Which OS Should I Use???

[Playmaker]

Hello all, I'm building a new system and based on a KT133a mobo, probably the abit, an OCed T-bird and 256mb CAS2 ram. Not sure on the 3d card, but leaning towards that new Kyro2 now, or a GF2. The comp will be used mostly for gaming and music, and some Dreamweaver and maybe DVDs. Game speed is probably most important tho. I have a copy of Win98 first ed. Should I go with 98SE, ME, or Win2k? I really like how Win2k looks, and I hear it's the fastest, but I'm worried about compatibility issues. Right now I play CS, and will probably play Tribes 2 and Shadowbane, but those are the only games that are released now or in the near future. Would I be best off with win2k for these? Will mostly all future games support win2k? Also, what is win2k SP2? Should I wait for that? Thanks.

 

[CTho9305]

98se is the best gaming os, imho. 98fe is fine if its stable.

 

[jj1492]

I like Win2k for everything (including gaming). Highly stable and tons of great tools.

 

[Delusion2001]

win2k. most games work with it, and you can find a lot of the drivers for it. and it's much more stable with many more great features

 

[Shmorq]

Got rid of dual booting between Win2K and Win98 since I never used the latter. I would install Win2K.

And about waiting for SP2, it's simply an upgrade patch, thus you can apply it when it comes out so there's no point waiting for it. Besides, Win2K is stable as it is with SP1 and was even before that.

 

[Playmaker]

2 more questions. First, win2k professional edition is the one I'd want, correct? Second, SP2 will be a d/lable upgrade and not a disk I have to order like 98se was? Thanks again.

 

[FOBSIDE]

professional is the version you want if this a personal computer and not used for purely serving yes. im not sure about the SP2 question but i want to say yes.

 

[igiveup]

Welcome to the wonderful world of a truly supported OS. Once MS decided to move to the NT kernel for consumers (i know, not quite there yet) everybody gets to get in on the patches and updates microsoft really turns their full attention to.

Mostly service packs are just bug fixes, but they also add additional features, and for free. The only time you have to pay for them is if they put it in an option pack like they did with NT 4.0 SP2 is supposed to be coming out sometime before July.

I think that once you try win 2000 pro you will like it a lot more than 98. If you choose 98 though, all you need to do is get the service pack for that. 98SE is nothing more than the service pack plus added features so that they could sell it for $. That usually doesn't happen with NT or 2000. Besides, your computer will use that 256 MB fully instead of it being wasted in 98.

 

[AncientPC]

If your programs / hardware are all compatible with Win2k use that instead of 98SE. The stability improvement is much greater than whatever multimedia performance you may lose.

 

[Playmaker]

What about XP? When does it come out? Better or worse for games then 2k? Upgrade to XP from 2k free? Thanks.

 

[MGMorden]

XP definately ain't going to be a free upgrade. And as far as games XP and 2000 are going to be virtually the same for gaming.

 

[Suppafly]

go with windows 2000 professional.. install the service packs right away and the critical updates etc.. it should play most current games just fine.