Which OS is the fastest?

[squidman]

Howdy, i'd like to hear your comments on the "Best OS", and why!

I have the choice of installing either of these (since i DL a lot, and i clean install Win once a month)

Windows 98SE
Windows ME
Windows XP Pro (w/o SP1)

Note: i always disable every crappy System restore option that the OS got. I really like 98SE (fast, no unnecessary crap as opposed to XP pro), but now it seems kinda archaic. XP is good - but it has crappy refresh rates in games, and third party refresh fix locks my resolution/rate. Also, some of my proggies dislike XP. Im currently running ME - but i heard its crap.

Also, can you tell me what XP SP1 does? Im lloking for advances that are relevant in games, not some "Increrased security"

Thanks!!!!

This is not General Hardware related.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[crip11]

ASUS V7700 GeForce 2GTS 32mb

Perhaps a new video card would help w/ that system?

 

[Budman]

Win2k SP3

 

[MikeMike]

yeah, the best o.s. would be one that included a newer GPU, since it seems you game, the newer ones refresh rates are better, and probably wont be as drastic as that one.

i like XP just cuz it is damn stable, no BSOD's for me, 24/7 for about 2 weeks, could have been longer, but moving it for LAN parties, and installing new drivers sorta means it hasta restart.

 

[everman]

Games run the same on all three really. A very small insignifican difference as I remember, I think on tomshardware in a comparison. I would just use xp pro, but be careful with the updates as there is a recent one that's crap. (they probably fixed it by now, I hope) Just don't let it auto update.

 

[zephyrprime]

Yeah, the os has very little effect on the speed of games. (I remember testing the speed of doom in DOS and windows 3.11 and it was exactly the same.)