[SOLVED] A question regarding LGA 775 platform

[Exploding PSU]

Greetings.

I have a habit of writing long expositions while explaining my problem, sorry. So here's the TLDR :
Is there any difference between LGA 775 DDR2 and DDR3 when running Intel Pentium E5300? Which one should I get?

Background :
I found an old Pentium E5300 CPU while doing some annual house cleaning. It's been there for.... I don't know, for a very long time. I had this idea to try and fire it up just for old time's sake. The problem is, I would have to source some components to run it.

Now this CPU was from before my time, when it was released I was fully a laptop guy who didn't care about PC specs at all, so I had to learn a thing or two. Quick search revealed the CPU runs on LGA 775 platform. Alright, but I could find two versions of LGA 775 motherboards being sold online, a DDR2 version, and DDR3 version.

The question is, which one should I get? I understand the LGA 775 platform is way too obsolete to do anything these days, and I'm going to lose a couple of bucks in this seemingly pointless project, but consider this as a "weekend project" or something. I have no plan to actually use the system, obviously. I just want to see an old CPU running in 2022.

I do have a few additional questions :

1. Can I power the system with a relatively modern PSU? I have a FSP 500W PSU (bought around 2017) lying around.
2. Can I install a modern graphics card on it? The CPU doesn't have an integrated graphics in it, I'm planning to plug a GPU so I could have a display output (I have a 970, would that work?)
3. Will it support Windows 10? I have an SSD with unactivated Windows 10 in it, maybe I could use that to run the system?

Again, I'm not yearning for usability or performance at all, this is more like finding an old abandoned car in the middle of nowhere and trying to start it up just to see it running.

Thank you,
By the way, I wanted to post this on the "Vintage PC" stickied thread, but this CPU is in a difficult place. It's obsolete, sure, but it's not old enough to be considered "vintage" I think.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You want a DDR3 capable board to use with it. Anything older than DDR3 is simply a waste of time and money, even more than this already is.

Yes your FSP power supply should work fine so long as it's a standard ATX power supply.

It MIGHT support Windows 10, or rather, Windows 10 MIGHT support whatever board you get IF Windows 10 has drivers for all the onboard hardware because you aren't going to find any purpose-built Windows 10 drivers for that motherboard through the motherboard manufacturer or anywhere other than the native drivers in Windows, IF you are lucky, but the performance is likely going to be crappy as anything you've seen before. In truth, since this is only a two core CPU with no hyperthreads and no turbo boost, it's going to be a complete pig, IF it even works. If it's just been sitting around there's no telling what condition it's in.

You will also need to be careful when purchasing parts because that architecture was in use right around the time boards started swapping over from low density DDR3 to high density DDR3, and they are not interchangeable. If you get a board that requires low density DIMMs, then they MUST be low density DIMMs. If you get one that requires newer high density DDR3 DIMMs, then low density ones won't work in that board. And you can't use DDR2 in DDR3 slots, and visa versa.

On top of all that, any board you buy for that CPU is going to be so old that you are going to REALLY be rolling the dice on whether it even works, or has problems or may even cause damage to other hardware that currently works fine, because whatever you get is going to be used and it's going to have plenty of miles on it already.

Summed up, it's a bad idea unless you can get all the parts for less than maybe 25 bucks. Then it MIGHT be worth it, just for chits and grins if you enjoy that kind of thing and aren't expecting to actually get any actual use out of it because it's going to be so slow it's going to drive you totally nuts.

 

[Exploding PSU]

You want a DDR3 capable board to use with it. Anything older than DDR3 is simply a waste of time and money, even more than this already is.

Yes your FSP power supply should work fine so long as it's a standard ATX power supply.

It MIGHT support Windows 10, or rather, Windows 10 MIGHT support whatever board you get IF Windows 10 has drivers for all the onboard hardware because you aren't going to find any purpose-built Windows 10 drivers for that motherboard through the motherboard manufacturer or anywhere other than the native drivers in Windows, IF you are lucky, but the performance is likely going to be crappy as anything you've seen before. In truth, since this is only a two core CPU with no hyperthreads and no turbo boost, it's going to be a complete pig, IF it even works. If it's just been sitting around there's no telling what condition it's in.

You will also need to be careful when purchasing parts because that architecture was in use right around the time boards started swapping over from low density DDR3 to high density DDR3, and they are not interchangeable. If you get a board that requires low density DIMMs, then they MUST be low density DIMMs. If you get one that requires newer high density DDR3 DIMMs, then low density ones won't work in that board. And you can't use DDR2 in DDR3 slots, and visa versa.

On top of all that, any board you buy for that CPU is going to be so old that you are going to REALLY be rolling the dice on whether it even works, or has problems or may even cause damage to other hardware that currently works fine, because whatever you get is going to be used and it's going to have plenty of miles on it already.

Summed up, it's a bad idea unless you can get all the parts for less than maybe 25 bucks. Then it MIGHT be worth it, just for chits and grins if you enjoy that kind of thing and aren't expecting to actually get any actual use out of it because it's going to be so slow it's going to drive you totally nuts.

Alright got it. Find a board with compatible RAM. Yep, this is just for the shots and giggles really. I'm fully aware there's nothing I can do with a system that old and it's a complete gamble even if everything goes in my way. I'll just ask the seller to pick a compatible RAM for the board.

The entire project is probably going to cost me around $10-15 tops (australian dollars, so it's even cheaper). If it works, that's great, decent conversation starter. If it doesn't work, oh well, let's consider it done and move on.