Can anyone tell me what the max system settings for Windows XP Professional are? I'm going to buying a Windows XP computer pretty soon and I want to make sure its potential is maxed out.
What is the best processor it can support?
What is the largest amount or RAM is can support at DDR2? DDR3? Speed?
What is the largest HDD it supports?
Does it support a 10000 RPM Raptor HDD?
Thanks for info!
Windows XP Is Still Available on New Computers
Considering, that XP support ended only 5 years ago, it should not be such a problem.
32-bit supports only 4GB RAM, but getting 64-bit drivers for XP will be challenging.
So the first question would be, how much RAM do you need, I would go for 32-bit.
People are suggesting Intel i7, motherboard's chipset has to support XP though.
GPU is the whole new challenge, since XP has only DX9. Good luck with that.
Thanks for the info. 32/64 bit is dependent on the need of the software I want to run. As for how much RAM I need, for this purpose? Max is the answer, max RAM. I'm not sure yet if I actually need x64 versus x86 but I haven't even gotten that far into it yet.
Functionally, there isn't going to be anything happening on this computer but the running of old game software, so security isn't any kind of a huge risk.
64-bit XP supports 128GB RAM, but 64-bit XP drivers are scarce. 4GB should be more than enough for old games and they will run with less problems on 32-bit, since is more compatible with 16-bit as well. Not to mention, that XP is not so hungry, still something like MemReduct or Cleanmem is recommended.
64 bit Xp operating systems are very buggy and were never really supported properly! I run a Dell Latitude laptop with 32 bit XP installed and 2 gig of ram, And I have never found an old game that could not run on it perfectly. 4 gig of ram would actually only give you 3 gig of working memory, because that is the Max that 32 bit can run ..... But for old games I wouldn't even consider a 64 bit operating system because XP 64 bit does not as a rule support old 32 bit games very well!
As for graphics cards, an old pci nvidia or ati card or even the onboard chipset card should run old XP games with no problem. If you try to put a new or fairly new graphics card in an old pci based XP system you are going to be doomed to failure!
There is also the option to run a virtual copy of XP (or any other older obsolete software) on a system with modern supported hardware, you will obviously still need a licence key as with an actual system, but it's possible to save the install and reload as needed, should anything go seriously wrong, the virtualization forum on this site has all the info you would need https://www.tenforums.com/virtualization/ and the regulars there are well versed in what you are looking to do. with a virtual machine you can tailor the machine to exactly what you need hardware wise
Hi there
@PCDesignerR
as @Barman58 says modern computers will easily run Virtual Machines so why not install XP in a Virtual machine - there's plenty of decent software around (free) to run this -- it will work on Oracle's Virtual Box, VMWare's VMplayer or HYPER-V when considering Windows systems (BTW both vmware and Virtual Box also run on Linux Hosts if you feel so inclined).
I'd avoid HYPER-V if you are just starting out with Virtual Machines.
Another advantage of using a VM is that you don't have to worry about finding the correct graphics driver when using really large monitors --I'm not sure that it would be easy to find a Native video driver for XP that supports say a big 4K UHD monitor -- and probably even native HDMI drivers might not work on an XP system. No problems when you use a VM as the Virtual hardware takes care of all that stuff.
If you need any more assistance on setting up an XP VM post a question in the Virtualisation section on the Forum -- it's really easy to install an XP VM on a Windows 10 or Linux machine.
Here's an XP Virtual machine of mine running some Minidisc software !! works brilliantly --used to love using minidiscs as portable music players before mobile phones with micro sd cards made it so easy now.
cheers
jimbo
Primarily the thing that is stopping me from the use of a VM is that I don't have a copy of Windows XP by itself. Online, I checked Amazon.com and a copy is almost $300. I did find a pre-installed Windows XP computer that I plan on getting, but unless I can somehow locate a means of acquiring a Windows XP installation disc by then, getting the hardware base is my real only option.Hi there
@PCDesignerR
as @Barman58 says modern computers will easily run Virtual Machines so why not install XP in a Virtual machine - there's plenty of decent software around (free) to run this -- it will work on Oracle's Virtual Box, VMWare's VMplayer or HYPER-V when considering Windows systems (BTW both vmware and Virtual Box also run on Linux Hosts if you feel so inclined).
I'd avoid HYPER-V if you are just starting out with Virtual Machines.
Another advantage of using a VM is that you don't have to worry about finding the correct graphics driver when using really large monitors --I'm not sure that it would be easy to find a Native video driver for XP that supports say a big 4K UHD monitor -- and probably even native HDMI drivers might not work on an XP system. No problems when you use a VM as the Virtual hardware takes care of all that stuff.
If you need any more assistance on setting up an XP VM post a question in the Virtualisation section on the Forum -- it's really easy to install an XP VM on a Windows 10 or Linux machine.
Here's an XP Virtual machine of mine running some Minidisc software !! works brilliantly --used to love using minidiscs as portable music players before mobile phones with micro sd cards made it so easy now.
cheers
jimbo
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