win2k vs win98se primarily for gaming

[saimike]

hi guys,

i'm installing a new hdd, and was wondering if i should go with win2k rather than win98se (what i have now). primarily, i play games (fps, strategy), burn cd's, download stuff/surf with this rig. any comments/suggestions? thanks!

 

[Thor86]

If you have both OS's, why not dual boot. Search for how-to's on this forum or google.com. My personal preferences for gaming is Win98SE all the way. As for cd-burning though, Win98 shouldn't be much problems, but Win2k is so much better in the stability department (doesn't mean you'll never make coasters though!). Have fun.

 

[Cpt. Duke]

I think the answer depends on your hardware and the games you play. How old's your computer, and which games do you play?

 

[htmlmasterdave]

Definately 98se for gaming, no questions asked

 

[Epyon9283]

I like win2k for gaming. I havent noticed a speed difference but there probably is one...

 

[AGreived]

I just made the switch to win2K from 98SE(5days now), and have noticed that 2K 'feels' slower on my machine (1.2ghz Tbird/266, 256MB PC2400 DDR, 40GB ATA-100 HD) but i have been running it almost constantly, and have not had a single crash....

I didnt record benchmarks from Sandra before/after, but if memory serves, they seem to be similar. I dont do a heck of a lot of gaming, but i figure if I have to deal with lockups in a game that has a small speed advantage over a slower game that wont, I'll choose the slower version.

Just MHO..

 

[alcopro]

I have gone from win98se to win2000, within the past two weeks myself, and my games seem to run just fine on it, found drivers for my steering wheel, gamepad and joystick, and love the stability I say with current drivers, win2000 is at least as good for gaming as win98se, and stability counts a lot with me, so win2k wins hands down!

 

[criter]

02.03.06
W98.2 is the improved W95 + lil beter memory handling. Striped down it only uses about 5% computer resources, 40 MB system memory and a smaller foot print on the hard drive. With small fix in system.ini [vcache] MaxFileCache=524288 you can use up to near 1GB sys memory.
Nowadays the vid card+cpu+memory largely determines game performance, and lack of code problems with the games DX8.1 api features with your system's vid and sound card drivers.
Also to consider is the 20ms (dsl) 40ms (cable) or 100ms (dial-up) connections to ISP for tha lag factor.

PIII 700E +hedgehog+delta, 34*C
768MB PC-150
Elsa GF2 GTS 32MB
IBM 30 and 20GB hd
Kenwood 72X cd
Plex 12/10/32a cdrw
Aopen AX34 ProII mobo
Viewsonic GS-815 monitor
Robotics X2 56K or Supra Daimond 56K (external) dial-ups
Enermax 430W ps + 1 80mm front fan
Audio out to stereo preamp (neighbors dislike the volume with THX speakers)
W98.2
Seti WU 10hr, 3DMark 2600

 

[Mitzi]

I upgraded from Windows98SE to 2000 for about 8 months ago and am very happy with it - its much more stable than Win98 and I feel that the OS doesn't age as much as Windows 98 (i.e. you don't need to reinstall every couple of months to keep things fresh).

I do all the usual stuff with my machine (coding, burning cds and gaming). I've only had one problem with Windows 2000 game support and that was with System Shock 2 and a patch was available which resolved it. Some of the games I've played without problems include...

Half Life/CounterStrike
Diablo 2
System Shock 2
Starcraft/BW
Real War
Medal of Honour
Serious Sam
Quake III
UT

My rig specs are in my sig.

 

[TheOmegaCode]

I run Win2k on a 500 cellery w/ 512MB RAM, and a voodoo 3 3000 pci, and I'll still kick your ass at counter-strike . I don't really notice any big differences in game play, other than I don't lock up AS often...


BTW.... MY NEW COMPUTER IS IN THE MAIL
I'm sooo happy... When I get my new comp, I'm gonna see if CS runs smooth on winex and Linux Mandrake... I'm crossing my fingers that it will...

 

[TheCorm]

I dualboot 2000/98SE and I think it's a great combination, 98 does the gaming because it's a lite operating system and therefore less overhead on the overall system while I use 2000 for pretty much everything else because of it's stability.

Hey Omegacode, what would you do if saimike came over and literally kicked your ass?

 

[BlitzRommel]

To me, DOS is DEAD. So, I'd use Windows 2000. Sorry that doesn't help you much

 

[TheCorm]

DOS??? Did someone mention DOS?

 

[saimike]

thanks for all the input guys. i think i'll try win2k for a few day with a min appl install on the new hdd ... and if i like it and it likes my games then i'll reinst everything ...

currently i have a c366@555 (hoping to get a c900 or 1ghz soon), creative tnt2 ultra, 256mb sdram, new 80gb wd hdd (sweet compusa deal), _classic_ sb16, 40x asus, 12x10x32 tdk and the venerable zip, fd etc ... playing mainly sc/bw, cs, q3, civ3 ...

i'm just a lil' concerned about drivers for my tnt2 ultra ... it still works well even on my 19inch with cs/q3 so i'm not so inclined to upgrade it. if anyone has win2k running on a tnt2 ultra, let me know ur experiences with fps games ... thanks!