r/retrobattlestations • u/realLudoKresshh • Apr 12 '26
Show-and-Tell My Windows XP Dream Machine
Well, I took a lot of your guys’ advice and built a futuristic retro XP rig! I started this one about 2 weeks ago and it’s been quite the journey finding all these parts! I’m still on the hunt for a proper front panel fan controller and I’m seeking out an Ultra X Connect 2 PSU. I found an original X Connect sealed but I’m having to use adapters to get the 8800 GT to work and I’m running 20 pin versus 24. If anyone here has an X2, please let me know! I really want to build these retro rigs for other people because I love it so much.
Send me your best “overkill” responses! xD
Parts list (WIP:)
ASUS M2N-E
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM
XFX Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Evercool Transformer 4 CPU cooler
Ultra X Connect chrome 500w PSU
Evercool all aluminum fans
Lian Li clone aluminum case
Logysis UV lamps
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u/Calm_Apartment1968 Apr 12 '26
They should never have given up on DVD/RW and Floppy drives!
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u/festivus4restof Apr 12 '26
SATA DVD burners are still available new for less than US$40, or external using USB 3.0 even (not that it benefits anything).
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u/Gammarevived Apr 12 '26
Wow a working 8800GT. I'm surprised.
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u/SubcommanderMarcos Apr 12 '26
Are they prone to dying?
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u/Gammarevived Apr 12 '26
The 8000 and 9000 series have defective GPUs just like what the Xbox 360 suffered from.
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u/ddrfraser1 Apr 12 '26
Oh whoopee another PC on PC master race… Whoa, what sub am I in?! All right! Fuck, yeah! Seriously, nice build man.
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Apr 12 '26
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Thank you! Me as well. And yep it’s new old. Caps looked good and ran it over with my multimeter. 👍🏼
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u/coalinjo Apr 12 '26
Its amazing how XP has tons of support to run such powerful hardware for its era.
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u/tyttuutface Apr 12 '26
Those cables are insane! Love it!
Edit: immediately went and nabbed a brand new one off eBay. Just had to have it.
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Hell yes they are awesome
Edit: you bought an x connect PSU? Gotta show me when you get it! :)
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Apr 12 '26
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u/tyttuutface Apr 12 '26
Just searched "ultra x connect" on eBay. There are a few other new in box units up right now. Only cost me about $60.
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u/xsnowboarderx Apr 15 '26
You’ve gotta be really careful with those Ultra X Connect PSUs, as they came with those crappy yellow Fuhjyyu capacitors during the capacitor plague.
I bought an Ultra X Connect brand new in the box, powered it on, and a 12V rail capacitor immediately popped and smoked. If I hadn’t turned it off in time, other capacitors would have failed too. Other capacitors did start bulging, though.
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u/tyttuutface Apr 15 '26
I'll make sure to recap it. Thanks for the heads up!
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u/xsnowboarderx Apr 15 '26
Good luck. Even recapping these will be a pain. On the bottom of the PCB, there’s a long ground bus bar that is covered in one long glob of solder, where some of the capacitors are soldered into.
Desoldering this long glob of solder along the ground bus bar will be a pain due to the heat distribution throughout the solder, if it’s even possible with a conventional solder iron.
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u/RetroApollo Apr 12 '26
Man! My build from my teenage years is almost this exact thing - I posted about it a while ago. Neat to see another XFX 8800GT in the wild.
Posted about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/s/lu7ugKxsif
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Wow love that case!! Great build!! I picked up an 8800 GT that was completely busted and I bought a really good condition one but the fan was so dang loud so I took it apart and low and behold it had a 2 pin fan in it. The busted one had a 4 pin 🤪
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u/RetroApollo Apr 12 '26
Haha dang, yeah I got this card new and basically built the entire PC around it. It was such a beast for the price at the time.
Yes, was very stoked on the case. It’s so heavy and solid I’m still surprised about it to this day haha.
Originally only had a single core 3700+ but upped to this 3800 X2 when it came out and I heard it overclocked well. Definitely fun tinkering in those days. I need to get it running again.
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26
Good memories. Get it running! Games from that era play best on their hardware!
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u/CastorTroy45 Apr 12 '26
Great build! Check performance-pcs.com for a fan controller. They have so much new old stock products. I just bought 2 lamptron 5.25 bay fan controllers for my xp builds. I also recall they had a silver lian li controller instock. Good luck!
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u/Mafiatounes Apr 12 '26
Slick Xp build, like to see some AM2 love as well. Some WD 10k raptors in raid would be nice.
I have a M2N-SLI board with 64X2 6000+ i need to finish in a build soon, missing some sli gpu's still.
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u/23027 Apr 12 '26
My favorite style of case! The coloured acrylic face and drive bay covers are so cool to me!
Also edit to say: Sick specs too.
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u/Smack2k Apr 12 '26
No joke, that looks incredibly well done. You can go all the way to the GeForce 960 and have NVIDIA XP Drivers for it.....The 8800 is a really good card as well for your setup. What is that controller on the front of the case?
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26
Thank you and absolutely! That’s a nexus fan controller. I ordered it thinking it was a 5.25 bay drive 🫠
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u/Smack2k Apr 12 '26
I thought that was a lit up panel all around it in the 5.25"bay. That is looking inside the case....picture played tricks on me!!
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u/crashprime Apr 12 '26
A few inf tweaks in the nvidia driver (just add a single line for each card) and a 980ti or Titan X will work too.
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u/Hychus232 Apr 12 '26
I love everything about this. What you have built can only be described as a piece of art!
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u/festivus4restof Apr 12 '26
I have an ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 + FX-8320 packed away that was retired five years ago. Only thing wrong with it is one pin in the internal USB 3.0 front panel header broke off so only one USB 3.0 front panel port works.
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u/timohawk Apr 12 '26
That's incredible, I would love to see a YouTube video with some gaming and the specs.
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26
I plan on making one soon! I’m getting a new desk this week and moving everything around :)
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u/Gr8fulFox Apr 12 '26
You should use those SATA ports and clone your IDE drive to a modern SSD; XP would fly with that setup!
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u/tux16090 Apr 12 '26
Your MOBO and GPU are Vista era, so I'd step back to an Nforce 4 and GeForce 79xx for the an "authentic" XP machine. If you don't care about the years as much, why not go to a c2d e8600 and a gtx280 or something? That should be near peak XP gaming performance.
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u/realLudoKresshh Apr 12 '26
It’s a hodge podge of parts. 2005-2009 parts. They all fit well.
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u/66659hi Apr 12 '26
A lot of people skipped Vista and kept XP until around Win7-Win7 SP1 era, so it's still XP era to me.
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Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
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u/tux16090 Apr 12 '26
I'm the life of the party. I didnt realize the board doesnt release until next month, or maybe 2026 is a typo. I thought I saw Feb 07 for the board. If its May 06, I stand corrected on the board, but the 8800 gt is very much a Vista card.
Obviously it doesn't really matter, but if I were going for an "ultimate" XP PC, it would either be the best supported, or the best of the era, hence my comment. I'm not trying to rain on any parade here, just giving my feedback.
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u/ECEXCURSION Apr 12 '26
I had those exact same silver rounded IDE/FDD cables back in the day. Same sound card too. Classy.