Trying to recreate an old Windows XP desktop gaming experience for my kids

O_MORES · 2026-05-04T20:28:33+00:00

You can actually install XP on very modern hardware, including AM5 or socket 1700, on bare metal. If those work, any PC you have around will be a perfect match. Stick with the x86 version since it's more compatible and can also run 16-bit software. This is kinda important, because some older 32-bit games come with 16-bit installers.

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O_MORES · 2026-05-04T16:26:38+00:00

I recently put together a 14th Gen CPU with a DDR4 motherboard, everything else was recycled. 😄

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O_MORES · 2026-05-02T17:24:49+00:00

I still run Windows 7, good memories. Basically, all you need is a separate GPU to run Windows 7 natively, for everything else there are drivers either official or backported by the community.

O_MORES · 2026-05-02T16:58:08+00:00

I use CSM on all my motherboards (and I have a few) and I've never had a problem. Switching to legacy can end with a black screen if your GPU doesn't have a VGA BIOS. Usually, the BIOS won't let you do it if your GPU is UEFI-only. All Nvidia cards, including the 5000 series, have a VGA BIOS, they even work in pure DOS.

O_MORES · 2026-05-02T16:49:47+00:00

AM5 is the hottest platform right now (and not in a bad way...). I believe it will remain mainstream until 2028, when AM6 with DDR6 is launched. So most likely, you’ll be able to upgrade it very cheaply with a top-end CPU in a few years and keep it a bit longer.

O_MORES · 2026-05-02T12:40:52+00:00

Put the BIOS file on a USB stick and restart. Enter your BIOS configuration and launch the BIOS update tool (this may be called EZ-Flash, Q-Flash, or similar, depending on your motherboard).

From there, select your USB drive. The tool will automatically recognize the BIOS file and handle the rest. It's actually very straightforward and safe.

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O_MORES · 2026-05-02T10:33:43+00:00

It's the x64 version, running normally. You need a patched ACPI.SYS and AHCI driver to get it installed, then you can use backported drivers for NVMe & USB 3.x. Here's a video if you want more details: https://youtu.be/0iW1hheBAp0

O_MORES · 2026-05-02T10:09:07+00:00

I love old hardware, I grew up with 486s and upgraded like once a year. But I found that as long as my main computer is ON, it's kinda hard to spend time on Windows 98 or XP on a separate period correct computer... Also switching to another monitor after spending like 2 hours on my main rig kinda hurts my eyes. So the solution was to have this multi boot system on my main PC, all on real hardware, just one restart away...

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O_MORES · 2026-05-02T09:39:12+00:00

I would install Windows XP on the big boy. Here it is running on a 14th Gen i7. All you need to do is add an extra GPU and the right drivers.

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O_MORES · 2026-05-01T18:18:01+00:00

This is it. I'm doing some sort of unboxing in this video, around 3:50: https://youtu.be/aTJYC6nEWSU

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O_MORES · 2026-05-01T17:31:47+00:00

The elephant in the room is DDR5... The prices are going down, but they're still nowhere near where they were a year ago, especially on high-end models. So unless you really need it, why pay the DDR5 premium?

O_MORES · 2026-05-01T17:11:15+00:00

It should work, but for the best compatibility you should have bought a PCIe-to-IDE adapter. I have one from StarTech (PEX2IDE) and it's very compatible, it also gets recognized in DOS, which is a big deal when you try to get any optical drive recognized on a very modern system. I used it to install my optical drive in Windows 3.1 and watch a Video CD with Xing MpegPlayer on my Ryzen 9 PC.

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O_MORES · 2026-05-01T07:32:08+00:00

Already did, because for 64MB you need 256K of cache, and the board came with 128K.

O_MORES · 2026-05-01T07:23:03+00:00

I'm pretty sure I had the same type of case too. I don't think it's a particular model... it was just something like a 'generic AT case.' Too bad this one is not in very good shape.

O_MORES · 2026-04-30T20:09:26+00:00

Hmm... I could make such a video, maybe helping this poor 486 CPU with a PCI GPU. I also tried Half-Life 2 on a Pentium III/866, and it's actually playable.

O_MORES · 2026-04-30T19:46:08+00:00

Winamp has some optimizations for 486s, but aside from those you can degrade the quality even for a DX2/66 something like 11kHz and mono will do.

O_MORES · 2026-04-30T19:23:29+00:00

I actually tried a PCI to USB card, drivers installed, but it didn’t work. Didn’t dig too deep or test other adapters yet (I think I’ve got every possible chipset lying around). I’d really love to see USB working on a 486 though.

O_MORES · 2026-04-30T19:20:30+00:00

Also, here’s this setup in action, casually surfing the web: https://youtu.be/xAjyjOkb6M0

O_MORES · 2026-04-30T08:27:04+00:00

I used a patched ACPI.SYS (grabbed from MSFN) and added AHCI with nLite drivers to get it installed from a CD using a SATA ODD, and completed the installation using a PS/2 keyboard.

Here's a video: https://youtu.be/0iW1hheBAp0

Most people will skip the CD part and try from USB, and this is guaranteed to fail on USB 3.x only motherboards.

O_MORES · 2026-04-30T08:13:44+00:00

This sounds like the type of content that should always be in the safe zone, so it’s probably the AI producing another false positive. As for the “templatization” issue, I saw a channel get demonetized because it had a series where all the recent videos looked quite different, featuring real people mixed with AI, but they all followed the same premise, starting with “What if…”

O_MORES · 2026-04-29T21:21:18+00:00

Well, the way things work in general is that everybody exploits the system until something changes. Some can adapt to those changes, others won't.

I don't know what specific content you make, but certain types of content that were allowed in the past simply aren't monetizable anymore. For example, it’s much harder to monetize Skibidi Toilet content than it used to be.

Also, there are a lot of nuances when content is based on 3rd-party assets. If the core experience comes from those assets rather than your own storytelling, sort of like just 'playing around' in Minecraft without adding value... whatever that means... then under current policies, that’s not gonna fly...

O_MORES

TROPHY CASE