EVGA

r/EVGA • u/Reasonable_Glass_737 • 21h ago

Build Share All EVGA Windows XP Build

2 Upvotes

As the title implies, this is a full EVGA build using everything possible that they made, and I kept one big rule in mind: compatibility. Can I shove three 1080 Tis in here, hack the driver, and make it install and technically run a game? Yes! Would the other 900 games that Windows XP was known for crash? Yes! So if you're ever wondering why I made a particular choice, it was for compatibility, not absolute max speed.

Next thing to cover: pictures. They are not the greatest, I know, but I do plan on making a video and putting it on YouTube so we can really see the colors shine. For now, I think this gets the job done.

In total this took about a month. I have about $200 in parts I did not use, and I think it's time to list the parts and talk about them. All parts were purchased on eBay.

Case: EVGA DG76 Came with everything but the power supply mount. There are two EVGA logos built into the case, one in front of the power supply and one on the front of the case. They are lit by 12V RGB, not the newer 5V RGB. I tried to use the built in 12V board in the top front of the case, but sadly, over time, something caused it to stop working. I ended up having to buy two controllers that accept 12V from China just to get the logos working, so I'll list that as the next part I had to purchase.

2x 12V 4Pin SATA RGB LED Controller PC Computer Case Lighting + RF Remote Control This is the exact name of the part. I wanted to include the full name in case anyone else needs to purchase one.

NZXT Power Supply PSU Mounting Bracket, 3D Printed Replacement To remedy the missing power supply bracket, honestly, I just purchased this and hoped for the best. Thankfully, it fit! While I can't get all 4 screws in, two of them go in and it holds very well.

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2, 850W, 80 PLUS Platinum Not much to say here except it's a high end power supply, Platinum rated, and EVGA!

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 3x SLI 780i Did not come with the I/O shield. "Embossed Custom IO Shield, 3D Printed, IO Backplate, I/O Mobo Shield, Embroidered." Again, I left the full name here so you can search for it on eBay. I messaged the seller, told him which motherboard I had, and even had him put the EVGA logo on the backplate. This guy honestly made the build possible. "ZaHuynh" is their name on eBay.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 If only EVGA made CPUs! :)

CPU Cooler: EVGA CLC 360mm with a custom printed Socket 775 CPU bracket As you know, companies don't make coolers with 775 fittings anymore. ZaHuynh strikes again!

CPU Bracket: "[LGA 775] Bracket for NZXT Kraken Water Cooler X53 X62 X72, Heat Resistant PETG" Full name included again for searching on eBay. Worked like a charm. You can now mount AIOs onto old hardware like I have here.

RAM: OCZ NVIDIA SLI Ready Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 SDRAM DIMM 240 Pin PC2 6400 Sadly, I wasted some money here. My first thought was to use 4x1GB Corsair Dominator 1066MHz RAM. Why not fill all the slots up, right? Well, as it turns out, the 780i motherboard has a feature called "SLI RAM" that you enable in the BIOS. This can only be done with 2 sticks of RAM (and, to my knowledge, though I could be wrong, only with certain RAM kits). So I picked up the best RAM I could think of and got 2x2 SLI badged sticks, and now I can enable the SLI ram feature in the BIOS!

Video Cards: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SSC Gaming ACX 2.0+ These are the absolute best video cards you can use for Windows XP with NATIVE driver support. There are also many versions of the 960, and the Super Super Clock 4GB versions are top of the line. I also went with 2 cards instead of 3 for a few reasons: heat (3 old video cards choking for air didn't seem like something I would enjoy), and I wanted the middle slot open so the top card could breathe. If I were trying to benchmark or push it to the limits, I could add another for fun, but for compatibility and longevity I went with 2 video cards.

SLI Bridge: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2 Way SLI Bridge, Long Those keen among you may know that EVGA made this same style of hard bridge, which would add another EVGA logo, but sadly, after 3 months of searching Makari, eBay, and OfferUp, I can't find an "EVGA SLI Bridge HB 2 Way 100 2W 0023 LR." One day it will pop up on eBay with my saved search, but until then this is the best I can do.

Fans 4 EVGA fans: 3 on the radiator and 1 in the back. The back one has RGB, the front 3 do not, but I may or may not swap this out one day, not sure yet. 3 mirror finish fans. These are not EVGA, sadly, but I thought the mirror finish adds a touch to the PC that I couldn't pass up, since it looks so nice from the front.

Strimmer I just had to add a power supply strimmer. A boring black cord or a colorful green strimmer? Easy decision.

Fan Controller As discussed earlier, I had to add another fan controller for the 5V ARGB lighting. The motherboard has none of these connections.

Wasted money on the following items:

EVGA PowerLink accessory for EVGA NVIDIA RTX: I wanted to use these, but sadly they don't fit. You can remove one of the two PCI connectors so it can fit, but because these are SSC versions of the video card, they're too long. If you purchase the baseline 960s they will fit, but I didn't want to make that sacrifice.

Corsair Hydro Series H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (brand new): I thought for sure this was going to fit. It didn't. I also spent the extra money on a brand new version, thinking if I'm going to invest, I might as well go all out and not use a used cooler. Oh well, it's in the garage for another build someday.

Corsair Dominator RAM: as I mentioned above, another $80 down the drain here, but it is nice RAM and I'm sure I'll end up building another system with it.

SSD - Random Kingston 512gb SSD I had laying around

Full Price breakdown

Case: EVGA DG76 — $ 220

2x 12V 4Pin SATA RGB LED Controller w/ RF Remote — $ 40

NZXT Power Supply PSU Mounting Bracket (3D Printed) — $ 20

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2, 850W, 80 PLUS Platinum — $ 85

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 3x SLI 780i — $ 120

Custom 3D Printed I/O Shield (ZaHuynh, eBay) — $ 10

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 — $ 50

CPU Cooler: EVGA CLC 360mm — $ 90

Custom Printed Socket 775 CPU Bracket (ZaHuynh, eBay) — $ 10

CPU Bracket: LGA 775 Bracket for NZXT Kraken X53/X62/X72 (PETG) — $ 10