Yes - you read that right. A dual installation of XP and Vista. Windows Vista gets a bad rap, but mainly because the hardware of the time couldn't run it well. I've taken care of that by installing nearly the fastest CPU that Windows XP can support - a v3 xeon (4th gen i7 equivalent, minus onboard video capabilities) and also a high-end video card from several years after the era - an nVida k620 w/2GB of vram, all along with a 256GB solid state hard drive. Quite a few hours of work went into getting Vista properly set up and fully updated, but the end result is what I would call the ultimate retro gaming PC if your interest is games made in the first decade of the 2000's.
This listing is for a BRAND-NEW, custom-built PC, built with all new or new-old-stock parts, as follows:
Specs:-Intel DQ87PG LGA 1150 Motherboard-Intel 3.5 GHZ Xeon E3-1270 v3 (comparable to i7-4770k)-256 GB Lexar Solid State Hard Drive (configured as AHCI)-8GB PC3 Ram (1600mhz)-Quadro k620 video card w/ 2 GB of vram (installed as a GeForce GTX 745)-5x USB 3.0 ports (4 rear, 1front/side) (USB 2.0 speed in XP)-5x USB 2.0 ports (2 rear, 2 top/front, 1 front)-10x total USB ports-Intel I217-LM Gigabit Ethernet-Realtek ALC662 audio-1 Display Port-1 DVI Port-VGA capable (over the included DVI-toVGA adapter)-1x PS/2 Port (can be used for either keyboard or mouse)-Parallel Port-Serial Port-SD/CF reader-CD/DVD RW drive-DIYPC MicroATX tower/case-OEM PowerMan 350w power supply-Power Consumption: 30-40 watts idle, 140 watts peak
Operating System/Software:This machine is running a dual installation of Windows XP Pro (32-bit) and Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit), OS selectable upon boot up.
Windows XP Professional is SP3 and can see 4GB of ram. Windows Vista Ultimate is SP2 with a few modifications to allow the detection of more than 4GB of ram (and yes, the extra ram is being used as the Passmark score is higher with 8GB than with 4GB) as well as to allow it to still receive updates. All known updates are installed. Vista has also been updated to DirectX 11.
Both operating systems were installed from scratch without any bloatware. Both include installations of Google Chrome v49 and Firefox v52.9 ESR. Both also include .Net framework and C++ DH87RL motherboard is an Intel-branded, 4th generation board with USB 3.0 support. This is a rock-stable workstation motherboard that works great as a gaming PC board.
CPU:Since the motherboard is a workstation board, it plays nicely with Xeon processors. I went with the E3-1270 v3. With its 8MB of cache and 3.5 GHZ speed, its closest comparable CPU is the i7-4770k.
Video Card:The Quadro k620 video card has 2GB of vRam. While this was used primarily as workstation card, it is based on the GM107 video chip and as such, installs and runs perfectly with GeForce GTX 745 drivers, making thisa monster of a video card for both XP and Vista. It has a dual output (DVI and DisplayPort), and over the included adapter, it can also be connected via VGA.
Ram:This has 2 sticks (4GB each) of either Samsung or Micron DDR3 1600mhz ram installed in dual-channel mode. Also note that there are 4 total memory slots, so if you wish, you can add another 2x4GB of ram to bring it up to 16GB. The max supported is 32GB (8GBx4 sticks). Note that XP will never see more than 4GB of ram.
Audio:This motherboard surprisingly has decent onboard audio capabilities, with 7.1 channel surround sound + 2 additional independent channels (ie, stereo audio from the front port). It also has a digital S/PDIF output port.
Power Supply/Consumption:The Powerman 350w PSU in here is one I've been using for years - I've been through hundreds of these and have yet to encounter a single one DOA or receive a single after-the-fact complaint that one has died. This is my go to supply for any computer that doesn't peak at over 200 watts power draw.
Idle Power consumption - 30 to 40 watts.Peak Power consumption during Passmark testing - 130 watts.Idle CPU and GPU temperatures - both around 35 degrees C.Peak CPU temperature after multiple Passmark tests - 49 degrees C.Peak GPU temperature after multiple Passmark tests - 73 degrees C.
Benchmarks:I have tested dx7, dx8, and dx9 performance in Windows XP as well as dx9, dx10, and dx11 performance in Vista using a variety of benchmarks. The results are as follows:
Passmark v9 (XP)6704 CPU880 2d Graphics1319 3d Graphics1235 Memory3900 Disk
Passmark v9 (Vista)6758 CPU712 2d Graphics2349 3d Graphics1211 Memory2018 Disk
3dMark 2000 (dx7)57,382 Overall625 Helicopter (High)377 Adventure (High)
3dMark01 (dx8)60,823 Overall226 Car Chase (High)631 Dragothic (High)354 Lobby (High)473 Nature
3dMark03 (dx9)46,085 Overall816 Wings of Fury367 Battle of Proxycon308 Troll's Lair311 Mother Nature
3dMark06 in XP (dx9.0c)20,226 Overall66 Return to Proxycon64 Firefly Forest80 Canyon Flight96 Deep Freeze
3dMark06 in Vista (dx9.0c)20,247 Overall67 Return to Proxycon64 Firefly Forest76 Canyon Flight100 Deep Freeze
3dMarkVantage 720p Entry (dx10)33,955 Overall109 Jane Nash90 New Calico
3dMarkVantage 720p Performance (dx10)19,326 Overall47 Jane Nash39 New Calico
Unigine Heaven 720p, medium quality, AA off (dx 11)1505 Overall60 FPS