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Scratch99

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Back in the day my favorite turn based game was Medieval II Total War.
I would like to get back to those days, if I can.
Since I'm in a rural local my internet connection is via satellite. (slow)
So, I can't use Steam.
The operating system will be XP-Pro 64bit or XP-Home 32bit.
Really hope to get your input with regard to the motherboard and cpu.
I plan to purchase through the Bay or Aliexpress.
Legacy parts would probably not be available through Newegg, who supplied parts for my daily driver.
All and any input is appreciated.
Thanks
Scratch...
 
I've heard bad things about Aliexpress. Maybe there are different opinions about it, but I would personally avoid them.

As for parts, I would just look up what was new at the time and generate a list that way. Medieval II came out at the end of 2006, which is a significant time period for hardware. You had the GeForce 8000-series just come out, along with Intel Core 2 processors. A system with a Core 2 Q6600 and GeForce 8800 GT would be a good baseline to start with, as that was a very popular configuration during that time. On the AMD side you have the Athlon 64 X2 which was also popular at the time. ATi cards available were the X1950 XT, and later the HD 2900 XT.
 
Basically, Ebay will be a good option for everything you need. Also check craigslist for a cheap prebuilt you can slap a card and an ssd into, then you should be good to go. I'd do like Armenius said, grab a core2quad, 2 to 4 gigs of ddr2, see what you can find in the mobo dept, think Asus was good around then. Not sure if abit had already bitten the dust. Graphics card, up to you. Let us know how it works out for you.
 
Armenius said:
I've heard bad things about Aliexpress. Maybe there are different opinions about it, but I would personally avoid them.

As for parts, I would just look up what was new at the time and generate a list that way. Medieval II came out at the end of 2006, which is a significant time period for hardware. You had the GeForce 8000-series just come out, along with Intel Core 2 processors. A system with a Core 2 Q6600 and GeForce 8800 GT would be a good baseline to start with, as that was a very popular configuration during that time. On the AMD side you have the Athlon 64 X2 which was also popular at the time. ATi cards available were the X1950 XT, and later the HD 2900 XT.
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Thanks very much for your assistance gentlemen.
Armenius:
Very helpful information.
I've also heard some mixed reviews about Aliexpress.
I'll keep them in mind as a last resort only.
Thanks Memnoch:
Craigs list is pretty much a pick in this area, although I do check them from time to time.
I will let you guys know how things work out.
Scratch
 
Up through the AM3+ platform AMD has XP and XP64 drivers. If you want fast hardware that will run XP, something AM3 based will be fast and cheap. If you want period correct hardware, something Core 2 Duo is probably better.

During the XP era, games were constantly pushing video cards, so a period correct GPU may not have the power you want. Something 2010 era might be better to play XP games in high quality
 
thebufenator said:
Up through the AM3+ platform AMD has XP and XP64 drivers. If you want fast hardware that will run XP, something AM3 based will be fast and cheap. If you want period correct hardware, something Core 2 Duo is probably better.

During the XP era, games were constantly pushing video cards, so a period correct GPU may not have the power you want. Something 2010 era might be better to play XP games in high quality
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You have to be careful with video cards because some later shader versions supersede pixel and geometry functions from prior versions, meaning games may look fine at first glance but they're not really rendering correctly. This is more of an issue with DirectX 11 and later cards and it affects DirectX 9 and prior versions.
 
Armenius said:
You have to be careful with video cards because some later shader versions supersede pixel and geometry functions from prior versions, meaning games may look fine at first glance but they're not really rendering correctly. This is more of an issue with DirectX 11 and later cards and it affects DirectX 9 and prior versions.
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Many thanks guys.
I think I'll concentrate on the motherboard/processor first.
Then, come back and bother you guys about the rest. :D
I feel comfortable with the core 2 suggestion. Maybe because it was in my old gamer before its destruction.
At that time my board was a Asus P4T-E. This was a socket 478 motherboard.
Now, it appears that socket 750 has the best choice of motherboards and processor in core 2.
Scratch...
 
Dont run XP64 though, you will have a real hard time getting drivers, along with it not being the most stable on good days. For what you are planning, even 3.5 GB is overkill. I ran XP32 on my NF7S rig back then with 1.5 Gb without an issue.
 
Disagree about xp64.

I always found it stable and had no issues with drivers. Pretty easy to make it dual boot with xp32 anyways.
 
thebufenator said:
Disagree about xp64.

I always found it stable and had no issues with drivers. Pretty easy to make it dual boot with xp32 anyways.
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Thank you gentlemen.
In my case, your both right. ;)
Ran XP many years with hardly a glitch.
However, one of the games that I want to install in this new/old box have had issues with XP.
So, its going to be Win Home-32bit. Even if it will cost me a few bucks more.
Appreciate your input.
 
For core 2 era I would go with an e8400 but personally I would go with an early i7 build because it's old enough to not have any real compatibility issues while still having a little extra performance since games back then often pushed current hardware more. It would also give you a quad core without sacrificing single threaded performance like you would with a C2Q. It might also be easier to find than a used core 2 build.

I would pair that with an 8800gt/9800gt.
 
Ebernanut said:
For core 2 era I would go with an e8400 but personally I would go with an early i7 build because it's old enough to not have any real compatibility issues while still having a little extra performance since games back then often pushed current hardware more. It would also give you a quad core without sacrificing single threaded performance like you would with a C2Q. It might also be easier to find than a used core 2 build.

I would pair that with an 8800gt/9800gt.
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Many thanks for your input.
I did check out an i7 build as per your suggestion.
It is very workable for some of the programs (games),;) that I'm interested in, and I have a vid card in a box that would work fine.
But it is over the top for all of the games I want to run.
I would be looking at DDR 3, with the i7, when I need to limit myself to DDR 2. Also need to limit my vid card ram to 512 Mb.
I'm fairly certain that I will be going with a Core 2 Duo motherboard and cpu.
Win XP Home and no more than 2 gig of DDR 2.
Scratch...
 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...075024?hash=item594be03850:g:XqIAAOSwDCpeqbqz

Here's a cheap and effective solution. These old Dell Precisions are built like tanks, and can be upgraded with 45nm Penryn Core 2 Duos/Quads and up to 8GB of DDR2. The listed one has a nice Q6600 2.4GHz quad-core, 4GB of memory, and an Nvidia Quadro FX3700 512MB video card (similar to an 8800GT). These have onboard ADI sound that works reasonably well also, though you could always disable onboard and add in a PCI sound card of your choice. Add a hard drive to this particular one and you have a perfect XP era box.

Note: I have bought systems from this seller in the past and it's all been good experiences.
 
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70 Polara said:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...075024?hash=item594be03850:g:XqIAAOSwDCpeqbqz

Here's a cheap and effective solution. These old Dell Precisions are built like tanks, and can be upgraded with 45nm Penryn Core 2 Duos/Quads and up to 8GB of DDR2. The listed one has a nice Q6600 2.4GHz quad-core, 4GB of memory, and an Nvidia Quadro FX3700 512MB video card (similar to an 8800GT). These have onboard ADI sound that works reasonably well also, though you could always disable onboard and add in a PCI sound card of your choice. Add a hard drive to this particular one and you have a perfect XP era box.

Note: I have bought systems from this seller in the past and it's all been good experiences.
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Thanks very much Polara.
I've saved your link in the event that I need it in the future.
I have already ordered a motherboard and core 2 duo cpu.
Need to look for the rest.
Cheers
Scratch...
 
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