Dad might buy my computer...

[Night Fox]

My dad has been looking into getting a "new" computer. He's still running on a 10-year-old Dell and he was looking to stick with Dell again, but I may have convinced him to buy my computer (in signature) instead. You see, he still wants to stick with Windows XP...he hates Windows 7 and his scanner only works with XP and he doesn't want to buy another one. So here's what I was thinking. I am going to give him everything but the OCZ SSD, 700w psu, windows7, monitor, and keyboard. The price I bought it at (not including the things I just listed) is $744.34. First question...

1) What would be a fair price for this if I bought it in August of 2009?

My new computer I just put together is limited...size and money wise. The case I picked out is the max size it can be (height wise). I would like not to spend more than $600 overall. I also want to run Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3...which I've read the GTX 560 ti can handle well with high settings. I was originally going to pick the ASUS GTX 560 ti TOP, but I chose the EVGA one for the lifetime warranty and its cheaper...

Already have:
Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

Going to buy:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER R4-S4S-10AK-GP 140mm Case Fan
Newegg.com - ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

With shipping, this is all $1,026.89. I have a $10 newegg gift card so that's $1,016.89. Mail-in rebates are $35, so it ends up being $981.89. So, with my budget, I'd have to sell my computer to my dad for at least $381.89.

2) Any other improvements you guys can think of for this build/any problems?
3) Will an i7 2600k be worth anything to me for future games (since I plan on having this for a while)?

As I said before, my dad wants XP. He says he has a Windows XP disk, but I'm not sure if it came with his Dell machine or not. (Note: I know he won't be able to use all the memory...but I think that doesn't bother him)

4) If it came with the Dell machine, will he be able to install it on my computer?

I'm thinking to make the transfer, I'd buy my new computer, install Windows7 on the SATA III SSD, plug in my 500gb drive from this computer, copy all the data files to the 750gb. Then I would format the 500gb drive and install XP on there, and then install all programs from my dad's old computer to his new one, and the same for mine.

5) Will this work? Any better methods/ideas?

 

[carnageX]

As I said before, my dad wants XP. He says he has a Windows XP disk, but I'm not sure if it came with his Dell machine or not. (Note: I know he won't be able to use all the memory...but I think that doesn't bother him)

4) If it came with the Dell machine, will he be able to install it on my computer?

I'm thinking to make the transfer, I'd buy my new computer, install Windows7 on the SATA III SSD, plug in my 500gb drive from this computer, copy all the data files to the 750gb. Then I would format the 500gb drive and install XP on there, and then install all programs from my dad's old computer to his new one, and the same for mine.

Legally, no. Can it be done? Yes, I've done it before myself. You would just have to call in to MS when you activate it, and just say that you reformatted your HDD and it hasn't been on any other computer.

Biggest thing is you'll want to make sure you can find XP drivers for all of the hardware.

 

[Night Fox]

Drivers, right! I forgot about them...I only need drivers for the graphics card and motherboard right? (Geforce 9500gt, Asus P5Q)

I just found drivers for both of those. So, would I need to update the motherboard BIOS before or after installing XP?

 

[carnageX]

You shouldn't have to do anything with the BIOS.
You need drivers for all of your hardware. GPU, sound card, chipset (motherboard), network drivers, etc. Make sure there are XP versions available.

 

[Night Fox]

Oh just the chipset? Okay, there are XP drivers for that and the gpu. I don't think I'll need any other drivers, but if so, they'll have them for XP...

 

[carnageX]

It depends on what your chipset driver includes (if it includes the audio/network drivers with it or not you would have to look).

 

[Night Fox]

The motherboard uses Realtek audio...and Asus has drivers for that under in their support site (which is amazing in my opinion)

Okay, the XP disk is the OEM version, so that is out of the question...I've tried installing it on this computer with a different drive and it wouldn't work.

There is the option of getting another copy of Windows XP or Windows 7 Professional with XP mode.

Is there any trusted site that I can get a copy of Windows XP from (preferably less than $100)?

 

[Yami]

Is there any trusted site that I can get a copy of Windows XP from (preferably less than $100)?

You can't officially buy XP any more, so no.