[tbaher]

I just wiped XP so I know what you mean .. I finally migrated from my trusty old 15GB HDD to a 160GB as a C: Drive .. (I had 5 other hard drives running in the box but the C: was a 15GB)

The drivers are not a problem at all .. between driverguide and manufacturer's websites.. you will get drivers for all the obscure hardware..
XP has MOST of the drivers built in or on windows update..

the problem is that you will lose "shutdown to dos" .. which is easily fixed by DOSBOX..

I recommend putting XP, if you have enough RAM .. performance will be better and life will be better in general.. (if you're annoyed by the new interface you can make it more classic)