What are you views of this machine? Is it a worthwhile gaming experience in 2022 or are there better alternatives that strike the balance between cost and performance? Let me know below.
I think you've nailed it, though I think I was telling you this from the get go! Vista's support window is so limited that XP is actually a superior choice in most instances as long as you don't require DX10. Windows 10 gets you access to a lot of great modern conveniences (community widescreen patches that depend on modern DirectX, etc), but you lose almost all the benefits of the X-Fi card. It's both a blessing and a curse having such a powerhouse that sits directly between these two generations. Personally, I'd recommend dual-booting XP and 10 for the best of both worlds. Your next investment in this machine should probably be a beautiful non-widescreen flat panel display with a reasonable resolution. I recently picked up a Sony SDM-HS95P, a 1280x1024 native resolution LCD panel. It's gorgeous and makes working with Window 9x/XP-era software that didn't anticipate wide aspect ratios seamless. It gets satisfactorily dark for retrogaming, and the latency seems fine, too. Might be a good idea to go grab a suitable replacement card for when the 8800 GTX fails, because it will. It's a miracle it still works today, most have internally deteriorated already (whether they were used or not). A GTX 460 (or ATI/AMD equivalent) should be a good drop-in replacement, though I am partial to the GT 440 as you can get something like 80% of the 8800 GTX performance, more modern features, and some cards are passively cooled.
The videos on this machine were shot one after another back in the summer and finished before the first one released, but you did say that, you’re right. I’ll be sticking with this system in its XP configuration now, with the widescreen monitor as that’s what I had when I originally had an 8800GT based system back in 2007
They were a decent PC at their time. Although I was never a fan of those memory risers as they were finicky and would get upset over the lightest disturbance. Biggest thing to watch out for on them now a days is bad caps.
@@TechMadeEasyUK yeah even the slightest amount of dust or corrosion and the computer will get upset. Once they are seated with good contact and working usually they will play nice.
You could run a hypervisor (per ravenhawk), and then have a Vista/XP/7/Linux fileshare/PLEX/desktop/transcode instance for whatever works best at the time. Mine has a Quadro 4000 and should make an OK fileshare/transcode YT support server to handle tasks separate from the main editing workstation. I'm following your upgrades too. With the newly spare Xeon, I might try the 771/775 mod, OC it, and try gaming on that.
I could, but the thing is this machine is so power hungry compared to more modern machines, I could probably get the same performance from my modern Ryzen 5500U based laptop
GPU passthrough though requires an i5 or a Xeon 5500 or newer unfortunately. The latest version of Windows to support running a Hypervisor on this cpu is Server 2012R2. I did recently install ProxMox on my 490 which is the slightly smaller (physically) version of this computer with the same CPUs and 32GB of memory and it was very difficult even getting a VM running as ProxMox assumes you're running a much better CPU and the VMs will refuse to work. Eventually I got the settings modified but the system seemed abnormally slow for some reason. My next plan with mine is pull out the FirePro card and put a K2200 card in it and install Windows 10 again on it. These computers are furnaces though. It make the room uncomfortably warm when it is on.
If you wanted to try using this machine in Win 10, you should have upgraded the gpu. Just yesterday I received two of these (my employer was cleaning out a closet) for free. One has dual Xeons with 16gb ram and the other has a single Xeon with 12gb of ram. they both have a Quadro FX4500 gpu. One I'm going to downgrade to XP 32 bit and only keep 4 gb of ram, while the other one is going to get the 8 extra ram and go to Win 10. I'm already getting a GTX 670 for the XP version and a RX580 for the Win 10 version. I haven't fully investigated them yet, so I have no idea what Xeon is in them or even if they work, but I will start it up this weekend to find out. Then I'll clean them up and do the mods (if everything is working that is).
The principal of this video was to see how well the existing hardware (including the GPU) performed with the benefit of Windows 10 and a decent Steam library. As mentioned, although it performed very well given its age it will be going back to Windows XP and to being a kick ass rig for DX9 and earlier games
Watching videos like this make me want to experience the era of gaming I missed out on. However, I don't think I'll try get period accurate parts but instead get newer and more affordable/efficient parts that still support windows XP. I've actually been in the progress of making a dual boot home media/retro gaming pc. Although I need to use the modded driver, I have acquired and plan on using: i5 3570k GTX 980 FE 120gb ssd + 1tb hdd (I plan on splitting/partitioning the HDD, around 400gb for XP and the rest for windows 10) I don't know what mobo I have, was the cheapest non-prebuilt/server mobo I could find haha. I am going to use 16gb ram, but I hear windows XP will still boot fine with that amount of ram and just ignore anything above 4gb? I hope that's the case.
@@TechMadeEasyUK yeah that's what I mean. I heard it should still boot, just won't be able to recognise anything above 4gb. The 64bit version is apparently based on an older server OS so it's not a "true" windows xp per se, at least from what I've read. Looking forward to watching more videos!
@@TechMadeEasyUK Thanks for the clarification! I just hope nothing dies when I put it all together hahaha. Just a question, what's the difference between the 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra? is it like a different version of the same card or something else?
Windows XP professional is a 64bit OS, i would try that and see if the memory is utilised, pretty sure its not limited to the 4gb memory of windows xp 32 bit OS
The 64 bit version of XP was actually a reskinned version of Windows Server 2003. It does allow better utilisation of memory but it also has terrible driver support when compared to later 64 but versions of Windows
What are you views of this machine? Is it a worthwhile gaming experience in 2022 or are there better alternatives that strike the balance between cost and performance?
Let me know below.
Its cool whats ur main pc specs
@@s4f3ty you can find my current build video on my channel, it’s the silent 5900x / 3080 build
Video was transitioning from SD to HD at that time too. I had this as an editing box and quickly ran into limits.
@@satchuck I’m going to attempt to use this for a week in the future and document my experiences with it. We’ll see what happens!
I'm running it right now with 2 Xeon 5160s 8x4GB RAM, RX 570 8GB (PCIe 1.1 x16 speed), 2TB SATA SSD (SATA 2 speed), WiFi 6 adapter (PCIe 1.1 x1 actually not crippling performance), USB 3.0 add-in PCIe card, powering 2 2560x1440 monitors @144Hz. It runs pretty god damn well.
Cool Video! I had 3 of those used for Music Production in the Mid 2000s. IT was a great machine at the time for such things
I can see how it would have been amazing in the XP era. Unsurprisingly a budget laptop surpasses it in 2023
@@TechMadeEasyUK Oh yes they were a powerhouse and very good value for money.
I think you've nailed it, though I think I was telling you this from the get go! Vista's support window is so limited that XP is actually a superior choice in most instances as long as you don't require DX10. Windows 10 gets you access to a lot of great modern conveniences (community widescreen patches that depend on modern DirectX, etc), but you lose almost all the benefits of the X-Fi card. It's both a blessing and a curse having such a powerhouse that sits directly between these two generations. Personally, I'd recommend dual-booting XP and 10 for the best of both worlds.
Your next investment in this machine should probably be a beautiful non-widescreen flat panel display with a reasonable resolution. I recently picked up a Sony SDM-HS95P, a 1280x1024 native resolution LCD panel. It's gorgeous and makes working with Window 9x/XP-era software that didn't anticipate wide aspect ratios seamless. It gets satisfactorily dark for retrogaming, and the latency seems fine, too.
Might be a good idea to go grab a suitable replacement card for when the 8800 GTX fails, because it will. It's a miracle it still works today, most have internally deteriorated already (whether they were used or not). A GTX 460 (or ATI/AMD equivalent) should be a good drop-in replacement, though I am partial to the GT 440 as you can get something like 80% of the 8800 GTX performance, more modern features, and some cards are passively cooled.
The videos on this machine were shot one after another back in the summer and finished before the first one released, but you did say that, you’re right. I’ll be sticking with this system in its XP configuration now, with the widescreen monitor as that’s what I had when I originally had an 8800GT based system back in 2007
They were a decent PC at their time. Although I was never a fan of those memory risers as they were finicky and would get upset over the lightest disturbance. Biggest thing to watch out for on them now a days is bad caps.
Yeah the risers gave me big problems in the previous upgrade video, though they seem to be fine now.
@@TechMadeEasyUK yeah even the slightest amount of dust or corrosion and the computer will get upset. Once they are seated with good contact and working usually they will play nice.
Use it as a Hypervisor like VMware or Proxmox
It’s certainly got the resources, I just wonder what I would actually use the VMs for
I have the same pc... great video!!
Awesome. What do you do with yours?
You could run a hypervisor (per ravenhawk), and then have a Vista/XP/7/Linux fileshare/PLEX/desktop/transcode instance for whatever works best at the time. Mine has a Quadro 4000 and should make an OK fileshare/transcode YT support server to handle tasks separate from the main editing workstation.
I'm following your upgrades too. With the newly spare Xeon, I might try the 771/775 mod, OC it, and try gaming on that.
I could, but the thing is this machine is so power hungry compared to more modern machines, I could probably get the same performance from my modern Ryzen 5500U based laptop
GPU passthrough though requires an i5 or a Xeon 5500 or newer unfortunately. The latest version of Windows to support running a Hypervisor on this cpu is Server 2012R2.
I did recently install ProxMox on my 490 which is the slightly smaller (physically) version of this computer with the same CPUs and 32GB of memory and it was very difficult even getting a VM running as ProxMox assumes you're running a much better CPU and the VMs will refuse to work. Eventually I got the settings modified but the system seemed abnormally slow for some reason. My next plan with mine is pull out the FirePro card and put a K2200 card in it and install Windows 10 again on it.
These computers are furnaces though. It make the room uncomfortably warm when it is on.
If you wanted to try using this machine in Win 10, you should have upgraded the gpu. Just yesterday I received two of these (my employer was cleaning out a closet) for free. One has dual Xeons with 16gb ram and the other has a single Xeon with 12gb of ram. they both have a Quadro FX4500 gpu. One I'm going to downgrade to XP 32 bit and only keep 4 gb of ram, while the other one is going to get the 8 extra ram and go to Win 10. I'm already getting a GTX 670 for the XP version and a RX580 for the Win 10 version. I haven't fully investigated them yet, so I have no idea what Xeon is in them or even if they work, but I will start it up this weekend to find out. Then I'll clean them up and do the mods (if everything is working that is).
The principal of this video was to see how well the existing hardware (including the GPU) performed with the benefit of Windows 10 and a decent Steam library. As mentioned, although it performed very well given its age it will be going back to Windows XP and to being a kick ass rig for DX9 and earlier games
i use it to do homework, and sometimes to play minecraft. other games aren't well-supported 😅
Minecraft on this sounds awesome. What GPU does yours have?
@@TechMadeEasyUK oh yes, it has a nvidia quadro k2000, so it doesn't do so many fps but that's fine XD
Watching videos like this make me want to experience the era of gaming I missed out on.
However, I don't think I'll try get period accurate parts but instead get newer and more affordable/efficient parts that still support windows XP.
I've actually been in the progress of making a dual boot home media/retro gaming pc. Although I need to use the modded driver, I have acquired and plan on using:
i5 3570k
GTX 980 FE
120gb ssd + 1tb hdd (I plan on splitting/partitioning the HDD, around 400gb for XP and the rest for windows 10)
I don't know what mobo I have, was the cheapest non-prebuilt/server mobo I could find haha.
I am going to use 16gb ram, but I hear windows XP will still boot fine with that amount of ram and just ignore anything above 4gb? I hope that's the case.
The 32 bit version will not be able to address over 4GB. The 64 bit version can but driver support is patchy
@@TechMadeEasyUK yeah that's what I mean. I heard it should still boot, just won't be able to recognise anything above 4gb. The 64bit version is apparently based on an older server OS so it's not a "true" windows xp per se, at least from what I've read.
Looking forward to watching more videos!
@@koreannom it’s based on Server 2003 with additional XP components bolted on. But yes, the 32 bit version should work just fine
@@TechMadeEasyUK Thanks for the clarification!
I just hope nothing dies when I put it all together hahaha.
Just a question, what's the difference between the 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra? is it like a different version of the same card or something else?
@@koreannom the Ultra has higher clocked RAM, GPU and shaders, otherwise they’re identical
Windows XP professional is a 64bit OS, i would try that and see if the memory is utilised, pretty sure its not limited to the 4gb memory of windows xp 32 bit OS
The 64 bit version of XP was actually a reskinned version of Windows Server 2003. It does allow better utilisation of memory but it also has terrible driver support when compared to later 64 but versions of Windows
@@TechMadeEasyUK Thats worth a "Trying to get it run on 64 XP Video"
Two small problems with that video though: 1) I no longer have the machine in question, and 2) I no longer produce videos on this channel 😁
Hi, could you recommend a network card with this motherboard ? All the ones I see in the web don't fit the slots.
Regards.
Hi. Any PCI-e x1 card should fit. Though it already has built in gigabit Ethernet
@@TechMadeEasyUK Many thanks, sir.
you shold try linux
The thought did cross my mind. What would you choose?
@@TechMadeEasyUK i would chose pop os
@@talhatariq653 thanks I think I’ll have to give that a go
@@TechMadeEasyUK i would recomend pop os its very easy to install and easy to get steam installed
You would get a lot better performance in 7
Hmm, interesting. Does Steam still work on windows 7?
@@TechMadeEasyUK Yes, very well most if not all of the major game platforms still work, and fire fox is still updated