Building new system, want to dual boot XP and 7

Hi all. I'im in the process of building a brand new computer. I have this config

Intel i5 2500K
ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe
1st hard drive : Corsair Force 3 SSD, 120 Gb (This is for Windows 7)
2nd hard drive : WD Black 500 Gb (This one is for Windows XP and some data)
3rd hard drive : WD Green 2 Tb (This is for pictures, movies, music, etc.)
Zotac AMP! 550 Ti x 2 in SLI
I think the rest is not that important.

What I want to do is having Windows XP and Windows 7 dual-booting this system with Windows 7 as the default OS.

I want Windows 7 to be installed on the C drive (the SSD) and Windows XP to be installed in the D drive (the WD Black).

I don't want to use virtualization since I want Windows XP there to play old games that Windows 7 don't. It just don't work under Windows 7 and under virtualization, so that's why I want to dual-boot.

Is those steps ok?

1 - Install Windows XP on the D:\ drive

2 - Install Windows 7 ont the C:\ drive (SSD)

3 - Installing Windows 7 second will config the boot sequence so I will be able to choose from Windows XP and Windows 7 from a DOS menu AND after 30 seconds of inactivity, it will boot Windows 7 as default since it has been installed as the latest.

Is that make sense?

Thanks a lot!

I'm replying to my own thread, but is this a best scenario instead?

1 - Install Windows 7 on C:\ drive (SSD)

2 - Install Windows XP on D:\ drive (WD HDD)

At this point, default boot will be Windows XP

3 - Change Bootloader to make Windows 7 as the default OS

With the proper version of windows 7 there is an XP Mode, which is a tightly-coupled virtual XP machine.

I would use most anything to avoid having to dual-boot, including just buying an old machine off ebay to run XP

I did not try Windows XP mode inside Windows 7, maybe someone can help me on this one if we can play older games inside it.

I tried under Virtual Box with Windows XP in it and it was not succesfull. What I want to do is to be able to play my vintage games under Windows XP.

I thought dual-booting my system would be a great idea, why it would not be a good idea?

Thanks

Some people like dual-boot computer, I find dual booting is less efficient than alternatives like VM's or 2nd physical machines. Every time you're booted in one OS you want something from the other OS and that's now minutes away, plus you have to interrupt what you're doing.

In addition there are some abstract problems like certain windows service pack updates that don't like to install on anything but the first partition on the disk.

I have numerous XP virtual machines running in both VMWare and KVM without any problems. I know virtualbox works well with XP, but perhaps there are issues in VM's and gaming software that needs some direct hardware access. If that's your issue maybe dual-booting is the best solution for you.

i think this should work:

1 - Install Windows XP on the D:\ drive
2 - Install Windows 7 ont the C:\ drive (SSD)

while win7 is being installed, it should recognize the older windows and add it to the boot menu as a secondary option, installing windows xp AFTER 7 will just not work as windows xp will not see windows 7 partition

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also, ..
you can give a try to vmware player (which is free) , it has option to enable 3d acceleration in virtual machine, and could allow playing some games using it.

You can install windows xp on the D drive,after that windows 7 on the C drive.Windows 7 will be your default OS.For playing games,you can use VMWare.