Oh the choices, and need some help.

[DisgruntledVirus]

As a student I obtained both Server 2k3/2k8 from MS free download stuff for students. I have used XP since around 2003 or so (I liked my windows 2000, but friends convinced me to upgrade and haven't looked back). So now I have a HTPC (tri-core phenom, 2 gb ram, the gigabyte 780G mATX mobo, going to get a Radeon 4670/4850 for it on BF most likely) that is hooked up to my Kuro 5080 and is setup as a home server for myself and my gf (with FTP, remote desktop, and all stuff is stored to it from our main pcs).

I have never really used a server OS, but am going for a Cisco degree so I will have to almost without a doubt in my degree field. So I want to get into the Server OS's to begin to learn them, but I don't want it to hurt the HTPC/server aspect.

So should I leave it with XP Pro, Server 2k3, or Server 2k8? Server 2k3 is not really an option unless 2k8 is horrible (which AFAIK 2k8 is better than 2k3) and why?

 

[amddude]

I'm extremely happy with 2k8. I don't know that it's earth shatteringly better than vista, but hyper-v is pretty cool.

I migrated from 2k3 to 2k8. 2k8 has better networking and is easier to mess with in terms of server roles. I'd say 3d performance is about the same.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: amddude
I'm extremely happy with 2k8. I don't know that it's earth shatteringly better than vista, but hyper-v is pretty cool.

I migrated from 2k3 to 2k8. 2k8 has better networking and is easier to mess with in terms of server roles. I'd say 3d performance is about the same.

Would you say it's a significant improvement over 2k3, or should I stick with 2k3 and get rid of the "overhead" that is in 2k8 (I won't be using a Core install)?

The 3d performance isn't an issue because I game on another system entirely (Dell 2407, 8800GT's in SLI, 2 gb ram, Athalon X2 5200+, etc), but what is important is video decoding. Will I get worse performance on decoding blu-ray/h.264/vc1/etc on 2k8 than XP/2k3?

Will most/all my programs in XP work in 2k8 (I know Vista had some issues at release don't know if they got fixed or not)?

Thanks for the help