What operating system for new setup

[schottd]

Killed my trusty Athlon setup by flashing the motherboard bios the other day. (note, if it has worked for 7 years, don't mess with it) So upgrading to a H77 1155 board and bough my first ever intel processor, the i3 ivory bridge.

I got a ssd to put the operating system on and am trying to decide what to do. I have XP that I could put on the drive and then upgrade. But to windows 7 or 8? Or should I just buy the system builder verison of 7 or 8? I want to be able to do a fresh install at any time.

Suggestions?

 

[MadScientist]

Put XP + SP3 on it and then upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $40. During the install it will give you the option to burn the iso file to a DVD to do a clean install.

Note: Windows XP users can perform upgrade installs, but only their files will be preserved. Their applications must be reinstalled.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy

You can also get the Windows Media center pack free:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs