On October 25th 2001 Microsoft released Windows XP to the world. October 25th 2021 marks the
20 year anniversary of its release. As a way of celebrating this, I thought it would be
fun to build an all-new Windows XP gaming computer. And this isn’t just going to be
another old computer build, this is being done with all new and unused period correct
parts. Though these parts aren’t quite from 2001. With how long XP stuck around I needed
to make sure this build could run everything meant for XP. So I had to pick a benchmark
to hit, enter Doom 3.
Released in 2004, Doom 3 became a new standard for performance and makes for a perfect target
to aim for in an XP build.
So I went for the best GPU available for it, an Nvidia Geforce 6800. I was able to get
my hands on a 6800 GS which was a revised version but has similar performance to the
GT model.
With that part picked I started to gather the remaining parts to complete the build.
A CPU, motherboard, RAM, sound card, cooler, keyboard, mouse, gamepad, speakers, monitor,
DVD Drive, and even... a 2004 power supply. But I have doubts it will work, so we’re
going to start with a modern one to test.
The case I got was actually a “happy accident” that it was from 2004. It was the first part
I acquired for this a few years ago. But it exemplifies the style of build I want to do
here. Let’s get it out and take a look at it.
This is the Antec Super LANboy. The brushed aluminium finish on it is exactly the look
I want for this build and helps guide my choices for other parts later on. But we’re not
quite ready to use it yet, first we need to get the parts ready to put in it.
Let's start the build proper with the CPU, an Intel Pentium 4 550. An interesting chip
with the new Hyperthreading technology running at 3.4GHz in an LGA775 socket.
And for the board to put it in, an Intel D915PBL. Not my first choice for features overall but
it should be good hardware and came with some specific features I definitely wanted to have
with known quality software support.
Since this is an LGA CPU, installation is going to feel very similar to modern builds
because not much has changed since this time.
To cool this chip I won’t be using the stock cooler, instead I picked up a Zalman copper
cooler with an awesome radial heatsink design. Putting it on wasn’t bad, once I actually
read the directions and stopped trying to put the bottom plate on upside down.
For the RAM I’m going massively overkill maxing the hardware out at 4GB of 533MHz DDR
2 PC-4200. This much isn’t going to be supported by the software though due to the 32 bit architecture
limits.
Next we can’t forget about the graphics card. With its NV42 GPU and 256MB of VRAM
the 6800 GS was one of the first GPUs to natively run on the PCIe bus rather than use an AGP
bridge chip.
We’re almost ready to try turning it on for the first time now, we just need to get
the monitor out so we can see the results. And for that I went with the 1280x1024 Samsung
172X which was one of the best display options on the market in 2004 and will match this
system very well. And...oh dear. This monitor was not new old stock like advertised and
is actually pretty rough. That’s frustrating because I was really looking forward to it.
I’m going to clean it up and continue on with it, but to make it up to you, in another
video we’ll take a look at a truly new old stock monitor from this time that should blow
the Samsung away.
Now we’re ready to see if the system will POST, I’ve hooked up the test power supply
so cross your fingers! Excellent! I was so relieved that it all worked because these
parts come from the middle of the capacitor plague when caps were failing while the parts
were still in use, let alone around 20 years later Thankfully Intel used higher quality
parts on this board but I’m just counting myself lucky for the GPU.
This does bring us to the other power supply though to see if we can go all out with period-parts
here. This power supply from X-Connect is intriguing as it is the world’s first modular
power supply and has all removable cables. But not only were PSUs from this era extremely
failure prone, I found a contemporary review of this one that was, let’s say, unfavorable
[there was smoke]. So it would be best to open and inspect it before powering it up.
And yeah, it was a good thing I did. Some of the caps have swollen and blown their tops,
this is not usable. Which is a shame because on top of being modular, the cables for this
are UV reactive and I got a period correct cold cathode kit to light them up which looks
really awesome. But I’m going to have to go with a modern power supply that will actually
work.
Now that we have confirmed all our parts work it’s time to begin the installation into
the case. The new PSU goes above the CPU and it’s a shame it’s not modular since there’s
nowhere for the cables in a case like this. After installing the rear plate and the standoffs
the motherboard can be dropped in and screwed down.
Next up are the hard drives I’ll be installing which are pretty special, two WD740 74GB 10k
RPM Raptors that I’ll be running in RAID 0. This is pretty much as fast as you could
get for storage in a system like this. I had to get cold server spares to find some still
new but it was worth it because these are going to be a lot of fun. Looking at the motherboard’s
manual reveals though I’m going to need the RAID driver floppy disk when installing,
so I’ll be using an old floppy drive just during the install and removing it afterwards
because it’s really not needed in a build like this.
For the optical drive I’ll be going with a Sony DRU-810A DVD-RW drive that unfortunately
didn’t work with it’s prettier faceplate because of the door on the case.
And normally I’d wait until after the OS install for the sound card but it’s all
that’s left so let’s put the Creative Audigy SE I have in there now. The on board
audio would have been fine but I’m curious to try out the EAX features later and because
it matches my speakers.
Which are a nice 2.1 set from Creative that has pretty sharp looking little monitors on
stands with removable grills. The woofer is the center where everything connects including
a cabled remote for power, volume, and bass level.
Less awesome is the keyboard. 2000’s keyboard are all terrible so there wasn’t really
a good choice. I went with the recognizable wireless comfort keyboard 4000 from Microsoft
which is not very remarkable. And whoever decided to lump the F keys into groups of
three instead of four should be barred from all future hardware design. It also came with
a mouse but it’s not even the intellimouse and can be easily improved on.
So I went with the Logitech MX 700 which may just be the first wireless and rechargeable
gaming mouse with it’s high DPI sensor. It’s pretty much perfect and I really like
it. At least I did after I scrubbed off the liquified rubber coating it had, new old parts
can have their gross, sticky, down sides.
And that’s it, the computer is in its final configuration and all together. This case
was way better to work in than I thought it would be.
It’s also incredibly light with its aluminum construction. I don’t have a scale handy
but it feels like it weighs half as much as a 40lb bottle of water.
The only thing left is to get the floppy drive connected temporarily so we can load the RAID
driver
With that we have everything ready to begin the install! So lets get that copy of XP open
and pop the disc in.
Before I can install I need to setup my RAID array which is done with a BIOS level tool.
After that I can load the drivers when booting the CD and then I can use and format the RAID
which took about half an hour.
Installing goes smoothly and quickly from here with just a few things like needing to
make an admin user and setup your timezone. Then after a couple of reboots we’re ready
for the first boot which is a bit of a treat on XP.
[music]
Ah yes, the logon creation music, Microsoft really went all out with the Experience part of XP and it really shows in things like this.
After the last few questions we’re in and XP is installed! But before we call it really
done I’ve got a lot of driver CDs to install which is going to take a while and lots more
reboots. But once those are installed the system is finally complete and we’re ready
to experience it in all its glory.
[Windows XP Logon Sound]
That boot time is SO MUCH faster than I’m used to for Windows XP, those 10k Raptor drives
are really something.
There is one nagging thing though that will pop up after booting, the activation prompt.
Windows XP is long past its support period even though it had multiple extensions including
after Vista was released.
Which people were actually so disappointed with, computers that came with vista were
sometimes offered with an option to “downgrade” to XP.
But there is actually still an official way to activate XP using the telephone method.
And it still worked perfectly when I did it here! I’ll link how in the description if
you want to know more about it.
The system is now totally finished and we’re ready to finally see if I met my goal of building
a computer to run Doom 3. But I have one more part to add that ended up being more important
than I planned. A Belkin Speedpad N52. I’ve always been curious about these partial keyboard
controllers and this was one of the first. But I ended up needing it because it turned
out that the Microsoft keyboard would drop inputs when moving any mouse for some reason.
So to actually play anything I had to use the speedpad.
But with that we’re ready to see Doom 3 run how it was meant to.
[Demons getting blasted]
Wow this runs great, even at high settings and full resolution. I wasn’t expecting
to be able to nearly max out the game but that is quite a pleasant result.
Doom 3 is far from the only game from the XP era worth focusing on. There were so many
great games put out that fit a computer like this. Let’s take a look at some of the most
popular and some of my personal favorites from this time running on here as well.
[Wish.com doomguy]
[All the kills]
[Mr. Potato Head: The RPG]
[Hey, where are the towers?]
[I prefer the original, perfection]
[The only 2000’s PC platformer?]
[WHY ARE THEY DROPPING BOMBS FROM A HELICOPTER!?]
[Penguins are the ultimate predator]
Oh man this has been a fun project. I actually forgot how much I like having an XP computer
around for these games and it has been a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. After doing a
similar build for Windows 98 I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it again, but it was worth
it for the unmatchable experience that I’m happy to have been able to share with you
here.
It’s a shame about the monitor which was the only part I think wasn’t actually new.
But like I mentioned I have more plans in the future for this build that will include
taking a look at an even better monitor, fixing the PSU, adding new software, and more.
I hope you enjoyed this process of building an all new Windows XP computer 20 years after
its launch. And if you want to see more of what I do with it you may want to subscribe.
Thank you to all my supporters who made this video possible during a challenging time for
me. But that’s all for now and I’ll see you next time.
[Windows XP Logoff sound]