shevalier wrote on 2025-11-25, 06:53:

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP). It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 […]
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theelf wrote on 2025-11-24, 19:52:

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2025-11-24, 19:14:

Plenty of LGA1366 and LGA1156 with floppy and pata.

1366 is expensive, 1156 i dont see much more than 1155, normally are the gigabyte ones that have floppy connector

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP).
It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 compatibility (though, unfortunately, without TPM).
Among the advantages are an unlocked multiplier in both directions and the ability to disable cores.
You can emulate the performance of everyone's favorite Pentium 3 Tualatin.

At least in my country, the problem of AM3+ is too much expensive, board and CPU are double or triple intel ones

Even more old AM2 are expensive than 775

theelf wrote on 2025-11-25, 10:45:

shevalier wrote on 2025-11-25, 06:53:

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP). It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 […]
Show full quote

theelf wrote on 2025-11-24, 19:52:

1366 is expensive, 1156 i dont see much more than 1155, normally are the gigabyte ones that have floppy connector

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP).
It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 compatibility (though, unfortunately, without TPM).
Among the advantages are an unlocked multiplier in both directions and the ability to disable cores.
You can emulate the performance of everyone's favorite Pentium 3 Tualatin.

At least in my country, the problem of AM3+ is too much expensive, board and CPU are double or triple intel ones

Even more old AM2 are expensive than 775

As far as I remember, Intel 2600/3770 does not have one instruction (f16c, whatever that means) that is required in some games.
That is why they completely disappeared from the scene.
Vishera has this instruction. 😀
And also a slow (alas) but functional set of AVX.

shevalier wrote on 2025-11-25, 06:53:

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP). It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 […]
Show full quote

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP).
It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 compatibility (though, unfortunately, without TPM).
Among the advantages are an unlocked multiplier in both directions and the ability to disable cores.
You can emulate the performance of everyone's favorite Pentium 3 Tualatin.

If compatibility with older (even MS-DOS) stuff is more important than compatibility with Windows 11 (and modern games requiring SSE4+ and AVX) then AM3 and Phenom II can be even more versatile.
AFAIK Phenom II CPUs have the widest range of runtime adjustable clock from 100 MHz to ~4000 MHz. It also has adjustable TSC so besides running at 100 MHz it can also report 100 MHz (unlike more modern CPUs that always report the default base clock).
At the minimum 100 MHz Phenoms can emulate everyone's favorite Pentium MMX and even do not trigger the infamous Turbo Pascal division by zero error.

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-25, 11:23:

If compatibility with older (even MS-DOS) stuff

As for DOS/Windows 98, I don't know.
7xx chipsets work perfectly with Windows XP, which is what we're talking about.
In 2010, I used a 785 chipset with Windows 64-bit.
9xx—honestly, I don't know.

theelf wrote on 2025-11-25, 10:45:

shevalier wrote on 2025-11-25, 06:53:

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP). It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 […]
Show full quote

theelf wrote on 2025-11-24, 19:52:

1366 is expensive, 1156 i dont see much more than 1155, normally are the gigabyte ones that have floppy connector

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP).
It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 compatibility (though, unfortunately, without TPM).
Among the advantages are an unlocked multiplier in both directions and the ability to disable cores.
You can emulate the performance of everyone's favorite Pentium 3 Tualatin.

At least in my country, the problem of AM3+ is too much expensive, board and CPU are double or triple intel ones

Even more old AM2 are expensive than 775

Hi, what about AMD socket 939? I have rather positive memories of it on both 9x/XP so far. ^^

Jo22 wrote on 2025-11-25, 13:54:

theelf wrote on 2025-11-25, 10:45:

shevalier wrote on 2025-11-25, 06:53:

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP). It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 […]
Show full quote

A more versatile option would be AM3+ with Vishera FX83x0E (E-Eco, 95W TDP).
It has everything from a floppy to Windows 11 25H2 compatibility (though, unfortunately, without TPM).
Among the advantages are an unlocked multiplier in both directions and the ability to disable cores.
You can emulate the performance of everyone's favorite Pentium 3 Tualatin.

At least in my country, the problem of AM3+ is too much expensive, board and CPU are double or triple intel ones

Even more old AM2 are expensive than 775

Hi, what about AMD socket 939? I have rather positive memories of it on both 9x/XP so far. ^^

socket 939 are cheap like 775 here, for 5-15 us dollars you can get cpu+motherboard and maybe ram, like 775, similar prices

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-11-24, 23:35:

Whatever you do, please use a cooler with the non-stock style mounting. The coolers with the push-pins will warp the motherboard very badly (huge bulge) after a while.

That and the stock Intel coolers are absolute trash and have been for the past many decades.

Oh, this is something I never expected! I thought the motherboard is so robust you can hardly break it even if you want to... It is a GIGABYTE GA-G41M-COMBO-GQ, and indeed I've bought some basic cooler with 4 pins, 95W.... Will do for testing, but I tend to get to love my systems with the time passing, and I definitely want it to last. Could you please kindly give me some non-stock mounting model that I can at least use for some reference? Does it have a steel panel for the opposite side of the board or something?

Right now I'm in a little shock because of this revelation... If it's not the 4 holes on the motherboard, how the cooler even is supposed to hang in there...
I am on Socket 370 with Mendocino and Tualatin, so I've got used to just clipping the cooler on the socket, and to stay away from Intel plastic-clip ones.

Hope the good ppl here can give me some advice. Please help. I'm sure you have some tested good options. I think that posting the photos of the system is too much to ask for, but I can surely Google the model and find pictures.

SPBHM wrote on 2025-11-24, 15:30:

I think what makes 775 a bit pointless is how cheap lga 1155 is today, lots of cheap Sandy Bridge i3s, i5s, and in general those are much nicer than any Core 2.

I can tell you in all honesty it's about going to the physical store and buying a new motherboard in the box. The last time I've done this was around year 2000) Then many years of laptops, and more recently mostly ordering used stuff from Ebay etc... The pre-order experience was pure fun last week)) And it has the plastic around the FDD port, how cool is that!

Halofiber86 wrote on 2025-11-26, 13:19:

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-11-24, 23:35:

Whatever you do, please use a cooler with the non-stock style mounting. The coolers with the push-pins will warp the motherboard very badly (huge bulge) after a while.

That and the stock Intel coolers are absolute trash and have been for the past many decades.

Does it have a steel panel for the opposite side of the board or something?

https://store.cwc-group.com/775backplate.html
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-supremacy-backplate-lga-775
https://www.amazon.sa/-/en/Top-Motor-Dynatron … t/dp/B0099W67LG

shevalier wrote on 2025-11-26, 13:34:

https://store.cwc-group.com/775backplate.html
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-supremacy-backplate-lga-775
https://www.amazon.sa/-/en/Top-Motor-Dynatron … t/dp/B0099W67LG

Thanks a lot! Ordered a couple of those! Your kind help is much appreciated.

shevalier wrote on 2025-11-25, 11:03:

As far as I remember, Intel 2600/3770 does not have one instruction (f16c, whatever that means) that is required in some games.

Ivy-Bridge has it, so not a big deal, that's the same platform (1155, 2011).

theelf wrote on 2025-11-20, 11:59:

bitzu101 wrote on 2025-11-20, 11:03:

Let s be hones , we only play games on these old things , nothing more. And there are no games up to 2010 that require even 4gb or ram.

he? my main PC is a socket 775, 8GB ram, XP 32bits, and i use for... everyday stuff, from web surfing, mail, bank/goverment stuff, to watch movies, programming, networking stuff etc etc whatever but gaming, i almost never play games

And I found socket 775 still good for my daily needs

And I thought i was the only one still using a LGA 775 system as a daily driver! However I do not use XP but Windows 8.1. Unfortunately 8gb of RAM does not cut it anymore. Realistically you need 16gb as a minimum in 2026 even if all you do is web browsing and document editing as myself.

nd22 wrote on 2026-02-05, 08:00:

theelf wrote on 2025-11-20, 11:59:

bitzu101 wrote on 2025-11-20, 11:03:

Let s be hones , we only play games on these old things , nothing more. And there are no games up to 2010 that require even 4gb or ram.

he? my main PC is a socket 775, 8GB ram, XP 32bits, and i use for... everyday stuff, from web surfing, mail, bank/goverment stuff, to watch movies, programming, networking stuff etc etc whatever but gaming, i almost never play games

And I found socket 775 still good for my daily needs

And I thought i was the only one still using a LGA 775 system as a daily driver! However I do not use XP but Windows 8.1. Unfortunately 8gb of RAM does not cut it anymore. Realistically you need 16gb as a minimum in 2026 even if all you do is web browsing and document editing as myself.

Never feel this, in fact, i think 4gb will be enough for my daily browsing, since from my 8gb ram im using 4gb for main ram, and a 2GB swap, and swap is almost never used

In fact, i have a laptop i use for work stuff with 4gb ram, XP 32bits, i3, and i do all my online stuff without problem, and excel and databse stuff too at same time

With 10+ tabs opened Firefox alone is eating lots of RAM. And when I add several large excels opened it needs a page file every single time! I grew accustomed disabling the page file since the first days I started using XP back in 2004. Even with a SSD I notice the difference between the system using the page file and not using it.
Surprisingly Q9650 is still enough for everyday tasks - what I am missing is more RAM and SATA3!

nd22 wrote on 2026-02-05, 08:00:

And I thought i was the only one still using a LGA 775 system as a daily driver! However I do not use XP but Windows 8.1. Unfortunately 8gb of RAM does not cut it anymore. Realistically you need 16gb as a minimum in 2026 even if all you do is web browsing and document editing as myself.

Well, there's a trick you can use... I decided to have my old Asus N56VZ fixed (hard flashing the bios did the trick), and I decided to just put Windows 7 on it and run OLD SOFTWARE.

Yes, all the softwares I need existed on Windows 7 (I would argue some were even better back then), so I just use that laptop as a backup of my work PC when I need that old software.

i73630qm? GT650M? 8GB of DDR3? No problem for CAD software from 2013! And I can open those drawings no problem on my latest update of that software on the main rig.

The problem remains with internet browsing... But then, with all the hardware vulnerabilities that have popped up in the years, I woulnd't feel safe using such an old platform for doing anything serious on the internet.

If you want to see how many cores your Winblows system can actually use...

Launch a bunch of "busy" tasks - I use a simple BUSY loop in C:

1   for(;;);

which basically "loops at max speed forever"

Then launch task-manager (ctrl-alt-del) and see how many cores actually show and are busy.

(sorry if this suggestion already given - just noticed this thread in "new posts" and have't taken time to real all)

I'm running an E6850 on X38 with a HD5870, using a CRT at 1152x864 75hz or an LCD at 1600x900 60hz, I am completely satisfied with the performance for games up to 2007. I'm not chasing super high framerates, 60-75fps is fine for me. I think the E8400 is plenty.

Hello good Vogons people! Yesterday I have finalized everything and now it's time to report and thank you. The E8400 processor is in place and working at 3 GHz (sometimes reporting 2Ghz, due to some internal throttling, I guess). I was afraid the system will be too hot, but it turned out, it's actually quite cool: I've set the warning temperature to 60 Celsius in BIOS, and so far that has been only exceeded once, during the very initial XP 32-bit installation. Since then it's mostly around 45 Celsius. I have modified the stock cooler as per your kind advice with a backplate and some car-grade screws from the DIY store) Still this is not the tower cooler, but more of what I've got used to with Mendocino and Tualatin. Although I do not believe it's any good for the 95W system (as advertised), for the 65W E8400 it is so far sufficient and quiet, quieter than my Intel-certified Tualatin cooler was.

The built-in GMA 4500 VGA video turned out to be enough to handle MaxPayne 3 at 800x600 for initial testing. It gave me decent desktop resolutions, but I did not like those VGA ripples, and I have no space for a decent CRT monitor. So I've purchased a new GT710 Gigabyte card, that consumes only 19 watts and is quite silent.

Guess what, one of my brand new 800MHz Pariot DDR2s was bad - not working in any of the 2 DDR2 slots, and constantly restarting the system before POST! I think this was the first memory malfunction that I have ever experienced, and because of this, it took some time to find what was actually wrong. Since the situation has been figured out, I have received full refund from the vendor, and got myself another 800MHz 2Gb Patriot, albeit of a different color and chip length (never imagined the PC2-6400 chips of the same Patriot brand in identical packaging could have had different memory chips inside). Maybe this was because I was picking my crumbles among the lucky left-overs)

Thank you very much for helping me with your kind advice! Special thanks to cyclone3d and shevalier! Like with the above memory malfunction issue, I had no idea the backplate was required for the LGA775 system until you pointed that out for me, gentlemen. Please accept my best gratitude.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-07, 07:44:

I'm running an E6850 on X38 with a HD5870, using a CRT at 1152x864 75hz or an LCD at 1600x900 60hz, I am completely satisfied with the performance for games up to 2007. I'm not chasing super high framerates, 60-75fps is fine for me. I think the E8400 is plenty.

Thank you for your comment. I think you're quite right, the E8400 must be taking most of the load for Max Payne 3 in my case. With XP 32 more or less using them two cores, I have a smooth experience at 1024x768 with Max, maybe not as smooth as can be expected from your much more period-correct 190-watt HD5870, but I still sort of like everything to be low-power, cool and quiet)
I have no software to measure the frames though. If you could advise me on something that works under XP, I would greatly appreciate that.

Back in the XP days, Fraps is the tool for showing FPS