Gaming: XP Pro or Home?

[Xerin]

Any info on whether XP Pro or Home is better for gaming? I don't really have much need for the increased security, etc. of Pro but will still get it if gaming is better.

 

[htmlmasterdave]

I would stick to Windows 98 SE. It's the fastest for gaming. I just use 98 for gaming, and dual boot with 2k for everything else. Works nicely 😀

 

[bozo1]

Both would perform the same.

 

[Noriaki]

No significant difference.

XP Pro is a strict super set of Home, it can do anything home can and then some.

But the "and then some" probably doesn't affect gaming significantly. The only thing that might is the fact that Pro supports 2 CPUs and Home only 1. But that is a BIG might...very few games support SMP, and Quake3 performs worse in 2 CPU mode than in single...so.....

 

[Xerin]

Thanks for the replies, I'm building a new rig and given that I have to buy a new OS anyway I figure going with XP is inevitable.

No plans for MP, so sounds like Home would be just as good as Pro.

 

[TruculentTucan]

be ware you take a big performance hit with xp over 2k

 

[Rand]

<< be ware you take a big performance hit with xp over 2k >>



That really only seems to apply in office application tasks wherein XP's flashy GUI is in operation along with the application.
In most gamers teh GUI will not be displayed/interacted with or seen at all... it would be a non-factor as would most of the elements of XP that take up more processor time. Games likely would only take a minimal performance hit by going to Win2k and optimized drivers could likely do away with even that.

In my own experience with Xp the only benchmarks that have been affected by the move from Win2k to XP is the basic office application tests. My gaming frame rates have barely diviated at all.

 

[Xerin]

I've heard that if you have a Geforce3, your gaming performance can actually increase significantly in XP. Optimized drivers?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

people bitch too much, i swear.

do NOT use 98SE, for the POSSIBLE NEGLIGABLE performance increase in 2k or XP, it is severely overshadowed by the superior stability to 98SE. Go 2k and dont look back for the love of god!!!

or Xp, whatever.😉

EDIT: typo

 

[Salvador]

I noticed that XP Pro and Home Edition really slows my machine down. I have 320 mb's of RAM on a Celeron 900 and I'm screaming for more RAM. Something.. I hope that more RAM does the trick. I think I will wipe the drive clean and do a dual boot with WinXP Pro and Win98SE. 98SE is really speedy compared to WinXP. Win98 is really speedy compared to Win2K and even WinME. I would compare the performance difference to a hardware upgrade.

To answer your question, if you want to run games, I'd either dual boot or stick with Win98.

Sal

 

[xsquid]

I run a dual boot and don't really have a speed difference on games with xp. If anything I have better speed with xp. I have been running 3dmark 2001 and xp seems to be slightly ahead. Forget about 98, it was the biggest plie of crap ever.

 

[Salvador]

I'll have to admit that I haven't tried a game in XP, but I assumed that it would be slower because XP slows my system down. Why is 98 a pile? ME any better in your eyes?

 

[xsquid]

Yes, I had much better stability with ME than 98. Less errors and bsod's. I also had much more irq conflict problems and much longer boot up time in 98. Why do you think they came out with 98se? It had bug fixes and was still unstable. Xp is better than 98 and ME both put together though. I have good luck with updating the chipset drivers and I am running the nvidia 21.xx detonator drivers designed for xp. In my case It is doing real well. I use it for my gaming.

 

[xsquid]

I really hate to get into the ME vs 98 issue. I know a lot of people hate ME. I also know a lot of people hate 98 ever since it came out. Everyone will never agree on it. I just personally have had much better luck with ME. I tossed 98, then I tossed 98se.

 

[MulLa]

The performance hit going from 2k to XP is not that great if you disable all the flashy GUI stuff. I hardly noticed much of a hit after I tried to make XP look like 2k as much as I could 😛

 

[ketchupdog]

<< The performance hit going from 2k to XP is not that great if you disable all the flashy GUI stuff. I hardly noticed much of a hit after I tried to make XP look like 2k as much as I could 😛 >>



I second that, disable features you know you wont use and you'll see the performance gap decrease.