benchmarking

F.E.A.R. (1) Platinum collection from GOG worked just fine for my WinXP builds thus far... (offline installer)

Alternative Crysis benchmark tool : LINK
It's GUI doesn't allow easy 64-bit version tests, however you can swap folder names between 32-bit and 64-bit to force it to use it that way. Maybe not that important under WinXP 32-bit testing, custom resolution option is really nice to have though 😀

Another option, if you want more game tests, would be to use demo of Lost Coast for example : LINK
^This one has older game engine build, which allows DX6/DX7 to be tested 😉

EDIT : Also, you will lose ability to edit posts after a while (so updating scores won't be possible).
If thread get's some traction you should ask admin to unlock edit option for long term use.

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-04-14, 02:45:

I just had a chance to get the final piece working. […]
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I just had a chance to get the final piece working.

Was wanting to use the HOCBench Crysis benchmark tool but the registration tool is nowhere to be found. It was originally free to register by sending an email to HOC but once they stopped development that option died. Then somebody released a registration tool and it was posted on Guru3d.com. The link is dead, Guru3D is not responding to my email and although a bunch of people have looked at my request on the forum, nobody has responded.

Because of that I am using the other Crysis benchmarking tool that was released around the same time.

Once the Crysis benchmark run finishes, I'll have my stock settings benchmarks done and will post them. Going to put them in a different thread and reserve a few posts at the beginning since only 5 attachments are allowed per post.

Edit: Thread for benchmarking results:
LGA775 Windows XP benchmarking

If I manage to acquire all the softwares and run them, I may post my results once I get the E8600 and compare them to the OCd Q6600

agent_x007 wrote on 2025-04-14, 06:51:

F.E.A.R. (1) Platinum collection from GOG worked just fine for my WinXP builds thus far... (offline installer)

It depends on when you've downloaded it. The current offline installer for F.E.A.R. has been updated recently due to the game being added to the "preservation program" which likely broke WinXP compatibility.

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-04-14, 02:45:

Because of that I am using the other Crysis benchmarking tool that was released around the same time.

Crysis has a built-in CPU and GPU benchmark i.e. when you run the game with Benchmark_GPU.bat for example. Why use a third party version?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:02:

It depends on when you've downloaded it. The current offline installer for F.E.A.R. has been updated recently due to the game being added to the "preservation program" which likely broke WinXP compatibility.

I don't have the game, did they remove the older pakage from both the wesite and the Galaxy client? Do we really need to start archiving GOG offline installers?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:02:

Crysis has a built-in CPU and GPU benchmark i.e. when you run the game with Benchmark_GPU.bat for example. Why use a third party version?

I was gonna ask the same. I've installed crysis from the original DVD a couple of weeks ago, and I used the buil it benchmark to test OC settings in gaming. Of course, it still performs a DVD check even when launching the benchmark.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:45:

I don't have the game, did they remove the older pakage from both the wesite and the Galaxy client?

I don't use the Galaxy client, but on the offline installer page, the change log for F.E.A.R. lists the following:

1Update (20 March 2025)
2Limited FPS to 60 (configurable), ensuring smoother performance.
3Fixed duplicated FileTasks, resolving potential conflicts.
4Validated stability.
5Verified compatibility with Windows 10 and 11.

I'm guessing that update broke WinXP compatibility.

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:45:

Do we really need to start archiving GOG offline installers?

Looks like it. I've been doing that over the last couple of years for the sake of convenience, as I prefer keeping all of my GOG offline installers on an external USB HDD for easy access. But it seems that this has become important for compatibility reasons as well.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:51:

I don't use the Galaxy client, but on the offline installer page, the change log for F.E.A.R. lists the following: […]
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I don't use the Galaxy client, but on the offline installer page, the change log for F.E.A.R. lists the following:

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1Update (20 March 2025)
2Limited FPS to 60 (configurable), ensuring smoother performance.
3Fixed duplicated FileTasks, resolving potential conflicts.
4Validated stability.
5Verified compatibility with Windows 10 and 11.

I'm guessing that update broke WinXP compatibility.

It's weird that they don't even mention updates for Win10/11 compatibility, but just "validated" and "verified".
But yeah, the client should give you the option to both download older versions and even single patches. Must be checked.
(of course, I bet that around you can find older installers from GOG, being DRM free they are "free real estates" for piracy)

Mondodimotori wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:45:

I don't have the game, did they remove the older pakage from both the wesite and the Galaxy client? Do we really need to start a […]
Show full quote

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:02:

It depends on when you've downloaded it. The current offline installer for F.E.A.R. has been updated recently due to the game being added to the "preservation program" which likely broke WinXP compatibility.

I don't have the game, did they remove the older pakage from both the wesite and the Galaxy client? Do we really need to start archiving GOG offline installers?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-04-14, 12:02:

Crysis has a built-in CPU and GPU benchmark i.e. when you run the game with Benchmark_GPU.bat for example. Why use a third party version?

I was gonna ask the same. I've installed crysis from the original DVD a couple of weeks ago, and I used the buil it benchmark to test OC settings in gaming. Of course, it still performs a DVD check even when launching the benchmark.

Using a 3rd party utility because it does batching. Still uses the built in benches but you can set it to different resolutions and settings and hit go and walk away instead of of sitting there for hours on end manually changing settings and running each bench.

Can also save your batch setting to a file for loading later.

It also logs all results so they can be saved to a single file.

Takes mistakes out of the equation and saves a ton of time.

Sleaka_J wrote on 2025-03-21, 12:58:

Multithreading support in games during that time period ranged from either non-existent to woeful. Crysis being the first big game with "multi-core support" was often criticized for how poorly it was implemented.

In those early days the only thing that mattered was single core performance.

Dual cores clocked higher than quad cores at the time, so dual core with the highest frequency you can get for your board will get you much better performance than a slower clocked quad-core.

Q3a had minor benefits from 2 threads. I believe it was the simpler stuff, like the AI and sound that was split out.

Red faction had it too - as I found out on my Asynchronous celeries. The threading model really didn't like 2 cpus running at different speeds. It was best to limit cores.

myne wrote on 2025-04-15, 00:18:

Q3a had minor benefits from 2 threads. I believe it was the simpler stuff, like the AI and sound that was split out.

Unfortunately SMP in Quake 3 is highly unstable even on period appropriate hardware.

I don't recall any issues even on that asynchronous beast

First results have been posted:
LGA775 Windows XP benchmarking

Now comes the task of finding max overclocks for CPU and RAM as well as FSB. The FSB limit may vary between CPUs.

Probably will not update this thread except for this post when I add more results.

You probably will run out of cooling headroom before FSB limit hits 😁

Good news everyone! I finally got an E8600!
Tested it up to 400 FSB, hitting 4Ghz without needing to overvolt. Nice, stable and, most importantly, cooler than the Q6600.

Only thing I've noticed, in Cinebench R10, I'm getting scores a tad lower than those reported on Anandtech legacy benchmarks. But, maybe, it's because they got those on Windows 7 and a much recent platform (DDR3, I'm on DDR2 and WinXP).

Gaming is going pretty nicely now. In Unigine Heaven 1.0 I'm getting 300+ more points than before, and games runs much faster.

But I'm still getting hiccups in NFS Most Wanted: That game doesn't like V-Sync. As soon as I enable it, one of the CPU cores gets hammered with almost 100% utilization. It's probably a bug in Most Wanted, since Carbon runs rock solid at 60FPS.

Overall the system is, now, in it's final state. I'll just replace the PSU when I finish my new main rig, and recicle the Sharkoon I currently have for this LGA 775 build.

agent_x007 wrote on 2025-05-03, 21:27:

You probably will run out of cooling headroom before FSB limit hits 😁

Heh. That is what multiplier adjustment is for.

The current CPU cooler is a Megahalems with a push/pull fan setup using the older Rosewill dual ball high flow fans.

Plus there are 2x 180mm fans feeding air from the bottom of the case.

If I run out of cooling with this cooler, I'll slap a Noctua NH-D14 on there with the same fans, except the fans will both be pushing are from the outside of the towers as that lowers load temps by at least 3-4c compared to pushing the warm air from the first tower through the second tower.

I'm not going for sub-ambient cooling / overclocking here.

Even with multiplier adjustment, you still will see 4.8GHz at 1600MT/s FSB 😉
(minimum multi on unlocked Presler is "12x")

Note : Make sure top VRM heatsink isn't being lifted from middle MOSFETs (placed under it), due to PCB bending from cooler mounting force.
This may cause throttling and/or shutdowns, even when CPU/MB temperatures are "OK".

Yep, and that is partially why I said the FSB limit might be different on different CPUs

Already verified it clocks fine at least to 4.26Ghz. Working on learning this board as I have not messed with higher end LGA775 overclocking in years.

Thanks for the tip on the VRM heatsink. I'll make sure to check that.