best windows for gaming

[Bearded Kirklander]

These things so often degenerate into fanboy wars. :crazy:

Look - there is nothing wrong with dual booting. That way you get the best of both worlds. (Y)

[cork1958]

I've had excellent luck with Win 98 SE, especially with legacy games.

Windows XP is great for newer games. Just that Simple. Try the dual boot yourself and see how it works for you. That is best, usually. (Y)

Best of luck!

Exactly what I would've suggested only install XP using fat32 instead of NTFS. Lose alot in security, but gain quite a bit in speed.

[DOGglee]

windows xp :)

[HeartsOfWar]

All those claiming Windows 2000 is more stable \ faster really don't know what you're talking about...

First off, Out of the box installation, YES, W2k is a lot faster... simply because it is a classic window OS; however, if you were to tweak XP, within minutes, your OS will run just as fast.

Second, WXP is based off W2k...I wonder what that means?? It means WXP is essentially W2k, but better and more robust; therefore, XP is theoretically more stable or just as stable. W2k may have 4 service packs, but XP came out after Service pack 2 or 3 of W2k. Since WXP is based off W2k, it stands to reason that their internal architecure is very similar and benefit from the same fixes. Add on the fact that WXP has had a SP and W2k now has SP 4, I'd say they are more even than you think.

Third, W2k is not more secure. Since they are based off the same technology \ kernel, they share the same faults. Hence the reason why all the blaster viruses affect 2k and XP.

Fourth, Part of your slow-down is the fact you have multiple partitions. I have posted this before... multiple partitions actually promote slower seek times as the data is further and further into the platter, which means the HDD must spin-up more while the heads must find the data.

The point is that you think 2K is faster \ sleeker because the Out of Box experience is faster than XP's Out of Box. Yes, that is true, but given some tweakage... they are both the same. I have personally tweaked the hell out of both OS's and I constantly return to Windows XP. It just seems a tad bit more responsive, but it's not that big if a difference.

Edited July 7, 2004 by HeartsOfWar

[Vannos]

Good points HeartsOfWar. I agree.

[xzionxz]

I use 98SE for my gaming with 512 MB Ram have no problems no services running and it just screams...

[Luis.A]

I think XP would be a better opinion. then again I never ran so many games while on win98

[chacho]

you could use nLite to remove components from windows xp before installing. also a slipstreaming tool so you can have a (somewhat) *secure* bare-bones system :laugh:

(dont know why its stripping the URL from my post, google around for it)

[Bearded Kirklander]

Exactly what I would've suggested only install XP using fat32 instead of NTFS. Lose alot in security, but gain quite a bit in speed.

Agreed. Plus, FAT 32 is more compatible. Best all around solution for a dual-boot, IMO.

[Bearded Kirklander]

Windows 98 is CRAP for gaming. Nvidia and ATi no longer produce drivers for it, what good is an OS for gaming without up-to-date drivers? Also, newer games require Windows 2000 or XP, look at Thief: Deadly Shadows as a good example. Use 2K Pro or XP, both work great.

I agree with you on only one point - that since the major driver developers are dropping support for Win 9x, that it puts 9x gamers in a bit of a bind.

But 9x is NOT bad for gaming - it is extremely good for most games. Perhaps some won't run on 9x any more, but for many, many games, 9x does a great job. UT2004 runs just as good on 98 SE as it does on 2K or XP, for example.

It is baffling that MS says it extended support for 9x to July 2006 but has gone ahead and dropped WHQL certification for 9x. Isn't that contradictory?

There is really nothing wrong with XP or 2K for gaming, but there is also nothing wrong with Dual Booting to ensure you get the best of both worlds, IMO.

[Slimy]

all i can tell u is i've heard of an xp version that is stripped down

but i forgot the name :blush:

[blueshirt]

I've tried it in 98 and XP. Xp is by far the best in my experience.