Will installing Windows XP work on an Acer Aspire PC?

If you want to experiment, get yourself an external hard drive and some disk cloning/imaging software.  Make a clone or a full disk image of your current setup so that you can restore it if you decide that the experiment wasn't worthwhile.

Typically, you will need the following drivers:

• chipset -- various controllers built into your motherboard, including USB controllers, but probably not the USB 3.0 controllers
• Audio
• Video (for your GT 620)
• Network interface (Ethernet)
• Network interface (wireless)
• Network interface (Bluetooth)
• Intel AMT (system management)
• Card reader
• Modem (if you have one)

It's possible that Windows XP will have drivers for some of this hardware.  Even if there are such "in-box" drivers, they may not provide full functionality.  And as I mentioned, you won't be able to use more than abut 3.2 GB of your RAM.

And, of course, don't forget that Windows XP hasn't been supported by Microsoft since April 9, 2014.  As a result, it is increasingly vulnerable to malware if it is connected to the Internet.  Although some third-party antivirus programs still work on Windows XP, by around the middle or end of this year that may no longer be the case.  At that point, a Windows XP system connected to the Internet will be completely unprotected.

Thank you for the extensive answer! That gives me a lot more insight into this whole driver business. Well, I do have a Windows XP CD. I am curious thought, as to what would happen if I just wiped my harddrive, and installed WXP. Probably wouldnt have sound/internet/decent graphics?

Short answer:  No.

Longer answer:

You would need a legitimate Windows XP installation CD, which is difficult to find these days.

You would need Windows XP drivers for the hardware in this computer.  Dell drivers won't do and Acer does not supply drivers for this machine for any version of Windows earlier than Windows 7.

Even if it were possible for you to go to the manufacturer of each individual hardware item and find a Windows XP driver (highly unlikely), you would be throwing away some of the capability of the hardware you bought.  Windows XP can not use more than 4 GB of RAM (actually, a bit less).  It's also likely that the USB 3.0 functionality on your computer cannot be made to work with Windows XP.

"Drivers" are software that provide the interface between a computer's operating system and the hardware.  Thus, drivers must be compatible with both the hardware that they are intended to control and the operating system that will be in use.  Drivers are almost always provided for free by the hardware manufacturers. 

Companies that sell complete computer systems (so-called OEMs), like Acer, often have hardware manufacturers customize hardware components.  This is particularly true for laptops, but also may be the case for desktop/towers such as your computer.  For this reason, it is usually to recommend that drivers be obtained from the computer manufacturer in the first instance and only from the component manufacturer if not otherwise available.

Microsoft includes some drivers with its versions of Windows and makes other drivers available through Windows Update.  It has been my experience -- and that of many others who respond in this forum -- that for Windows XP, one should never rely on Windows Update for drivers.  This is not nearly so hard and fast for later versions of Windows.

If you're interested, here's where you would go to obtain drivers for your particular computer -- and as you will see when you navigate to the correct page -- they are only available for 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and 8 --> http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers  These drivers will NOT work for Windows XP.

Oh, and I've found Windows XP versions of my ethernet, graphics, and audio drivers.