So far my only hardware failure has been of a motherboard. All GPUs that I bought as working still are. But I have only used most of them on an open test bench. I have been warned of failure rates on nVidia 8000 series and ATI 9700 Pro though. So will definitely have to be careful of those.

That said, I do have a couple of overkill builds that are in cases and are not period correct. One is Win98 with Core 2 Duo X6800 with Geforce FX 5900 Ultra.

The other is WinXP with GTX 750 Ti and i7 3770k.

I am intending to make another XP build with GTX 285 and i5 3570

I had a power supply take out a motherboard, other than that things tend to stay working.

Yes, I've had hardware fail on me, specifically video cards from the mid 2000's. Also it's common to have motherboard issues, particularly there were quality problems with capacitors in the early 2000's. RAM does indeed to bad sometimes, I've had RAM sticks that were stable for 20 years suddenly cause crashes (and fail memtest) out of the blue, without any hardware/software configuration changes.

A lot of us (myself included) enjoy playing with old hardware and consider it a big part of the retro charm. That being said, if you are primarily looking for the "best" experience (with "best" being low frustration, low cost, high reliability, high performance, good enough compatibility), the "overkill route" is totally legit and probably the way to go.

I built such a system here. Other folks have had great success with even newer hardware (Windows XP runs well on up to 3rd generation Core CPUs, and up to GeForce GTX 980Ti)

I like having the CPU more powerful than the GPU.
Nothing too crazy, say a GF Ti4600 paired with a P3 1Ghz, just so I know it's the graphics that the limiting factor to what games played with which PC's.

For a while I was messing around with Quad SLI with a pair of GeForce 7950 GT2 cards which were bottlenecking the rest of the system real bad.
but only SLI capable motherboard I had was a LGA775 Asus P5N with a Xeon x3320, that was always going to be a temporary setup though.

I've managed to bring the old MA790XT-UD4P to life by flashing the bios again and couldn't help it, the entire PC is back to what it would have been in 2009 apart from the SSD. At the end i think i should have both setups. The "overkill" PC being for the satisfaction of playing Crysis maxed out at 60+ fps. Like you chinny22, i for some reason like to have a more powerful CPU, ran an i5 750 with a 8800 GTS for a while around 2010.

About reliability of old hardware, i've tried to build something around the AMD 939 platform but couldn't find a motherboard without blown capacitors in my museum...

Well, I've a Phenom II X4 910e (from idk 2009?) paired with a Radeon RX470 from 2016 and 8GB DDR-II.
Is that a legit combo for this topic?
The graphics card is surely hold back by the rest of the mix but I had to upgrade from a (too slow back then) HD7750 and the RX470 was what was recent at that point.
So yeah, it is some kind of tik-tok game here. The next time I upgrade (sure I'll do it very soon, I promise;) it will be the platform and I'll use the RX470 just a bit longer.
You'll guess it, so far no bad experiences with at least this old hardware.
With others it's mostly just compatibility problems. Won't say I never had hardware die at me while using it. R.I.P. X800GTO...

ChrisK wrote on 2025-01-24, 14:49:

Well, I've a Phenom II X4 910e (from idk 2009?) paired with a Radeon RX470 from 2016 and 8GB DDR-II. Is that a legit combo for t […]
Show full quote

Well, I've a Phenom II X4 910e (from idk 2009?) paired with a Radeon RX470 from 2016 and 8GB DDR-II.
Is that a legit combo for this topic?
The graphics card is surely hold back by the rest of the mix but I had to upgrade from a (too slow back then) HD7750 and the RX470 was what was recent at that point.
So yeah, it is some kind of tik-tok game here. The next time I upgrade (sure I'll do it very soon, I promise;) it will be the platform and I'll use the RX470 just a bit longer.
You'll guess it, so far no bad experiences with at least this old hardware.
With others it's mostly just compatibility problems. Won't say I never had hardware die at me while using it. R.I.P. X800GTO...

This type of build seems more common here. I notice a few people using older platforms as their "modern" build with hardware sometimes in service for 15+ years. IDK what kills old hardware, a bad PSU at some point or bad storage.

OM606 wrote on 2025-01-24, 15:35:

ChrisK wrote on 2025-01-24, 14:49:

Well, I've a Phenom II X4 910e (from idk 2009?) paired with a Radeon RX470 from 2016 and 8GB DDR-II. Is that a legit combo for t […]
Show full quote

Well, I've a Phenom II X4 910e (from idk 2009?) paired with a Radeon RX470 from 2016 and 8GB DDR-II.
Is that a legit combo for this topic?
The graphics card is surely hold back by the rest of the mix but I had to upgrade from a (too slow back then) HD7750 and the RX470 was what was recent at that point.
So yeah, it is some kind of tik-tok game here. The next time I upgrade (sure I'll do it very soon, I promise;) it will be the platform and I'll use the RX470 just a bit longer.
You'll guess it, so far no bad experiences with at least this old hardware.
With others it's mostly just compatibility problems. Won't say I never had hardware die at me while using it. R.I.P. X800GTO...

This type of build seems more common here. I notice a few people using older platforms as their "modern" build with hardware sometimes in service for 15+ years. IDK what kills old hardware, a bad PSU at some point or bad storage.

It's the same as most machinery; they are best when they are at 'steady state'. i.e. in use and working.

Like any piece of machinery, you change the working environment, how often it is used, how hard it is used or how it is stored - and it is far more than likely to fail on you.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the failures with retro computing parts and systems is from very shortly after coming out of long term storage.

If I'm trying to max out what can be done with a particular video card, then it will probably have an overkill CPU.
If I'm trying to max out what can be done with a particular motherboard or CPU, it will probably have an overkill video card.

If I didn't buy all the parts at the same time, they will never be "correct" for each other down to the year. And I've never bought all my parts at the same time.

There are so much options that it's easy to get lost if you don't focus. This also seems like a recurring theme here. There are many versions of what can be called "period correct" and it's important not to be too much of purist and know when to stop and just enjoy and play games. At least that's how i see it.

Because of annoying DRM requiring to be online or steam, i've decided to build the PC just to do one thing and do it perfectly: DX9, 1280x1024 and EAX for 2003-2008 games. My modern i7 PC will handle anything newer than that better.

While i got this system to work for now, i am a bit worried about the reliability, especially the HD 4870 that runs hot all the time. I'd like to get myself a spare but i'm not sure yet what's the best choice between AMD and Nvidia. Only considering period correct stuff, which means GTX 285 or HD 5870. What is the general consensus regarding period correct Nvidia vs AMD?

OM606 wrote on 2025-01-26, 09:18:

not to be too much of purist and know when to stop and just enjoy and play games

Are you though? Is there any disadvantage to using gtx960? Its not a very hot card.

I think the conventional wisdom is that Windows XP compatibility is excellent up to Ivy Bridge (Intel 3rd gen). My understanding is that XP will probably run on Haswell (4th gen) but it might be more work to get it running well. You may need to slipstream AHCI drivers into your Windows XP installation media. You may need to ensure your UEFI BIOS is set to boot to "Legacy First" and set up your hard drive with an MBR partition table. These are all things that would need to be done on a 2nd or 3rd gen Core system. I have installed Windows XP on a Core i7 3770 and the end result is terrific. Windows XP games have essentially no issue with a CPU with too much single core performance. There are a handful of early XP era games that have issues with multi-core CPUs, but there are workarounds for those. So once you get the drivers sorted there's mostly no concern with having an overpowered CPU.

In regards to your GPU... I personally ran a Radeon HD 4870 for many years and have fond memories of that card. I upgraded to a Radeon HD 5850 which was much much faster and used similar power. I still have both cards and they both still work. If you like the 4870 I see no issue with using it... you're not going to be running it all day long, and if it dies there are similar or better cards available for not much money. If I were to buy a card for a high end XP system I'd suggest Radeon HD 5770/5850/5870, Radeon HD 6850/6870, or GeForce 960/970/980.

And for your stated goal of "DX9, 1280x1024 and EAX for 2003-2008 games" I also suggest a Sound Blaster X-Fi (or Audigy or Audigy 2). Even a cheap Audigy SE (SB0570) is decent if you have an overpowered CPU.

It looks like Haswell and the Z97 chipset are fully supported as well. I have no issues installing all of the drivers with Snappy Driver, everything works flawless. By the way, i've been given an old PC, it's a C2D E6600 and with an Intel DG965SS mobo, 4Gb of DDR2 and a GeForce 8600 GTS. It really brings back memories as i recall finishing Crysis at 15 FPS with this GPU around 2007. I don't know what do do with this PC for now but i'd like to upgrade the GPU. What kind of hair dryer would you install in it? I'm thinking about an HD 4850 or 8800 GTX or install the 4870 in it and get a GTX 285 for my main XP PC.

It really depends what your goal is. If you just want something reliable and practical, a Core 2 Duo is an excellent Windows XP system. I recommend a Radeon 5770/5850/5870/6850/6870 because they are cheap and reliable and reasonably power efficient, and have excellent compatibility in mid to late Windows XP era games.

If you are playing on a monitor that is at or below 1600x1200 @ 60Hz, the above system will be fine for most games in the Windows XP era and IMO a faster system is of questionable practical value (besides that overkill systems can be their own kind of fun). Any game that doesn't run at 60fps at 1600x1200 will probably run under a modern system on Windows 10.

I have a Core 2 Quad + Radeon 5850 system running Windows XP. It is hooked up to a 19" LCD monitor (1600x1200, 60Hz), and there is no need for more performance - many games are running at several hundred FPS with VSYNC OFF. I later built an "overkill" system (Core i7-3770 + GeForce 980) and dual booted WinXP + Win10... but found I just ended up using Windows 10 all the time on that system. This is because the only situations I could find where the overkill system is better than the normal system were cases where Windows 10 improved my quality of life over XP (RTSS Scanline Sync, XInput support for newer gamepads, newer SMB support to access to my home NAS, proper web browsers, etc). So the overkill build kind of defeated the purpose of an XP machine...

bZbZbZ wrote on 2025-01-31, 16:50:

dual booted WinXP + Win10... but found I just ended up using Windows 10 all the time on that system. This is because the only situations I could find where the overkill system is better than the normal system were cases where Windows 10 improved my quality of life over XP

For the sake of the argument one exception here is hard-copy game releases with protected media like StarForce or SecuROM. Those will be better with XP although there are workarounds.

I am also not a big fan of multiboot computers, there's always a compromise to be made or you just end up using one OS.

Here i am again tinkering with XP builds... The blower fan in my 4870 is starting to fail on me and make an annoying vibration similar to my 5850. I must say that i am sold on how silent the GTX 960 runs in another PC i have. I am almost tempted to install it along with the C2Q just to enjoy the silence and power consumption. Everything is installed inside a Fractal Design Define XL case with Noctua fans and one noisy fan really ruins everything. The CPU would be a severe bottleneck but on the other hand, the most demanding games i play are probably the Stalker series.

What would you recommend? I was thinking about a Vapor-X 4870 or 4890 but heat and idle consumption would still be horrendous, GTX 285 is only available with the blower cooler so it seems hard to get what i want from a period correct GPU anyway. Maybe a GTX 460 or 560 would be nice? Or just use the 960 anyway instead of paying for something worse? It looks like i like to always keep a bit of old "nostalgia" hardware instead of going for a complete overkill build!

Just what I need, more build ideas.... Somebody stop me! I can see myself ending up with two of each platform for XP and 98, one nostalgia and one ultramax in each case, I have quite a fleet of wrecks to revive... reminds me, must check eBay for anything else I really shouldn't be buying

Matth79 wrote on 2025-02-16, 21:45:

reminds me, must check eBay for anything else I really shouldn't be buying

I am the opposite. I am thinking of removing the ebay app feom my phone and removing all saved searches. It's just encouraging me to buy things I don't need. Lol... I have 25+ motherboards now, 30+ CPUs, and I have lost count of the GPUs.

That's surely enough to keep me busy for years.