LGA 775 The Next Big Thing for Retro PC Community?

Intel 945GV Socket 775 some boards come with isa slots so you can use isa sound cards if you want still jas pcie and pci etc

I like how Phil’s video help late comers build their retro computers with reasonable prices. Phil is good at sharing how these not-too-old computers can be “retrofitted” (pun intended) to behave like a retro pc.

You can't run Windows 11 on LGA775 anymore. 24H2 won't run on anything older than Haswell. You need AVX2. I mistakenly installed it on a 3rd gen system and once it gets through the installer and reboots, it is nothing but BSOD soup. I thought I'd gotten a bad CPU but then I realized my mistake.
LGA 775 for cheap? I got a ton of LGA775 stuff for free. The only LGA775 stuff I've actually paid for was a high end Gigabyte SLI MB and an X6800.
LGA 775 is far from ideal for DOS gaming. It is P6 microarchitecture and I always had mixed results with gaming on a Pentium Pro. I wouldn't run DOS on anything newer than a PIII but that's easy to say when I have 5 of them. For 9x and XP gaming, LGA775 is amazing. You haven't really played Crysis unless you've played it on a Core 2 Extreme SLI rig with 2x7800GTX.
Running a NVMe drive on a PCIe 2.0x1 slot is basically a waste of even the slowest NVMe. M.2 SATA is going to max out the bandwidth. But, on a 4x card, an NVMe would be pretty sweet on my Gigabyte board because, LBH, I'm not going to keep running it as an SLI rig. It will probably end up with my GTX 560Ti 448 so I can play games from the '00s at 1440p. It also has PhysX hardware support. Last gen for proper PhysX support before they started emulating it on the CUDA cores.

I think at am2 to am3+ are in the same spot.
Currently owning both am2+ and lga 775 xp machines. (Couple lga 775... Yes I may have a problem 😅) and i think they both do exelent job. Lga has pentium 4 630 and am2+ has 8800gts sli. Fun times.

I've always struggled to get floppy drives working for boards that have unsupported Windows 98 chipsets. What's your secret?

Be careful when buying LGA775 motherboards. Intel used LGA775 for several generations of processors. Not all LGA775 motherboards support core 2 duo processors.

Also need to consider the memory type the motherboard supports. There are LGA775 motherboards with DDR, DDR2, or DDR3 memory slots.

I have 2x e8400s 1x Q9650, with functioning boards. Spare CPUs, I have a e6600, e8400, and a q9300

I use LGA 775 board my pc. Intel Vore 2 Duo E6600. Linux Mint works nice (I not use Windows).

You can also do the LGA771 mod and run cheap Xeons too!

Sorry, what makes this good for DOS games? How do you get OPL compatibility on the cheap?

Next retro platforms will be LGA1156 and LGA1155 😄

I'd just like to know how to get Win 9x to install on one of these fast machines if you don't have the ability to adjust the CPU FSB/Multiplier I have an old Compaq/HP with Athlon XP 2500+ and can't get Win9x to even install, I know there's patches you can install after the fact to allow faster CPUs but I may be stuck with WinXp on this machine....

Phil, I have three HP thin clients: a 5730 I gambled on for only $20 at an electronics surplus store (Skycraft in Orlando) that doesn't work; a 5720 I bought for $35 off Ebay I've used for years (that I just had to replace the motherboard for but is now working again) and I'm still using; and a 5740 which is functional but useless to me because it won't even show me what's on a USB flash or allow me to add any applications with one.
The only thing I need them for is running an application (which is only a few kilobytes) for tuning and monitoring the Megasquirt II electronic control module I built for the fuel injection in my Camaro, and playing wmv and MP3 files off a USB flash as my audio source in the vehicle. Before I got a working thin client I used a canabalized 95 desktop with a power inverter complete with floppy, CD/ROM, PCI adapted LCD, and bulky PS. I don't have that rig any longer but I still have an E-machine I used in the same manner but with Win 98 and an SSD I added because vibration kept wrecking the hard-drives.
My question is: Is there any way for me to format the IDE DOM of the 5740 and load it with an OEM copy of 98 I have that I bought new on disc so I can also load my EFI application on it and play audio files through it too ? I still have floppy 98 boot discs and a floppy drive but am using a win 10 desktop for going on line. I'd like to make the 5740 a workable spare for the 5720. I'd also like to know what "Rufus" actually does.

My main xp machine has lga775 with famous Dfi Lanparty p35 t2rs in Lian-li aluminium atx case. love that machine but recently it got broken and stucks on bios splash screen. Typical retropc tinkering so i need to figure out what's wrong with that in free time.

Isn’t windows 98 compatibility limited to systems with a ICH7 south bridge or lower? I remember having a LGA775 board with an ICH9 that didn’t have full driver support under 98.. while ICH7 versions did.

You can also find AGP LGA775 boards. With something like a Pentium D 950, you can have a stonking setup. If you can find a PT880 Chipset board, you can have AGP and PCI Express at the same time!

I would add though, I've seen plenty of bad caps on LGA775 boards.

Socket 775 is a great in between platform for a huge range of Os's. (I've still got my P45 chipset with Intel E8600/4 gigs of ram/ 8800 GTS 320) Another chipset I'm fond with is my Asus Premium SLI 939 with an AMD FX 60/Opteron. Gaming is a blast on original vintage hardware and OS. Thanks PhilsComputerLab for mentioning these hidden retro platforms.

Very cool. I like the promise of that SBEMU project. I got it working on my Socket 370 rig with Intel HD audio on board, but I frequently get JemmEx crashes just a few minutes into playing. Perhaps a real PCI SB would work better with SBEMU!

I have been having problems making a retro computer with two different operating systems, in this case it would be Windows 98 or Me and then XP. The problem is that after a few boots on Windows XP, the disk with the older Windows has corrupted files! The file names have strange characters even in the shortcuts and ScanDisk cannot resolve them. Even using one disk for each operating system, the problem persists always after a while. For me it's important to have Windows 98 and Windows XP on the same computer. The Xp also allows you to view many websites on the internet and make use of a Wireless Pci network card, as well as installing most GOG games. It would be important if you could make a video showing how to make a retro multiboot computer and how to solve or prevent one operating system from harming one disk or another, if you can.

what about am2?

Also still have a motherboard with an installed Core 2 Duo E8400 and a REAL Intel motherboard with the P67 chipset and a BUILD-IN Intel Graphics accelerator on board. Uses an Intel GMA 950 Graphics accelerator faster then any virge DX card. Happy i did not throw away this beauty! I can install a graphics card but not needed, it plays doom and all old games perfectly!

It features 4 pixel shaders and 1 vertex shader 4 texture mapping units, and 1 ROP.
The GPU is operating at a frequency of 250 MHz, which can be boosted up to 400 MHz.
Its power draw is rated at 7 W maximum.


Thanks for this video!

I've got an MSI P43 Neo board, however that board needs a full recap, almost all the electrolytic capacitors are bulging, which is probably the reason why it's been so hit-and-miss, specifically with ram, I can test 6 sticks individually and all are fine, I put 4 together and the system starts fine and runs without a problem, however, some late boot just doesn't work unless I take out all the Ram and try only one stick!

After this video I want my P5WDH back😅

Interesting as I tend to ignore LGA775 other than the ones which also have AGP (especially core 2 + AGP). I see a lot of 775 machines every week at the flea market but I am also finding a lot of old retro PCs from 486 to Pentium 1,2,3 and of course P4 478. Even the occasioanl 286 or 386. If you have seen any of my weekly car boot retro hauls you will know I have no problem finding a regular supply of retro PCs for 20 euros or less... do you think this is an issue that depends mainly on your location? oh a question for you Phil as no one seems to know what the answer is. If Slot 1 are Pentium 2 and 3, Socket 7 are Pentium 1.... what are the Pentiums that came out before that called, I had one back in the day a P66 and it fit in a much larger socket. I've never found one of that type since collecting retro PC hardware for the last 6 years or more. BTW it was you who got me into retro PC lol

So many varieties of LGA775 though, I have one that will ONLY accept P4 Prescott, can't accept Pentium D or even Cedar Mill single core.
There are others that can't go to Core 2, but can handle Pentium D, and then the Core 2 capable may not have the higher bus speed

Does anyone have a recommendation for a board ?

I have a boatload of socket 775 boards, chips you name it. I was scratching my head on it recently, wondering if people would be interested in this platform for retro. Glad I didn't ball them all up and sell them all cheap now, I was going to.

Platform by platform, decade by decade, each will come into its own as each generation wants to relive those golden days and maybe build that super rig they couldn't afford at the time. We all go through it. Waves of nostalgia. Your channel has definitely been a big boon for retro and the nostalgia it brings and I thank you for that.

From the venerable Pentium 4 to the last Core2Quads along with 771 Xeon mods, Socket 775 was huge. So huge that I find more of these types of computers being decommissioned today than ever before. AMDs equivalent aged sockets are also big on that list. After watching this video, as per retro, I want to see how a Socket 775 Pentium 4 will perform with DDR3 1333. After a quick Google search, I realize you can do this, but I never have. Now I want to. And I want to see what the fastest video card I can throw at it will do for it. Just for fun.

I have two LGA 775 systems, a Core 2 Quad 9650/GTX 285 and a Pentium E5700/9800GT combo (that one is for sale on ebay) that are both set up to triple boot XP, 7, and 11. I use 11 to get GoG installers and steam games (can only get to function under Windows 7) and play the games on the appropriate OS. The Pentium works fine for Windows 11 but not great, the Core 2 Quad is surprisingly good in Windows 11, better than a Walmart laptop.

I recently re-aquired a board I had and then sold to upgrade in the day, I even remember being kicked on forums and now it seems like the goldilocks board. ASRock 775 dualVSTA. PCI, AGP and PCI EXPRESS, I can't wait to do a build with it.

I'm not touching anything older than Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge for any retro gaming PC build: it really needs to have/support UEFI BIOS; PCI-e 3.0; USB 3.0 5Gbit/s; SATA 3.0 600 MB/s; Quad Core CPUs; 32 GB of RAM among other requirements that I took note of somewhere and of which I'm not willing to live without!
It only needs to natively support Win XP, anything older, like DOS, isn't that important for me, and probably can be easily emulated elsewhere; and I only care up to WIN 10 gaming
Also, in terms of GPU, it also needs to support Radeon RX400 up to RX 6000 graphics cards... I'm not willing to deal with a PC build without any of these PC amenities.

I've still got the old Zotac lga 775 board I bought back around 2008, which I use for a Windows XP and Windows 7 dual boot.

I'm assuming this may apply for AM2/AM3 as well from the same era.

Assholes like YOU are who fucking inflate the prices.

Why not 1366?

Me rubbing my hands while I have least 5-6 of LGA775 motherboards laying around with lots of Core2Duo CPUs. But for this one thing, Gigabyte G31 was very notorious in my country. They tend to burn on RAM slots, God knows for what reason. I still get them to run, but it will still hurt the RAM a bit.

I have a DFI LanParty P35 with a Dual Core2Duo E8400. I paired it with an MSI HD 5770. From your advice, I have a new SB1040EF XFi coming this week. EAX aside for now, I installed Far Cry which has been sitting in a storage bin in the basement with zero issues and it runs super smooth. I also have Crysis, but I am afraid if I install it, it might set the video card on fire 🙂

I still have a 9550 core 2 :) might do a Vista install

What amazing timing! i have one 775 board already, but a few popped up on my local trade site, and for $12 each with ram and CPU i couldnt say no, so i got all of them! including the very board Phil is holding up. I recognised the board immediately.

So, when will we be seeing a Socket 1700 with NVMe XP video on here? ;-)

I’ve got an ddr3 LGA775 motherboard that’s Xeon modded with an X5450. Motherboards MATX GIGABYTE GA-G41MT-S2P. Can anyone advise an in inexpensive soundcard and GPU that would allow me to play about with different OS’? I’d be keen to play around with dos, 98, xp, vista win7. I may have a 8800gt laying around so that should cover me for XP up shouldn’t it?

Maybe I can sell all that ddr and ddr2 ram I acquired back a while ago lol

ive seen prob over 1000's of 775 boards go to scrap over the years, soon wont be much of them left

775/771 was a nice generation, efficient, stable, really only aged out of justification of use..... personally have some 20 sum boards or more lol, they're common but I am sure like with P3 will disappear fast minus the really really generic micro atx's

I'd put in a Q6600 instead of a Q94(5)0

Meanwhile in the slum jungle, LGA 775 pcs are still being widely used in small business

LGA 775 is my main daily PC. I have another board in a bag with i915. It was not stable under Windows 98, probably because of the many embedded devices creating IRQ conflicts under ACPI. I really don't want to touch it with a ten foot pole now because it only supports Pentium 4. What happens if you drop in a Conroe CPU in a Pentium 4 only board? I'm almost certain the exercise will be futile.

Yes, you can play VESA games on Nvidia PCI-E cards. ATI X550 seems to have gone with a very limited DOS memory. This has the beneficial effect of opening the Dos-box on Win98 very fast.

GTX 610, 750 and 960 have some kind of hacky compatibility, which would get you through using a graphical recovery software. I think we can praise them for allowing such programs to still work. I tried to play Duke Nukem 3D on it. It had either a very slow framerate (610) or flashing (960). It does internal scaling of the image. You can do something ridiculous like ask for 1600*1200 VESA and the adapter will downsample it to a 1024*768 screen.

A Pentium 4 may have cooked the motherboard, the capacitors around the processor. I've seen that.

The Intel 8xx series have much better Windows 98 compatibility. SATA and PCI-E were quite well designed without needing any special software support. The lower Pxx chipsets have limited RAM capacity.

For Windows games you don't need any special retro platform. Later processors of the Ivy Bridge generation are about double the speed of Conroe, and run much cooler. I would rather build a system based on that if I had to start fresh.

I think Windows 10 or 11 have no business being on an old computer. Windows 2008 R2 will get you compatibility with most recent sofware.

The thing I don't like about the "retro" community, because as with any hobby, you are expected to spend money. Pay for long abandoned games. Pay hardware speculators. All this stuff was once discarded as having no value.

I think I have five 775 boards and couple am2 boards. Been bying them up when they are posted for cheap. Most go from 5-20€ price range and can have good cpu/ram/cooler on them or none. It really is bizzar how good the market is right now. GPU are also pretty good still but I have seen the trend and now could be the best time to get some early 2010s gpus that go for nothing. Also early 2010s in general are crazy cheap.

👍👍👍 for this video.
But I'll stick with my iBase MB820 for retro gaming (added a SiI3124 card with SATA II and AHCI for my SSD). 😉
It works (with very few problems) up to Windows 7. Unfortunately the 478 cpu does not work with Win 10 and newer (NX bit problem - is there a hack for it?) But I have 2 ISA slots (for my AWE with DB50XG AND especially for my favorite TerraTec 'ActiveRadio' ISA radio card with RDS).