Windows XP SP1 is quite old, and lacks many functionalities (mostly for the OS itself and not for the user), SP2 and SP3 introduced many new things. If you need to keep Windows XP, I would suggest only SP3, the new and introduced stuffs however usually requires more resources, but you shouldn't have any problem with a computer from the last 6 years. (Personal experience, XP SP1-SP2 maybe run well with 512 MB RAM in general usage, however SP3 can be slow with this amount of memory.) If you share your detailed specs, then I can try to suggest the best working OS.
The download maybe problematic, I would suggest only some not public and verified sources, and ignore "Ultimate", "Best Version" or similar images, if possible I would suggest untouched images (usually their name contains MSDNAA/Technet in their name as their source is the official MSDNAA/Technet network, so the images surely made by Microsoft itself, not by some "
home-hacker"[
in this meaning]) or images that only contains updates.
For installation you don't need to burn into a CD/DVD, there are some solutions which allow you to install it from a single USB pendrive. I would suggest the software called
Rufus, it's easy to use (looks like the format tool in Windows), and which if I'm not mistaken supports Windows XP too.
