thanks a lot for the further replies guys. I have already ordered the extra ram. It should arrive next week.

@momoka Thanks a lot for your detailed reply and the many great suggestions you gave me.I will check out the price points of the many cpu suggestions you gave me for a 2005 and beyond win xp system.

I think you are right about the ati radeon 1800 btw. I am now in the year 2003 and the peformance of the games I have tried (max payne 2, call of duty and Unreal 2) are running nicely.

Maybe things will start to get a bit more ugly when I reach games from 2004 and 2005 but so far I am glad with the results.

I am fine with that. I on order to get the best experience for later xp games the only way is to get another xp system with a Core 2 Duo or better.

In the long run I want a great machine that can max out FEAR and the original Crysis including warhead.

If you want to max it out, it's pretty simple.
Get an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridg ... hitecture) era chipset
And a 980ti

980s are probably under $50 now, and you can get plenty of ivy based xeons for dirt cheap. eg https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-intel- … ctlist.search.0
If you want to be 1000% sure, get an honest to god 1155 board. eg https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-1155-m … .6660ZEWQZEWQfZ

but most likely you can find a full working system locally for peanuts.

Done.

momaka wrote on 2025-04-23, 21:32:

But what can one expect? In the case of the 8800 GT / 9800 GT, nVidia slapped a single-slot cooling solution onto a 128-Watt TDP GPU. These cards tend to run in the mid-50C just idling and easily hit temperatures of 80C under load. So no wonder they die.

9800 GT was single slot as TDP wasn't that high. GTX 280 had much higher TDP and better cooling was justified. What's more worrying is that manual fan profile doesn't work on my 9800 GT. It always resets to default and the default profile has too low RPM for gaming. I replaced the original tiny fan with a larger slim fan. Fortunately broken manual profile doesn't do much harm as I use Zalman Z9 case (with mesh on side) for the Windows XP rig with 12cm fans with reduced RPM. This case provides excellent airflow for this era while still having a floppy slot and it saves the day.

I would highly recommend not to use period accurate cases for Windows XP rigs but semi-modern ones for quieter system and longer lifespan of hardware.

myne wrote on 2025-04-24, 07:30:

If you want to max it out, it's pretty simple. Get an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_(microarchitecture) era chipset A […]
Show full quote

If you want to max it out, it's pretty simple.
Get an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridg ... hitecture) era chipset
And a 980ti

980s are probably under $50 now, and you can get plenty of ivy based xeons for dirt cheap. eg https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-intel- … ctlist.search.0
If you want to be 1000% sure, get an honest to god 1155 board. eg https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-1155-m … .6660ZEWQZEWQfZ

but most likely you can find a full working system locally for peanuts.

Done.

Thanks a lot for the interesting links and offers. It is good to know that it is easy to get a high-quality system that does not cost a fortune. I will start researching in that direction asap.

momaka wrote on 2025-04-23, 21:32:

In games that can take advantage of more than 1 core (e.g. anything from Valve's Source engine) the Pentium D will/should do considerably better.
So I don't suggest to the O/P to swap his PD 930.

My understanding is that most games of that era (early to mid 2000's) don't take advantage of more than one core, and consequently the Pentium D will often be a worse performer.

For example, in gaming benchmarks comparing the Pentium D 820 versus AMD and Pentium 4 processors, the Pentium D is consistently the slowest. This includes 3DMark2001, Far Cry, Doom 3, and UT2003: https://www.theregister.com/2005/05/26/review … ntium_d/?page=5

As for Source engine, aside from a couple games (HL2 and Bloodlines), most Source engine games released 2006-onward which is into the Core2 era.

Horun wrote on 2025-04-24, 00:49:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2025-04-23, 18:59:

Horun wrote on 2025-04-21, 03:01:

Do you want or think you will need a floppy port, or an IDE port or a PCI slot. That can make a big difference in what to look for, even in late 2000's boards....

Is that what people look for in an XP machine?
FDD and IDE?

For some yes, others no. If you only plan to use it for late win98 and XP games then no. Mine is a mixed use XP box for gaming and also use it to create floppies or monkey with an older HD for my few 286/386/486 systems when needed.
Current XP board is an Asrock Penryn1600, the Giga GA-EP43-UD3L is it's replacement if something happens (near same stuff just diff chipsets).

Right yeah that makes sense.
I do that myself but I use a USB floppy drive for it. It wasnt a requirement when I made the machine.

predator_085 wrote on 2025-04-23, 18:39:

Would you recommend a certain coreduo or iv bridge cpu plus some certain graphic cards.

My own experience is with the E8400 and E8600 processors for Core2, and the i7-3770k for Ivy Bridge.

If you're going Core2, I would just go for the E8600 since it has the fastest single core performance of that era (barring overclocking).

When I switched to Ivy Bridge, I opted for the i7-3770k and a GeForce 980Ti. Both of these are complete overkill for Windows XP, but I wanted to basically build the ultimate XP system without worrying about a performance ceiling. This setup can run Crysis at over 100FPS at 1920x1200, which makes it good enough in that respect. I also may dual-boot it with Windows 7 at some point.

If you're going for a high end XP system, you could do with a lower processor and GPU combo (e.g. 480 or 780, or variation thereof). A lot of it will depend on what is available and within your own budget.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-04-25, 17:27:

My own experience is with the E8400 and E8600 processors for Core2, and the i7-3770k for Ivy Bridge. […]
Show full quote

predator_085 wrote on 2025-04-23, 18:39:

Would you recommend a certain coreduo or iv bridge cpu plus some certain graphic cards.

My own experience is with the E8400 and E8600 processors for Core2, and the i7-3770k for Ivy Bridge.

If you're going Core2, I would just go for the E8600 since it has the fastest single core performance of that era (barring overclocking).

When I switched to Ivy Bridge, I opted for the i7-3770k and a GeForce 980Ti. Both of these are complete overkill for Windows XP, but I wanted to basically build the ultimate XP system without worrying about a performance ceiling. This setup can run Crysis at over 100FPS at 1920x1200, which makes it good enough in that respect. I also may dual-boot it with Windows 7 at some point.

If you're going for a high end XP system, you could do with a lower processor and GPU combo (e.g. 480 or 780, or variation thereof). A lot of it will depend on what is available and within your own budget.

Thanks a lot for the further information. I will check out the price point and availability of the CPU and GPU you recommended to determine which parts are available to me. Many great options to pick from.