Running Windows XP on a new computer?

RyanB

RyanB

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For my Tech friends,

Is it possible to purchase a new desktop PC that comes pre-installed with Windows 10 and install XP onto it instead?

I have had a computer that ran one of the older MS Flight Sim's for years and it was great, but the hard drive gave up on me and now it's inop.

XP runs the sim the best as it was originally designed for it, so I'd like to purchase a new PC with all of the new processors and video cards, while still running XP to run FS2004. I'm not interested in Flight Simulator X or X-plane, as I have never liked those.

I have always enjoyed poking around on the sim once in a while, so I'd like to get it back up and running.

So is it possible to install XP on a new machine so I can run FS2004 correctly?
 
In theory it's "possible" but you might have trouble finding drivers so whether it will actually work as intended it's a different story.
 
Maybe, but unlikely. Mostly because the newfangled* video cards and updated supporting chipsets probably won't have drivers written for windows XP.

HTH,

Justin

* (newfangled? didn't know it was one word, thought it was two (new fangled) or hyphenated).
 
Also you would be running with issues like security vulnerabilities.

You could maybe run a VM with XP on it? (Virtual machine, OS running on an OS)
 
Thanks all.

I thought I may have trouble, which is why I asked.

It won't be connected to the internet so I'm not concerned about anti-virus and security.

Has anybody here tried to run FS2004 on the newer OS? Would something made for XP work on a newer OS?

Kinda blows that my older machine's HD quit. Trying to find a solution, but it's not urgent.
 
A new HD and a specialize computer shop - not one of the big boxes- migh have a generic copy of XP to install on the new HD.
 
If you happen to know any software developers who write MS software they probably have a subscription to the Microsoft Developer Network, which provides with install disks for all the MS operating systems, including (at least as of a couple of years ago) the various flavors of XP.
 
Ryanb said:
For my Tech friends,

Is it possible to purchase a new desktop PC that comes pre-installed with Windows 10 and install XP onto it instead?

I have had a computer that ran one of the older MS Flight Sim's for years and it was great, but the hard drive gave up on me and now it's inop.

XP runs the sim the best as it was originally designed for it, so I'd like to purchase a new PC with all of the new processors and video cards, while still running XP to run FS2004. I'm not interested in Flight Simulator X or X-plane, as I have never liked those.

I have always enjoyed poking around on the sim once in a while, so I'd like to get it back up and running.

So is it possible to install XP on a new machine so I can run FS2004 correctly?
Click to expand...

Assuming it was only the HD that took a dump, if you have a disk of XP why not just install a new HD and reinstall the software? That's a fairly easy task. Not sure about backward compatibility when trying to install XP on a Win 10 computer. I have some expensive software that will not run on anything higher than XP. It may be possible to install two operating systems on one computer but hardware compatibility may be an issue.
 
Norman said:
Assuming it was only the HD that took a dump, if you have a disk of XP why not just install a new HD and reinstall the software? That's a fairly easy task. Not sure about backward compatibility when trying to install XP on a Win 10 computer. I have some expensive software that will not run on anything higher than XP. It may be possible to install two operating systems on one computer but hardware compatibility may be an issue.
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I may end up having to do that. I don't have an XP disk, but I can order one from Amazon so that's not an issue. I've gotten a lot of life out the computer as it's nearly 10-12 years old now. Biggest reason I wanted an upgrade was due to a better processor and graphics card. I had several addons for the Sim which made it pretty sweet, even though it is considered an old version, it worked close to one of the newer ones.

No real emergency, but I'd like to get it back going again for when I have the time to use it.

Thanks all for the info!
 
Maybe buy a refurbished XP machine just for this? I have an XP Laptop in the hangar for old software for old avionics....
 
JOhnH said:
Why don't you just order something like this? It might not be the latest and greatest, but if you are not connecting to the internet and not running anti-virus software it should be plenty fast enough?

http://www.nixsys.com/xp-computers/nx81-h70.html
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Too expensive. The base configuration comes with an Intel Celeron, which is much too weak for FlightSim. A correct build from that site would be around 800$.
 
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Just get a Windows 7 machine and run it in XP mode. Plenty of W7 machines still for sale, even at Dell. Plenty on amazon, refurb'd, but 10 times more powerful than what you've been running.

Heck, it may even run fine in Win7.
 
Ryanb said:
Too expensive. The base configuration comes with an Intel Celeron, which is much too weak for FlightSim. A correct build from that site would be around 800$.
Click to expand...

That Celeron is going to be significantly faster than anything that was available in 2004. It's faster than the fastest Core 2 Duo I could find, which were manufactured from 2006-2008.

If my memory serves me correctly, I put FS2004 on a PC with a Pentium G3258 and a so/so video car and the FPS maxed out with the scenery settings on max.
 
Palmpilot said:
How about eBay?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...S0&_nkw=desktop+computers+windows+xp&_sacat=0
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Thanks. I was actually looking at one very similar to that on Amazon.

dmspilot said:
That Celeron is going to be significantly faster than anything that was available in 2004. It's faster than the fastest Core 2 Duo I could find, which were manufactured from 2006-2008.

If my memory serves me correctly, I put FS2004 on a PC with a Pentium G3258 and a so/so video car and the FPS maxed out with the scenery settings on max.
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Is that right? The Celeron would be significantly better than what was in my now 'previous' system, but it faired out pretty well, all things considering.

I've used a Dell Laptop in the past with a Celeron and I wasn't too impressed, so I've had my doubts about its ability to run a high FPS simulator. Because of this, I wanted to shoot for a Core 2 Duo at the minimum. From what I remember, the Core 2 supersedes the Celeron, as it's Intel's base processor.


How was the frame rate using the setup you mentioned?
 
JimNtexas said:
If you happen to know any software developers who write MS software they probably have a subscription to the Microsoft Developer Network, which provides with install disks for all the MS operating systems, including (at least as of a couple of years ago) the various flavors of XP.
Click to expand...
and it would be completely illegal unless OP has subscription
 
Ryanb said:
Is that right? The Celeron would be significantly better than what was in my now 'previous' system, but it faired out pretty well, all things considering.

I've used a Dell Laptop in the past with a Celeron and I wasn't too impressed, so I've had my doubts about its ability to run a high FPS simulator. Because of this, I wanted to shoot for a Core 2 Duo at the minimum. From what I remember, the Core 2 supersedes the Celeron, as it's Intel's base processor.

How was the frame rate using the setup you mentioned?
Click to expand...

There is no successor to the Celeron, it is just a brand name for Intel's budget lineup and is updated every generation. There hasn't been a new Core2 since 2010, and the successor to that is the i3/i5/i7 family.

A laptop processor is typically a different beast, optimized for power consumption, and laptops also usually have very basic graphics, so no surprise your Dell laptop was lackluster in performance.

If I recall correctly I got over 50fps on the aforementioned setup.

BTW FS2004 runs on Windows 7 fine as far as I can tell. I get 30-40 fps on a 2011 13" Macbook Pro (dual boot obviously). I also have a Core i3 Win 7 PC but I only have FSX on it. I'll see if I can get 2004 installed and report back.
 
dmspilot said:
There is no successor to the Celeron, it is just a brand name for Intel's budget lineup and is updated every generation. There hasn't been a new Core2 since 2010, and the successor to that is the i3/i5/i7 family.

A laptop processor is typically a different beast, optimized for power consumption, and laptops also usually have very basic graphics, so no surprise your Dell laptop was lackluster in performance.

If I recall correctly I got over 50fps on the aforementioned setup.

BTW FS2004 runs on Windows 7 fine as far as I can tell. I get 30-40 fps on a 2011 13" Macbook Pro (dual boot obviously). I also have a Core i3 Win 7 PC but I only have FSX on it. I'll see if I can get 2004 installed and report back.
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Thanks. You can tell I'm a bit behind on some of my computer wisdom.
 
take the plunge man... get X-Plane and an Oculus Rift. You'll never leave the house. (once you discover porn with the Oculus I mean)
 
I have a lot of flight simulators and add-ons on an XP Professional. I installed Windows 7 and started installing my flight sims on it. I noticed some problems. Tried Windows 10, more problems. I decided to have dual boot, XP Pro with my sims, Win 7 for other use. My next computer will be dual boot also. Win 10 for basic use, and a clean XP Pro install for all my flight sims. Supposedly you can still activate it. When I boot in XP Pro, I still get some updates. XP Pro runs off one SSD. Win 7 runs off second SSD.
 
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