For MinGW, you need MinGW in the sense that MinGW provides the implementation of the gcc language system. I don't see how your question makes sense - it's like "Can I use VC++ without installing VC++?"

To clarify: MinGW is the GCC compiler executable(s), headers and support objects. There isn't anything else. There is a related but independant package called MSYS which provides some posix utilities, but you do not need this in any way in order to use the MinGW version of GCC.

EDIT Since not so recently by now, MinGW-w64 has "absorbed" one of the toolchain building projects. The downloads can be found here. The installer should work, and allow you to pick a version that you need.

Note the Qt SDK comes with the same toolchain. So if you are developing in Qt and using the SDK, just use the toolchain it comes with.

Another alternative that has up to date toolchains comes from... harhar... a Microsoft developer, none other than STL (Stephan T. Lavavej, isn't that a spot-on name for the maintainer of MSVC++ Standard Library!). You can find it here. It includes Boost.

Another option which is highly useful if you care for prebuilt dependencies is MSYS2, which provides a Unix shell (a Cygwin fork modified to work better with Windows pathnames and such), also provides a GCC. It usually lags a bit behind, but that is compensated for by its good package management system and stability. They also provide a functional Clang with libc++ if you care for such thing.

I leave the below for reference, but I strongly suggest against using MinGW.org, due to limitations detailed below. TDM-GCC (the MinGW-w64 version) provides some hacks that you may find useful in your specific situation, although I recommend using vanilla GCC at all times for maximum compatibility.

GCC for Windows is provided by two projects currently. They both provide a very own implementation of the Windows SDK (headers and libraries) which is necessary because GCC does not work with Visual Studio files.

1. The older mingw.org, which @Mat already pointed you to. They provide only a 32-bit compiler. See here for the downloads you need:

   • Binutils is the linker and resource compiler etc.
   • GCC is the compiler, and is split in core and language packages
   • GDB is the debugger.
   • runtime library is required only for mingw.org
   • You might need to download mingw32-make seperately.
   • For support, you can try (don't expect friendly replies) [email protected]

   Alternatively, download mingw-get and use that.

2. The newer mingw-w64, which as the name predicts, also provides a 64-bit variant, and in the future hopefully some ARM support. I use it and built toolchains with their CRT. Personal and auto builds are found under "Toolchains targetting Win32/64" here. They also provide Linux to Windows cross-compilers. I suggest you try a personal build first, they are more complete. Try mine (rubenvb) for GCC 4.6 to 4.8, or use sezero's for GCC 4.4 and 4.5. Both of us provide 32-bit and 64-bit native toolchains. These packages include everything listed above. I currently recommend the "MinGW-Builds" builds, as these are currently sanctioned as "official builds", and come with an installer (see above).

   For support, send an email to [email protected] or post on the forum via sourceforge.net.

Both projects have their files listed on sourceforge, and all you have to do is either run the installer (in case of mingw.org) or download a suitable zipped package and extract it (in the case of mingw-w64).

There are a lot of "non-official" toolchain builders, one of the most popular is TDM-GCC. They may use patches that break binary compatibility with official/unpatched toolchains, so be careful using them. It's best to use the official releases.