best OS for gaming.

[RyanW2050]

Should I go with windows 2K?

XP Pro?

XP home?

 

[Noema]

Some newer games (like AoE III - at least the demo so far) require XP to run, though they can be made to run under 2000 with some tweaking.

However, I see no reason not to use XP. If you have a gaming PC, you shouldn't be taking a performance hit from using it anyway, and you can always turn off the eye candy for maximum performance. I personally like having my desktop look as good as possible and I have excellent performance under XP pro even with a lot of crap like Konfabulator and Object dock running in the background.

I'd say XP home is a good choice, you can save yourself a few bucks (unless you have the option of getting an academic edition, in which case XP pro should be a no brainer) and if you want it for gaming exclusively, there's no need for Pro's extra stuff.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

XP. Either home or pro...Does not make a difference in gaming, Just your wallet.

 

[grimdeath]

2k is cheaper, home is newer and pro is the top notch for now

id get 2k or pro if i was you!

 

[Rilex]

I'd go for XP. 2K will now be quickly phased out and no support for newer technologies, especially the backported Vista technologies. XP is also along the same lines of cost as 2K (at least, if newegg is of any indication).

 

[Tsosczb]

If you have to ask, just go for XP Home.

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: grimdeath
2k is cheaper, home is newer and pro is the top notch for now

id get 2k or pro if i was you!

How is Home newer?

 

[JRock]

98SE

 

[TGS]

I would rather ask, what makes XP top notch?

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: spherrod

Originally posted by: grimdeath
2k is cheaper, home is newer and pro is the top notch for now

id get 2k or pro if i was you!

How is Home newer?

Home is newer than 2k, then he talks about Pro, he wasn't saying Home is newer than Pro.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

Win2K is being phased out. BF2 does not officially run on it, as is the case with other games listed above by other posters, and this trend is likely to continue.

Just get XP Home. It's cheaper and for gaming, will work just as well as Pro.

 

[MrChad]

had to go down to 2000 pro from xp pro....how much performance will i lose if any in gaming???
Is it really worth it to get XP Pro over XP Home for a gaming machine?
Win2k or Xp too save money
Best OS?

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: spherrod

Originally posted by: grimdeath
2k is cheaper, home is newer and pro is the top notch for now

id get 2k or pro if i was you!

How is Home newer?

Home is newer than 2k, then he talks about Pro, he wasn't saying Home is newer than Pro.

:thumbsup: my bad!

 

[Scarpozzi]

I was on 2000 Professional for a while... I ran into some issues with games not running as well in a 2000 environment. I would think XP would definitely be the way to go. I think most of the issues with Home were resolved. I use Professional on my laptop and my workstation at work.....Home is just a few more steps to get to the administration modules. Not a big deal.....so you can save some cash if you're not going to be using it for anything other than gaming, browsing, and mp3s.

 

[Pythias]

As the others have said, xp-home should be fine. Pro just adds networking goodies.

 

[TGS]

Honestly, I would like to know what advantages that XP has over 2K. Besides lipservice about unsupported OSes and deliberately borked installers. Neither of which have anything to do with what/how the core OS functions.

 

[Rilex]

A big one would be it is able to deal with low memory situations better than 2000 was. It is also more secure OOTB.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

XP has a built-in firewall, it seems to be faster - http://pcbuyersguide.com/software/system/WinXP_benchmarks.html, it looks nicer (not just the built-in themes but the built-in skin support), the security center, later version of NTFS, better hardware support (my digital camera just shows up as a drive in XP, in Win2K, I have to install the buggy, spyware-ridden and crash-prone Kodak software), bundled software is more up-to-date (DirectX, WMP, etc), and others.

It may be debateable whether XP is better than 2K - but there's no debate as to whether 2K is better than XP.

 

[TGS]

So basically after I make a slipstreamed version of W2K SP4, and XP SP2 the main difference is looks, and a builtin firewall.

Edit: With the ability to slipstream custom images, having drivers on the default CD is not really a big win.

I was more looking for capabilities, the firewall is a capability and I will give it that. On all my XP boxes I tend to go into classic mode myself.

Originally posted by: Rilex
A big one would be it is able to deal with low memory situations better than 2000 was. It is also more secure OOTB.

Forgot to add, when 2K first come out, we had old boxes in my section that we loaded it on. I believe they were all 486s with 128-256MB of ram. They might have been P-100 or 150s. It was mighty craptastic hardware, even for the time. Though the big kicker was 128 was workable, but 256MB of ram was nice and smooth. From most reports I see, XP falls into the same category.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: TGS
So basically after I make a slipstreamed version of W2K SP4, and XP SP2 the main difference is looks, and a builtin firewall.

Edit: With the ability to slipstream custom images, having drivers on the default CD is not really a big win.

I was more looking for capabilities, the firewall is a capability and I will give it that. On all my XP boxes I tend to go into classic mode myself.

Err, no.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: TGS
So basically after I make a slipstreamed version of W2K SP4, and XP SP2 the main difference is looks, and a builtin firewall.

Edit: With the ability to slipstream custom images, having drivers on the default CD is not really a big win.

I was more looking for capabilities, the firewall is a capability and I will give it that. On all my XP boxes I tend to go into classic mode myself.

Err, no.

That's why I'm asking... List the real benefits of XP over 2K. Though I presume it will sound a lot like an arguement for PCI-E over AGP...

 

[Rilex]

Lets rephrase, what makes 2000 better than XP for gaming?

E.g., why today would I go out and purchase 2000 instead of XP for the specific task of gaming?

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: Rilex
Lets rephrase, what makes 2000 better than XP for gaming?

E.g., why today would I go out and purchase 2000 instead of XP for the specific task of gaming?

Well I'm speaking from the reference of a current W2K license holder. What compelling reason would I have to upgrade. I could see it would be a better path from nothing to XP. Support issues, updates, driver compatibility (in the future).

The OP never stated if he is currently running any of the listed OSes. I'm merely asking out of curosity, from those they may have done the 2K->XP upgrade path already.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: TGS

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: TGS
So basically after I make a slipstreamed version of W2K SP4, and XP SP2 the main difference is looks, and a builtin firewall.

Edit: With the ability to slipstream custom images, having drivers on the default CD is not really a big win.

I was more looking for capabilities, the firewall is a capability and I will give it that. On all my XP boxes I tend to go into classic mode myself.

Err, no.

That's why I'm asking... List the real benefits of XP over 2K. Though I presume it will sound a lot like an arguement for PCI-E over AGP...

Windows XP: Kernel Improvements Create a More Robust, Powerful, and Scalable OS

 

[Rilex]

Well I'm speaking from the reference of a current W2K license holder.

Well, for the current license holder, the fact that the OS is in the extended phase of support. No more bug fixes unless you're special.

And of course, no backports of Vista technologies.

This late in the game, you may want to just wait for Vista. You're looking at roughly another year before release. May as well not suffer the Apple-license scheme