[SOLVED] Making the most of an old system for legacy gaming

[starwarsgamer5001]

After getting some help here I was getting ready to pull the trigger on some new components to up grade my 2012 build, I planned eventually to replace all of the innards, I happen to read somewhere that windows 7 is not supported on the Z390 Mobo and xp definitely is not. I play primary older games, Age of Empires, Kotor, Empire at War and the like. I also play Battlefront and minecraft. I wanted more performance for the newer games I play and more cpu power for the older ones that might make use of it.

Since I won't be able to play my old games on windows 10 (some do work and some don't) I'll be keeping the old components but would like to know how I can get the most performance out of them.

Current system:
cpu: AMD Phenom IIx4 965 Black Edition (stock cooler)
motherboard: Asus MA597
Ram: 8gb Kingston DDR3
GPU: MSI AMD R9 270 2gb
PSU: Corsair GS600

I run Windows 7 on one HDD and XP on another so any GPU would need to have drivers for both.

My thoughts: I am going to upgrade the psu to a Corsair RM650x. Consider OCing the 965. Will I need a different cooler? Never OCed before, best resources for doing so?

Regarding the GPU my R9 works with xp. Some maybe going up in the r9 series. I was looking into an R9 Fury or something around that level. Overkill?

Any suggestions (something I haven't thought of?) and help would be appreciated.

 

[geofelt]

I have been playing civilization 2.42 for a very long time.
To that end, I keep a pc with a 32 bit windows 7 OS that is required to run a 16 bit DOS program.

I think about the most modern build that runs windows 7 will be 6th gen intel
I use a Z170 motherboard and a i5-6600K which is overkill for the game.
The integrated intel adapter will not work, because intel has abandoned 32 bit drivers.
However, a GTX750ti supports windows 7 32 bit and works just fine. it can even run a 4k monitor.

For a more complete solution, you can run virtual machines on a very strong pc.
DOS box, I think it is called.

You should be able to OC, but for a really strong processor, it is better to go modern.
I think a 120mm tower type cooler like the scythe kotetsu would be sufficient for overclocking your X4.

 

[assasin32]

As Geofelt said virtual machine is probably the way to go about this, I know it’s how I would do things.

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

Thanks for the responses. I had actually considered going virtual back when I originally built it because I trouble playing some of the older games on 7. Couldn't find one that was reliable so that is why I have the second HDD with xp. Doing some research leaves me to believe that the virtual windows systems still aren't reliable with all games. KOTOR and Age of Empires being to deal breakers for going the virtual route.

That being said, it looks like ocing my 965 is the best route (Although an 8350 can be had for about 75, good option?).

That still leaves me with the issue of the GPU. My R9 is great for everything I play except Battlefront. I realized though that outside of the 200 series the HD's were the last to support XP. So that leaves me with crossfiring my 270. Will crossfiring cause games that don't support it to not work? Can it be switched to non-crossfire? Or is it possible to run two different gpu on the same mobo and just install the respective drivers on xp and 7 Hdds? Then I could pick up a RX580.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Crossfire won't be supported by most games. So it would probably not be a great idea. If you could find a reasonable price on an R9 290x or 390x that would give you a good bump in performance and honestly will nab you near RX 580 performance, better in some games. Then you will have performance and compatibility. I would avoid the FX CPUs... you might have better luck finding a 6 core Phenom II and using that instead. The FX CPUs aren't bad... but you are looking at a whole platform upgrade at that point.

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

I was under the impression the FX was compatible with my current system? Regardless I believe now the best solution is to get as much out of the 965 as I can and if it meets my needs, great, if not I can upgrade it later.

A number of things I read indicated the 300 series were not compatible with windows xp (although there was conflicting info) and that only the 200 series were? What would be a reasonable price for a 290x under the circumstances?

Also would a coolermaster 212 evo be good enough for ocing the 965? I've read great things about that cooler and its inexpensive.

 

[geofelt]

Check the nvidia driver download app.
https://www.nvidia.com/drivers

A cursory look says that they still have drivers for windows XP for the 900 series cards(950/960/970/980/980ti)
980ti is a GTX1070 or vega 56 class card.

FX has weak cores, so overclocking your x4 will likely be stronger.
Old games did not use more than 2-3 threads anyway.

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

I can't access that link and google says otherwise regarding the 900 series, at least anything above the 960.

Edit: I have found an MSI 290x for around 100. Seems like a good deal but it is their single fan version. Will that be ok if Im not planning to OC it?

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

I can't access that link and google says otherwise regarding the 900 series, at least anything above the 960.

Edit: I have found an MSI 290x for around 100. Seems like a good deal but it is their single fan version. Will that be ok if Im not planning to OC it?

$100 is a good price for that level of performance. The single fan blower style cards run a little hot, but as long as you aren't overclocking you should be fine. Also, a Hyper 212 will be sufficient. cooling to overclock a 965... that said the 965 is already approaching the limits of the Deneb cores. You MIGHT be able to get 4 GHz out of it with a good cooler and a voltage bump to 1.5V. THAT said, my old Phenom II x3 720 only ever hit 3.4 GHz but it was pretty much launch day silicon, AMD probably made a lot of improvements between its first Phenom IIs and the later ones.

Also, I've just looked into it and you have an AM3+ motherboard, you could go FX if you really wanted to. I figured you just had an AM3 board because you have a Phenom II. You can go all the way up to an FX-8350, and that would actually be a 25% performance improvement... surprisingly a 21% improvement in single core workloads. That might actually be worth it.

But here is the thing... if you went with the 290X and the FX-8350... it wouldn't be a retro machine anymore. Sure it'd have great legacy support, but you are in the arena of low end mainstream modern desktops with that level of performance.

Also, I kinda want to build this exact machine right now and throw Windows XP on it to play older games. It sounds like a sweet setup for that.

 

[menlui]

KOTOR and AOE both have win10 compatible versions with AOE: Definitive Edition and KOTOR has a GOG Steam and Origin release...

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

Well, my system really isn't completely retro what with the R9 anyways. And I'm going for more of "best I can get" with legacy support without spending too much on old equipment. Quite frankly as it stands now it will run everything quite well. I don't get quite the FPS I want on battlefront with settings on ultra and I get serious lag on Empire at War with the larger maps (I've got space pop cap turned way up.) Hoping with the 290x and an OC I can get what I want out of those games.

If not I'll pick up the FX 8350 and see if that helps. Although at 70 bucks might just go ahead and pick one up so if I brick my phenom trying to OC it or if the OC doesn't work I can pop that in.

Edit: I was acutally going to mark your answer is solved but something occurred to me. If I end up getting the 8350 and want to oc that (nothing serious) would the 212 be sufficient for light OCing? Don't want to have to buy to coolers.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Well, my system really isn't completely retro what with the R9 anyways. And I'm going for more of "best I can get" with legacy support without spending too much on old equipment. Quite frankly as it stands now it will run everything quite well. I don't get quite the FPS I want on battlefront with settings on ultra and I get serious lag on Empire at War with the larger maps (I've got space pop cap turned way up.) Hoping with the 290x and an OC I can get what I want out of those games.

If not I'll pick up the FX 8350 and see if that helps. Although at 70 bucks might just go ahead and pick one up so if I brick my phenom trying to OC it or if the OC doesn't work I can pop that in.

Edit: I was acutally going to mark your answer is solved but something occurred to me. If I end up getting the 8350 and want to oc that (nothing serious) would the 212 be sufficient for light OCing? Don't want to have to buy to coolers.

The Hyper 212 EVO is pretty much the cooler of choice for budget overclocking. It won't have any problem with light overclocking on the FX 8350. Some quick searches see people hitting 4.5 GHz pretty regularly on the Hyper 212 EVO.

So, I'd go with that from the get go.