Which OS?

[Ant]

OK folks I've not been gaming for a very long time so I've decided to get back into it. I'm building a new system that will be for games and games alone. The thing is which OS to use? It's a choice between Windows 98 SE, Windows ME or Windows 2000. All I'm bothered about is the best gaming performance nothing else. System will be as follows: Athlon 1GHz, 256MB RAM, G400 MAX.

[dZeus]

with the latest drivers I don't think there's much of a difference between Win9x and Win2k. Maybe Win9x is 1 - 10% faster in Direct3D, but that's about it...

[Grail]

I would say Win98SE or Win2K w/DX8. Depends on compatibility and how much pain you want(the Win9x kind of pain) really... Win2K works for almost all my games... Just not the older ones... But then again, I don't play those older games, so I don't care.

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Tyan Thunder 100 1836 DLU (BX version) BIOS V. 1.18
Intel Pentium III 550 x2
256 MB PC133 RAM running @ PC100/CAS2
Matrox Millennium G400 MAX(Bios 1.9 - 33)
SoundBlaster Live! Value
3COM FastEtherlink XL (3C905B-TX)
Hauppauge WinTV-Radio
Pioneer DVD 303S
Zip100 Internal
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro
20.4 gig IBM Deskstar 75GXP HD
Sennheiser HD 570 Headphones

[Maggi]

Hi Ant,

I would use the first edition of W98 and update all (bus-)drivers, BIOSes etc.

I had some strange happenings with SE, which made me switch back to SE.

I guess you know the usual stuff like swap partition, fixed swap and cache sizes et all ?

Cheers,
Maggi

[Rags]

I agree with The Maggi win98, not SE, and let 'er rip.

Rags

[Maggi]

... couldn't resist, eh ?

[Helevitia]

I had a much more stable system with SE. So it looks like it depends on your hardware. BTW-I hate WinME, it is so screwed up(at least with my system). I am going to switch back to SE shortly. I haven't played any games yet with Win2k but it is definitely the most stable MS platform I've used. I think I might just have to install a game or two to see what it is like.

Dave

[Gurm]

My games all run. And never a blue screen. Ever.

And no matter what, my dual-cpu machine runs faster than a single, even with non-smp games.

'Course if you're talking about your EXISTING system with a single chip, it's a toss-up. I'd still take Win2k if it was me. I'll trade 5% performance loss for 500% increase in stability.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Liquid Snake]

I would agree with Gurm. I don't notice any real performance drop going from Win98 to Win2K. And, it is much more stable. The only blue screen I've had (Stop Error) is when I overclocked my CPU too much (my CPU can't take much overclocking ) All my games run. My friend has noted problems with older games (such as DOS games), but it doesn't matter as long as you aren't looking to play old games.

[DosFreak]

Dual-boot if your really REALLy worried about it but 240 of my games work in Windows 2000 and 33 don't so I'm all good.

And MOST DOS games work in 2000 just without sound (except for speaker) and without VESA.

[Gurm]

Funny, most of my DOS games that refuse to run in Win9x run flawlessly in Win2k. Some real golden oldies, too - like Bard's Tale, Castles, the original King's Quest series.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[rylan]

I've had good luck with 98SE.. amazingly stable for a M$ product. :P

I didn't like 98 first edition.. had some major USB issues with it which were solved with SE.

[Alec]

Dare I say it??? Try Windows ME.

No, really, It´s the best OS for my system after months of fiddling about with every one of them. It´s not just a question of OS, but of system, too. My computer doesn´t play well with W2K and with Linux, for example. I can´t blame the quality of the components in my system, cause I chose them with a lot of thinking involved, and choosing quality over cheapness.
So, Ant, I guess the best way would be fiddling about to see what´s best for your particular system, because it´s already been proved that every OS has its success stories.

Cheers
Alec

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 26 January 2001).]

[Twix]

Hi Grail,

You mention that most of your games work with W2K and G400/DX8. I have been trying to run 'SWAT3: EE'. I only seem to be able to run it in software rendering mode. The options screen won't allow me to change to hardware. I wonder, have you run SWAT3:EE and did you have any success? Any ideas to improve the situation?

T.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Grail:
I would say Win98SE or Win2K w/DX8. Depends on compatibility and how much pain you want(the Win9x kind of pain) really... Win2K works for almost all my games... Just not the older ones... But then again, I don't play those older games, so I don't care.

</font>

[Tom]

Windows ME ; no problems and all my games work great.

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Matrox G400MAX
PIII 616
Asus P2B-L
128MB
Quantum Fireball KX 27.3
ADI G66
Sound Blaster Live!
Motorola CyberSURFR
Pioneer DVD-103S