Can i ask, is there a reason why you keep XP on that machine? It’s
pretty capable for, say, Windows 7. And maybe even 10, i don’t know. And
if you want to keep your XP setup you could use an empty partition or
disk and install a newer OS there and have both, as dual boot.
I don’t have a copy of any newer versions of Windows and I only ever installed Windows from scratch once. I’m hesitant to do anything that might mess up this system.
I want to get a new system that will be better suited to playing more modern emulators. For example, a system that can run Gamecube games in Dolphin at full speed, or most PS2 games in PCSX2. My current system can only play GC games with the sound disabled and most PS2 games run slowly.
It has dawned my me that I could just use real consoles, but I often prefer emulators (when the games work properly) for being able to use any control setup I want, and being able to use save states.
To be honest, besides the cost, I’m not sure what to get. An i7 system is probably out of my current price range, but i5 isn’t always better than i3 and I really don’t know how to tell the difference. Then you need to add a dedicated graphics card, which again, I don’t know what to get, and it will probably need a better power supply, since most places seem to like to sell systems with the absolutely lowest spec PS they can get away with. I see videos on YouTube that claim you can build a decent gaming computer for like $200, but they invariably start off with “So I got this motherboard from an estate sale for $20, then I found this case in the trash, and a friend gave me this graphics card for free…”
I just know I don’t want Windows 10 spyware and forced updates.