Latest actual hardware for Windows XP

[jaslion]

21 minutes ago, Meowth LVL255 said:

I thought Windows XPx32 only uses 4 GB of ram. If I bought a system with 8GB in it, wouldn't that just be wasting half of it?

Yes but as I said 4gb systems tend to be more expensive as they are less common because they are unwanted.

[Kilrah]

25 minutes ago, Meowth LVL255 said:

I thought Windows XPx32 only uses 4 GB of ram. If I bought a system with 8GB in it, wouldn't that just be wasting half of it?

Correct. Need XP64 to use more. My old 1st gen i7 doesn't do much on XP32 with its 24GB of RAM

 

[Meowth LVL255]

8 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Seriously, you should just look at refurbished computers at Newegg or other places, if you're planning to buy something.

You get case and psu and cooler in the package, for a reasonable price. 

 

For example, a whole HP Z220 pc for $115 : https://www.newegg.com/hp-z-series-z220/p/1VK-001E-3J1E9?Item=9SIAC0F9RM3657

 

Comes with a i3-3770 but you can upgrade to Xeon E3 v2 processors , has 4 ram slots for up to 32 GB DDR3 1600 ECC or non-ECC,  standard atx power supply if what I see on ebay is correct, specs page says 400w gold efficiency psu... windows xp drivers here: HP Z220 Convertible Minitower Workstation Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

Add your ram, add a small SSD and you're done. 

Specs here: HP Z220 Convertible Minitower Workstation Product Specifications | HP® Customer Support

 

May have to use Edge to render the above pages properly, it borks in Chrome in incognito mode and can't be bothered to check in regular mode.

 

or for example Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p Tower version for $125 : https://www.newegg.com/lenovo-thinkcentre-m93-business-desktops-workstations/p/1VK-0003-18PJ0?Item=9SIA8WVJ316305 

Not many cpu upgrade options, the psu may be proprietary (there's adapter cables to allow you to use regular atx power supply), but it has 4 slots and can do 32 GB of ram and has Windows XP drivers : https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre-m-series-desktops/thinkcentre-m93p/downloads/driver-list

 

-- 

 

Why would you want to use the 32bit XP, the 64 bit is better and also runs 32bit applications just fine. Shouldn't be any compatibility issue. 

 

In terms of just being able to run games, why would I need 64 over 32? By the research I've been doing, I see that 64 bit has scarce support for drivers. That might just be the internet being the internet, but I'm genuinely curious, but say I bought a Dell or something. That would come with an OEM license and if the tag isn't on the side, I'm kinda screwed for activation on that motherboard. I also have heard that changing hardware on an already installed XP can cause it to flip out whether that be 32 or 64.

[mariushm]

If you use a 32bit OS, you can't run 64 bit applications on it.  But if you run a 64 bit OS, you can run both 32 bit AND 64 bit applications... so nothing stops you from playing 32 bit games, or using the 32bit version of some games. 

 

People for a while insisted on using the 32bit version on the wrong assumption that 64 bit applications use double the amount of memory but in reality, 64 bit applications will only use around 10-20% more memory compared to the 32 bit version.

BUT, that 10-20% extra is offset by the performance increases a 64 bit application gets by being able to use bigger registers and the ability to manage memory easier. 

 

A single 32 bit application on a 32 bit system can only use 2 GB (3GB with some tricks) of memory, so some games may even crash due to not enough memory - for example I've used to play Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl with Stalker Complete mod (which adds ambiance, weather effects, lots of special effects, music, etc to the game) and that caused the game to hit the 2 GB limit from time to time and crash.

 

In theory, a 32 bit OS can use more than 4 GB of memory if PAE is enabled but Microsoft decided to artificially limit the 32bit version to 4 GB because driver authors didn't test drivers properly and some drivers would blue screen or not work properly when PAE is enabled. For example, a Winfast 2000 XP Expert tv tuner I had would not work in Windows 2000 when PAE was enabled, because the driver assumed it would always be able to reserve a chunk of ram below the 4 GB threshold, and by enabling PAE the driver would get a memory location above the 4 GB threshold. 

 

The Windows XP 64 bit uses the Windows 2003 server kernel which in theory is a bit more stable and reliable than the old Windows XP 32 bit kernel. 

 

I sincerely doubt you're gonna have issues with drivers on the 64 bit version of Windows... don't know what research you did. It should really not be an issue. 

 

edit: and you really shouldn't worry that much about licenses that come with the machine ... Windows XP activation is pretty much disabled, it's no longer supported, you'll have a hard time activating it in the first place so if you don't connect it to the internet you might as well just get a volume license key and use it ... see https://github.com/fuwn/xp

 

[Meowth LVL255]

13 minutes ago, mariushm said:

If you use a 32bit OS, you can't run 64 bit applications on it.  But if you run a 64 bit OS, you can run both 32 bit AND 64 bit applications... so nothing stops you from playing 32 bit games, or using the 32bit version of some games. 

 

People for a while insisted on using the 32bit version on the wrong assumption that 64 bit applications use double the amount of memory but in reality, 64 bit applications will only use around 10-20% more memory compared to the 32 bit version.

BUT, that 10-20% extra is offset by the performance increases a 64 bit application gets by being able to use bigger registers and the ability to manage memory easier. 

 

A single 32 bit application on a 32 bit system can only use 2 GB (3GB with some tricks) of memory, so some games may even crash due to not enough memory - for example I've used to play Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl with Stalker Complete mod (which adds ambiance, weather effects, lots of special effects, music, etc to the game) and that caused the game to hit the 2 GB limit from time to time and crash.

 

In theory, a 32 bit OS can use more than 4 GB of memory if PAE is enabled but Microsoft decided to artificially limit the 32bit version to 4 GB because driver authors didn't test drivers properly and some drivers would blue screen or not work properly when PAE is enabled. For example, a Winfast 2000 XP Expert tv tuner I had would not work in Windows 2000 when PAE was enabled, because the driver assumed it would always be able to reserve a chunk of ram below the 4 GB threshold, and by enabling PAE the driver would get a memory location above the 4 GB threshold. 

 

The Windows XP 64 bit uses the Windows 2003 server kernel which in theory is a bit more stable and reliable than the old Windows XP 32 bit kernel. 

 

I sincerely doubt you're gonna have issues with drivers on the 64 bit version of Windows... don't know what research you did. It should really not be an issue. 

 

 

Apparently, that's an argument between the internet whether they'd go with 32 or 64. Some 32 bit fans are saying things like "I'd go with 32 bit because some 32 bit programs have issues on x64", and "64 has driver issues". some of the x64 fans are saying that 32 has the 4gb limit and cant run x64 programs, which is obvious. I guess it's up to a preference thing, but I don't think any games I'll be running on this thing will require x64. I might be wrong, but I'm open to get into a deep dive of it. If I bought an i5 2400 and a GIGABYTE GA-Z68P-DS3, will it have drivers and be able to use them with no problem? I'm pairing it with a GT 730. Will that not have any issues? For 32, will I have issues trying to put the OS on an SSD? Things like this.