Windows 98SE vs. WinXP

[GT98]

I have this computer I'm upgrading for a friend of mine with the following specs

Some sort of Crappy 440BX Chipset with no AGP
Celeron 300A....Hopefully upgrading to a P2-450Mhz
13GB Hard Drive
Trying to get a PCI G200 to put in to it
92MB Ram....Adding another 128MB Stick to it
DVD-ROM drive to replace the old ass 4x CD-ROM drive it has now.

I orginally was just going to install Win98SE, but With the $120 bucks or so I'm spending on upgrades on it for him (Computer is going to be used by his Mom and Sister for Internet etc) I was thinking maybe Windows XP might be a better choice. Any suggestions on what to use?

[Helevitia]

I wouldn't instll WinXP unless you have atleast 256MB memory.

Dave

[Jessterw]

I guess to put it into perspective here is my system specs (I am upgrading sometime around February... gotta love income tax returns):

P2 350MHz
256MB RAM
60GB HDD, 10GB HDD
GeForce2 Ti 64MB
40x CD-ROM, 40x12x48x CD-RW
Windows XP Professional


I should note that I was running with only 128MB for awhile (had a DIMM module go bad), and of course the nvidia card is only temporary To give you an idea of what kind of stress my system is under I routinely have Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Visual Studio 6/.NET, Mozilla, IE, Trillian, and Outlook running with some other odd programs in process. I rarely have any major slowdown, and when I do it is usually in Photoshop when I'm working with an image in 300+dpi.

[rugger]

GT98, add 256 instead of 128 if you can, then run WinXP on it. WinXP runs fine on P-II class processors, and beats the living snot out of Win98SE.

If you can't get the extra ram, then WinXP will be a little more sluggish, but it should still be usable.

A fast video card is a big plus too.

[UtwigMU]

I'm running PII@466 with NT 4.0 and will switch to 2k with new drive (I could now but what's the rush when NT and 9SE do what I expect from them).

I'd not put XP on that system. 2k, NT or 98SE If I had to.

[Umfriend]

What is that thing currently running? If it is W95, why not stick with that?
Umf

[Kooldino]

Celeron 300A? Howa bout OCing it???!!!

Also, you may want to consider a HDD upgrade...a nice, fast HDD can make an old machine feel a lot faster.

But with those specs, I'd go with 98SE or win2k.

[chaoliang]

I think you need XP only when you need best support for asian languages on this system. If you want NTFS, then install 2K. If you need none of these, Windows98SE is absolutely a better choice. If you install XP and later even OfficeXP on this system, they could be very slow and quite instable. You WILL see it.

[Byock]

Bah! I have Windows XP running on a Thinkpad, P2 266, 228 Ram. Runs great. Never had a prob with speed. I say go for it!

[ZokesPro]

Yeah, just turn off all those extra 'effects' and your good to go.

[Byock]

Sadly, I have all the effects turned on.

[Jessterw]

It's funny that so many people might say that you shouldn't put XP on your system, yet Byock and I have similiar, if not lesser, systems that are running XP fine, if not great.

I do have alot of the effects turned off, except for a few things including themes.

[Marshmallowman]

win2k , and I guess winxp like CPU cache and memory....I was VERY suprised how well a p2 (512k cache) with 256mb ram runs win2k....A lot better than a celeron 300a at 450

[rugger]

Originally posted by Marshmallowman
win2k , and I guess winxp like CPU cache and memory....I was VERY suprised how well a p2 (512k cache) with 256mb ram runs win2k....A lot better than a celeron 300a at 450

Nope, Haven't see that at all.

Given sufficent ram (256 meg) a celeron A runs W2k and WXP just as well as a P-II

[funky-d-munky]

GT-98

Bx chipset and crappy should not be said together :>)
Also BX chipsets come with an AGP port. Are you sure its BX? If it is then MOVE that celeron to 100mhz fsb and do the 450 dance. Most all will do 450 at stock voltage if not up it a little.

Marshmallowman-
I'll put up a 450 celeron A against that old P2 450 with its half speed cache any day.