Best XP Graphics cards for Retro PC

[Greenslade]

Most cases don't come with built-in speakers anymore. If you want POST beeps, grab a piezo speaker like this:

View attachment 220831
A PC can sometimes run without an exhaust fan, if the amount of heat the components generate is low enough. Many did before processors started dissipating more than a few watts, relying on the PSU fan to pull in the small amount of fresh air required. But yes, you'll want more than that if you add a graphics card. The thing on the side panel is a duct for the CPU cooler, meant to help it get cool air from outside the case rather than relying on the already-warm air inside.

Arctic F12 or P12 are decent for what they cost. I like Noctua Redux fans, but a fan is a fan for the most part. Grab a 120mm that tickles your fancy and call it a day.

I don't understand your question about SATA.

I sorted that out I wanted to get a connecter so I could add a 6 pin for the GPU. I got this, I got the PC working it was giving me the red flashing light. Checked the ram I was using the PC VGA, I decided to try the VGA on the graphics card, it is all working now, but it is bloody loud. I have not changed the thermal paste yet on the CPU as I wanted to see if it was working before I do that. There's not a lot I can do about a noisy CPU fan I suppose.I thought I would have to get a fan, I was hoping to swap out a fan from another computer but it is too small.Can you give me links to the fans thanks Thanks for your advice.I have no idea what the 512mb card is in there.

 

[Dr. Dro]

According to this : https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3138/~/sli-support-in-windows-xp
GTX 680/670 SLI mode is not supported on Win Xp.

Sorry for late reply, real life caught up - it isn't supported, indeed, but the 690 is still a nice card to have for this purpose. It can, or at least could be found for a reasonable price until recently, and a lot of XP/Vista-era games make use of PhysX that is best offloaded to a secondary processor (eg. Batman Arkham series, Mafia II, etc). Cheers

 

[80-watt Hamster]

I sorted that out I wanted to get a connecter so I could add a 6 pin for the GPU. I got this, I got the PC working it was giving me the red flashing light. Checked the ram I was using the PC VGA, I decided to try the VGA on the graphics card, it is all working now, but it is bloody loud. I have not changed the thermal paste yet on the CPU as I wanted to see if it was working before I do that. There's not a lot I can do about a noisy CPU fan I suppose.I thought I would have to get a fan, I was hoping to swap out a fan from another computer but it is too small.Can you give me links to the fans thanks Thanks for your advice.I have no idea what the 512mb card is in there.



View attachment 220841

Manufacturer links for fans:

Arctic F12
Arctic P12
Noctua NF-P12 Redux

And 120mm fans on PCPartPicker

 

[Greenslade]

Sorry for late reply, real life caught up - it isn't supported, indeed, but the 690 is still a nice card to have for this purpose. It can, or at least could be found for a reasonable price until recently, and a lot of XP/Vista-era games make use of PhysX that is best offloaded to a secondary processor (eg. Batman Arkham series, Mafia II, etc). Cheers

No problem the more the merrier. There way of my league.
I think I will stick with AMD like I first said on here.

 

[Remeca]

Unfortunately no 7850 in stock at CEX. There lots of versions of the 7850
Sapphire £55. Pitcirn. 2gb £42 Pitcirn. 1gb £28. Ghost 2gb £30 Ghost 1gb. £22. these would be the prices for them if they were in stock.Heres some pictures


There is not one fan in there Apart from the one on the PSUone Molex cabal.I am a bit peed off that there is not one Fan in there apart from the one in the PSU.IT IS NOT GOING TO WORK WITH OUT A FAN'He also said he would send me a coda for XP. which he did not do Can anyone tell me what board this i don,t think it is the one i thought it was. The picture of the side panal does thing on there count as a fan?I hope someone can give me more info on this? There is a cabal for a speaker no speaker is on it.


Can you look at my last post on here lots of questions I would like you to give me some advice i am at a lost.Thanks Lex.The seller said it is working as it be. Needless to say i have not tried it yet.How can someone sell a PC without a back fan?




View attachment 220764

I have that same CPU in a W10 PC at 3.6GHz with the bsel tape mod, have you considered that for some free extra performance?

 

[Greenslade]

I have that same CPU in a W10 PC at 3.6GHz with the bsel tape mod, have you considered that for some free extra performance?

All though i do have a Windows10 with a 1060.So i am just interested in XP for retro gaming.All tough i am not that impressed with this PC it is making a lot of noise.Of course if it is the CPU fan i understand that can,t be replaced.
It is either that or the PSU,i don,t know how to them. I was hoping it would be Quieter,It is not going to be that quite bearing in mind its 14 or so years.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

All though i do have a Windows10 with a 1060.So i am just interested in XP for retro gaming.All tough i am not that impressed with this PC it is making a lot of noise.Of course if it is the CPU fan i understand that can,t be replaced.
It is either that or the PSU,i don,t know how to test.to test them. I was hoping it would be Quieter,It is not going to be that quite bearing in mind its 14 or so years.

The CPU fan can absolutely be replaced, or the entire cooler. Tons of 775-compatible coolers on eBay. Heck, I'll send you one for the cost of postage.

Now, when you say loud, is it a whirring or whooshing noise, or more like a grinding? I don't know/remember how that board's BIOS is set up, but you can usually set fan speeds to either a couple of built-in temp-controlled speeds or to full speed. So if the fan is running really fast, it's either set to do that or is spinning up because the chip is hot. Do you have monitoring software installed?

 

[Dr. Dro]

No problem the more the merrier. There way of my league.
I think I will stick with AMD like I first said on here.

Certainly an unexpected development, given AMD cut driver support significantly earlier. NV still provided support for XP and their DX10 class cards well into 2014, 2016 for the Quadro FX series. But all that matters is that one gets a great experience, and if you manage to do that, happy for you man! Enjoy.

 

[lexluthermiester]

There were two two ram sticks i took it out to show you.

Oh, I'm sorry. It seemed like just one stick the way you showed the pictures. If you'll got two already, you're golden in the RAM department.

What about the question about there being
*NO FAN IN THE BACK OF THE CASE*?

That's actually fairly normal. Most manufacturers will not install a rear fan if the thermal load of the system doesn't need it. Remember, there is an exhaust fan in the PSU, and those fans are high quality.

I think i have been sold a potato

Remind us what you paid?

 

[Greenslade]

Oh, I'm sorry. It seemed like just one stick the way you showed the pictures. If you'll got two already, you're golden in the RAM department.

That's actually fairly normal. Most manufacturers will not install a rear fan if the thermal load of the system doesn't need it. Remember, there is an exhaust fan in the PSU, and those fans are high quality.

Remind us what you paid?

Oh, I'm sorry. It seemed like just one stick the way you showed the pictures. If you'll got two already, you're golden in the RAM department.

That's actually fairly normal. Most manufacturers will not install a rear fan if the thermal load of the system doesn't need it. Remember, there is an exhaust fan in the PSU, and those fans are high quality.

Remind us what you paid?

Thanks for that about the fan.£30 pounds.It is very noisy, but then i have an IMAC. i also have a HPZ230 which is very quite to.
Because the PC i just got is a lot older than both my other PC,s i would not expect it to be so quite.I would like to know whether the noise problem is with the CPU fan or the PSU. I will take the CPU fan off and clean it, and reapply the thermal paste.There is no way for me of testing the PSU.Other things a tried the PC,s VGA and it does not work, is that what happens when there is graphics card in the PC?VGA works in the graphics card ,i can,t see what graphics card it is in the system?I did see this i don,t know whether this will work with my CPU as this is for AMD.https://youtu.be/6NcZCMu5kCw?t=81.It was nosier using the HDD drive it came with.I have a SSD in now with XP. I saw this video about the red light beeping ,it is not beeping now but the red light is flashing.https://youtu.be/WOs35a73CnA?t=7i guess there must be dust in there.The sound i here is like wereing sound and when you put a seashell on your ear, hope you can understand it is hard to explain.So i don,t want to spend much money on it, i can all ways send it back but i can,t say it isnt working though.It is going to be a job packing it back to the seller.As it was poorly packed.Of course i will have to pay the postage.Perhaps i am asking for to much for a PC of that age. Thats the sound i mean the sound of a boiler when when you have been using water.I must admit i am disappointed with it.One more thing i can,t get the os to fill the screen. It is bliss when the PC is off ,i can,t hear a sound from my IMAC.

The CPU fan can absolutely be replaced, or the entire cooler. Tons of 775-compatible coolers on eBay. Heck, I'll send you one for the cost of postage.

Now, when you say loud, is it a whirring or whooshing noise, or more like a grinding? I don't know/remember how that board's BIOS is set up, but you can usually set fan speeds to either a couple of built-in temp-controlled speeds or to full speed. So if the fan is running really fast, it's either set to do that or is spinning up because the chip is hot. Do you have monitoring software installed?

Thanks again ,but you live in the USA i live in the UK.
More whooshing i think but there is a bit of rattle.I will check that the Bios out thanks. No i don,t sorry to say.

 

[lexluthermiester]

£30

For what you got, that's not bad. You seem to have got a good deal.

 

[Greenslade]

For what you got, that's not bad. You seem to have got a good deal.

Thanks but what about the noise problems?
And what about it not covering the whole of the monitor screen?
These are the screen resolutions
1600x1200
1200x1024
800x600
where is 1920x1080 it is not on there why? I did have a Raspberry R4 that had the same problem it would not fill up the whole of the monitor. Is this how they should sound it sounds like is in an air tunnel, that is noisy?

And it does not fill the whole screen of the monitor Good deal for a tenner

even though a dodge PSU.Good tune in the video How come it is using the whole of the monitor, and mine does not when he is using a core to duo like mine?This is doing well with Core 2 Duo Extreme X6800 and 8800 GTX Ultra OC

 

[Greenslade]

The CPU fan can absolutely be replaced, or the entire cooler. Tons of 775-compatible coolers on eBay. Heck, I'll send you one for the cost of postage.

Now, when you say loud, is it a whirring or whooshing noise, or more like a grinding? I don't know/remember how that board's BIOS is set up, but you can usually set fan speeds to either a couple of built-in temp-controlled speeds or to full speed. So if the fan is running really fast, it's either set to do that or is spinning up because the chip is hot. Do you have monitoring software installed?

I have disconnected the CPU and it is still making a noise with a bit of a rattle.But left it on the CPU.As you can see it is not taking up the full screen?

 

[Tartaros]

No problem the more the merrier. There way of my league.
I think I will stick with AMD like I first said on here.

I'd probably go with a HD7000 series, AMD drivers tend to age better than Nvidia's, R200s I suppose are good enough but can suck a lot of power.

For the physx part, I think you can get a 9300ge and use it as physx processor. Maybe you can find the old ageia physx card, I think it was pci based?

 

[Greenslade]

I'd probably go with a HD7000 series, AMD drivers tend to age better than Nvidia's, R200s I suppose are good enough but can suck a lot of power.

For the physx part, I think you can get a 9300ge and use it as physx processor. Maybe you can find the old ageia physx card, I think it was pci based?

It is a crap CPU HEATSINK FAN to get off ,i spent ages trying to get it back on .I have just turned it on no green light at the front but there is a light in the case how does that work?I did try the PC without the CPU in there just for a very short time ,i don,r see that
being the reason the PSU packed up.I was a bit over the moon for getting the OS using the whole of the monitor.Before i did that i tried i tried unplugging the PSU the 24 pin as people on utube jave a job getting it out. say.That CPU heatsink and fan is nightmare to put back in ,it must be the worst design ever.why could they not use the use screws like everyone else .

 

[siryoink]

View attachment 220502
View attachment 220504
^Win XP wins, who would have thought ?

Here's older 3DMark 2000 (works fine) :
View attachment 220505

And here's Crysis :
View attachment 220506
Card works fine.

Again : I DID NOT changed/modified/tweaked Windows in ANY way to make it work.
The only thing needed was .inf file edit that added it's Hardware ID to NV installer.
Also, NV does NOT require you to install any 3-rd party patches/tweaks or mods to make older titans (like Titan "OG" or Titan Black) work on Windows XP. Both are officially supported on WinXP (just check Supported products tab here) : https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/105040/en-us
^You will also notice there is no "VRAM warning : Do not use 6GB cards on Windows XP 32-bit" in drivers notes.

Still, my reason of posting my screenshot was to provide evidence about your wrong assumption, and NOT to encourage OP to buy this card to use (which is too expensive either way).

I made no assumptions, just some facts that are getting ignored. 3dmark03? I'm sure it does rate higher in XP. Run a more modern benchmark.

 

[seth1911]

An APU like a A8 3870K, but if u want max Performance for a cheap price i would prefer a HD 5970 or HD 6990

Or even from Nvidia like GTX 295 or GTX 590

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I had like 5 Q6600s, my last was the best @ 4GHz with just over stock voltage, it did 3.4 without touching anything.. was so hot all the time.. 1 did 3.9 and the rest did 3.8.

I got a poopy one! At only 367 Mhz FSB, it likes to throw "Bus/Interconnect Error" WHEA uncorrectable BSOD errors all over the place! So I was lucky to do 3.3 Ghz at all! And 3.5 likely would require 1.5V+ on mine!
I had to fiddle with the FSB termination voltage regularly, with all those bus errors!

 

[freeagent]

I got a poopy one! At only 367 Mhz FSB, it likes to throw "Bus/Interconnect Error" WHEA uncorrectable BSOD errors all over the place! So I was lucky to do 3.3 Ghz at all! And 3.5 likely would require 1.5V+ on mine!
I had to fiddle with the FSB termination voltage regularly, with all those bus errors!

On which board are you running it on?

 

[agent_x007]

I made no assumptions, just some facts that are getting ignored.

Right...

 

[Greenslade]

An APU like a A8 3870K, but if u want max Performance for a cheap price i would prefer a HD 5970 or HD 6990

Or even from Nvidia like GTX 295 or GTX 590

At present i am sending the PC back as it is completely dead no sounds or lights.I got in touch with eBay to start a return and told them it is completely dead no sounds or lights I also said it had worked for a short time before that and was very noise y.The seller asked me the same question eBay must have sent the seller the message i sent them.It seems i am going to ask eBAY to step in. I was hoping they would just accept it as nothing is working on it.Another 3 days to go tell i ask them to get involved.The seller said he was sorry i had a problem with it, why does he not accept the return instead of waiting for eBay to step in.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

On which board are you running it on?

For goodness sakes, I was running on an ROG, an Asus Maximus II Gene (2009) (What I think is most likely the last DDR2 775 motherboard from Asus!)

 

[freeagent]

Oh ok, I have a Rampage Formula DDR2 board.

Nice board you have. I am at work right now but maybe later we can figure out how to get some more fsb and mhz out of her. She should be able to do 450fsb for sure.

 

[agent_x007]

I got a poopy one! At only 367 Mhz FSB, it likes to throw "Bus/Interconnect Error" WHEA uncorrectable BSOD errors all over the place! So I was lucky to do 3.3 Ghz at all! And 3.5 likely would require 1.5V+ on mine!
I had to fiddle with the FSB termination voltage regularly, with all those bus errors!

GTLs, FSB Termination, Memory settings, and performance level/FSB strap are your friends.
Don't forget to drop more volts on NB and DRAM when needed.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

GTLs, FSB Termination, Memory settings, and performance level/FSB strap are your friends.
Don't forget to drop more volts on NB and DRAM when needed.

For that mixed-sticks RAM config for 8 GB of DDR2, I already raised the DRAM voltage to 1.90, as it was known to freeze at the logo, if I didn't. (even at 333 Mhz, IIRC) (it did freeze at the motherboard logo on my previous motherboard, the Asus P5QL Pro (P43) )

The Maximus II Gene is P45, I believe.

It was rock-stable at 333 Mhz after I raised the DRAM voltage to 1.90V.

When I got BSODs at 367 Mhz FSB, the FSB termination voltage was obviously the one that I needed to adjust. Because Prime95 in blend was running much longer and still no Windows crash or error when I got up.