best os for a semi retro gaming pc

[joshua_98]

so i have about 20 older disc based games that wont work with my windows 10 machine or if they do work will work very poorly so i have decided i want to make a pc dedicated to playing older games from 96-07 and i want to know which operating system i should get. i was thinking either xp or vista. the games i will be playing will be older valve games like half life, half life 2, l4d. l4d2, old star wars and other lucas arts games, far cry 1 and 2, call of duty 1 and 2, fear, the old plinter cells, modded doom 1 and 2, doom 3, serious sam, the old avp games, ect. so which os has thebest compatiblity with old titles. for specs i was thinking of getting like the fastest core2quad i could find and a used gpu and 4gb of ddr2, i got a disc drive and a spare 500gb hybrid and an old sound card i can use aswell. and its gonna be purly for gaming aswell, may put some music on it but for the most part its for games.

 

[unreal9400]

Windows XP is the best if you want the most performance out of DX9 games.
A Core 2 Duo is probably up to the task.
Core 2 Quad is overkill for older games since they only utilize mostly 1 or 2 threads from the CPU.
Get the fastest Core 2 Duo you can find. ( 3GHz+ )

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

XP, probably. Make sure to get SP2 or later else the PCIe will crash the installer. But XP is compatible with more or less everything post DOS. I might air gap it for safety though.

 

[joshua_98]

Windows XP is the best if you want the most performance out of DX9 games.
A Core 2 Duo is probably up to the task.
Core 2 Quad is overkill for older games since they only utilize mostly 1 or 2 threads from the CPU.
Get the fastest Core 2 Duo you can find. ( 3GHz+ )

ok cool found this one
https://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SCPUBDNA17#.V9WGH2grKUk
sure a core 2 quad wont be better? they are relitivly cheap where i can get them and they accept refunds if they are doa
i found one that runs at 2.5 for £12
what gpu should i get. dont want something that will be over kill. dont really want to spend over £90 on the whole system. something to max out the games at above 60.
would i be better of just adding a new powersupply and a gpu to like an old dell workstation or geting a board and case and everything?

 

[unreal9400]

Windows XP is the best if you want the most performance out of DX9 games.
A Core 2 Duo is probably up to the task.
Core 2 Quad is overkill for older games since they only utilize mostly 1 or 2 threads from the CPU.
Get the fastest Core 2 Duo you can find. ( 3GHz+ )

ok cool found this one
https://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SCPUBDNA17#.V9WGH2grKUk
sure a core 2 quad wont be better? they are relitivly cheap where i can get them and they accept refunds if they are doa
i found one that runs at 2.5 for £12
what gpu should i get. dont want something that will be over kill. dont really want to spend over £90 on the whole system. something to max out the games at above 60.
would i be better of just adding a new powersupply and a gpu to like an old dell workstation or geting a board and case and everything?

If you can get an old dell workstation it is much simpler than building from scratch and much cheaper too.
Power supply needs and upgrade for it to powerful GPU.
Older games relies more on higher clockspeed than multicore peformance.
But if you can get the quad core make sure it has high clockspeed.
Something like Nvidia 8800GT, 9600GT, 9800GT or ATI Radeon HD 4830 and higher will do for older games.
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4830/10.html