Windows XP + Q6600 + GTX 285 = WIN

[Sousuke]

The XP Q6600 Rig! Low budget!

 

For a long time I've wanted to build what I would say could be the best Windows XP could support however as a student I couldn't justify more than about £80 to spend.

 

The other day I managed to get a Motherboard with a Q6600 for just £14! So now I have key bits I have decided that now is the best time to build this system!

 

I am going to use mainly used parts and eBay and a few new things as and when I can!

 

Follow for more as I will be getting in the parts in soon!

 

The Motherboard is a ECS MCP73VT-PM a motherboard from a Packard Bell PC. Nothing high end but it will be perfect for a Windows XP Era Gaming PC as it has an nVidia 7050 / 610i Chipset. It only has 1 PCIe x16 slot so the choice of graphics card wasn't easy.

 

The GPU, I've gone for a GTX 285 as its a high end GPU with good support for Windows XP also fits in with the Pre 2010 era. I got this GPU about 6 months ago at a price of £10 as I had it in mind for this build, was going to get a second for SLI however with this motherboard one will have to do!

 

The CPU being the Q6600 was just something I had to do being one of the first true Quad Core CPUs. 

 

Memory would have to be an Integral 2 x 2 GB DDR2 667MHz kit, I know Windows XP can only support 3.5GBs however may as well go all out as this part only cost me £8 used.

 

Hard drive is just a 500GB WD Blue SATA Drive which I bought in a job lot of hard drives which I've used most of them now so kinda free.

 

The most expensive part of this build is the PSU, I have a 400W PSU from an old OEM Machine however 400W isn't enough and I have no idea of the quality of it so I bought an EVGA 500B for £30 which has all the connectors and wattage I need for this build. Also with a 80+ Bronze certification will do well in this system.

 

Lastly the case, its a cheap £21 case of Amazon. I didn't want to spend stupid amounts of money to get a "Period Correct" case as getting used cases off eBay is expensive as people want stupid money for postage so this was the best choice.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01ETUCF3Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

It has everything I need without looking awful. 

 

So I will have all the parts by next week so more pics of the build coming soon!

[corrado33]

Super cool. It's unfortunate that you likely won't be able to OC the processor using that board however, you could do the "tape mod" to get it up to 3 GHz for free. 

 

 

[Ross Siggers]

**edit** Forget I said anything, I thought I had a second 285 you could have but it's a 9800GTX+

[Sousuke]

3 hours ago, Ross Siggers said:

**edit** Forget I said anything, I thought I had a second 285 you could have but it's a 9800GTX+

Thanks for the thought! I may look at SLi in the future as I may get a higher end board sometime in the next few years

7 hours ago, campy said:

nice, im all about XP machines

heres mine with its Pentium D 925 and 8800 GT

Nice, got to admit wish I had more cash to spend on a few better looking parts!

5 hours ago, corrado33 said:

Super cool. It's unfortunate that you likely won't be able to OC the processor using that board however, you could do the "tape mod" to get it up to 3 GHz for free. 

 

 

Maybe an idea but I don't trust the board at all to overclock even like this So when I decide to go SLI I'll get one which will OC!

[Sousuke]

So update, Got all the parts in but not all of it went to plan

 

So I've gotten everything together and its built

 

Had to change out the GTX 285 to a 8800 GT as for some reason the BIOS or Windows wouldn't detect it.

 

Full Specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz

4GB (3.25 usable) DDR2 667Mhz Memory

512MB nVidia 8800 GT GPU

250GB WD Blue Hard Drive

DVD-RW Drive

Windows XP Professional SP3

 

Should be fine for now but will be looking at getting a new GPU soon

 

[Sousuke]

Now I've had some time to sort out what I was going to do with this machine so I decided to go with an nVidia GTX 560Ti which I picked up for £15! 

 

So now its all working and can run all of the games I want it to run with absolutely no issues at all.

 

So here is the final config with a tacky and cheap gaming mouse and keyboard set