Windows 2000 and Gaming..., what gives?

[BD231]

Ok peep's, i need the low down on this subject. Im bored with Windows ME, i have a GF2 Ultra so obviously im in to the whole gaming bit. Im hearing mixed stories about its game support, some say it's fine, some say it sucks ass. What i wana know is, what games work and what games dont, and, should i wait for XP or jump on the 2K band wagon?

 

[lilnnjaboy]

EA games from what I know don't work. Every game that I have ever gotten has worked on Win2k...as long as you have the compatibility update. Ever since I put Win2k in my system...I haven't crashed once. Well ok...once or twice...but that was due to human error.
Counter-Strike...works great...blizzard games....perfect. I tried sims on my computer, kingpin, black and white, serious sam, giant citizen kabuto, japanese games, Final Fantasy, etc. You get the point.

 

[skace]

Unless you have a serious misconfiguration - games work fine in win2k.

 

[supergfunk]

I agree also, games work fine with win2k....

fred

 

[Woodie]

Beware older games--some of them insist on Win9x...and don't work w/ the AppCompat utility: C&C:Red Alert for sure, and i think there were others.

There was a thread on this a few weeks ago, a number of people chimed in with games they couldn't get to work, and some of them weren't that old.

--Woodie

 

[afropick]

Try the games section at NT Compatible.com.

 

[skace]

"There was a thread on this a few weeks ago, a number of people chimed in with games they couldn't get to work, and some of them weren't that old."

I also recall that thread and a few people saying games didn't work while other people stated they could run that game fine on their PC. It is all about configuration...

 

[Mem]

I would wait for XP it`s a better OS then Win2k for gaming and general use,it`s not far down the road and being you have WinME would be a good upgrade path.

 

[BD231]

Thanks for the input everyone, what about the gaming performance. Say if i was to use Win 2K over Win ME, what kind of performance hit would i be looking at in terms of FPS?

 

[ValkyrieKT7]

system specs again ? I would say if you got an nvidia card, you're most likely in luck because of their better driver support for 2k than other companies

 

[Joyride]

I have read that either you get a decent sized to small hit on FPS with Win 2k or there is no change

 

[BD231]

Well after some thought i think im gonna try both!, WinXP and Win2K both sound great in their own respects. Where can i get an OEM copy of Win2K and how much will it put me back?, also, should i get the Pro version or what?

 

[Shudder]

See if you can sign up on MS's site for an educational copy of win2k. I have one and it cost me $0. It's only good for 120 days, but that'll roll you into XP territory easily.

Or you can always sign up for XP RC1 and be down 10 bucks, but you'll get a good working os for 10 bucks that'll last 180 days.

 

[faolan]

Keep in mind XP deep down is the exact same as 2000. So if you want to make the move now, feel free to do so. I personally have used 2000 as my only recent gaming OS since RC1 of it in mid 1999. I have an older system around for my really old games (Aka the ancient DOS only games that barley worked back then, etc...)

(And now before I get hit by the XP people, let me explain my statement).

For all that matters, XP is the same as 2000. They both are the same kernel, and both can run new versions of Direct X. Both run the same drivers. The big difference people are finding is that the compatibility tools in XP are easier to use. But the tools from XP work fine in 2000. So if your willing to work with the compatibility tools in 2000, you can avoid upgrading to XP. (Personally I have no use for IE6 integrated, WMP 8 integrated, System Restore, Driver Rollback, More fluffy wizards , an interface I have to spend quite a bit of time reverting to normal, and the other crap I see in RC1).