XP or 98/XP?

[Spike]

I recently, um, found a copy of XP corp and had a question. I am going to finish assembling my 1.4 athlon soon and then I did not know what OS to use. I was debating whether going straight XP or doing a 98/XP dual boot. I am a hard-core gamer (I pre-ordered the Radeon 8500 baby!) and so I wanted 98 to make sure that I can still game smoothly using my older radeon LE. If the 98/XP seems like the best option, can anyone direct me how to set that up? I have a 40gb drive, so space is not really an issue. thanks

 

[sohcrates]

well, if you want to dual-boot 98 and xp, do this

1) format and make at LEAST 2 partitions.

2) on C, install 98

3) next, boot off the XP cd and install XP to D:

XP will automatically create a boot loader where you can choose 98 or XP. the key here is to install 98 first and xp second.

 

[Spike]

I am still concerned over whether or not I even need to bother doing a dual boot and just go with XP. I have read alot of the threads and have some concerns, mainly though I want to know how it games.

 

[sohcrates]

well, my roomate is a huge gamer, and his only OS is XP. all the most popular games run just fine. i actually can't think of any specific games that wouldn't run. some that weren't even supposed to run were able to be "tweaked" or "co-erced" into running as well.

what are your fav. games?

i can almost guarantee that any NEW games will be fully XP compliant

 

[Spike]

the games I play most regularly are Max Payne, CS, AoE 2, and Q3

 

[JMorton10]

Depends what games you are playing.

All new games should run fine in XP, some older ones won't.

I recently switched from a Radeon 64meg VIVO to a Gainward GF3 because I was sick & tired of tweaking & changing ATI drivers trying to get all my sons many games to work all at once.

I also dual boot Win98SE & XP Corporate for the same reason. At least for now, for the ultimate game compatibility & performance IMHO you should dual boot SE & XP.

 

[Spike]

ok, lets say I do a dual boot. How exactly do I set that up. I know about 2 partitions, but I want the exact steps that can do that for me. Sorry to be picky, but I am a nerotic when it comes to my computer, I want it to work as well as possible and set it up the best way Thanks for both of your replies

 

[Leokor]

<< Depends what games you are playing.

All new games should run fine in XP, some older ones won't.
>>


Allow me to add to the original question.

(1) Is there a game that runs in 98, doesn't run in 2K, but does run again in XP?
(2) Is there a game that runs in 98, doesn't run in 2K, and still doesn't run in XP?

Examples of actual games, please.

Leo

 

[sohcrates]

<< the games I play most regularly are Max Payne, CS, AoE 2, and Q3 >>



i can assure you that my roomate is running all those games right now in XP. so you're covered with that at least.

i can give you step-by-step instructions on how to dual boot, but i don't want to spend all that time if you're not sure.

so when you decide if you want to dual boot or not, let us know

 

[Zipp]

<< 1) format and make at LEAST 2 partitions.

2) on C, install 98

3) next, boot off the XP cd and install XP to D:

XP will automatically create a boot loader where you can choose 98 or XP. the key here is to install 98 first and xp second.
>>



I took your advice myself sohcrates and surprisingly eveything went pretty smooth for me,Thanks.

 

[abaez]

Max Payne has a well known problem with sound in win2k, supposedly xp fixes this but I still get bad sound (sound dropping, not hearing some effects etc) I'm running a vortex 2.

Second, I had ME, I upgraded to XP no problems, but I want to install ME on another partition, is that possible?

 

[sohcrates]

if you already have an NT-based OS and want to add ME/98 back on to it, it's not exactly simple.

basically, you have to back up your basic NT boot files, then install ME, then replace and edit the files.

search around the forums here for how to do it, there's been lots of posts about it.

 

[sohcrates]

allright, since i'm a nice guy, i looked up a website that says how to add ME/98 to win2k. here's what they say

Not-So-Easy Dual Boot: Adding Win98 to Win2K Pro
Adding Win98 to a Win2K Pro setup is more difficult. This configuration will work only if the root partition is FAT16 or FAT32 and the partition on which you install Win98 is also FAT16 or FAT32. The main problem is that Win98 setup won't run from Win2K. To work around this problem, you need a Win98 boot disk. The full installation version of Win98 includes a boot disk; however, if you're installing an upgrade to Win98, you need to create a Win98 boot disk on another system.

If you install the Win98 upgrade, the system asks you during setup to supply the original Win95 media or select a directory that includes Win95 components because Microsoft markets the upgrade to people who already have Win95. The full retail version of Win98 costs more than the upgrade, but I think it's worth the money if you're performing a first-time installation. Either way, run Win98 setup and follow the directions, putting Win98 on a separate partition from Win2K.

Before you add Win98 to a Win2K Pro system, you need to create a Win2K ERD because Win98 will overwrite the Win2K Pro boot sector on your C drive, eliminating the option of booting Win2K Pro on system startup. To restore that option, you need the ERD and the Win2K Pro boot disks. Make the boot disks by running makeboot.exe from the boot disk directory on the Win2K Pro CD-ROM, as Screen 2 shows. You'll need four blank high-density disks. After you create the boot disks, shut down the system, put the first boot disk in your system's A drive, and restart the system. The system will prompt you for the other disks. Select the option to repair a damaged Win2K Pro installation. The system will prompt you to insert the ERD. Win2K Pro setup will replace the files on the boot partition, and you should have the option to boot either Win2K Pro or Win98 on the next restart. If the system doesn't give you the option to boot either OS, manually edit the boot.ini file on your C-drive partition by adding the following line:

C:\="Microsoft Windows"
Then, shut down and restart Win2K, and you'll have the option to boot either OS.

 

[tommigsr]

Hey buddy, about the dual booting thing. Why not just go with XP, it runs all my games and pretty good speeds. Not to bag on ATI or anything, but i personally like Nvidia's chipset better...like the recent problem with counter-strike and ATI users with no OpenGL. things like that turn me away from ATI. hope this helps a little bit