should I upgrade to XP yet?

[brianmanahan]

hi, ive been out of the computer loop for a while and just came back recently. i just built a new core 2 duo computer with a radeon graphics card and wanted to play some new games but they all need windows xp! i installed windows 98se on my new comp because i had heard bad things about xp, like, it is slow and clunky and takes too much memory. maybe that is old news tho. is windows xp ready for primetime or should i wait? i wanna play the new games...

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You joined AT a year ago.

Therefore you were in the loop at the time when Vista was being announced, betas available and stories all over regarding the hardware requirements.

Stop the BS regarding being out of the loop.

Anandtech Moderator

 

[coolpurplefan]

I had Win98SE for 5 years and tried an illegal copy of WinXP to see what it's like. There was no problem with compatibility so I decided to keep it.

Of course, the weird thing is, I bought a legit copy of WinXP Pro but I'm not sure I want to install it yet. I could, but then I might be stuck with it on one computer. I kind of wanted to buy Windows Media Center for my other machine but don't know yet which machine will use which OS. I read here once XP is associated with one motherboard, you can't switch. Kind of weird for me I guess. 🙁

I saw no difference in frame rate in UT2004. The only thing is, I could swear 1GB of RAM is absolutely necessary. I don't see the difference between 1GB and 2GB of RAM even if playing BF2 although I only played offline.

 

[Noema]

Win98 on a C2D machine! :Q :Q :Q Is this for real, or is this a parody thread on all the 'should I upgrade to Vista' threads?

Does that thing even support multiple CPU cores? Or SATA? Or more than 512MB or RAM? Don't even think about running newer games on that OS. There are many, many, many resons you don't want Win98SE as your main OS these days, but I won't go into detail. Suffice it to say that it's hopelessly obsolete and unsopported.

is windows xp ready for primetime or should i wait?

The OS is 6 years old. It's more than ready for prime time. Heck, it's succesor is already out :Q Ever heard of Windows Vista?

Originally posted by: brianmanahan
i had heard bad things about xp, like, it is slow and clunky and takes too much memory.

Maybe circa 2001...this is 2007, Windows XP is a fast, solid, stable OS with driver support for pretty much every software. There's absolutely NO reason you would install a different Windows operating system on a new C2D rig, unless you wanted to go straight to Vista.

Get Windows XP and get it now. Get rid of Win98, and do it fast. If you ever need to run a legacy application that only works in 98, then run it on a Virtual Machine inside a real OS, but for Pete's sake, don't defile that nice shiny new Core 2 Duo with it! (Waits for Link19 to show up...)

And to coolpurplefan: XP is not restricted to the motherboard, at least not the retail version. OEM is, and that's one of the reasons it has a lower price. Windows Media Center is only available OEM, AFAIK.

An XP retail license can be transfered from one computer to another with no problems, provided it's only installed in one machine at any given time.

 

[tigersty1e]

Who bumped this thread?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: brianmanahan
hi, ive been out of the computer loop for a while and just came back recently. i just built a new core 2 duo computer with a radeon graphics card and wanted to play some new games but they all need windows xp! i installed windows 98se on my new comp because i had heard bad things about xp, like, it is slow and clunky and takes too much memory. maybe that is old news tho. is windows xp ready for primetime or should i wait? i wanna play the new games...

This is a joke right?

 

[Looney]

Radeon? Did you slap the old GPU from your W98 box into your new C2D system? I'm assuming it would have to be PCI as well (since i haven't seen an AGP C2D board).

 

[bruceb]

You definitely need to use XP either the Home or the Pro version
Pro has some extra features for networking and user account
controls that Home does not have .. otherwise either one is fine.
I would suggest the Retail version of XP over the OEM as then
you can move it around with no hassles from Microsoft

 

[brianmanahan]

well the radeon is a x1950, i think it is a brand new card.

dang i didnt even know there was something called vista! well maybe ill start with xp and work up to vista. thanks all, if i have problems with xp ill probably be back here again LOL.

 

[bsobel]

Guys, this is a spoof thread. See here where he's talks about playing Neverwinter Nights 2 (which requires XP)

To the OP, this isn't OT, so keep the jokes threads out of here.