No knowledge, need help. Win XP PC Build.

Jubbas · August 25, 2021

Hey everyone,

I need some help finding components for a Windows XP PC that will be used for gaming.

Budget (including currency): Budget: Unknown ATM (Currency: DKK)

Country: Denmark

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Will be used for gaming. Would love for it to play old stuff like Age of Empires II, but at the same time newer stuff like Fallout 3.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): Also need a Monitor. Intending to buy late this year or at the beginning of next year. Also no clue what resolution or refresh rate I need as my knowledge is lacking.

Hope you can help me.

- Jubbas.

Electronics Wizardy · August 25, 2021

Im guessing your buying used. Modern pcs won't run xp.

Id probalby just get a used core 2 pc and put a used gpu in it. The used pcs are super cheap, and will run old games just fine.

RONOTHAN## · August 25, 2021

You pretty much have two options for how you want to go about this, either build a new computer and run Windows XP in a virtual machine (recommended) or go Craigslist hunting and try to find old hardware in decent shape that still has Windows XP drivers. For this I'm going to assume you'll do the second, because the first solution will honestly just be buy an Optiplex and put a GPU in it.

For CPU and motherboard, the latest stuff that supports XP to my knowledge is AMD's FX line of CPUs. I'd find an FX 8350 or similar with a motherboard and RAM for cheap (they can be found used for very cheap) and use that.

For the GPU, find something from AMD's R9 200 series or Nvidia's GTX 900 series. The R9 290 would be a very powerful card for pretty cheap since AMD has stopped developing drivers for it, though you can always go for something like a R9 270X or HD 7970 if you want to save a bit of money.

For the monitor, get a 1080p 144Hz monitor. They're pretty cheap on the used market, and while some are definitely better than others, as long as you at least have the high refresh rate you should be fine for anything on Windows XP.

Also, probably should have asked this at the beginning, but is there a reason that you aren't just running it in a compatibility layer on Linux? Wine/Proton does really well with these applications and would allow you to just do the Optiplex and a GPU method, retaining modern hardware and security updates while still being able to play old games.